00:00:00
Money allows you a lot wider range of
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choices in life but it doesn't
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necessarily make you happy. So the
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parable is there are these uh two boys
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who grew up together. They're childhood
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friends. As frequently happens, they go
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their different directions in life as
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they become adults. And one becomes a
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very successful, powerful minister to
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the king. And the other becomes a humble
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monk in tattered robes with a begging
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bowl and what have you. And years later,
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they run into each other on the road.
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And they're getting reacquainted.
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And as they are, the minister of the
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king takes pity on on his
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povertystricken friend in his tattered
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robes. And he says, "You know, if you
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could learn to cater to the king, you
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wouldn't have to live on rice and
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beans." To which the monk replies, "If
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you could learn to live on rice and
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beans,
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you wouldn't have to cater to the king."
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For me, I've always been a little bit
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more towards the monk side. I'm not a
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very materialistic person and I'm
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comfortable and able to get along on on
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very little and I think there's
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something beautiful about needing less.
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I think it's safe to say that the
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richest people I know are amongst the
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least happy people I know. I think
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whatever's taken them there is still
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haunting them while they're there. So,
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it could be the chip on the shoulder,
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the insecurity. whatever happened to
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them that made them so driven and
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obsessed with validation and climbing is
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still haunting them now. But I do also I
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do know people like I say that are very
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very rich and that live remarkably
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content lives. And I think part of it is
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their relationship with the stuff. It's
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the journey that's really satisfying.
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>> The destination tends to be less so. And
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I think that's one of the problems with
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being very materialistic because if your
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definition of happiness is if I only
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owned this watch then I would be happy.
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Well, I mean maybe but probably not.
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You're probably going to have that
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watch. You're going to look at it and
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say that's really nice. Wow, that's and
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then well what's next? But if you enjoy
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the journey or if you reset your
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expectations and say, you know, I'm
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going to have this nice house or this
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nice watch, but I don't expect it to
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make me happy. As somebody once said
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much wiser than me, you know, money
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doesn't change who you are. It it can
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magnify who you are. So if you're an
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unhappy person and you're have lots of
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money, you will probably still be an
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unhappy person. There's other things
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besides money that makes you happy.
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Money gives you options.
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Right.