Money and Happiness are two contrasting entities. Money is considered as a mark of achievement in the materialistic world. Happiness on the other hand, has nothing to do with the outside world. It is state of one’s inner self. It is a state which is totally independent of the external factors; a state which motivates one to move on in life without surrendering to challenges and situations of stress and sorrow.
Today we human – to a greater extent – are under this delusion that money can buy us happiness. We search for happiness in earthly objects. We feel that a luxurious life or the amenities of such a life would make us happy. We strive to earn such happiness, we fail and again we run behind it. So pitiful has become the state of our everyday life. Even after failing in this endeavour at every stage, we fail to realize that how can internal state depend on external factors.
These external factors are temporary. That which is not permanent can never give permanent happiness. Let us understand this with a small example. Suppose a person sets a short term goal for himself and that is buying a car one day with his own salary. The day he buys his own car, he gets filled with satisfaction and happiness. Now, imagine a day when he damages his car in a small accident. His happiness turns into disappointment or sadness. This happens because that person’s happiness was dependent on his car or other such earthly objects.
It is worth giving a thought that when our happiness depends on external factors, then it will last only for a short period of time; it will last as long as those external factors are as per our expectations. Happiness is something that should grow within us every moment. We must not wait for an occasion or some object to make us happy. We must choose to be happy. When we learn to stay content with whatever we have and when we limit our desires and subdue our expectations and wants from every other person and every other event in life, then we actually start to learn to stay happy.
It is because when we succumb to these above mentioned factors, our happiness gets dependent on external entities and our moods start changing along with the situations that arise. When we feel content in every situation that occurs, that is the true state of inner happiness and bliss. It is not easy to achieve that state but with constant efforts and with the help of a right person in life, we can reach that state and experience that bliss.
Question might arise then that What should be the value of money in our life? In the points of discussion placed above, I am focusing on cases where money is meant everything, where money is considered as the root of happiness and when one starts living and acting with that belief. Money is important to some extent. We all have families and many other people who are dependent on us. We have to look after them and work upon their upbringing. In this case, we do need money so that our basic necessities are met.
We must understand that if we are not working hard enough to meet the basic necessities of our families and our own self, then we are missing out on completing our responsibilities. Hence, along with staying happy internally, we must realize our duties and work upon to fulfill them in their true sense.
With this point in mind, we must re-think over the main question of this article which is “How much money do we need to stay happy.” We will then get our answers without a doubt.