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What we tend to find when we look at the data is that the biggest category of things that people spend on is stuff for themselves.
从数据上来看，占了人们开支最大比例的类别是给自己买的东西。
Of course we need to pay rent or our mortgage. We need to have a car.
当然了，我们需要付房租，还贷款。我们要有自己的车。
We need to have food and clothes, but it seems as though people are spending an inordinate amount of their money on stuff for themselves.
我们要买衣服和食物，但人们好像过度地把自己的钱花在给自己买东西上。
And the biggest problem from out standpoint as psychologists is the percent of money that you spend on stuff for yourself is completely uncorrelated with how happy you are with your life.
从心理学家的角度来看，最大的问题是你给自己买东西的钱所占的比例与你生活的幸福程度完全无关。
It doesn't make you unhappy.
它不会让你不开心。
It's not like if you buy a lot of stuff you're miserable which sometimes we think is the case.
并不是说你买了很多东西就会很痛苦，有时候我们会这么想。
It's just the case that it's flat. No matter how much it seems you buy for yourself, nothing really seems to happen.
而是说它是持平的。不管你给自己买多少东西，你的快乐都不会有什么变化。
Once people start to pay attention to the flow of money and stuff in their lives in this way their consumption drops by about 20-25 percent naturally
一旦人们开始注意到他们生活中的金钱流动和物品，他们的消费会自然减少20- 25%，
because that's the amount of unconsciousness that you have in your spending.
因为这是你在消费时无意识中花出去的钱。
So, when you become conscious that falls away and many people say they don't even know what they used to spend their money on.
所以，当你意识到这一点时，很多人说他们甚至不知道以前把钱花在了什么地方。
They just oh, surprise. I'm spending less.
他们只是哦，意外啊。我花的更少了。
I don't know how that happened. I just paid attention.
我都不知道是怎么实现的。我只是注意了一下。
I just asked myself is this purchase of something making me happy.
我只是问了问自己，买这件东西会让我开心吗?
When you focus on other people you sort of reverse the arrow from me to you,
当你把注意力放在别人身上时，就好像把箭头从我身上移到了你身上，
it seems that on average when people give to others which can be giving to charity, it can be treating a friend to lunch.
平均来说，当人们给予的时候，这种给予可以是做慈善，可以是请朋友吃午饭。
It can be buying people gifts.
也可以是给人们买礼物。
Those actions of giving rather than keeping seem to be associated with more happiness.
给予而不是保有的行为似乎更能让人快乐。
But another opposite of stuff for yourself is to think about changing, you can still spend on yourself but change from stuff to something else.
但另一个与给自己买东西相反的是改变，你仍然可以把钱花在自己身上，但是买的东西要改变一下。
And lots of research over the last decade has shown that on average when people buy experiences it tends to pay off in more happiness than buying stuff for themselves.
过去十年的大量研究表明，平均而言，人们花钱购买体验往往比给自己买东西更能带来快乐。
Often when we buy stuff for ourselves we end up by ourselves with our stuff.
如果我们给自己买的是东西，最后的结果就是我们和东西在一起。
Think of yourself on your phone playing a videogame, whatever else it might be.
想想自己用手机玩电子游戏的时候，或者其他情形。
You're often alone with your stuff.
你就是独自一人和东西在一起。
Whereas experiences yes, we do some experiences solo, but many, many experiences have built into them that they're social.
而体验，没错，我们经常独自体验一些东西，但是很多很多的体验都是社交性的。
If we go out to dinner or go see a movie or go on a hike, whatever else it might be, now we're with other people.
如果我们出去吃饭，或者去看电影，或者去远足，不管是什么，我们会和其他人在一起。
It turns out that talking to other people makes us happy.
事实证明，与他人交谈会让我们感到快乐。
Even casual interactions with other people make us happier than sitting by ourselves in a room.
即使是和别人闲聊也比独自坐在房间里更让人开心。
