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Have you heard this saying that ‘Money can’t buy you love’? Well guess what! Money can’t buy you happiness either.

Research shows that possessions and purchases don’t buy us happiness. In today’s materialistic world we’re always looking to have the coolest gadgets, the latest fashion, and bigger are always better.

Many of us don’t realize that we’re being pushed towards materialism, not for our own happiness but for the monetary gain by corporations. Finding happiness in other ways other than just buy stuff online or finding joy in the mall, it’s hard to escape materialism in our daily lives – but it’s possible.

Here are some tips that can help you find a materialism-free life and discover true happiness.

Escaping Materialism

Everywhere we turn, all over the Internet, we see continuous advertising trying to get us to purchase a product or service. Switch on the radio or open up a newspaper or magazine, and you’re showered with more advertising. Go to a shopping center/mall, and the urge to buy comes from every direction. It’s inescapable… well, almost.

Here are some suggestions:

Limit television. Are the kind of person enjoys watching TV for hours? Think about which show you really really love and only watch during that time. You can even give up cable TV entirely, if you’re strong enough — I have, and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Steer clear of the news. Journalists will never tell you this, but the news is all about driving traffic to the advertising. So whenever you’re reading or watching news really and truly you’re being pulled in to advertising. Try stop watching the news for a week. I’ve done it for the past 6 months, and guess what – it hasn’t hurt me not one bit, in fact it has helped me.

Read books instead of Magazines. Try reading an ad-free book instead. It’s a much better use of your time. Unlike magazines which are designed with advertising in mind and rarely give you much value.

Don’t go to the mall or supermarket. If you just want a place to spend your Saturday afternoon, find a place where you don’t need to spend money to have fun or just relax — a park or a beach, are great places to start. Malls and Supermarkets only purpose is for you to spend money. I suggest if you need to buy something, go to a single store, and go in and get what you need…avoid browsing around.

Monitor your urges. Keep track of the number of times you want to buy something. Keep a little notebook or index card, and just put tally marks. Once you become more aware of your urges to buy things, you can start to control them.

Declutter. It’s pretty amazing to see all the crap I buy over a period of years. It’s a gratifying process whenever I’ve to start getting rid of stuff, and at the same time it makes me realize how useless carp I spend money on. Try getting rid of some stuff that you don’t need and are just lying around; you may be less likely to buy more stuff - especially if you enjoy the decluttered look.

True Path to Happiness

How can you find true happiness, if you’re able to escape materialism? Here are some things I suggest trying:

• Thankful list. Give thanks for all things about which you’re grateful in your life.
• Think positive. Try eliminating negative thinking from your life, and thinking positive instead.
• Simple pleasures. Make a list of small things that give you great pleasure. Sprinkle them throughout your day.
• Kindness. Help those in need. Volunteer. Make someone smile.
• Know yourself. Learn about what you love, and about your ability to love. Become in tune to what brings you happiness.

What brings you true happiness? How do you feel about materialism, and is it worth trying to escape it? Let us know in the comments.

A few weeks ago I finally got ChristopeJoseph.com website up and running, after nearly an entire day of playing around with the design and other web programming stuff I finally came up with something I feel comfortable with.

For the last six months I’ve been literally devouring any information I can get my hands on Personal Development. So I’m pretty excited that my site is now up and running, it’s the perfect place were I can share with the world my thoughts, aspiration and my life story. Also hope that visitors to the website (whether by chance or intentional) finds real value in the information on this website. I’m also extending an open invitation to everyone – to use the website as means of expressing themselves. By that I mean, share your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions in a civilize manner – respecting everyone’s opinion. There’s not one person I know who doesn’t wish to improve there lives in one way or another, but before anyone can develop themselves they must first believe. To many I’ve seen people attending development seminars, buying books on every personal development topic you can imagine, and still never reach to the point in their life where they’re content with they’re and their life.

If you glance at the top of this web page – what do you see? It should read ‘Everyday Personal Development’ –that’s the tagline of ChristopheJoseph.com. Why Everyday Personal Development? Because I believe that everyone has ability to direct their lives in a positive direction and can grow to be a better person everyday of their life. Personal Development is like an un-litigated cycle, like osmosis. There are new possibilities everyday you us have to believe.

Again, I hope the information brings some true value to the life of anyone who readers it.