Money and Happiness

“Money and Happiness”

The adage "money changes everything" calls to mind a common cultural belief: if we just change the scenery of our lives, things will be better. The culture says: money will make you happy. The culture also says: if you're not happy, you need to make a change in some external aspect of your life- change your income, your job, your partner, your neighborhood.

We strive to find something outside ourselves that will finally enable us to feel important, safe, wealthy, content, good enough.

You might create or experience a change in your life, yet you notice that many of your problems are still there. You get a new job, start a new company, or inherit money, but you soon find the same old frustrations. You finally get that increase in income, yet you don't end up with the surplus you had anticipated.

(Earn More, Spend More = Still Not Satisfied)

You might find yourself saying, "if only" (If only I had never inherited, If only I had made a better career choice, If only I could take some time off) or "I'll be happy when . . . " (I get a bigger house, I lose twenty more pounds, I make the next million). When we hear ourselves using these phrases, they are phrases to our own dissatisfaction.

To make any change that is ultimately satisfying, we need to make shifts on the inside that support desired changes on the outside.

Our unresolved emotions (about money and other matters) keep us moving from one side of a polarity to another, e.g. happy/sad, secure/insecure, wealthy/poor, contented /restless.

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