The United States and other wealthy countries need to downscale their lifestyles and try to focus more on inner contentment, the Dalai Lama said Sunday.

There simply aren’t enough natural resources on the planet to support all 6 billion people on Earth imitating western lifestyles. Because there are limitations on external material resources, but not on internal ones, it’s better to seek contentment and peace rather than material things, he said.

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Written by Tal Ben-Shahar and Geri Weis-Corbley

If happiness is the currency of life — the true measure of success, how hefty is your happiness account? How abundant is your contentment? How much happiness can you afford to give? Do you hoard or hide your true desires? Do you resent others for their happiness and curse their rose-colored glasses? Here are seven ways to boost your levels of happiness, and therefore, your success.

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Watching those endless reruns of “Friends” and “CSI” may be compromising your happiness.

So says a team of five university professors who devised a scientific method to quantify people’s emotions during certain activities. What they found: Americans are not making the best use of their leisure hours.

While our standard of living has increased over the 40 years studied — with less time spent on mundane household chores and more minutes of “neutral downtime,” such as watching TV — our happiness levels haven’t.

Too much TV is to blame, according to David Schkade, a professor of management at UC San Diego.

The problem is that television viewing is often done in isolation. But more active, stimulating recreation and group activities are what help us feel connected and content, Schkade said.

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