Happier with less

by Raymund Tamayo

Would you be happier if you were spending less?

Personally, I don’t see the connection between happiness and how I spend. Happiness is a state of mind rather than a financial state.

Someone who doesn’t have a lot of money can experience the same kind of happiness and satisfaction – or more – just as much as his wealthy next door neighbor.

In the case of my family, we can live more expensively, but we chose not to. We chose not to because we know what our values are and we want our resources to nurture only those values.

We value health and relationships, passions, spiritual and personal growth, and contributing to the greatness in others. These are the things we want to focus on, rather than spending 2,000 pesos in dining out every day (although we can afford it).

The question should not be “if you were spending less,” because we’re already living minimally and we can’t live less expensively than we’re doing now. These are already our essential expenses to be happy.

But I understand. The point is: It will never end when you seek after stuff for happiness.

The more you have, the more you want, and you’ll never be satisfied. When you reduce to your essentials, you want less, which means you are happy with what you have.

With less stuff, everything you have can be your favorite. You can only have the things that you like and give value to your life.

Living with the essentials is possible. Try it. You will surprise yourself and be happy(ier).