We only need so much to survive, but this world we live in tells us we need more stuff to be happy. We're inundated with our televisions, the Internet and advertising that says in order to be happy you have to have these things. When you say, 'Gimme, gimme, gimme,' you will always be in short supply.
Interpretation
True happiness comes from within, rather than from material possessions.
In this quote, Wayne Dyer emphasizes that survival requires minimal needs, yet society pressures individuals to accumulate more possessions for happiness. He warns that the constant desire for more—fueled by media and advertising—can lead to perpetual dissatisfaction, suggesting that fulfillment must be sought internally rather than externally.
In practice
During a seminar on happiness, this quote can be shared to illustrate the difference between material wealth and true happiness.
What is hope but a feeling of optimism, a thought that says things will improve, it won't always be bleak, there's a way to rise above the present circumstances. Hope is an internal awareness that you do not have to suffer forever, and that somehow, somewhere there is a remedy for despair that you will come upon if you can only maintain this expectancy in your heart.
Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.
Live forgiveness every day rather than just talking about it on Sunday.
Say to Yourself when Someone Else is Criticizing U, 'What U Think of Me is None of My Business'
Conflict is a violation of harmony. If you participate in it, you're part of the problem, not the solution.
My own eight children all march to the beat of their inner music, and in some cases, it is definitely far away from what I hear. I've had to honor their instincts and their choices, and merely guided them out of harm's way until they could be their own guides.
Advice for a human. 81. You can't find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third most important thing. It comes after loving and being. 82. If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.
Authentic happiness is not linked to an activity, it is a state of being.
There is no obligation on us to be richer, or busier, or more efficient, or more productive, or more progressive, or any way worldlier or wealthier, if it does not make us happier.
This is my creed: Happiness is the only good; reason the only torch; justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.
Happiness. It was the place where passion, with all its dazzle and drumbeat, met something softer: homecoming and safety and pure sunbeam comfort. It was all those things, intertwined with the heat and the thrill, and it was as bright within her as a swallowed star.
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.
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