you for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. and remember, you can check us out 24 hours a day, just by going to aljazeera.com. is money the secret to happiness? we'll explore what makes us happy, and why. >> lisa fletcher is out today, but we have our man as cohost. with all of the tweets and facebook messages, and omar, does more bling make you happy? what did they say? >> they have different ideas of whether obtaining more wealth brings happiness.

we have elizabeth saying: >> for those of you at home, we want you to be part of this conversation. and let us know what makes you happy and what the connection is between money and happiness. >> a wife and jacked up truck. happiness, it's the most valued human emotion, for some, it's a strong sense of wellbeing, and for others, they think that more money will make them happy. >> what do you want out of life. >> to be happy. and to live a long happy life. >> what's going to make you successful and happy? what will make you feel successful and happy? >> right now, money. lots of money.

>> all right, but does more money lead to more problems? according to a gallop poll, income has risen over the last 12 years, but happiness has not. wellbeing is for income, but once our basic needs are met, what makes us happy? and is happiness the same arounded world? joining us from los angeles, rocco bellic, director of happy, and he's from los angeles, and author doing extensive research on materialism and happiness, and finally, from copenhagen, alexander carol, one of the leading experts on happiness in the workplace, and he's the author of the book, happy hour is 9-5. alexander, you are up first as our happiness expert. divine for us and measure happiness in the 21st century. easy question.

>> s this a question that philosophers have struggled with for thousands of years. the term, happiness, in my phone number, life satisfaction, where you stop people and them on a scale of 1-10, all things considered, how happy are you with your life? and they will give you a rating. and the other thing, how you feel on a day-to-day basis. you can ask them about their day yesterday, and you ask them how you feel. and there's a happiness curve for that day. so my satisfaction is measured, and that's why it's used in a lot of surveys. it's a very valuable tool. but it's more about how you think about your life. rational decision, are you satisfied with your life? whereas the emotional component, how do you feel about your life? is in my opinion just as important, or maybe more important. because that's what actually

determines how you feel on a day-to-day basis. today, right now, doing what you're doing, do you feel good, or do you feel bad? that's the important thing. >> tim, you're not a philosopher, but happiness usually shows the importance of emotional wellbeing and positive life evaluation. and explain to us these two factors of happiness. >> well, emotional wellbeing, are you joyful and excited, what most cause a positive aspect. and not experiencing negative emotions, not being depressed or sad. and so that would be your emotional wellbeing, not being depressed but feeling excited and content. in terms of your evaluation, that gets more to the life satisfaction end of things.

where you can look at different domains in your life, your relationships, your work life and your hobbies and say, do i feel like this is going more or less like i want? and there's another part of happiness. meaning in life, what i do has a purpose, feeling like it's what i choose to do, feeling like i'm headed in the direction that makes sense for who i am and what i want my life to be. so that's another component of overall wellbeing that is a new part of understanding happiness for psychologists, so philosophers and meaning of life for a long, long time. >> you made the happy movie and you spent six years traveling the globe and interviewing others to find out what makes us happy. so give us the secret here. what gives us happiness? >> it's exactly the question i

had when i made this film. i got to speak with ed deaner, some call him the godfather of happiness research, because he studied it longer than anyone else. and there's a key to happiness, they all share a common trait. he said that the formula is different for people. some need a job that makes them happy. some need a job that provides enough resources to do the things that they love, like be with their family and do the things that they enjoy. but there's one common thread among all happy people and that's that they had good relationships. it doesn't mean that they loved everybody, or they were extremely social or loved dancing or anything like that, not that they were out doing socially. but what it meant, they loved somebody, and somebody loved them. the fundamental human interaction of love and compassion and interconnection

is the common trait of all people. so that to me implies something very deep about how we're wired, and what makes us function and thrive. >> omar, what is the community saying? >> we have a lot of community weighing in on money and happiness: so alexander, even if somebody gives into the fact that wealth is not a bullet for happiness, wouldn't you say that it contributes to removing some of the obstacles for people being able to obtain it? >> the money doesn't make us happy.

if you're worried about your finances, but if you are worried that your home will foreclose, that won't make you happy. but i think that money contributes to life satisfaction than to happiness, and feeling good. here's something interesting, a distinction between happiness, and satisfaction is determined in relation to what others have. so you may have a salary of $100,000, but whether or not that satisfies you depends on what people around you are getting. okay, you're only satisfied with your $100,000 if it's more than what somebody else has. going back to the gentleman in the introduction, you're only satisfied with your neighbor's jacked up trust if it's better than the neighbor's jacked up truck. you feel good whether others feel good, and you are happy when people around you are happy

>> so which country is the happiest in the world and why? when we come back.

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