Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Money and happiness

Some say money is very important, some say it ain't at all.
Some hold it'll get you most of the happiness you need, others say it won't.

Myself, I find it makes less of a change on the deeper levels than one might think.   Although it's certainly very practical to have in many situations. It's mainly one's attitude to it. You will see some people making $200,000 per year being at least as anxious about it as some people who earn $200.

I'd like to hear from people who have gone from being affluent to not being, or the other way around. How has this affected your life, and enjoyment of it?


TCGirl said:
I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has lost EVERYTHING - home, possessions, and job - like MANY have already done, in the US, and MANY STILL continue to do, in the current climate. It would be nice to hear if there was a ray of hope in any of it. 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Eo, great topic. Right now I make 17K a year as a special ed. Teacher's Aide. I live with my partner who makes about the same, in a cabin at the foot of the Catskills, NY. We don't own a t.v. or cell phone, yet we're all over the globe on the internet. I swim naked in the waterfall behind my house nearly every day in summer,
we enjoy wine on the weekends, and the stars at night are incredible up on this hill. Life is very very rich, though I think I have about 400.00 to my name. I only mention a number because it means so little. I divorced my wealthy husband 10 years ago and walked away from his very wealthy family.
I took nothing from the settlement. At present our car has 180,000 miles on it, and J. does the work on it himself. Life itself has somehow always provided in the moment what we have needed,
and our needs have become so streamlined, more and more LIFE shines through. The focus of my life has been on finding out what's really real, leaving the false behind.
Laurie

ttl said...

Some say money is very important, some say it ain't at all.

This implies that all money is the same. What I've discovered is that there's a vast difference in how any given sum of money has come to me.

I used to make a lot of money as an IT consultant, but the money thus obtained always felt somehow inflated, or dirty even. So I stopped doing it. Same with a few other businesses I've been involved.

Earning money through creative work feels the best. Or, when you've directly helped someone in a very concrete way.

It seems the current shift in consciousness makes us seek purity in all forms of energy exchange. Including that of money.

The amount of money in your possession at any given moment doesn't matter much. Abundance can come to you in so many other forms in addition to money.

ttl said...

I swim naked in the waterfall behind my house

Pics or it didn't happen. :-)

Ray said...

Speaking as an 'old fart', I can add that retirement usually acquaints us with the fundamentals of budgeting and living within our means, in case we haven't been in the habit of doing that.

Many of us put far too much emphasis on money and not nearly enough on the non-monetary aspects of life. We all need a certain amount of money to get along, but it shouldn't rule our lives.

Tommy said...

TTL said.. "Pics or it didn't happen. :-)" I agree, go for it Laurie. By the way, it would seem that we're relatively close neighbors..

Ray said.. "We all need a certain amount of money to get along, but it shouldn't rule our lives."

You know Ray, I agree with this for the most part. If you have what makes you feel comfortable (aka if the furnace breaks you can afford to get it fixed, etc). But, there is SO much greed in this world when it comes to money. It would be interesting to hear from someone that we feel is greedy and how it is justified to them in the real world. I say the real world because, once you are put in the ground, money is certainly less of an issue. Unless of course you find a way of taking it with you and can continue to use it (good trick).

Good subject EO...

Anonymous said...

Tommy, come on out my way I'll take you on a hike, and show you that waterfall.... I'm on the Shawangunk Ridge, it's a paradise.
One of my favorite things to do is show people around these hills.

ttl, I don't do nude photos, but I liked your comments re. the best ways to have money come to us. I agree it doesn't matter how much is in our acct. at any given time. The creativity, the spark, the outgoing spirit of life that's in us, that will do the trick of attracting whatever dollar bills we need for whatever's breaking down that week :)
Laurie

Michael Burton said...

Money is very important until you have enough.

I suppose everyone has a different notion of what "enough" means. For me, it means not having to worry about where your next meal will come from, or how you'll pay the rent, or whether you can afford to fix a leaky pipe.

Having enough isn't an unmixed virtue. I remember wanting to buy something that I couldn't immediately afford. There was pleasure in juggling resources to find enough for the purchase, and there was pleasure in weeks or months of anticipation of eventually having the thing. Now that I have enough money to buy almost anything I want without the need to skrimp and save, I miss out on those simple pleasures of poverty.

Anonymous said...

"simple pleasures of poverty," yeah, I know what you mean. We have no extra, but we have exactly what we need, and the little pleasures that come through are SUCH a pleasure. Life has gotten simpler, reactions to the (guaranteed) breakdowns diminished.

This is cliched, but I really believe in asking for the best, aiming and intending the best for myself. Flushing poverty consciousness down the toilet. I.e. when I moved up here from Baltimore, people said, You aren't going to make a living in that area unless you wait tables. It's too beautiful an area, it's all tourists. I didn't care, I had a roof over my head temporarily, and all I knew was that I had to live where there was great natural beauty. I would have lived in a tent at first, but not for long. I knew the work would come. Within 6 months I got a job working with kids in the public school system. Everything fell into place. I save and save for a really good pair of shoes, I hate cheap shoes, but I shop for clothes at Salvation army and find the coolest stuff there. We had friends come up and help us put in a garden, it was an all day "garden raising," and now we're eating fresh produce, nature's candy. We forget how sweet real food can be. The simple pleasures of poverty is such a far cry from "poverty consciousness," wouldn't you say?
Laurie

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

"I used to make a lot of money as an IT consultant, but the money thus obtained always felt somehow inflated, or dirty even."

I know you are far from alone in such feelings. I don't know, I never saw it.
Once I refused to sell a photo to a newspaper because I considered it a terrible, immoral rag. (Extrabladet.) But if I had done it, the money would just have been normal, welcome money to me. It would have been the cooperation with the newspaper which would have felt wrong.
Shouldn't one be able to change one's feelings about a particular batch of money? Shouldn't they be as neutral as sunshine?

ttl said...

Shouldn't one be able to change one's feelings about a particular batch of money? Shouldn't they be as neutral as sunshine?

It is your actions that matter. You don't want a deposit in your bank account if it means a withdrawal from your karmic account.

I pity those millionaires who've obtained their wealth through corruption and other dirty tricks. The karmic debt they have to pay when they wake up will be a terrible burden. No amount of comfort and luxury now is worth it.

Anonymous said...

Amen

Anonymous said...

I pity those millionaires who've obtained their wealth through corruption and other dirty tricks.

Dale Begg-Smith who made millions from malware.

Too bad karma doesn't exist.

Timo Lehtinen said...

Too bad karma doesn't exist.

You mean no one ever has remorse for their deeds?

The murderers who turn themselves in do so just to get rent free accommodation?

The Iraq veterans who commit suicide do so just out of curiosity?

Anonymous said...

You need to invest in a dictionary, because what you're describing isn't karma.

TC [Girl] said...

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has lost EVERYTHING - home, possessions, and job - like MANY have already done, in the US, and MANY STILL continue to do, in the current climate. It would be nice to hear if there was a ray of hope in any of it.

Anonymous said...

For people who have experienced that talking about it on the internet probably isn't their #1 priority.

TC [Girl] said...

Good point, Anonymous. I do, however, recall reading this very brief article, back when, and was just curious if there were more first-person accounts like his that were floating around. :-)

I just know that money can't buy true friendships which, to me, are the true wealth and happiness of life. :-)

TC [Girl] said...

Couldn't help myself, tonight: was listening to this song (one of my favorites) and thought about how fitting the lyrics are, in relation to this topic, particularly in a couple of spots: Jon wrote and sings "Blessed is the man who's lost it all" and...[the title of the song] 'Happy is a Yuppie Word.' (lyrics included :-)

TC [Girl] said...

Funny enough, I watched this movie, last night (after having discovered that my favorite band, 'Switchfoot,' had a song in it) and also discovered that it had a lot to do w/this very subject, as well! Funny the path that one gets on; isn't it?! :-)