Greed is the most common thing we see in the world as it’s the first thing that people are attracted to in anything that is offered. One of the immediate outcomes that comes from greed is deception according to Psychology Today. In addition one of the things that they also reference is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which getting familiar with this may help some of you readers may find useful in your own journey to self discovery. What I love about the article that Neel Burton M.D depicts in his article is both the psychology and the philosophy associated with greed, which trust of the fact it kills two birds with one stone (Neel Burton M.D., Is Greed Good? The Philosophy and Psychology of Greed, October 6, 2014, http://www.PsychologyToday.com, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201410/is-greed-good)
What is Greed and How Does It Look Like
Defining greed is simplistic as its an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or foodLike everything in psychology there is a threshold to everything with the psyche, which the excess need for greed is references to as Greed Syndrome which consist of the seven signs of the syndrome according to Knowledge.Instead.Edu in Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries article is the following seven signs of characteristics in one’s behaviors (https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/seven-signs-of-the-greed-syndrome-4624):
- Overly self-centered behaviour
- Lack of empathy
- Never Satisfied
- Short Run/Satisfying An Immediate Need
- They Know No Limits
Which franksonnenbergonline.com 8 Ways to Spot Greedy People by Frank Sonnenberg identifies the behavioral patterns they associate with the actions within interactions which are the following (https://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/blog/8-ways-to-spot-greedy-people/)
- Life’s a spectator sport
- It’s all about me
- You’ve got my vote (as long as it doesn’t affect me)
- Something for nothing
- Takes all kinds of things that don’t belong to them.
- Gaming the system with loopholes
- Robbing someone’s confidence
- Borrowing from the future
How to Stop Greed – You’re Not Alone On This One
Although I couldn’t find anything to confirm it, based on the behavioral patterns I have observed is that greeds the behavioral addiction that is a gateway to other sins as it becomes the crutch we all at one point in our lives were made to believe that money will be the savior to all our problems. Which money will help solve a lot of things that we may be facing financially, but as they also say more money more problems. Not having the experience as of yet in this venture, my answer may be a bit naive. However I feel the the reason why this is said is the example of Lottery winners, which will make a Cinderella story out of anyone. But in retrospective a lot of reasons why people tend to lose it all in months in that the insecurities a person has in greed becomes a claw and scratch to fulfill a perception of happiness, but the truth is the experience that I can talk without a naiveness is that happiness starts by knowing your true self. Knowing your flaws, your faults, your past mistakes, and the things that have taken you down the rabbit hole of a downward spiral will aid you from those who try to bring you down. Truth is I will admit pre-journey I was a bit of a greedy bitch. But it stemmed from a sense of uncertainty of myself and the outcome of the unforeseen. The ironic thing is when you face adversity you begin the stepping stones to that. Even at a lost, as long as you stay consistent and do not get discouraged, you learn from that mistake. Making your stronger to face more of those unknown foreseen unfortunate events. You begin to see realism of the things you are afraid of, which in the end knowing the realness of those fears and fighting through it, become your own bonafide hero. Which is why my advertiser put the the marketing ad of “Journey of an Unraveled Road” as “Zero to Bonafide Badass” which ultimately I feel is giving me too much credit.
One things that has helped battle my greediness was my gain of graciousness or gratitude which gave me the need to be generous. As generosity is the key to battling against greed according to InspiringTIps.com. Here are some of the fifteen ways Joan Cyril Abell says to overcome greed (Joan Cyril Abell,
How to Overcome Greed: 15 Ways to Develop Generosity. August 7,2018. https://inspiringtips.com/how-to-overcome-greed-ways-to-develop-generosity/).
- It is more blessed to give than to receive.
2. Remember those who have been generous to you.
3. Remember those who have not helped you when you were in need.
4. Do not live only for yourself.
5. Develop compassion for others.
6. You are blessed to be a blessing.
7. Think about your loved ones who might be needing others’ help.
8. Give back to God by giving to others.
9. Know that you cannot bring your wealth when you die.
At the End of the Day
In the end we all have shown a form of greed once in our life. The truth of the matter is that it is more common than we want to admit as many factors come into play such as economic factors, interactions with others, the need to survive, the influence from others, and the need to survive. Like all psychological behaviors and bad habits is that it can be stopped. But in order to that, we need to identify the problem in our own time and in without beating ourselves up. Do you know how many times I beat myself up when I realized I was a shitty person? Thankfully with a benefits backing me up back then, I gained an amazing therapist who showed me the way. He also said that I should consider going into the psychology field as the common factor he pointed out was not the need to fight for myself, but to stop these bad things from happening at my job. He asked me what I thought of some the help he had their as their was an incident that he asked me on “What I thought of the practicing psychologist?” he had their that had people complaining and saying some things that just didn’t fit the demeanor they perceived her to be. “She might be too straight forward I said.” but he also pointed out that sometimes when dealing with patients who have trauma you have to ease the approach a little. My immediate question that followed was “Considering the privacy act that I don’t want to know anything about your patients however, how many of these patients have been making ongoing excuses that have indicated that they truly don’t want help but continue to victimize themselves becoming more dependent on the prescription meds you provide to them to resolve their issue?” That’s when he smiled and said “You should become a psychologist!” Which compelled me to send him a thank you card saying that he did more than he knew during our visits. He made me see things in a totally different perspective and made me want to fight the bigger fight. He was very spiritual and he became a friend in the end after I ended up seeing him for the last time and telling him the news of my departure from Houston. In the end I always feel that things don’t happen out of coincidence. It’s part of a bigger plan, part of destiny that we still are the masters of our own sails. We get stuck in the crossroads in many cases, but in the end it’s our free will that determines our choices and the outcome of the destiny. We don’t have coWe don’t have control of the uncontrollable, but we do have control of the controllable that determines how life will turn out. Which is filled with the behaviors we engage in, the things that we let slide, and the things we choose to change. In the end it’s what we make of those decisions and how we look at the uncontrollable. Because when you begin to know your super powers and remain on the right track, the cards will always be in your favor.