Is having a lot of material goods a help or hindrance to happiness?

3.) Is having a lot of material goods a help or hindrance to happiness? Why are some people able to be happy with little, while others with more are miserable?

Mark this one down as one of the biggest misconceptions. Material goods, contrary to popular belief, have no long term effect on one’s happiness. This is not to say that in sporadic moments material goods may provide happiness. They most certainly do – just look at Christmas, or your birthday – but soon these emotions wear off. Possessions you were so excited about now just take up space. It is part of the great consumer market of America – give people something, and keep improving it, and they’ll keep buying it. How many people do you know who’ve gone through multiple generations of ipods, computers, and other popular items? And it’s exciting at first. Some people want to flaunt it and others just want it because it’s cool. But everything, over time, takes its place in history, where, ‘yeah, we remember it, but why was it so special?’ happens. There are very few things in life that our continuous over time, and none of these are material possessions. Even a clock will skip a second in a gazillion years. A solar powered flashlight will be replaced by a more effective type of flashlight sometime down the road. So, what has escaped the perils of time? What can not be upgraded, wear off, or be forgotten? Only love. There are many derivatives of love, but ultimately they all come down to one basic question – was it in spate or kindness? And thus forth, no object can make one happy, but the meaning surrounding the object can. You know, the old blanket that you’ve had since you were born, the old wedding gown, the necklace your mother gave you right before she died, etc. Sometimes we don’t even know why we keep things, but even without realizing it, they serve a special, unique, subconscious reminder of love. This is why it’s not material goods that determines our happiness, it is the simple gestures of love – such as giving gifts of material goods. Wealth does not determine happiness, luxuries do not determine happiness, not even luck determines happiness. You can be a billion dollars in debt and be the happiest person in the world if you have people to love, and people who love you. Likewise, you can be worth more than all but five countries and be the most unhappy person in the world. You see, if material goods have no effect on one’s long term happiness, then they can not be a hindrance to being happy – only a misconception.