Whenever there is a person working extremely hard for making money, this statement automatically pops-up from some known or unknown corner, “You must focus on your family time & happiness also. Money can’t buy happiness. Running after money is not good. True happiness is in giving others. So help others, and feel happy.”.
What is the origin of this thought process? If we look at the cultural background of India, it always depicts richness. There was a time when India was the richest country in the world, and that was not very long ago. People had different types of riches with them, including precious metals, gems & stones. Somewhere through the centuries, as we adopted the western morality, in came the sense of austerity & everyone started seeking happiness in helping others. While it is a noble cause to feel the need to help others, having the means to help others is a totally different ball game.
There are 2 main resources that we humans have to make, generate, develop or buy anything. The primary resource is TIME. The best part is that all of us have equal amount of time every day, irrespective of our backgrounds, country, education levels, knowledge, health or anything. The secondary resource is MONEY. It is widely said & believed that TIME = MONEY. We need to spend our time to make requisite amount of money. And then we spend our money to buy our needs & wants. How much money we make depends on how do we chose to spend our time. Some people spend time in building skills & then use the skills to make money. Others inherit the money, so they spend time in spending the money. The more money we want to make, the more time we need to spend.
This is where comes the actual difference between the rich & the poor. People either SPEND time or INVEST time for making or generating money. In most cases, where people spend time making money, they find it extremely difficult to part away with that money in the name of helping others. That is where education system induces morality into them to give money in charity. This form of helping others does not give the correct amount of happiness. It becomes part of a mandatory ritual rather than feeling. People give money in charity, but never feel the emotions of what change it would make in the life of the person receiving it. At that point, charity becomes useless.
The other case is of the people who invest time to generate money. They create a system, which keeps working for them. A point comes where the system generates money as well as time. This person can give money as well as time in charity. They see, feel & make differences in the life of the people receiving the money. They feel the happiness because they can see the change in others with their own eyes. They don’t stop at charity. They also help others in making money & also in generating money.
Money cannot buy happiness, but money can generate happiness. It totally depends on how you make money – EARN or GENERATE & how you use that money – SPEND or INVEST. There are many more things in life that are much more important than money. Things that can only be felt & experienced. Things that are not tangible, and hence cannot be given to someone or taken from someone. Money is not one of those. The best solution that just 3% people apply is to generate lots of money quickly, and then use the time & money effectively to lead a happy life. What’s the point of living entire life trying to generate money in small portions & then again keep repeating it every month. It’s neither the fulfilment of purpose of life, neither achievement of happiness.