Wealth and Material Things In Relation To Personal Happiness

A common misconception is that money and material things can help buy you happiness. One of life’s truth is that many times having wealth and buying that new material item will only offer an empty temporary boost in happiness. Soon afterwards, these temporary boosts of happiness often wear off. The trick for people that have extra income for buying non-necessity items is to only seek out material things that will truly bring happiness and love to your life and those around you. In short, the true value of the material item will depends on how you use it to make your life be the best it can be.

Material items for the wrong reasons:

• To keep up with your friends, family, or neighbors. Who are you? Are you what you purchase? You need to be honest with yourself and be yourself. If you don’t know who you are you must seek to discover and be who you want to be.
  
• For social status---To be better than your friends, family, or neighbors. Envy is a deadly circle that is without true love for others or yourself.
  
• Does having these expensive items cause you to miss out on the love and life you could have had were you not at your job as often?

Things To Watch Out For:

• Savvy sales and marketing will help to sell the dream of a better than reality lifestyle. Be honest with yourself, do you really need it or are you being sold into it?
  
• Product / Service feature up sells. The latest hot new features can be a great way for companies to get extra money from you for things you really don’t need. Again, be honest with yourself. Do you really need the extras or do you just think you do?
  
• Extravagant items
  
• Bigger (and more expensive) is better (houses, vehicles, jewelry, etc).