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Any regular reader of personal finance advice has heard about a million times that one of the keys to reducing and avoiding debt and living within one’s means it to end the pattern of trying to keep up with neighbors. Do not buy fancy cars, engage with mortgages for big houses, or take on new credit card purchases in order to make your outward appearance more positive in the eyes of others. This is sound advice and I will likely be writing about it in the future. What this post is about, however, is the bigger lesson here: happiness is relative.

I say happiness is relative because I know many people with very little who are very happy, and many people with a lot of stuff that are not happy at all. They may look happy, smiling as they drive their new cars to a high-paying job in a booming industry, but they cannot honestly tell you they love themselves, their lives, the world, and what they are doing with their limited time on Earth. They are the same people who will die too soon and leave little behind other than a name and a social security number.

The key to living a happy life is not to accrue many things, but rather to find joy in the little things that are already happening. Piggy-back rides, hot showers, and dreams about falling in love are all positive messages that tell us life is fun. One does not need high-end, expensive binoculars to enjoy a rainbow for a reason.

Life is complex and meaningful in many ways, but none of them require money. While making enough to survive in a comfortable state is important, so is learning to enjoy those things in life that do not have a requisite surcharge. Movies are fun, but so is laying on the grass in a park naming stars at night.

Your assignment this week is to go find something small you enjoy. Write it down and try to do it every day, every week, or otherwise regularly, depending on how much time it takes and how much enjoyment you receive.

Tell us how you feel about the little things. Are they opportunities for joy spread throughout the day, or are they stacking up against you, waiting to take you down?

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