The Mature Mind, book by Gene Cohen
According to Raj Raghunathan, professor of marketing and happiness expert at UT Austin, one way to answer this question is to first get an understanding of what we need—beyond basic necessities—in order to lead a happier and more fulfilling life. It turns out that we need two main things. First, we need to feel that we are progressing towards fulfillment of three important goals: 1) Mastery (the feeling that we are really good at something), 2) Belonging (or intimacy with at least one other human being), and 3) Autonomy (or the feeling that we are not puppets in someone else’s hands, but rather are the authors of our own judgments and decisions). The second thing we need is a certain attitude or mindset—specifically, the mindset of abundance. The mindset of abundance, rather than that of scarcity, is more conducive for sustaining happiness.