The Childish Pursuit of Happiness: How the Wellness Industry Keeps You Poor and Dependent.
- Shahid Khan - Yogveda Yoga
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
Let us be brutally practical: Happiness is not the goal of human life. Believing that you are supposed to be "happy" all the time is an infantile, child-like perspective. A child expects to be constantly entertained, comforted, and shielded from discomfort. An adult understands that life requires carrying weight, facing friction, and building structure.
Happiness is merely a fleeting chemical reaction in the brain—a temporary spike in dopamine. It is not a permanent state of being. Treating this fleeting high as the ultimate goal of your life is the exact reason you are chronically exhausted.
The Parasitic Industry of "You Deserve Better"
Why do you feel this constant, burning need to be happier? Because a multi-trillion-dollar parasitic industry has engineered it.
Every time you open your phone, targeted advertisements feed you the same toxic lie: "You deserve better." They show you an idealized lifestyle and convince you that your current, normal life is inadequate. They manufacture a psychological void inside you, and then conveniently offer to sell you the cure—a new yoga outfit, a luxury wellness retreat, a supplement, or an online course.
They do not want you to find peace. A peaceful human being does not consume. The wellness industry deliberately keeps society unhappy so you will keep spending your money, keeping you financially poor and emotionally dependent on their products.
The Brainwashing of Limitless Potential (Ambition vs. Talent)
The most destructive brainwashing of the 21st century is the phrase: "You can be anything you want to be." This is a biological and practical lie. You cannot do anything. You are bound by your genetics, your physical limitations, and your actual talent.
When modern society artificially inflates your ambition to a level that vastly exceeds your actual talent and capacity, the result is perpetual misery. You spend your life frustrated, fighting a losing battle against reality, wondering why you aren't a millionaire or a spiritual guru. And when you fail to reach these delusional heights, the parasitic industry is right there to sell you more "self-care" products to soothe your failure.
The Practical Reality of Contentment (Santosha)
What is the antidote to this consumerist trap? True contentment.
In practical, adult terms, contentment (Santosha) is not about feeling "good vibes." It is the mature, radical acceptance of reality. It means looking at your actual baseline, acknowledging your real talents and limitations, and stopping the delusional pursuit of outsized ambitions.
Contentment means you stop demanding that the universe cater to your childish desires. You accept the friction of life. You stop spending your money to buy fleeting dopamine spikes, and you start investing your energy into quiet, daily discipline (Tapas).
The Reality Check: Grow Up and Do the Work
Stop letting targeted ads dictate your self-worth. Stop bankrupting yourself to buy a feeling that will evaporate by tomorrow morning.
True Yoga and Ayurveda are not about making you "happy." They are about making you resilient, grounded, and fiercely independent. It is time to drop the child’s perspective, face reality, and build a nervous system that cannot be manipulated by marketing.
Author Master Shahid Khan
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