Have you ever tried to live your life while you are not content with your self? It seems almost impossible to survive with a mindset like that, and I wouldn’t doubt it to be. If you are not content, your psyche would be out of place. Also being unhappy makes your life more difficult. Some people mistake internal happiness for external belongings. They become very driven and will do almost anything to get the highest job in the biggest office. It is a horrible addiction that is an invention of society by making the media run the country. The drive for bigger and better things can ruin friendships. The most important value one can have is inner harmony because it makes your life better by providing happiness, although people usually forget and strive for the wrong things because they think that will make them happier.
Inner harmony means you are at peace with yourself. There is nothing bad about that. Happiness is a side effect of harmony. No one has ever had a friendship based on sour feelings. People will not want to be around you if you are not somewhat happy or at least content with your own life. If you keep putting yourself down others will start looking at you the same negative way. The people who do not have friends are either way to money oriented or completely unhappy. If you are not happy with yourself you can become depressed. Although depression is common among many famous musicians, and it can lead to greater things. I would not trade a good emotional state for artistic success.
I’m sure if you ask everyone in the world what the most important inner-quality is they wouldn’t all say inner harmony, but I’m sure if they thought about it more and didn’t just respond with what came to their heads first, they would tend to agree with my side because no one could live without happiness. Most people will go straight to family or friends, but without happiness they are kind of ineffective.
The majority of people tend to mistake possessions for internal happiness, and when they succeed they aren’t always satisfied which makes them keep wanting more and more until they are completely unhappy. The desire for a fancier car, a bigger house, or fancier clothes can rarely satisfy for the long run since someone else will always be ahead of you. But if you are content with yourself, you can have a perfectly happy life in a little shack on the beach with the love of your life and have a minimum wage job that you happen to love. In “The Millionaire Next Door” Thomas Stanley says most millionaires live below their means. It is often those who want to appear successful who strive to own expensive jewelry, new luxury cars, or McMansions. But they fail to. Everyone idolizes the rich and famous because of the luxurious lifestyle, although the majority of them aren’t completely satisfied or happy.
Even though I have never wanted to become rich and famous, I have strived to be one of the popular kids. I tried that and became friends with them, but never really fit in. I always felt like a step below the rest of them, and never could fully be accepted. I decided to stop trying to be someone else, and try finding myself, and actually loving myself and being happy.
I used to be extremely unhappy. Some would even say depressed, I for one do not think that is a way to live a life. If I stayed in that set of mind for awhile who knows where I would or could be in the future. Once I started being happier my overall life got better. Even though I had all my friends while I was depressed I didn’t really care. My family loved me and would give me what I want but that didn’t really matter to me. I just wanted to feel better, to be happy. Now that I have that, I’m not letting it go.
Why does one need to have everything? What drives individuals to this desire for the materialistic things, and the superiority and control over their peers? There is no straight answer but there is no need for a debate over it. It’s perfectly capable to live a completely happy and perfect life by just being happy about themselves, and not having all the money in the world. Even with all the material things, the big houses, and the money people still seem to be unhappy.
So where did this rule of society come from that money equals happiness? The media has played a part with shows that show the glamour and extravagant lifestyle of the rich and famous. External objects overrule our internal hopes. I have no way to reverse the effect of the propaganda in the media, all I can do is try to be my happiest and try to spread my thoughts to the people around me.