Abundant Life?

Everybody wants to have an abundant life. Some people feel that they are entitled more to it than others, but essentially we all want to live abundantly. To each one the standard of abundance may differ, but it almost does not matter. We may be rich or poor, healthy or in sickness, but there is this gnawing thirst to be satisfied and be happy.

Living in abundance means that we are not in need. This does not mean having things in excess or insurmountable things, but simply living happily and satisfactorily.

Throughout the ages humanity has been trying endlessly to find the key to happiness/abundant living. Ranging from psychological manipulation, wealth accumulation, positive thinking movement, secret society, religion, drugs, alcohol, and sex – all are human attempts to make themselves “happy” and living abundantly – and all of them seems to not scratch where it itches, at least for long and permanently. People always invent new ways of doing those thing in a new light, with a new twist, combining recipes, etc – in hope to find the ultimate way (and easy) to find permanent happiness and abundant living.

If we filter down and try to find a silver lining among the approaches that human have tried to find abundance in their lives, typically they are all boiled down to self-centered. In hind sight, this totally makes sense – since we are in need (not abundance) and unhappy, therefore we must strive to satisfy ourselves by finding whatever that will make me happy and satisfy my desires.

To be wholesomely happy then, we need to apply this to all areas of our lives, such as monetary, relationship, technology, food, entertainment, etc. How does this work?

In financial/monetary, we then strive to accumulate money as much as possible, so then we can feel that we are secured and able to buy things that we desire – and therefore resulting in happiness.

In our relationship, we then try to find friends that are not in conflict with us and as much as possible to be compatible. This will reduce tendency to conflict and emotional baggage that will consume our lives mentally and introduce more needs – which leads to unhappiness.

In finding our soul-mate or spouse, we uphold high the compatibility factor, since the more compatible you are, the happier you will be.

It is quite safe to say that we often consider that selfishness is the key to success in attaining abundant life. Our culture certainly says so – with all the movies, reality shows, contests, game shows, video games, music, fashion, commercials, books, and punditry.

Is SELFISHNESS really the KEY to SUCCESS in finding abundant living?