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The media, especially social networks, have taken it upon themselves to sell the illusory idea of perfection, luxury, and eccentricities. There is not a day when we don’t wake up to a photo of a stunning model tanning by a pool in a large mansion or on a luxurious yacht, or the video of the boy driving around in an expensive half-million dollar sports car.
Concepts similar to the above exemplified have been mistakenly taken to be synonymous with fulfillment, success, and happiness, but how true is this pseudo-reality?
In our daily life of the working class that we are the great majority usually exists the thought resulting from endless working days, where the desire is mixed with the fantasy and we begin to dream with trips, tastes, and pleasures that the millionaires give themselves, we want to experience that life to be able to enjoy to fullness, convincing us that this way if we would be completely happy.
There is a dispute in the modern conscience between the good customs, ethical and moral norms confronted against the fundamental needs, the emotional stability and in an extreme, the desire of power, sustaining one of the parts the ideal that a hill of bills and bank accounts of multiple figures in euros and dollars are not the correct answer before all misfortune of the life.
But the other side of the coin shows us a group that responds based on the consumerism present in every corner of a society involved in an economic and labor crisis that has left an unparalleled financial depression in the family dinner and every head of household responsible for caring for their loved ones. It has not been possible to categorically affirm that money can buy happiness, but under certain conditions, it is capable of giving emotional peace of mind and in others, it is the trigger for much worse financial chaos, we will see.
The rich and negative emotions
If we decide to immerse ourselves in the world of the rich with the perception that all millionaires are happy and that the greater their fortune the greater their happiness, we will find ourselves with an enormous disappointment because not everyone is happy and a large proportion of their money is not synonymous with greater peace of mind, joy, satisfaction, and happiness.
Since multiple studies focused on psychology, personality and emotional stability have demonstrated that the human being after achieving sufficient income to cover his highest level of basic comfort, all that additional gain will not be able to bring him more or less happiness, but on the contrary, if he has the potential to subtract sadness in his daily environment, let us understand that less sadness is not equal to more happiness, nor the opposite.
Talking about emotions, in general, is quite a wide territory and with multiple paths to follow, however, we can segment certain patterns in the world of millionaires based on scientific findings, one of them has to do with the origin of fortune, it is not the same to become a millionaire after much effort, dedication and hard work where the result is the product of your own merits than those who have simply received a large inheritance or have been the lucky winners of a millionaire lottery.
In the case of having received an inheritance or winning the lottery, in the first instance it is a blow of adrenaline and joy that invades this person by the imagination of all the things he or she will do and very probably in most cases unbridled greed.
Making so many repressed desires come true will turn that money into a powerful double-edged weapon capable of destroying him or her and subsequently two scenarios will be presented, In the first scenario, the individual will spend his money to the point of becoming in a worse state than before he had no money, in the second he will be filled with terror at finding himself unable to produce by his own means an equal amount of money if he were to lose it, and in this order of ideas an endless number of other things will happen but none of them will promote constant happiness as the experts have seen in almost all the cases studied.
On the other hand, we have the millionaire who built his own empire, the one who knows how to get up from every fall and defeat, who if he lost everything would get it back because he knows the game of money but that advantage does not make him immune to other types of negative statuses such as certain self-centered emotions governed by pride and self-satisfaction, greed and hunger for power, the personality of these individuals if not molded with other humanitarian and noble characteristics there is the possibility that it is a person unpleasant and lacking in empathy for most people around him as concluded by the scientists responsible for that study.
Qualities of money
There is a precedent in the collective consciousness that has been taxed by years of history, culture and not entirely clear teachings regarding money, which have saturated thought with ideas taken out of context in an attempt to dominate or manipulate certain groups such as those expressions of the type “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven” with the erroneous understanding that the rich will hardly have a share in the benefits of a future life among the believers of the Bible.
Being that this expression is only referring to a different process and the eye of the needle mentioned in the bible has to do concretely with an opening in the walls of the ancient Jewish fortresses where in certain periods the people who were going to enter had to make the camel they brought loaded with merchandise kneel down to be able to enter and this as a security measure before the enemies, was a very common and clearly possible practice, a little uncomfortable but perfectly feasible, I was not talking about a needle of cooking obviously, in which case if it would be impossible.
These beliefs form misinterpreted sources have caused much damage in generations that unconsciously and consciously have been self-sabotaging financially, other phrases like “I prefer to be poor but honest” and a number of similar expressions have left a destructive basis in the midst of society for the perception of money, especially in the working class and those with scarce resources, reaching the point of confusing poverty with humility.
In fact, of these two words I have found people who use them as a synonym and that is an abysmal error, because there are people with a lot of money with such a humble heart that they seem to be angels from heaven who in their life give more than they receive selflessly for the good of others.
However I have met people with limited resources to whom I have tried to collaborate kindly but their attitudes towards me and their environment were very self-centered, despotic and very lacking in humility when they were being given a helping hand.
To state categorically that money corrupts people is like saying that air destroys everything in its path based only on those great tornadoes that have wreaked havoc in different regions, forgetting that thanks to the air we can breathe and life on planet earth is possible. On the other hand, to say that working people of the lower and middle class are more honest, compassionate and generous, is like saying that every stream of water is healthy, forgetting that there are bitter and polluted waters.
Entering in context we can see that taking positions lightly with respect to something without analyzing many additional elements is something really counterproductive, categorizing money as bad or good is something very subjective, because it is neither bad nor good, it is both depending on who owns it, who manages it and the set of perceptions and experiences learned from who uses it.
Without money it is impossible to build churches and temples, schools and universities, to support charitable foundations that give support to the needy, to create channels of development for the community and society in general, however, money can also finance wars, promote drug trafficking and a host of other illegalities, so it is very important to define why you want money, learn and teach to find happiness in noble causes where the money is not the objective pursued, but a simple means or tool that helps in your process to happiness.
Money as a tool
Finding the emotional state that allows you to live well, have what you need, be able to give you certain tastes and pleasures, and stay motivated in an atmosphere that provides comfort, tranquility and happiness to a greater or lesser extent is the desire of every human being.
This is possible by combining several elements in everyday life, one of them is typified with the power to have enough resources to achieve proposed objectives, among which are economic resources, emotional resources and cognitive resources with enough motivation and organization to make you get up every morning to fight against all odds to reach your goal honestly.
Looking at money as an objective or a final goal is like chasing a unicorn that you can never possess, by this I mean that the more money you earn, the more money you want and at no point will it be enough for you, tirelessly reaching the same hole of dissatisfaction in which many millionaires find themselves today for not creating solid foundations for happiness in the midst of their fortunes.
To money, you must see it as a partner that as long as the status quo between you is maintained, the collaboration will be unquestionable but when that balance is broken, doubts and conflicts of interest will appear as birds of prey to devour everything in their path. In your partnership with money it is fundamental to effectively seek to grow your intellect or what has been called today as financial IQ, but so must your capacity for self-discovery and introspective analysis of your inner self with respect to every detail that gives you satisfaction, confidence, security, well-being in the face of those that generate discomfort, fear, anger and distrust, in order to establish a healthy balance for you.
It is not healthy to focus on pursuing money by building multiple sources of income but investing all of our time, since you must also build a home, solid and strong relationships with your spouse or partner, with your children, your parents and other loved ones, with your friends, colleagues and partners outside of any work environment, because genuine relationships are the only ones capable of filling gaps that money cannot.
People of high value in your environment are those who would be with you even though you have nothing and who would strive for your well-being against all the typical incidences and tragedies of life, that is something that cannot be bought with money but that grants such great happiness that nothing else can match it.
Learning to differentiate between the person who approaches you selflessly and the one who only wants to benefit from you is a quality of great value that you must practice and master rather than mastering the game of money which you must also learn.
Of course, money opens doors for you, allows you to enjoy goods and services, gives you access to unparalleled comforts, which is good enough, but what if you don’t have anyone to genuinely share and celebrate all that with? Think about it.
When you build a business or a new source of income it must be oriented to satisfy the concrete needs of your clients through quality goods and services, the impulse to create lasting relationships with them must be focused on their comfort and not on your benefits, both to reach that goal and to reach more clients you need money, knowledge, and enthusiasm in your project, in this case we see three tools of multiple that exist where the money is one of them and not a final objective.
You should never forget to balance your time because investing everything along with your effort to your work environment will take away the possibility of creating moments, memories and memorable experiences with your loved ones, that when it is their turn to leave this world you will not be able to retain more time to share with them what your work, business and the desire for money prohibited you.
As we see, on the road to happiness money is significant but as a tool that must be part of a set of elements and not as a whole that absorbs the importance of other fundamental things in life.
