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Research finds that money actually does help, but — when it comes to happiness — our relationships, generosity and gratitude buy a lot more.

Psychologist Robert Emmons has found that acts of gratitude — such as thanking people, volunteering, helping with homework — improve physical health and raise levels of energy. He is the author of the book, Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier (Mariner Books, 2008).

By Clifton B. Parker

Is happiness everything it's cracked up to be?

It depends. Throughout the ages, our greatest thinkers found happiness an inherently slippery thing to measure or define. Ancient Greek philosophers racked their brains in search of the cleverest answer to this question, and the brightest Enlightenment sages deeply pondered one of humanity's most perplexing and popular subjects.

Times change, and today we live in a huge-bandwidth world with learning and growing opportunities unimagined by our ancestors. Still, these two existential questions remain for us as they did for Aristotle: What is happiness, and how do we achieve it?