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.
One of the things psychologists used to say was that if you are depressed, anxious or angry, you couldn't be happy. Those were at opposite ends of a continuum. I believe that you can be suffering or have a mental illness and be happy - just not in the same moment that you're sad.
For now I'm happy the way I am – short and plump. I would not go in for Botox or anything like that. I'm content with the way I look. What's wrong with looking like Susan Boyle? What's the matter with that?
Only a man who is happy can create happiness in others.
I was born lucky, and I have lived lucky. What I had was used. What I still have is being used. Lucky.
An alcoholic father, poverty, my own juvenile diabetes, the limited English my parents spoke - although my mother has become completely bilingual since. All these things intrude on what most people think of as happiness.
You ask me what I'd like to do that I haven't done and I say 'Nothin'!' I haven't any mountains to climb or oceans to swim. I've been an extremely blessed individual. ... I'm not clamorin' for more trinkets. If I were to die tomorrow, I could say I've had a good life.
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