Being truly rich is a frame of mind. It has nothing to do with how much wealth you have, or how big your house is, or what kind of car you drive. It has nothing to do with “keeping up with the Joneses”.
Prosperity can be measured by how many people love you, by how free you feel to give back to your community, by how well you sleep at night. You can have a rich life regardless of whatever your circumstances. Money is just a representation of an exchange of energy, anything else we’ve attached to that is ours to deal with. Yes, you were very likely trained to have those attachments, but that’s all they are. And that exchange of energy may or may not have anything to so with having a rich life.
As long as you continue to rate the richness of your life based on stuff and things, you will not know peace.
The way we begin to understand the true riches in out lives is by connecting to our abundance and focusing on where there IS enough. Gratitude lists help in this regard. I had a teacher a number of years ago who had me write a 50 item gratitude list every night and call her with them. If that sounds like a lot, come at it from this point of view – if, when you woke up in the morning, everything that you hadn’t put on your gratitude list was gone, what would you put on your gratitude list? 50 items starts to sound short, doesn’t it?
Take a look around at your life. How are the relationships in your life? How many people in your life would you drop everything to help? How many people would do the same for you? How involved are you in your community? When you walk into your home, do you feel content? Are you able to put aside your daily cares when it is time for bed?
If you are dissatisfied with the answers to these questions, perhaps it is time to reevaluate how you approach your life.
This post is part of a series called Monday Message, based on that day’s reflection from 365 Days to Enlightenment (authorized versions are currently out of print, working on a new edition). Check back next Monday for another one! You can also sign up for the Daily Message on my mailing list if you’d like to receive a new reflection every day. I also often post them to Instagram, if that’s a medium you enjoy.