In an article in the NY Times written by Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, he quotes Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said “happiness lies not in the mere possession of money,” and to recognize “the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success.

The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”

We are living in a time of fear, but it’s not about the money.

Studies have been shown that:

• the rich are not any happier than the majority of us who are not.
• It’s not money that makes you happy, it’s your attitude to life.

But right now, that attitude is being messed with.  The Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index shows that Americans are smiling less and worrying more than they were a year ago.  Happiness is down and sadness is up.  We are getting less sleep, and depending more on stimulants to get us through, and depression is becoming even more prevalent.  Cheery picture!

But it’s not the light wallets that are causing the problem.  Most of us have more money than our grandparents, or even our parents, and we clearly enjoy more luxury than ever before.  Gilbert says its not that we can’t be happy with less, it’s that we are unhappy with not knowing whether it will continue or not.  We need to be able to see a clear path to the end of this, but we can’t.

What would you do to live without uncertainty?

The uncertainty principle holds (Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle determined that the mere observation of a particle causes it to move in an unpredictable manner.)  In this sense, everything that happens in life is uncertain. But we are creatures of habit. When we are confronted with the knowing vs the not knowing, we lose. It’s unpredictable and we get get sick. We get depressed. We don’t like them changing on us unless we’re the ones with the plan.

• We are living in the future of ‘don’t know’ land.
• We are caught up in the dramas of ‘what if’.
• And we are feeling like it’s ‘now and forever’ instead of ‘for this moment’.

So where are you in this equation?  Are you driving yourself nuts because you don’t know for sure what’s going to happen?

This is a time of powerful transitions in our country.  Sure, the Dow is bouncing around like a child without its Ritalin, but that’s not worries us.  It’s because we don’t know where it’s ultimately going to to bounce to that worries us.

We need certainty.  We need safety, shelter and security.  This is built into our DNA from prehistoric times.  When these elements are removed, we feel worse than Moses who was lost in the desert for 40 years.  We’ve lost our purpose.

Gilbert cites a story of colostomy patients at the University of Michigan.  This is a major surgery where the colon waste is rerouted to leave the body through a hole in the abdomen attached to a bag.  In one scenario, they were told that it would be permanet, and in another they were told they had a chance of having their colostomies reversed.  Which ones do you think did better?

The ones who knew the final outcome were much happier than the ones who didn’t.

We prefer to KNOW the worst rather than suspect it.  When we get bad news, we suffer for a while, and then we choose to do something else.  When we are faced with uncertainty, we worry, we project, we bring all our fears to bear on what kind of life we will lead.  We change our behavior, change our attitude, face the fears, and move forward with life.

As Gilbert says, the national gloom is real enough, but it’s not about the money.  It’s the uncertainty principle at work.  It’s not that we can’t live with less, its that we choose not to unless we have to.  We won’t make that decision until it’s certain.

To learn how you can get beyond your fears about money and a change of lifestyle go to The Fearless Factor and pick up your complimentary excerpt from the book.