Friday, August 6, 2010

Building Prosperity?

It may seem strange at first reading the title of this post. Why did I use a question mark? After all it is just a statement. It really doesn't seem to be a question at all. But, in real life it is a question.

What is "prosperity"? Just what does it mean? How do you build prosperity?

When I first think of prosperity I immediately think of my bank account having more in it than it does now. Not having to worry how I am going to be able to pay all those bills that insist on showing up each month. Going to the post office and opening my box to see no bills except the necessary ones, like electricity bills. Having no mortgage to have to contend with for the rest of my life. I could list many more but you know the feeling and the pain. 

But, you know what, in the back of my brain I also think of more free time to travel, to be with my family and friends. Time to really relax and enjoy life around me. The happiness and glee that comes with being prosperous. The inner self-relief of being free. Truly free.

I looked up "prosperity" on the internet and found this:
"Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, success, or good fortune. Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes other factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health.

Economic notions of prosperity often compete or interact negatively with health, happiness, or spiritual notions of prosperity. For example, longer hours of work might result in an increase in certain measures of economic prosperity, but at the expense of driving people away from their preferences for shorter work hours.

In Buddhism, prosperity is viewed with an emphasis on collectivism and spirituality. This perspective can be at odds with capitalistic notions of prosperity, due to their association with greed. Data from social surveys show that an increase in income does not result in a lasting increase in happiness; one proposed explanation
to this is due to hedonic adaptation and social comparison, and a failure to anticipate these factors, resulting in people not allocating enough energy to non-financial goals such as family life and health." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity

Basely what the above is saying if this: you can drive yourself in a gigantic pot hole by only concentrating on being prosperous. 
Some times on our way to building prosperity we lose site of what is really important in our life and to our well being. If you are so determined to have more economic status than you have now and you are constantly pushing your buttons to have more and more, where will it end? And, just how much are you willing to loose along the way.

Good grief, don't miss understand what I am saying. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to reach a level of financial prosperity. If this is what you really want then at least go about it in a way that will be rewarding and less dangerous. No one wants to be left alone and stranded, having a million dollars in their pocket and all of a sudden wondering what happened to their family, friends and self.



Steve Goodier of http://www.lifesupportsystem.com, has this to say: "I am concerned about some people's narrow and dangerous ideas about success. Achieving more, getting more, becoming number one. Not that there is anything wrong with healthy achievement. It's just that there is a difference between earning well and living well.

A successful life is not always a high-achieving life. Sometimes it is about accomplishing a worthwhile goal, even a private, personal victory. Sometimes it is about improving one's character. Sometimes success is best defined by living into one's own personal mission, or finding a meaningful purpose to organize one's life around. And sometimes it is about learning how to live in peace, happiness, generosity and love.

Someone put it like this: "I spent my life frantically climbing the ladder of success. When I got to the top I realized it was leaning against the wrong building." Even if she got to the top first, it made no difference. There is no merit in being first to arrive at the wrong place in life."

You know as well as I do, if you really sit down and think about this thing, that having more money is a driving force within us, but, really, why do you and I want more money? There is so much more to it than just building economic prosperity. 

I have found a painless and less treating road to building prosperity. What to know what it is? Contact me.

Hope To see you at the top of the mountain...