What do we “need” to be happy?

For many of us we are always wanting more – we think we would be happier if we had such and such—a new flashy car, designer jeans with bells and whistles on the butt, $70 Ed Hardy T-shirts, the nicest cosmetics, new, new, new, and more, more, more STUFF! Not going to lie, the best of us can struggle with this. Maybe we should pause for a moment and hear what struggling people throughout poverty-stricken areas would like to make them happier: 1. “Having enough to eat for ourselves and our family so when we go to sleep at night our stomach doesn’t ache, or even worse, we won’t die.” 2. “Having shoes on our feet and any kind of clothing to keep the cold out.” 3. “Having a roof over our head.” 4. “Having the hope that we’ll be lucky enough to get some kind of an education.” 5. “Having clean water–water clean enough to drink and remain alive.”  6. “Having access to some sort of medical attention for ourselves and our children.”  etc…

Take a moment and compare global priorities in spending in the year 2000 (source: globalissues.org):

Now compare the above statistics to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

I’m not telling anyone what we should spend our money on. All I ask is that we think about these issues—in doing so, I strongly feel that we would be inspired to give a little more and spend less on frivolous things. I can’t help but cringe when I hear what some people say they “need.” Next time we think we need something to enhance our happiness in life, stop and think about these things. Stop and think how truly blessed we are; stop and think how blessed we are to give!