People are happier when they are active

Slack Investor is not averse to parting with the odd dollar for things he values … but increasingly these are becoming experiences rather than things. However, looking at his adventure packed schedule for the week, amongst the usual pastimes like (work, cinema, social gatherings, personal development and grooming (joke!)) I notice that two of the things I am doing are, remarkably, free events.

The first was a concert a Yarrabah indigenous community featuring the incomparable Archie Roach and the second is local university sponsored lecture on ecology by the Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich.

The first event, at Yarrabah, I have already been to … and it was fantastic! This was my first visit to this local indigenous community. It is a settlement of over 3000 people in an idyllic tropical location – and a place with a few social problems – unemployment, lack of local businesses and a high crime rate, to name a few. However, the concert headlined by Archie Roach and Montaigne plus various local acts was a ripper – and there was a real sense of hope from some of the community leaders (and Archie). It will take some time, but a few of the locals were quite inspiring.

One of the great things about living in Australia is that various levels of government and educational institutions subsidise occasional events – and as an abiding tax-paying citizen I make it my business to attend them if I find them interesting.

Ms Slack Investor reminds me often about the human need for occupation – and filling in your calendar with events is a great thing. As well as (hopefully) being kind and charitable, being busy is a fundamental part of a full life.

Although this blog is mostly about financial stuff, “The golden triangle of happiness” points out that this is just one corner of the triangle of well-being. I will revisit this important triangle in another post.

The Deakin University study points out that Relationships, Financial Control  and Sense of Purpose are the three corners to a happy life. As my full time working life is coming to an end, it is this sense of purpose that I will be working on … people are happier when they are active – and filling my calendar with enjoyable events, volunteering, travel – will be all part of it – I hope.