When we buy anything, we pay a price for it. What does this price really signify? Let’s take an example of a Car. When we buy a car there is some part of it that goes to the dealership for maintaining the showroom and staff and putting in the time for running the showroom. So what’s the real price of the Car? The dealer got it from the manufacturer. The manufacturer maintains the production facility and the labours for manufacturing the car, and then there is the cost of the raw material. Now, where does this raw material come from? The metal for the car is mined and processed by the mining industry. But what’s the real price of this raw material? It’s actually free.

Modern economics tells us that human wants are unlimited. The desire for more can never be satisfied and thus competition and scarcity is inevitable. But is this really the case? In my previous blog post, I talked about our requirements and we were able to differentiate our requirements into two types: Physical Non-Physical The concept of unlimited wants has to be understood in this reference. Let’s look at it in detail. When we are talking about unlimited wants, we are essentially saying that we get happy by satisfying our wants and because we want unlimited happiness, our wants are also unlimited. Now when looking into the wants, we realise that these two types of wants are characteristically different. The physical wants are the ones we

We are happy when all our requirements are fulfilled. But before these can be fulfilled, we need to know what our requirements really are. Before reading ahead, try to make a list of all the things that you feel you require for happiness. The list may include food, clothing, shelter, car, love, meaning, fame, respect and whatever else that you can think of. Go ahead, do it. I’ll wait. . . . Now assuming that you have made your list, let’s classify these requirements into two types : Physical – The ones that you can see, touch, smell, etc. Non-physical – The ones that are related to the mind and feelings. The physical ones would include things like food, home/office, clothes and accessories, means of

It might be worthwhile to also talk about unhappiness. Whenever we are feeling unhappy, it maybe of 3 kinds: Due to lack of things. Due to problems in relationships. Due to lack of understanding. All issues that make us unhappy can be categorised into one or more of these. For instance, diseases or health issues are a combination of 1 (e.g. lack of antibodies against a virus) and 3 (lack of understanding of health). And until the issues stay, we might not be happy. The unhappiness due to lack of things stays until we get the thing or realise that we don’t need that thing to be happy. Similarly, unhappiness due to problems in relationships goes away as soon as we learn to live in

What’s the destination of happiness? Is it to be found in the plethora of things outside or would it be found within us? It is possible to think that the chocolate we eat is what gives us happiness. But looking more closely, the sweetness of chocolate interacts with our tongue and then we interpret it as happiness. If you have already had a load of chocolates before eating the last one, the same chocolate might taste bland or even horrible if you’ve had too many. If the happiness is in the chocolate, why does it’s quality change? You might be happy sitting in a bicycle, and you might be sad sitting in a Mercedes. You might be happy with your stomach empty and might be

There are 3 kinds of Happiness : Happiness from Things Happiness from Relations Happiness from Understanding Happiness from Things A tasty meal makes us happy. A chocolate makes us happy. A new bicycle or car, new clothes, toys, etc. makes us happy. These are the examples of happiness that we get from things. The happiness that we get from things is short-term. It exists till the thing exists or the newness of the thing exists or someone else doesn’t get a better thing than you. Happiness from Relations Spending time with friends and family, having discussions with colleagues, playing with siblings, etc. are examples of happiness that we get from relationships. This type of happiness is long-term. Our mutually fulfilling interactions with our loved ones

How much happiness is enough? Would it be fine if we are happy once a week? Or for 2-3 hours a day? Is it acceptable to be sad or stressed even for a moment? The thing is, we want perpetual happiness. Not a single moment of sadness is acceptable to us. Because our experiences till now have been that of a mixture of happiness and sadness, we might feel that perpetual happiness isn’t possible. These are the examples we have been giving ourselves – there is day and night, hot and cold, light and dark and similarly there is happiness and sadness. But looking at ourselves at a deeper level, we would see that sadness even for a moment is unacceptable to us. Deep down,

It’s a simple question. Why do we do what we do? Why do we do anything at all? Let’s say you are a student. So why are you studying? You might say – To become an engineer. So why do you want to become an engineer? Because as an engineer you would be able to earn money. Why do you want to earn money? Because with money you can buy things? Why do you want to buy things? Because things give you happiness. Whatever you do, start asking a series of Why questions about Why you do something and you’re sure to land on one single word – Happiness. Whatever we humans do, we do it for happiness. Try thinking of something that you do