Why can't people be happy with what they have?
by 
Highlander is semi-retired from AB
ANSWERS: 14
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The short answer is greed!
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Because the more we get the more we want!
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Two kinds of people in the world..the doughnut people and the doughnut hole people. I'm a doughnut person..grateful for what I have. The doughnut hole people are never grateful because they're too busy being unhappy about what others have that they don't.
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the media and sales techniques are geared that way, they set the standards of living, playing, eating, entertainment and more. we are brainwashed into "needing" things.
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I shall split this question: 1. Are people happy with what they have? 2. If not, why? I shall split the first question: 3. Can people feel happiness because of what they have? 4. Are people unhappy because they do not have everything they wish? As far as I am concerned, I feel happiness because of what I have. However, I have also also some wishes of having other things. But I would not be very unhappy if I could not get them, for some good reason. So I think I am quite happy with what I have. And I think also that the most important is not to have, but rather to be. Generally speaking, I find it is good to have some projects, but it would be better if they were not making you unhappy.
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Society wont let us, it rams the latest of everything down our throats at every given opportunity.
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Because they are discontented with themselves and their lives, and they always think the grass is greener on the other side
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Because others have more!
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Because the vast majority of people these days can not think for themselves. The only "truth" they know is what they see on TV. Obviously the Media (and the local news) tell us the whole truth and nothing but the truth ;) Many people are programmed from a childhood in front of the TV that TV is truth and the "real world" so if TV says you need, want or should feel, they do.
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They could, but that would be called complacency. And that goes against the core of human nature which is to always be striving for a better life.
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I am very happy about everyone and everything I have. There are things I also want and look forward to and work towards for my children and myself
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There are pessimists and their are optimists. Then there are those who are living without things that shouldn't be considered unnecessary. They would be realists. My father is, for example, a melancholic. He will always be miserable. He admitted that. He doesn't have a really bad life, he's just a miserable type. grrr. I'm not exactly happy with the way things are. But that's because I am multiply-disabled, and I don't even get medical care. I feel unhappy when there is something definitely wrong in my life. Otherwise, I am content. I allow myself to feel emotions that are warranted. The unhappiness that I feel is not the kind of unhappiness than any "normal" person feels. And no one but someone ostracised would be able to understand.
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Because we are a society that is programmed to believe more is better. The more stuff you have the wealthier you are. The more money you have the happier you are. etc. And the more you spend for the stuff the better it must be. All of it is BS. It doesn't matter if you make $40K or $100K so long as you live within your means. Stuff does not equal wealth. Stuff is an expense and does not retain it's value once purchased. There are some exeptions to that rule like your house, a rare coin or comic book, etc. But don't go out and buy a $2000 dollar Plasma TV and think you will be able to sell if for the same price a year later when you decide to get a bigger one.
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no, alas it is part of the human condition
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