# Why Do You Want What You Want?

We live in a heavily consumption-focused culture where having more and more 
is associated with success. So when people think about what they want, a 
lot of the time they want more than what they already have. You can wonder 
to which extent this is your own free choice if what you want is heavily 
conditioned by your environment. Analyzing the concept of freedom and 
evaluating how much it applies to us rather than letting it be defined by 
our conditioning allows us to reflect on our actions more consciously. But 
as long as we feel entitled, we have a hard time seeing our choices for 
what they are. We will more easily backwards rationalize to make it fit 
within our current paradigm since our will is mainly the drive to reduce 
the dissonance within our neural activity. Depending on what neural 
networks are active, your needs change all the time. A good salesman for 
example knows exactly which parts in our brain he has to activate to make 
us want something we don't want at all. This is just one example of how 
our perception of free choice is something we tend to rationalize 
afterwards. Self-awareness allows us to put our decisions in a larger 
context where our needs are perceived through a wider lens, allowing us to 
make more accurate decisions. This is probably one of the more powerful 
insights in this book. For example, there is no wealth in the world that 
you could want that would be more valuable than what you already have. 
Realizing this may make you value what you have a lot more.

This is quite present in spiritual beliefs such as eastern philosophy and 
can still be relevant in today's society. Not taking what you have for 
granted will benefit you more than the excitement from acquiring 
superficial things and will result in a more fulfilling and minimalist 
lifestyle. We still have more luxury than kings or queens a thousand years 
ago so it is just a matter of perspective. That is one reason why gratitude 
meditation is so helpful to me. As times change and society gets more and 
more wealthy, the real richness comes from within.