My definition of success and happiness and how mindfulness influences it

For as long as I can remember, everything around us is practically programmed to make us want to have more and more things, from advertisements, commercials and infomercials that put in your mind the idea of buying one thing or several. As a child I remember watching on TV all these toy commercials and when I finished I would go straight to my parents to tell them that I wanted them to buy me that toy, and so every time I saw toys and it was a whole process in which they explained to me that they could not buy me everything I saw.

As adults things don't change too much, everything is made for us to buy and buy and buy and there is always something new to buy, which almost imperceptibly makes you want to have more and more money, or the idea that is not usually said out loud that with more money we could be happier or more successful. We are surrounded by all of this and obviously it can affect us, even if we don't buy everything we see, it always affects us in some way.

In my life since I was little, although I always saw commercials and asked for toys, I was taught to appreciate things bigger than money, my parents, although they worked hard to give us what we needed, the truth is that they always made it clear to us that for them the most important thing was to have a meaningful life, one in which we are clear about what we believe in and live according to it. So thanks to them, since I was little I learned that there are things that are worth much more than money and that I don't have to be like everyone else.

So that upbringing I was given and what I have learned on my own, makes me see mindfullness as being aware of who I am, what I believe in and putting it into practice every day, in every aspect of my life without getting carried away by what may be considered "normal" around me. Beyond what the world may expect from me, I choose to do the right thing as I have learned, to value people, my family and mainly my Creator.

Because of this, I consciously choose to avoid certain things like buying in excess, wanting to have more and more money because what I want to do is worth more than that. Helping people who have no hope, listening to them and even encouraging them is something that fills me and when I do it I feel fulfilled, when I do it I am very conscious of it and I do not leave it to chance, but I look for the way to make it possible.

Being aware of what I do, how I do it and also seeing the results of it and appreciating them is something that from my point of view is the definition of happiness, although it requires efforts on my part, honestly it is very worth it for me. So although around me many teach that the more you have economically the more fulfilled you feel, I think what makes you feel fulfilled is to be satisfied in a spiritual sense.

Being able to nurture the mind in a positive way, allows me to appreciate what I have, what I strive to give and of course what I receive which beyond material things, I am full of gifts that are more valuable than that, friendships, positive responses from other people, knowledge and of course a way of seeing life that allows me to enjoy it despite all the problems and difficult situations.