How many times in our lives haven`t we purchased an item that was nowhere near being a necessity, well apart from the whispers which we kept telling our selves, and we were so excited to unbox it and open it and at times we even just ripped it open, and we held that item in our hands, proud of ourselves and of our newly acquired luxury. Fast forward to today and that item is still there right, but how much of happiness has it really brought you?

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone tracking the science of happiness, which suggests that material things are unlikely to boost our happiness in a sustained or meaningful way. In fact, research suggests that materialistic people are less happy than their peers. They experience fewer positive emotions, are less satisfied with life, and suffer higher levels of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.

Why is this the case—and how can we avoid falling into the unhappiness trap of materialism before our next shopping escapade?

One answer has been emerging from social science: Cultivate a mind-set of gratitude. Gratitude is proving to be about much more than the occasional “thank you.” Instead, the principles of thanksgiving give rise to a unique way of seeing the world.
The latest evidence suggests that, rather than simply being about good manners, the emotion of gratitude might have deep roots in humans’ history.

People are materialistic to the extent that they place acquiring possessions at the centre of their lives, judge success by the number and quality of one’s possessions, and see these possessions as vital to happiness (for instance, they agree with statements like “My life would be better if I owned certain things I don’t have”).

It has been proven that more materialistic people feel less satisfied both with their lives as a whole and with the amount of fun and enjoyment they get out of day-to-day life. Materialistic people experience more negative emotion (such as fear and sadness), less positive emotion, and less meaning in their lives.

In trying to understand why materialism undermines our pursuit of happiness, scientists have zeroed in on the fact that more materialistic people report particularly low levels of gratitude. This is because as materialism increases, feelings of gratitude and life satisfaction decrease.

Why are gratitude and materialism opposing forces in the mind? It`s because gratitude involves acknowledging the good things in our lives—from the beauty of autumn leaves to the generosity of friends to the taste of a good meal—and recognizing the other people or forces that made them possible. Gratitude helps us savour the good in our lives rather than take it for granted and yearn for what’s next.

One of the traps of materialism, by contrast, is that it locates the sources of happiness in shiny new things, materialistic people have unrealistically high expectations for the amount of happiness material goods will bring them. When those expectations inevitably go unmet, they invest their hopes for happiness in the next thing, and the thing after that, on and on in a fruitless pursuit.

The Hajj journey cultivates within us a sense of gratitude, gratitude for everything that Allah has blessed us with, one example and it will resound with South African Hujjaj particularly is we not allowed to take our children on Hajj, and when you there and you see the other children and they look so masha Allah and cute in their small little Ihram, and we start longing for our own children, and that is when we appreciate the fact that Allah at least gave us children whom we are so eager to go back home to.