---
title: "The Era of Finding Happiness in Material Possessions Is Over!"
description: "In an age of material abundance, true happiness comes less from acquiring things and more from spiritual fulfillment, experiences, and personal growth. This article outlines conditions for a new kind of happiness and practical ways to achieve it."
author: "本田直之"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2017-02-04"
language: "en"
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# The Era of Finding Happiness in Material Possessions Is Over!

> In an age of material abundance, true happiness comes less from acquiring things and more from spiritual fulfillment, experiences, and personal growth. This article outlines conditions for a new kind of happiness and practical ways to achieve it.

**Click to read the original text for details**
Less is more.
In the past, when material goods were scarce, constantly adding to our possessions—buying a refrigerator, a TV, a washing machine, then a car—brought a sense of happiness as we went from having nothing to being fully equipped. But now, material goods are more abundant than ever.
In an era where everything is available and nothing is lacking, possessing material things no longer stimulates our senses or brings lasting satisfaction. In this new age, what matters more than money and material goods is spiritual fulfillment. Satisfaction derived from physical objects lasts only a short time, but our valuable experiences and the knowledge gained from them will permanently enrich our lives.
If a person is clear about what is most important to them, they can decisively cut out the things they don't need in life. Rather than "simplifying," it's more accurate to say "deliberately letting go."
Ten Conditions for Achieving a New Happiness of Free Life
**1. Enjoy Your Work**
This has nothing to do with salary level, but whether work is enjoyable, challenging, and gives a sense of achievement; whether it allows you to learn, grow, and feel satisfied.
**2. Have Close Friends and Family**
If work goes well but you have no family or friends to share intimately with, that's not pleasant, let alone happy.
**3. Have a Stable Source of Income**
This doesn't mean you must have huge assets or a very high income; just enough to support a stable life.
**4. Be Physically and Mentally Healthy**
Only with a healthy body and mind can you fully devote yourself to work, life, struggle, and progress.
**5. Have Stimulating Interests and Lifestyle**
After entering society as adults, we tend to tie our network to interests, but without one or two hobbies we fully enjoy, we can't have a purely social circle free of功利ism.
**6. Have a Certain Degree of Time Freedom**
Have time you can completely control to spend with important friends and family.
**7. Choose a Living Environment That Suits You**
Whatever your job or lifestyle, carefully choosing a suitable living environment is related to happiness.
**8. Have Effective Thinking Habits**
Those who always shirk responsibility and play the victim, who are often negative, who habitually make excuses, or who are limited by conventional wisdom and find it hard to break through, are unlikely to encounter happiness.
**9. Be Able to Look to the Future**
The first reason for a decline in happiness index is that people can't see their future, leading to anxiety.
**10. Feel You Are Moving Toward Your Goals**
A life that is gradual and goal-oriented is solid; the happiest feeling is always being on the way.
How to Achieve Happiness in the New Era?
The so-called new happiness is to break free from the constraints of money, time, place, and other external things, allowing us to regain freedom.
**1. From "Strict Economy" to "Actively Choosing Simplicity"**
As seen in Nordic countries where the wealthy still live simple lives, this is their "active choice." Though materially simple, they are spiritually rich. Investing time and money in accumulating life experiences and feelings, rather than consuming in the pursuit of material goods, brings spiritual abundance. Once you develop a simple lifestyle, you'll enjoy it.
**2. From "Having Money" to "Having Time"**
Whether you desire money or time, understand clearly "why you want it" and be able to manage it easily; if you don't know the purpose of pursuing or having them, having more is meaningless.
**3. Rather Than Pursuing Status Promotion, Pursue Freedom**
If a person is promoted in a company, we generally think they have higher status and are the final winner in a competitive environment, but you should also know they may face longer working hours, more complex relationships, and greater performance pressure. If you think differently, as long as your work gives you a sense of achievement and allows you to grow professionally, that's the right choice.
**4. Rather Than Working for a Top Company, Be a Freelancer**
Being a freelancer not only offers good financial returns but also freedom in work style, making you happier than office workers. In the U.S., a quarter of the labor force are freelancers. To find happiness, get close to the essence of work, seeking satisfaction and freedom from the immersion and sense of achievement in the work itself. We're not advocating everyone quit their jobs to freelance, but even as an employee, you should try to create a flexible work style that allows free play and decision-making.
**5. Rather Than Self-Promotion, Offer Help**
If you feel inferior at work and want to be on equal footing with higher-ups, learn to be neither humble nor pushy, self-respecting and confident. Instead of spending energy on self-promotion, focus on self-improvement; when you can help others, you're already halfway to success.
**6. Be Someone Who Relies on Strength, Not Platforms**
Holding a high position in a famous company naturally attracts people from all walks of life, even neighbors envy you: "Your job is really good." But once you leave the company, does your halo fade? In today's internet age, if you keep learning and use new media, whether you had status and fame before becomes unimportant. Those who can continue to shine are those who don't rely on any platform but on their own strength.
**7. Face Hard Work with a Joyful Attitude**
The feeling of hardship comes from "being forced," while joy comes from "actively wanting to do it." As long as we have the awareness to adjust our mindset, we can turn what others see as hardship into our new happiness.
**8. Maintain Your Independent Thinking**
If we are bound by conventional wisdom, we cannot achieve new happiness. Because common sense is the experience summarized by past people; believing in it makes it hard to break free from old values. Everyone should think carefully about "what happiness really is" and not let materialism affect you.
**9. Niche Markets Have More Purchasing Power**
Whether working or starting a business, aim for niche markets. Niche markets can gather strength more easily, feel brand enthusiasm more readily, and sales results are naturally more significant.
**10. Rather Than Short-Sighted Raises, Value Personal Brand Accumulation**
Don't just chase what's in front of you; cherish the opportunities that come along. In this era of lack of continuity, the only way to ensure sustainable development is to continuously improve your abilities and build your personal brand, enhancing your personal reputation.
**11. Work in Cafés, Parks, Gyms, and Other Places**
In modern society, work doesn't have to be confined to a physical office, locked inside all day. As long as you complete your work on time, trying mobile work is fine. Don't be bound by the specific form of an office; treat all places as your office!
**12. Use Lifestyle as a Common Language to Expand Your World**
Mastering a "common language" that anyone can understand is very important, such as sports, wine, food, culture, or history topics—these are good choices because they showcase your lifestyle.
**13. Rather Than Short-Lived Big Happiness, Long-Lasting and Sustainable "Small Certain Happiness" Is More Moving**
"Small certain happiness" is a kind of happiness where, though the desire isn't large, if it can be truly felt, even if tiny, it's enough to make life worth living. True happiness comes from your own experiences, built up from little moments of unexpected joy in daily life.
**14. In an Era of Convenience, Deliberately Seek Some "Inconvenience"**
In this convenient and fast era, people need to deliberately pursue some "inconvenience." If "inconvenience" is forced, it's painful; but if it's a choice, it can be fun, help create new stimuli, and lower the threshold for satisfaction.
**15. More Than Money, Spiritual Fulfillment Matters**
Whether it's gaining a sense of achievement from teamwork or learning and growing on a low salary, as long as work becomes enjoyable and fulfilling, stress will gradually dissolve. Growing through work will constantly reveal new challenges, making work interesting and giving confidence in the future.
**16. Improve Work Efficiency, Change the Habit of "Valuing Quantity Over Quality"**
Efficient work brings a sense of achievement, and sustained achievement creates a highly satisfying life state.
**17. Shift from "Others-Centered" to "Self-Centered"**
In experiencing life, if you lack sufficient self-judgment training, you're easily influenced by others. Remember to hold on to what you want over the long haul.
**18. Change Your Daily Routine and Enjoy Variation**
Seek change, like change, enjoy change! It will surely bring you countless new encounters and discoveries.
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