Quora: Your money or your happiness?!
Q: How does a person choose between a life of adventure and a lifetime of making money?
A: Why choose?
This is not an “either/or” proposition.
Just look at Richard Branson. Self-made millionaire who attempted to fly around the world in a hot air balloon.
Some people also manage to make money from their life of adventure. Extreme sports enthusiasts who get sponsors, travellers who have their own YouTube channels or sell videos of their travels to TV networks and so on.
If you want both, choose both.
Q: Why do our minds sometimes lie to us? For example, when we think that having more money will make us happier?
A: Our minds lie to us all the time.
It sounds horrible, but there is a good reason for it.
If we were to experience the world as it truly is, at all times, never missing any bit of data, we would collapse. We simply are not built to handle that kind of pressure.
What the brain then does, is to filter out large amounts of data. It keeps those bits that it considers important, and discards the rest. This is a process that has been refined through evolution and our own experience.
People who have arachnophobia will notice every teeny, tiny spider in their vicinity. That is what they have trained their brain to do.
Every time they see a spider, they react with fear and panic. These emotions are registered by the brain which then looks for the cause, which it treats as a possible threat to survival. Every time this reaction is repeated, these associations grow stronger.
The good news is that you can train and re-train your brain.
If certain results are not to your liking (such as panicking every time you see a spider) you can consciously decide to change this. It will not happen over night, but as you repeat certain actions, the neural pathways grow stronger, and change occurs.
Now, the example you gave above, follows a logical path.
If X (I have more money) then Y (I will be happier).
Many of our ideas follow this pattern.
If your assumptions do not bring what you expect, disappointment naturally follows. To avoid all disappointment, one must do away with expectations and assumptions. But this is not feasible.
If you expect marriage, money, a new job (whatever you desire) to bring you happiness, you are placing a mental bet. You could get lucky and find that you were right, that money really does make you happy. Or, you could find that it makes little difference.
There is no way of knowing beforehand if you are right. If your bet will pay off.
You can look around you to see if others have achieved your goal before you, and if that truly did make them happier. You can make assumptions based upon this data.
But if what is right for one person, is also right for you, you won’t know until you’ve had the experience yourself.
Q: Does money bring happiness or happiness brings money?
A: Good question.
Money can bring more opportunities for happiness. Allow you to search out new ways of experiencing it. Give you the freedom to make choices that you otherwise may not have been able to make.
Spending more time with friends and family, instead of working. Travelling the world. Attending art exhibits, concerts and festivals. Getting involved with or starting your own charity, committing to making a difference instead of making money from a regular job. Getting an education, simply for the love of learning something new, instead of preparing for employment. Or (insert your own desire here). Whatever you choose.
But even though money can make all this happen, money in itself does not bring happiness.
As for the reverse, happiness bringing money, some would argue that this is also possible.
According to the Law Of Attraction, like attracts like. So, if money makes you happy, then being happy may also attract more money into your life.
If you feel happy when receiving money, and you use this emotion when you imagine receiving money, more will come. It will be attracted to your energy, as happiness brings more happiness. And if happiness = money, you’ll attract more money.
Another possibility is that when you are happy, more doors open up to you.
After all, who would you rather give money, a promotion or a golden opportunity to? Someone miserable and unfriendly, or someone that spreads joy? Someone that appears to be genuinely happy and grateful?
Q: When did you realize that lots of money does not make you happier?
A: I haven’t yet.
But if I manage to get rich, or win the lottery, I’ll let you know if I’m happier or not.
Q: Is happiness or satisfaction related to money?
A: Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it does give you a lot of opportunities to pursue happiness.
