Stuff Matters

This morning I was pondering about mankind’s quest for happiness and how we are meant to find it, it seems to be some kind of mythical creature at times. I magical dragon everyone is in search of.

Of course, like many others, I did not find the be all and end all answer to everyone’s questions on happiness, but I did have a thought.

Not having all the things I would love to have in life does at times make me feel unhappy. So surely having them will make me happy, or at the very least help me to feel it. Surely happiness isn’t all about the inward search.

Having my car makes me feel happy, my pets make me feel happy, even having my computer makes me feel happy and having a comfortable bed definitely helps make me feel happy. The outward stuff does seem to help. It is why so many of us dream of winning the lotto and being super rich, not only do we get to help others but we get to eliminate financial worry and have stuff in our lives that we want.

Of course this is not the complete picture, we all still need to find that inner joy, but it is part of the picture, Yin and Yang.

We can’t expect all of our happiness to come from within. We are only human after all. It is about keeping a balance and bringing opposites together and merging them to create a whole.

So yes, outward things, circumstances and people won’t bring you all the happiness you desire but neither will the constant inner search for joy and love. We all need to be able to bring the two together and blend them into the pictures we want for our lives.

I realise I may be sounding controversial and a lot of people may argue with me about how inner happiness is important and all the outward stuff isn’t. I won’t say they are wrong as we all have our own belief systems that are right for us.

What I do know is that when I am worrying about something, such as money, my car or my home, that worry and that feeling of lack is robbing me of feelings of love, happiness and gratitude and when I don’t have the need to worry about these things, my life feels joyful and abundant.

I am not saying, go out and be greedy and grab all the things you can but take a moment and think about what you would like to have in your life that will take away your stress and worries and allow you to focus on what is important to you.

It is a delicate balance, too much or too little from one side can bring unease.

In our quests for love and happiness, I think we need to stop worrying about making the outer stuff too important and feeling guilty because we are not focusing on our inner joy enough.

Release any guilt associated with material things, they are a part of our lives and we should accept them as we embrace our inner selves.