A Thought On Prosperity

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Your money is not your wealth. Your wealth lies in what's left in you when all you have (possessions/money) is taken out from you. (AC Mahendra Datu, Ph.D)

 
A short quote I've heard months ago has came back and tickled my thought all in the account of brainstorming for O2 May Videos. The theme given for the videos is prosperity. A word I'm sure many of you will directly associate with that scrumptiously sensuous beef burger from McD. But save your appetite. We're not talking about it, and looks like you gonna have to wait until next CNY to get 'em. And so I tweeted it, asking what comes to people mind when they hear the word, prosperity? Some of the responses are:

Wealthy. Out of debt. Peace of mind to live life without worrying cause you got everything you need. Heaps of money. The boy with the most toys win. Financially successful.

I guess that pretty much summed up everything. But I didn't stop there. I question, like I always do. Those are all end-results, the outcome of something. Something that if we work on it will eventually reward us wealth, money, prosperity. So if you give it a thought, that something is actually what's important. Without that something all those dreams are just empty dreams. In other words, what I'm saying is .... that 'something' is the true wealth. Ha! Now you're thinking.

But you have doubts. Well, I'm not finished yet. Check out this article 8 Lottery Winners Who Lost Their Millions about people who went from Millionaire to scraping for changes.

Finished? Good. Now you see what I'm saying. These are examples of instant riches. What is that 'something' that earn them their wealth? Its a sad fact but in their case, that 'something' is pure-luck, no effort, no knowledge, no hard-work whatsoever. As a result, when they lost it all, they simply don't know how to bounce back, cause they don't have the real 'something' that suppose to take them back to prosperity. What's the good use of having all the money and yet you don't know how to manage it? Pretty soon you're gonna lose it. And that can only comes from owning that 'something'.

Now back to the question, what is the true 'something' ? And it finally dawned on me all the Proverbs, came in like streams of eureka(s):

You're blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom, when you make friends with Madame Insight. She's worth far more than money in the bank; her friendship is better than a big salary. Her value exceeds all the trappings of wealth; nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.With one hand she gives long life, with the other she confers recognition. Her manner is beautiful, her life wonderfully complete. She's the very Tree of Life to those who embrace her. Hold her tight—and be blessed! (Proverbs 2, Message)

 It is Wisdom and Insight / Understanding. It is proven then it is much more important to gain wisdom on how to reach prosperity, rather than prosperity itself. Cause when you earn that wisdom, prosperity is automatic. How does it applies in life? Simple. Some that came up to my mind right are:

• In a job, don't get by barely for salary. Look for place where you can learn the most. Especially if you're freshgrads. You are nothing. Seriously, nothing cause whatever business you got yourself into you have not any idea of the tricks of the trade, the annual trend influencing your product, your typical customers and how to handle them. Seek knowledge and understanding on those stuff and it shall reward you in time (yes, in time, i'm gonna cover about it in another post). The best thing when you've learned all of them is you get to open your own business. How's that for a reward?
  
• In life, from events to events, especially the downs and the problems take the best out of it. It is indeed the best way for you to learn. Your understanding and know-how in dealing with obstacles are what people look for, those who could provide answers are rewarded well. That's why job openings always mentioned one needed skill 'analytical thinking and problem solving'.
  
• Learn the principles and laws of life. Take it to the heart and apply them. I believe what I've been taught in church since the beginning of the year about purpose, vision, passion, excellence, faithfulness, they are all wisdom in the free-est form available. But it takes our action to apply it to finally let the wisdom sip in and becomes one with us.

I believe when we've done that phase of learning and gaining understanding over and over again, we'll set yourself a habit. We'll come to the point that prosperity follows and the joy will always be in searching, in learning, in discovering new wisdom. As in the word of John Mayer who've won himself the highest reward anyone can expect in the music industry, the Grammy, have 6 multi-million sold out albums:

Part of me doesn't like it when everything works. I don't think anybody likes it when everything works. When I was 25 I didn't want anything to work. I knew those are the years that I'm supposed to be fighting it out. Its only fun when you're trying to get it in your grasp. Its like once you catch it, throw it back into the water, and catch it again. That's what I really want to do with my whole career. (John Mayer)

Pursue wisdom and understanding, for that's where the true wealth is. Even when things go wrong, and everything stripped out from you, you'll soon bounce back in no time cause you have the wisdom in you, that 'something' that earns you prosperity.

Cheers,
Rubs