Celebrating the holidays.

Like everything else, celebrating the holidays is looking a little different this year. And though we might not be able to celebrate with our friends, family, and coworkers in all of the ways that we have during seasons of holidays past, we can still celebrate and that's reason enough to be grateful. No matter how you choose to celebrate, either with a company party, a donation, or both, you'll be certain to have a great holiday season with the help of the companies in this section.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF RICH?

by Joe Griffin CEO. TrueNorth Wealth

Circumstances do not account for most of our happiness. In fact, they barely affect it at all. Studies show that 50 percent of our happiness is genetic, 40 percent is our own thoughts and choices, and only 10 percent comes from outside circumstances.* But somehow, we always seem to think that happiness is just around the corner, waiting to greet us when we accomplish the next big thing. Perhaps that's why very few Americans actually consider themselves "rich"--they refuse to believe they have truly arrived because they don't feel any happier. Additionally, as income increases, spending does too, so they never actually feel any richer, either. But what about the people who do feel "rich"? What is their secret? Let's dig a little deeper into our spending habits and see where happiness actually comes from.

THE HEDONIC TREADMILL

The Hedonic Treadmill theory states that humans will always return to a baseline level of happiness, regardless of their circumstances. This means that, yes, certain things can boost your happiness for a little while. But, after the initial burst of happiness fades, you will be at the same level of happiness as you were before. We have all experienced this phenomenon before, right? We think our lives will be better once we graduate from school, get that job, own that new car, buy that house ... and for a while, those things do make us feel good. However, it doesn't take very long to feel just as we did before.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH FINANCES?

When it comes to spending money, this theory implies that as we make more money, our expectations also increase, and there is no lasting increase in happiness.

How to get off the treadmill and have a "rich" life? The good news is that there are ways to increase your baseline level of happiness that actually work (unlike just getting more...