The desire to have something more is the basic human nature. Everyone is in a rush to get more power, more wealth, in order to have a sense of security and be happy although it is an illusion. There is nothing wrong with the desire to have some more money, more material possession, and more power, but the problems starts when it is acquired through intense and selfish desire to feed the greed.
To maintain a decent lifestyle in this modern age, everyone desire for good cloths, beautiful house, nice car, latest mobile phone, sufficient money for the education of children, and of the like. It is realization of living a decent life that actually becomes the driving force to get moving and put in hard work. Your desire to live well ensures that you give your profession, your best to derive the best out of it.
Money by itself in not evil, it is only the means that should be under scrutiny and if the means to obtain money is not fair, then it becomes the breeding ground for many negative emotions, such as dishonesty, jealousy, lying, anger, and of the likes. In other words, when the desire becomes obsessive and often fulfilled at the cost of others need, then it creates a never ending cycle of greed and makes the person suffer the most.
There is no limit of greed, the more you have, the more you want and no matter how much wealth you have acquired, happiness always remains a distant dream. All the material possession, money, and power are a source of pleasure that enhances the level of happiness provided you are already happy internally. Happiness is a state of mind that is not conditional of desire to have more and more.
Greed is a normal and natural human phenomenon and everyone have greedy tendencies to certain extend; it is a different thing that in some people it is residing dormant, and for some other people, greed has become the part of their nature. However, greed is a vice that brings grief and sorrow in the life of greedy people and that in turn keeps them away from enjoying the bliss of life.
Often, the root cause of greed has been the strong fear of lack or insecurity. If greed has become a dominant factor in your life, you need to address it as soon as possible to have a peace of mind. Here are some of the ways that help you to overcome greed and live a truly contented life:
For the gratification of greed, most of the people not only take benefit from the suffering of others, but also try to seize the disaster as an opportunity for making money. When the demands are high in any kind of natural disaster, often it has been seen price increase of basic low cost grocery items and medical goods locally, despite there is no shortage of production or supply. It is because people forget to visualize the frail nature of human existence in this world and become inhuman just to satisfy their greed. So it is essential to be a good human being to put a limit on your greed.
As long as greed exists, there is no satisfaction, no peace of mind; it does not matter how much you have. The best way to counter greed is to divert your focus from what you lack in life to what you have and being grateful about it is the way out. So start focusing on what you have that makes your life easy, comfortable and be grateful for that to overcome greed.
Wealth in terms of material possession or money is good only if that enable you to add beautiful experiences in your life. Keep you focus on what experience any possessions bring into your life. If it does not enrich your experience, what will be the use of it? After all, we all have to leave everything on this beautiful planet when our time is up. Anything which does not have utility is not categorized as a need and hoarding them is a sign of greed. If the material possession or hoards of money fail to enrich your experiences, then you should focus on getting satisfaction of giving them away to people who need them the most.
Hence, if you want to overcome greed and be happy in life, you should be contented with whatever you have. This does not mean that you need to remove you desire to upgrade your living standard. There is nothing wrong with having sufficient money and material possession, but that should not come from unfair means only to satiate greed. Greed does not let you be satisfied with what you have; you would always want and expect more and more. So make a sincere effort to get over the greed to live a happy life.