You don't need millions to be happy. At The Happiness Institute in Australia, a couple of hundred dollars may do the trick.
Since the institute opened its doors this year, men and women of all ages have been paying AUS$200 an hour (USUS$140) for lessons in how to feel great.
Businesses are spending as much as A$6,000 on half-day happiness workshops for their staff.
"You can actually increase your happiness levels. That's what we teach," said Timothy Sharp, founder of institute, which also offers group sessions from A$30 a head.
"We take people from zero and try to put a positive in their happiness bank account. You don't have to settle just for OKness. It's no more OK than having a zero bank balance. You can have a lot more," Sharp said.
Experts say only about 15 percent of happiness comes from income, assets and other financial factors. As much as 90 percent comes from elements such as attitude, a good sex life, life control and relationships.
"If you're not a natural in any of these areas you can learn to get a lot better at them," Sharp said.
The Happiness Institute is part of what US economist Paul Zane Pilzer calls the Wellness Revolution.
In his book of the same name, Pilzer says the next trillion-dollar industry after cars and information technology will be in preventative businesses that help people find peace, health and happiness.
BASIC NEEDS
While most of us are significantly better off financially than our parents and grandparents, happiness levels haven't changed to reflect that.
Studies show that once the basic needs of shelter and food are met, additional wealth adds very little to happiness.
"It's definitely not a guarantee. The difference between someone on say US$30,000 a year and someone on US$300,000 a year is actually very small. A lot of people are surprised by that," Sharp said.
* The Happiness Institute is part of what US economist Paul Zane Pilzer calls the "Wellness Revolution," as described in his book of the same name.
* Pilzer says the next trillion-dollar industry will be in preventative businesses that help people find peace, health and happiness.
* One seventh, US$1.5 trillion, of the US economy today is devoted to the healthcare business, what Pilzer refers to as the "Sickness Industry."
* Pilzer says by the year 2010, US$1 trillion of the US economy will be devoted to products and services that keep Americans healthy, make Americans look or feel better, slow down the effects of aging and prevent diseases from developing.
Source: Wellness Revolution web site
"The economists are saying `Well, why haven't there been changes? Because on economic measures there have been huge changes.'"
Craig Barber, general manager of a hotel in Sydney, had five one-on-one sessions at The Happiness Institute and organized a series of four-hour group sessions with Sharp for his staff.
"You could hear a pin drop. At each break I walked around the tables and there wasn't a doodle in sight. They were so into it, paying so much attention," Barber said.
MORE SEX
Even investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has warned not to "equate money with happiness."
"A vast array of individuals seriously overrate the importance of money in making themselves, and others, happy," said strategist James Montier in a recent memo to clients.
"Since the 1950s, people's happiness levels have been remarkably constant despite a massive growth in income-per-head over the same time horizon," he said.
Among the top 10 generators of happiness, alongside sleep, exercise and enjoying the moment, was sex.
"So what are you waiting for?" the memo said.
A 2003 study of 1,000 working women also found sex was rated as producing the largest amount of
happiness. Commuting was the least pleasurable activity.
"People who have more and better quality relationships tend to be happier," said Sharp.
Economists David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Andrew Oswald of Warwick University studied 16,000 Americans and calculated that going from having sex monthly to weekly gave about the same happiness as a US$50,000 raise.
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