Money is like coffee – Explore the path to happiness!
Hello Coffee Lovers! I know you will relate to this post. Others needn’t worry! You will learn a whole lot from this.
During your childhood, your pocket money was $2 when you went to school. It makes you feel good to be able to buy your favourite food at the shop now that you have money. Sometimes you pay for the test (like chocolate) and some time to feed your tummy as you feel hungry. Now that your money is spent, you still feel good because you enjoyed spending it, and your stomach is full.
Remember those days when you had no money left to eat at lunchtime because you spent all your money on toys. That is the time you will feel the pain and worry about how to stay the second half. There was no joy. It seems so simple as we need to manage a few hours.
Think about a situation in which you lose your job and spend all your money on entertainment. You have to wait for weeks and months until you find a new job. It is similar, but the waiting time is longer.
Today we will discuss – How to stay happy and confident while you don’t have money? How to think and tackle the situation? Understand how the brain works in a difficult situation? How does our brain work under the hood?
Money is like Coffee
When you have a cup of coffee, you feel stimulated, which makes you feel confident and makes you accomplish your tasks faster. After a few hours, the effect is gone, you feel low, and the work is still not done. Money is similar to coffee. The moment you have money, you feel on top of the world and start spending. As soon as you have spent your money, your confidence disappears. You feel lonely and sad and disappointed.
We will talk about managing the difficult situation when you don’t have the stimulation like money. Fear of not having money always holds us back not to take a step forward.
When do we feel anything?
Researchers have shown that neurons in the brain communicate with each other, to create a sense when we experience something. This sense can be one of confidence or fear, depending on experience.
Take two examples:
When you see your loved one, you get a sense of happiness. You remember those days you were with the person, and you enjoyed being with them.
When you meet someone with whom you have had a bad experience, your mind generates an emotion of anger/sadness.
Our feelings are the result of our interpretation of a situation based on our experiences!
How coffee make us feel good?
Research shows that drinking coffee stimulates the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine produces the euphoria and pleasant feelings that people often associate with their first cup of coffee in the morning.
In our mind there are a lot of chemicals, some are good and make us feel good, while others create anxiety and self-doubt or interfere with our ability to think clearly. Studies have shown that coffee can create a chemical (dopamine, a neurotransmitter) that makes us feel good and able to think clearly.
How money make us feel good?
As soon as we have money, our neurons produce a sense of joy and confidence since we have had a positive experience with money. From childhood when we have money we are more confident and happy.
Our prior good experiences with things also create a mental craving for those as those are the things that can bring happiness. The first time we got money from our first job, we bought gifts for a parent or friend or ourselves. We feel good about it and create a good memory. Our minds crave for the same experience again and again. It creates an illusion that money is happiness.
Why do we feel unsatisfactory even when we have enough money to fill our basic needs?
As a human, we tend to believe what people say. People share their bad experiences of not having enough money. We keep negative experience information faster, in our brain as a protection against harm. When we think we do not have enough money, our minds will pull one by one all the negative experience stories that we have heard or seen and make us unhappy.
How we can bring happiness when we don’t have money?
The simple answer is Yes, But How?
Building happy (+ve) memories!
While writing this blog, I asked the above question, below is the response. Afterward, I analysed my inner intuition, and now it all makes sense.
When I experience happiness, what causes it?
- When I have a great conversation with friends and family members.
- When I helped someone without expectation.
- When I reach my goal.
- When I am healthy.
- When I inspire someone.
- When I get a job offer or get a promotion.
According to research, we have three types of happiness
- Instant (Some hours) – Coffee, Good news!
- Short term (Some days or week) – Money or Buy a car or bike. You get money in return for giving help.
- Long term (Months or Year) – Helping others and not getting anything in return is long-term happiness.
Give and stay happy forever!
Our general intuition is when we get something that gives us pleasure. However, when we give something and expect nothing in return, that is the time when we feel good and happy.
Create memories of giving, that will make you solid, regardless of whether you have money or not.
“If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay, mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of longer and happier lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.
~ Harvard Study of Adult Development
Build healthy relationships and stay happy forever!
Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay, mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of longer and happier lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.
~ Harvard Study of Adult Development
“Personal connection creates mental and emotional stimulation, which are automatic mood boosters, while isolation is a mood booster,”
~ Dr. Waldinger.
This is also an opportunity to focus on positive relationships and let go of negative people in your life, or at least minimize your interactions with them.
Summary:
As human beings, we have greater power to feel things that are not in front of us. Our subconscious mind always alerts us we have a problem. It can be a very small or a big problem like not having money, not having the skill of others, comparing yourself to others, and many others.
Once you find a way out of the constant betel of your mind, you will be free to be happy, confident. The mind betel will always be with us, but we can suppress them by doing small habit changes.
- Be a Giver: Offer help, be a volunteer to make a difference in other’s life.
- Strong Relationship: Build your social circle with deep connections, and you can count on them in your difficult situation.
The subconscious mind stops bothering us when we have money because we feel assured that we are not in danger. But it will come back soon once your money is spent. You will find peace in your mind, no matter what the situation is if you develop strong relationships and a habit of helping others.
Actions on you:
- See what kind of happiness you are experiencing in your life.
- Find out how you can be long-term happy.
- Compare happiness with busyness.
- Remember your phase of life where you were happy without money.
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Thanks, Eun 🙂