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Jul 23, 2022Liked by John Hawkins

I used to think that the key to happiness was having material possessions. Then one time, there was a certain computer toy I wanted that was rather expensive. I had to save up for it for a long time. Then, finally, I bought it! I was so excited! I played with it every spare minute for two or three days, barely stopping to eat or sleep. And then after those two or three days I was bored with it, put it on the shelf, and never used it again. I think it's somewhere in my attic now. That was when I finally realized that nothing that I own really makes me happy. There are certainly things that are nice to have. I'm glad I have a laptop and a cell phone and a microwave. But what really brings happiness in life is serving God, spending time with people you love, and achieving goals.

These days I buy just about everything I want. Not because I'm hugely rich, but because I don't want that much any more. I make more money than most, if I was making minimum wage I probably couldn't say this. But these days when I'm thinking of buying some new toy, the question that comes to my mind is usually not, Can I afford this?, but, Will I have time to play with it?

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Great, very-articulately-stated, good advice. Just one question, on the 2nd-to-last sentence, "There are very unhappy people that are continually growing as human beings and you probably won’t be the exception to that rule." Did you perhaps mean to say, "There are very *few* unhappy people that are continually growing..."?

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