"While gratitude leads to increased happiness and life satisfaction, materialism—placing a higher value on material possessions than on meaningful relationships—has the opposite effect. in reviewing the research, psychologists Emily Polak and Michael McCullough conclude: 'The pursuit of wealth and possessions as end unto itself is associated with lower levels of well-being, lower life-satisfaction and happiness, more symptoms of depression and anxiety, more physical problems such as headaches, and a variety of mental disorders.'
Affluenza is the term used to describe the emotional distress that arises from a preoccupation with possessions and appearance. Psychologist Oliver James views it as a form of psychological virus that infects our thinking and is transmitted by television, glossy magazines, and advertisements. The toxic belief at the core of this condition is that happiness is based on how we look and what we have. If we compare our appearance or wealth to that of the models and millionaires on prime-time television, it is easy to feel we don't measure up well. (...)
Gratitude is about delighting in and feeling satisfied with what you're already experiencing. The advertising industry aims to undermine this by convincing you that you're missing something. (...)
Each year, more than four hundred billion dollars are spent on advertising that pushes the message 'buy this, and your life will improve.' Yet even though people in materially rich countries buy many more things than they did fifty years ago, surveys show they are less happy (...). Depression has reached epidemic proportions, with one in two people in the Western world likely to suffer a significant episode at some point in their lives. The consumer lifestyle isn't just wrecking our world; it is also making us miserable. Can gratitude play a role in our rehabilitation?"
Macy, Joanna and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy. Novato: New World Library, 2012. 46-47.
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