subject: Being Rich Is a State of Mind [print this page] Being Rich Is a State of Mind Being Rich Is a State of Mind
Being rich has nothing to do with the state of our bank account. Being rich has everything to do with the feeling that, no matter what, we can always get the things that we need or want.
To put it in other words, being rich does not mean having resources it means having resourcefulness.
We can always lose our resources but, so long as we are healthy, no one can rob us of our resourcefulness.
I had a brother who, at one time, was worth upward of twenty million dollars but he had the poverty mindset and, no matter how well he would do financially, he always felt insecure about money or about his own survival for that matter. That feeling got so bad that he started having panic attacks.
The problem was that he was identifying with his bank account and not with his resourcefulness. First and foremost, we are who we are and not what we have. A fundamental belief based on false premises cannot withstand the tides of time. Sooner or later the truth has to emerge and the edifice supported by false beliefs will crumble.
Two years ago, I lost my beloved brother. Cancer took him away. I felt a strong sense of loss but what hurt the most was knowing that he had not been able to find peace and happiness throughout his adult years. That was the great tragedy.
Money is a tool and nothing else, and like any other tool, it can help or hurt us depending on how we use it. Whether we believe it or not, money can be a friend or a foe. It all depends on how we look at it.
First, it must be understood that we do not "own" money. We cannot go to the bank and ask a teller to "see our money." Such a request would probably be cause to question our sanity. We do not "own" money but we have the permission and the right to manage the amount of money that is indicated in our bank account.
A small but all-important distinction. If we can manage money we can affect its flow inward or outward but we are at no risk of losing what is not "ours" in the first place. That small distinction takes all the stress out money matters.
Being rich means being free from monetary worries and monetary considerations. It means understanding that money is like air. There is enough for everyone and all that we have to do is to place ourselves in a situation where we will have access to that resource.
Money plays a very important role in our lives yet the concept of money is greatly misunderstood. Money is a tool and as with any other tool, it not the amount of any specific tool that we have that really matters, but how well we understand that tool and how well we can manipulate it that makes all the difference.
Having large amount of money will never make us feel rich but having ample supply of resourcefulness will. So, let us not concentrate on gathering money if security is high on our priority list but let us work on who and what we are because that is what will increase our level of resourcefulness and that's what being rich and secure is all about.
