I was reading the report by Forbes about millionaires and multimillionaires in Singapore. It got me thinking about wealth and its impact on our lives.
The root word of ‘wealth‘ originates from two archaic English words, ‘wela’ which means well-being and ‘th’ which refers to ‘condition’.
Wealth in essence refers to the condition of well-being. It is a state of the body, soul and spirit.
It includes our physical, emotional, social, and environmental well-being.
Being wealthy is having the resources to live a meaningful, exciting and fulfilling life.
It is having adequate resources to enable our loved ones to enjoy a fulfilling lifestyle. More importantly, it is having the means to turn the world around us into a better home.
Wealth is therefore a tool to help us serve a higher calling and fulfill a worthwhile vision.
Henry David Thoreau phrased it aptly, ‘Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.’
That’s why the person who craves for too little wealth is as pitiful as the person who is obsessed about too much.
In this regard, I certainly do not want to be like the person who spent the best years of his life making money and then spent all his money trying to recover the lost years in his life.
Socrates once said, “If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.â€
For those who seek to be wealthy, the question that begs to be answered is, ‘What do I want to do with wealth?’
According to my friend, Robert Kiyosaki, ‘Wealth is the number of days you can survive forward if you stop working tomorrow.’
To me, wealth is more than just about staying alive. It’s about having a life.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the poor man with lots of money – the same guy who had money and nothing of lasting value.
That’s why I like to think of wealth in terms of more than just dollars and cents. Wealth should lead to more
positive impacts on human lives and the environment.
Making a positive difference is therefore the central criterion. Money is just the means to an end and is a way of measuring value-addition.
In other words, if there are no creation of value for others as well as for ourselves, money will soon be driven out of our hands. Wealth will just be a fleeting pleasure.
Money will be attracted to the source of higher value additions. It goes to where it can be deployed to capitalise on better opportunities to achieve a more positive and compelling outcome.
Unfortunately, many people measure wealth by what they have rather than what they gave – the quantity of possessions rather than the quality of contributions.
They pursue what I called the 5 Ps in life – Position, Power, Possessions, Pleasure, and Prestige.
They believe the 5Ps can give them a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. They thought they can control them and therefore, they allow them to exert an undue influence on their lives.
It’s important to remember: What we believe we can master can also master us. The 5Ps can enslave us and take control of our life.
If our desire for the 5 Ps exceeds our desire to enjoy and make use of them, we may slide down the slippery slope of life.
When we overvalue the 5Ps, we will discover that instead of achieving a sustainable state of happiness, we will be deceived into a miserable state of emptiness.
Wealth, including the 5 Ps are only important if they can be used to create positive values and outcomes. The world and the people around us should become better because of the way we use them.
Go4It!
I hope this message will find a place in your heart.
By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.
Visit my Inspiration blog at http://liewinspiration.
For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.
Please visit my website, www.patrickliew.net
Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.
Life is FUNtastic!
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