I’m wondering why people often ask for abundance n their lives, instead of being happy with having enough. I understand wanting a bit on the side in case of emergencies, or to help others. But isn’t some people having abundance part of the reason that others don’t have enough.
If you’re not satisfied with enough, why would having more than enough make you any happier?
It confuses me. Any explanations?
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Which people do you mean? Religious people? Americans? British? Who are these people? 
Or the greedy super wealthy 1% that needs more and more and is never satisfied?
demifeministgal
Level 8
Nov 5, 2019
0
Everyone living in the first/ western world. Especially those into self help and life coaching.
@girlwithsmiles well then I disagree that it is everyone in the western world... probably there is a trend, particularily among your friends or people you associate with, but not everyone is preoccupied with abundance. It just seems that way because too many are.
@demifeministgal Mmm yes, sorry. I didn’t read the post properly before I responded, doh. Not everyone, but many.
Research backs that, too. After the point of having our basic needs met, more money does not make people more happy.
On a related note, Jeff Bezos makes more EVERY DAY than I will earn in my entire lifetime.
A2Jennifer
Level 8
Oct 31, 2019
2
I don’t know who that is, but it’s a bit freaky isn’t it? I guess we have to try not to think about it too much. My ex made twice as much as me and my brother makes more than 5 times as much!
@girlwithsmiles Jeff Bezos (the CEO of Amazon) is the richest person on the planet. "The average American man with a bachelor's degree will earn about $2.2 million in his lifetime. Bezos makes that in just under 15 minutes."
Here are some interesting (and I must say, disturbing) facts about how much money that is:
@Lauren gosh, I see. Well I do hope that he does thinks about the global impact of what he does. I heard they don’t treat their staff that well and try to use eBay instead!
There may be a difference between "abundance" and "too much." Some believe that it's possible for everyone to have abundance, and those taking an excessive amount keep that from happening for the rest of us.
Lauren
Level 8
Oct 31, 2019
1
So this may be a case of my taking things too literally? The dictionary definition is more than enough.
[dictionary.cambridge.org]
It seems no one feels they have too much, but some people recognise they have enough. A number of lottery winners have failed to spend their money on themselves for example:
[aol.co.uk]
@girlwithsmiles I think "more than enough" could be broadly interpreted by some people. For some, a million dollars isn't enough, while the vast majority can't even imagine having enough, let alone an abundance. So, yes, I agree with your original premise, that some people with wildly extreme definitions of enough are impeding the ability of the rest to have enough. For those who don't have enough, yes, acquiring more than enough will make them happier.
Someone once said that if we could make everyone a nice well insulated weather proof box, like a coffin, and then persuade them to lie in it the whole time when they finished work, plus eat just a good nourishing gruel. Then not only would you solve all the worlds major problems at a stroke, but we would probably only have to work three or four hours a week for that sort of lifestyle.
Fernapple
Level 9
Oct 31, 2019
1
Wow, gaming must be a step in the right direction then! Lols.
Firstly, I think it's more a matter of being content, not so much happy. Secondly, it largely depends upon one's own definition of what constitutes enough, and whether or not that definition keeps changing as one reaches the goals thereof, i.e. that is, the definition expands, usually in the sense of including more and more stuff, but not always.
An example of that very last point is food, when it becomes not so much a matter of amount, but type and quality. For example, insisting upon getting only organically grown.
Is broadcast television enough, or does one -have- to have cable/satellite? Or does one have to have internet streaming shows? Which raises the question of how much bandwidth is enough?
bingst
Level 8
Oct 31, 2019
2
Yes, but some of that is about education and the long game, anyone growing up in an arable area where the water table has been effected by nitrates understands that paying for organic is a worthwhile thing, never mind the microbeastie population impact.
I remember talking to a friend’s father who lived in socialist Spain, the number of shoes that people owned, (in Australia, where we both lived at the time), still confused him and he put his case forward in such a way that I totally understood him.
I’m talking more of quantity rather than quality. People will always want to change to improved services as they become available: but a tv in every room?
In part it is because we are programed by nature to be unhappy, because if we ever gained happiness then we would stop running after it. And the whole point of happiness is to keep us running, as far as nature is concerned, pain and happiness are to all animals like the carrot and the stick to the proverbial donkey. At the same time we have no pre-evolved mechanisms to deal with the attempts made by human culture, which came after evolution and could not therefore be understood beforehand, to redirect our programing, so that it is easy for the people who control culture to fool us into thinking that abundance equals happiness.
Fernapple
Level 9
Oct 31, 2019
1
Mmm yes, perhaps that’s true, just as many of us don’t seem to have an evolved hypothalamus that will stop us eating foods that aren’t nutritious, they are tricked by puffy snags.
But the beauty of the human mind is that we can question and improve, adapt and change isn’t it?
Self control can be a tricky thing though can’t it?
Some people with low empathy and a desire for power are willing to deny others things they need, to make them powerless; thus, they are motivated to take all, or whatever part they can manage.
EdEarl
Level 8
Oct 31, 2019
1
Very true, those with no empathy really need to be identified early and have an eye kept on them. They can achieve so much, and be so deadly!
Human inventions such as agriculture and money have created surpluses that turn ordinary commodities into supernormal stimuli. It’s an evolutionary glitch which will likely figure in to the extinction of our species. We have created evolutionary mismatch for ourselves which is essentially the cause of all extinctions, though rarely self-created as in our case.
skado
Level 9
Oct 31, 2019
1
Mmm I wonder what would have happened if all cultures had, ‘developed’ at the same speed?
Reminds me of a quote some people said Gandi made about western civilisation, that it would be a good idea.
If we had of kept up many of the pagan society ideas of balance and respecting the earth we wouldn’t have got into this mess. In the uk they even had rules such as putting fish remains back in the river where they came from. Makes sense to me.
Evolution lost its way when it started pooping where it ate as far as I can see, the world’s not as big a sandpit as some people seem to think.
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