Despite people's fixation on what they don't have, happiness does not often come from what you don’t have, but from what you do. The problem with this is that people never know what they do have until it is taken away from them. Therefore becoming happy is not about changing your situation or gaining more property, but in appreciating the positives/things you do have, however small they may be.
Only after doing that can you truly appreciate the new things that come into your life, or put the proper perspective on to how important they actually are.
Many people spend so long focusing on what they don't have, they never realise what they do have.
I should add a caveat though, as sometimes happiness can even be found in what you don’t have. For example, someone who drives everywhere may not get the same enjoyment from travel gained by someone who walks or cycles to many places, and so gets to enjoy the air, the flowers and other things which the first person doesn't even notice exist. The first person will also miss out on the health benefits gained by the walkers and cyclists.
It's interesting what you can learn from your reasonably well off family losing everything in your early teens - even ending up practically homeless - only to grow up and realise that your friends who didn't have such an experience (and remained quite well off) were on the whole far more miserable. Poor rich people lol
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22, entrepreneurial and diagnosed with High Functioning Autism, ADHD, OCD and Tourettes. Also have problems with Anxiety, and more recently depression, although I seem to returning to my optimistic self =)