Article Source: CNN

Written by - Elizabeth Landau - February 10th, 2009

 (CNN) -- Even in tough economic times, you may find yourself with a bit of cash to spare. You've been working hard, and you want to treat yourself. Should you spend it on an experience, such as a baseball game or concert, or a material object?

Psychological research suggests that, in the long run, experiences make people happier than possessions.That's in part because the initial joy of acquiring a new object, such as a new car, fades over time as people become accustomed to seeing it every day, experts said.

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Article Source: The Denver Post

Written by - Richard and Dottie Lamm - December 20th, 2008

The old ways of thinking can't work

Our life experience is our great mapmaker. Etched in our minds — like road maps — is how we behave, treat our neighbors, make sense of our world. We know where we are going because we know where we have been.

For many of us, our mind maps have great economic expectations because we have been raised in a rich, compassionate and abundant country. We inherited a stock of natural wealth and proceeded to build the world's highest standard of living and generous social systems. Our maps were predictable and dependable and pointed every year to a better life. 

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Article Source: CS Monitor

Written by - Diane Cameron - December 3rd, 2008

It's When We Are Satisfied With What We Have, That We Become Rich...

Guilderland, N.Y. - We are concerned about the economy. We worry about the stock market, investments, and retirement. We hesitate to open bank statements. We are told: It will get better. It will get worse. It will rebound. How do we cope? We have to make do with less. Lots of articles offer advice: Eat at home. Take the bus. Rearrange, don't redecorate. At the heart are these questions: What can you live without? Can we be happy with less? Can we do it when the American way seems to be distilled lately to all about believing that we need and deserve more?

What I keep thinking about is what it was like when I really did have less.

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Article Source: PHYSORG.com / Vanderbilt University

Written - October 2nd, 2008

Supporting what many of us who are not musically talented have often felt, new research reveals that trained musicians really do think differently than the rest of us. Vanderbilt University psychologists have found that professionally trained musicians more effectively use a creative technique called divergent thinking, and also use both the left and the right sides of their frontal cortex more heavily than the average person.

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