Control Greed with Rule of Thoughts with Sustainable Lifestyle

(Samajweekly) Being needonomist, I have no hesitation to say that there is no greater disaster than greed in present times of the materialistic life. To my mind, greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts a person in an endless effort to satisfy it without ever reaching satisfaction. There is no calamity greater than lavish desires and greater guilt than discontentment. We must develop rules of thought to overcome greedy desires.

To control greed, there are many ways to develop generosity. One is more blessed to give than to receive.  We have to remember those who have been generous to us on various occasions and have helped us when we were in need.

We should not live only for the self but others around is the lesson “ Not Me But You”, I  have learnt as NSS volunteer  . We should think about our loved ones who might need help and cooperation. We should always know that one cannot take wealth when dies.

Being needonomist let me share with the readers how one can control greed when trading or investing in the share market. We have to avoid get rich quick mentality.  One should be in the comfort zone. Always make investment of time and money in education.  One should follow single strategy. One should be prepared to lose money in the share market, which I never liked even being professionally trained economist. Anybody can be wrong in taking decisions some times.

It is said that without greed we would still be living in caves but, left unchecked, the insatiable desire for more and better material things can be destructive.

We have to recognise the greed syndrome and the warning signs of uncontrolled greed.

Overly self-cantered selfish behaviour becomes the first give-away of greedy people. Greedy people are always saying “me, me, me” with very little regard for the needs and feelings of others. Greed and envy are like twin sisters. While greed is a strong desire for more and more possessions (such as wealth and power), envy goes one step further and includes a strong desire by greedy people for the possessions of others.

Greedy people lack empathy. Caring—being concerned about the feelings of others—is not part of their repertoire. As such, they have little qualms about causing pain to others. Their inability to empathise, their lack of genuine interest in the ideas and feelings of others, and their unwillingness to take personal responsibility for their behaviour and actions makes them very difficult people to be with.

They are never satisfied.  Greedy people look at the world as a zero-sum game. Instead of thinking that everyone would benefit as the pie gets larger, they view the pie as a constant and want to have the biggest part. They truly believe that they deserve more, even if it comes at someone else’s expense.

Greedy people are experts in manipulation. They are highly talented in taking credit for work done by others. They can be charming, but their principal agenda is to have people around them that feed their ego.

Greedy people are into the short run; they are focused on satiating their immediate needs and leave it to others to cope with the consequences.

In the pursuit of their material needs, they know no limits. Greedy people are not good at maintaining boundaries. They will compromise moral values and ethics to achieve their goals. They look for loopholes or clever ways to outsmart the rules and regulations that have been put into place to moderate this kind of behaviour.

To deal with excessive greed, I have learned from experience is that it is usually the foolish decisions born out of greed that eventually prompts us to make changes. Often setbacks, such as health issues propel us to confront our addiction to greed.

To create a motivation for change, we may have to go on an inner journey to uncover the unconscious sources of our singular pursuit of wealth. Doing so may imply dealing with the childhood setbacks that they have experienced that makes them behave the way they do. It means that they may have to deal with unresolved conflicts, to cope with pent-up emotions and anger, to work through unfulfilled dreams, and to face the various defenses that drive them towards excessiveness.

We may need to be acquainted with what is really needed in life such as love, emotional intimacy, unconditional acceptance (self-acceptance) and satisfying relationships. I believe  that most of the problems including violence, terrorism, exploitation and corruption of all kinds are caused by ‘Greedonomics’ ( economics of greed) and can be reduced if not removed by ‘Needonomics’ which deserve attention and adoption by all the stakeholders including politicians  ( both in power and opposition) as an idea of India. We need to research and rethink out of the box solutions for the problems of the economy in post pandemic era. We have to be compassionate towards the weaker sections of the society which require art of giving which is possible only by adopting Needonomics. Economy can be people friendly and socially beneficial only if undertaken in accordance with NAW approach (Need, Affordability and Worth of the goods and services) of marketing. The domain of needonomics is very wide and covers all aspects of the economy and its people including cared-less and used-less. We have to care the cared-less and use the used-less human resources as a duty and not charity. To become the desired human resources, the stake holders deserve to be made street SMART (simple, moral, action oriented, responsive and transparent) with spiritual input flowing from the epics including Gita and Anu-Gita. To stop the ruin of the economy and the people due to greed, needonomics is necessary and sufficient as a rule of thoughts with sustainable lifestyle.

* Former Vice Chancellor and Needonomist Professor living in Kurukshetra. Enjoy surfing the website  www.needonomics.com

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