“Consider any individual at any period of his life, and you will always find him preoccupied with fresh plans to increase his comfort.” —Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (French: 29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859) was a French political thinker and historian. He analyzed the rising living standards and social conditions of individuals and their relationship to the market and state in Western societies.

I caught the tail end of the Ted Radio Hour show Saturday afternoon with Alain de Botton’s new book and documentary. He talks and writes about our rising levels of comfort and our dwindling levels of satisfaction and happiness. It is all about COMPARISON. We live in a time of constant comparison and the irony that I am sharing this post on FACEBOOK isn’t lost on me. See if his work resonate for you. I thought there was some very provocative material in his research.

Status Anxiety Documentary by Alain de Botton:
http://www.documentarywire.com/status-anxiety

Ted Radio Hour/NPR:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=240782763&m=240817961