You can have a billion dollars and still feel that it is not enough. You can live in a shack and feel that you have plenty. The key difference between these two scenarios is the mentality of the individual who is creating the perception. Wealth, prosperity, and riches are a relative state of being. How we feel about our circumstances correlates to how we perceive the world. To feel wealthy we must change perceptions.
An integral part of changing our perception is to increase our information and our comparison circle. For instance, comparing our wealth to those of 500 years ago would leave us feeling great. Comparing our wealth to those in Beverly Hills leaves us with a feeling of want and emptiness. This same comparison can be done by geography. How do you think you would feel if you experienced the life of the average citizen in Asia? Wealth is a feeling that comes from comparisons and not by the accounting on one’s personal bank ledger.
If this is true then working on our relative perspective automatically becomes a priority. Without having to work an extra hour we can increase our mental wealth ten fold (now that is an ROI worth investing in):
Consider the following investment exercises to increase your wealth:
- Internalize the statistics: Internalize the truth and reality of your situation. Consider the following statistics:
- 900 million people live on less than $1.90 per day
- 2.1 Billion people live on less than $3.10 per day
- Nearly half the world’s population live on less in a day than the cost of a Starbuck’s coffee.
- Accept Your Citizenship: As an American citizen you are automatically slotted into the upper 10% of the wealthiest people in the world. Capture that image in your head. In a room of 10 people representing the various regions of the world you would be considered the wealthiest by mere birth.
- Take Inventory: Identify what you and your family need to survive. Take inventory of all the other material possessions you have simply because you wanted them.
- Change your comparison circle: If you feel poor that means that you are looking in the wrong places for your comparison. Consciously identify those less fortunate than you in your community. This is your new comparison circle.
The power of the mind is an incredible gift or curse. It can elevate you to the highest heights if we feed it with the proper nutrition. If we are careless with our mental diet and weak in our deflection of harmful substances we will be dragged down to starvation and bitterness. Most of us are somewhere in between. Regularly, reminding ourselves of the above stated truths will leave us feeling full of peace and gratitude as opposed to hung over with negativity and anxiety in our insatiable desire for endless accumulation. I choose fullness over depravity…and it is a choice.
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