Being Content is to Love Your Life

I live in the richest country that mankind has ever known. The United States has just under 5% of the world’s population but uses 30% of the world’s resources. It seems to me that if more was better than pretty much everybody here should be the most satisfied and happiest people in the world.

But that isn’t true. Not by a long shot.

Americans are some of the most dissatisfied people on Earth.

I don’t mean to imply that I am a minimalist, because I am not. I don’t mind if people have lots of things, so long as they aren’t in debt for them. What I am saying is that so many people have an insatiable desire to always have more, more, more. It is sad that so many people will never be satisfied with what they have.

A recent survey by Trulia showed that 33% of new homeowners regretted buying their house. The reason? They wished they bought a bigger house.

These people have what nearly half the renters in the country want – a home to call their own – and they nearly instantly regret it because they want more. The “more is better” thinking is not allowing these people to enjoy their hard earned home.

It seems that most of us get or achieve something we immediately move to acquire the next thing. That we can’t just take some time to enjoy the thing we have accomplished.

This way of thinking turns us into slaves. It is a way for others to make us do their bidding. It is the carrot dangling from the stick.

I see this at work all the time. People come in early and leave late. I am not talking minutes, but HOURS. I can’t imagine that they love it so much more than being able to do whatever else they could at home. They think that by doing this they will get in the good graces of the people above them and thereby secure promotion.

I can’t imagine how many days/weeks/months those extra hours add up to. That is a piece of their lifetime they will never get back.

I am happy with where I am now so I would rather use that time to do pursue things that I enjoy, instead of chasing that chance for promotion.

Princeton University completed a study back in 2010 that put a $75,000 annual income the point of peak happiness. My income is just under that number. Whether or not you believe their conclusion it is close enough for me.

If we all were content with the abundance we currently have we would remove the main tool that our current society uses. There is a reason government reports call the population ‘Consumers’.

I do not mean that people shouldn’t want more than what they have, only that their happiness shouldn’t be dependent on having more. By being happy with what you have now you will be just as satisfied in the future, whether or not you get more.

Get rid of the mindset that your happiness depends on getting more of what you desire. Otherwise, you will find once you reach that goal you will only want even more.

A simple reminder happened to me this week, and a quote by one of my favorite philosophers – Epictetus – popped into my head.

“If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.”

One of the people I supervise has recently become divorced from his wife. I’ll leave it short, but she was the one in the wrong during the marriage. Anyways, he had been eating out very often during and after the divorce and on Monday he brought his homemade lunch to work (I had been nudging him to do so because of the cost). I asked him about it and he told me that all the food was tasting the same and no longer made him happy to have it.

This is in contrast to myself, where I eat out once or twice per month. To me, it is a treat that brings me and my family pleasure.

It does not change my happiness level because I am content without it. Pleasure and happiness are not the same. In fact, the restless pursuit of pleasure often leads to less happiness.

But I do appreciate that I have such a fortunate life that I can afford to do this.

Another quote comes to mind now, this one from Marcus Aurelius. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

Look within yourself and love the life you have.

When those new wants and needs come into your life you will find yourself appreciating them so much more.

You will find that you have become the wealthiest person in the world.

As the ancient philosopher Seneca The Younger once said, “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”