I heard a story once about this very topic. I have repeated it many times when speaking to people about happiness and money.
People who have so much they want for nothing are not nearly as happy as people who will bend a knee to pick up a penny.
Imagine, if you had uncountable funds available at your disposal, would you pick up a penny? Would you be happy to have found a penny? Would it even matter to you?
Now imagine you have no money at all. Would you bend a knee to pick up a penny, and would you be happy doing so? Of course, matter of fact, the opportunity would avail itself, if you paid attention to your surroundings, to pick up several pennies every day. And each time doing so you experience happiness.
It's the person that wants for nothing that suffers, not the person who wants for everything. There are so many opportunities to literally find happiness everyday in the form of a penny, or the form of some scrappable or re-marketable treasure someone else has discarded, that I believe those of us who do so end up living a much more fulfilling and happy life, than those who have untold millions and see the world through eyes that desire nothing because anything can be had, for a price.
For us, it's like winning the lottery everyday.
Scott
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