THE IMPORTANCE OF MONEY WISDOM
You are living in a world wanting wisdom. The majority of people experience the lack and not the abundance, while only a small number of people feel both the affluence and the wealth. Surviving and navigating in this world of money disparity require profound wisdom-the perspectives of human wisdom, Biblical wisdom, and the TAO wisdom from ancient China.
So, always ask yourself many questions regarding your money wisdom, given that money always plays a pivotal role in this world of both abundance and lack.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz, a German-born American mathematician and electrical engineer, once said: “There are no foolish questions and no one becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.”
So, continue your life journey asking yourself many self-intuitive questions with respect to your money wisdom. The spirit of wisdom demands you to ask as many questions as possible on how you view the world today based on your past and present life experiences. Your money wisdom is your individual need to think more about your money. Do not bury your head in the sand! Just be wise on all your money matters!
Asking-questions-and-seeking-answers may give you your money wisdom. Your own life experiences are often responsible for your judgmental attitudes, your bias prejudices, and your assumptive presumptions-they may prevent you from knowing your real self, as well as from separating the truths from the half-truths or the myths about your money wisdom.
The truth of the matter is that your money wisdom is all based on your own perceptions and interpretations of your life experiences. That is why your money wisdom is uniquely yours.
Your money journey in this world is forever filled with missteps and detours, irrespective of your abundance or lack. Even if it may seem to be a bed of roses to you because of your abundance, it is always filled with some thorns. So, you need your spiritual wisdom to give you hope and guidance on your money journey.
To attain that spiritual wisdom, you need your faith-which is your trust and obedience to your Creator. According to Saint Augustine, faith is to believe in what you do not see, and you will then see what you believe. So, if you believe in your money wisdom, you will then see your security in every aspect of your life, whether you have abundance or lack..
To apply your money wisdom in the material world you are living in, you need the wisdom of the TAO-which is the humility to detach yourself from all attachments that you think define who you are. With no ego, you may then become self-enlightened: perceiving the “nothingness” of all things, as well as self-intuiting your “connectedness” to anything and everyone in the world. So, you are in balance and harmony with anyone and everyone, and you are no longer at war within yourself with your fear of insecurity-that is ultimately your money wisdom.
THE WISDOM OF ASKING QUESTIONS
Always enhance and empower your wisdom by asking yourself many questions to find out the absolute truths about anything and everything, including about self, others, and the world around. The clarity of your thinking through your own questions-and-answers is the only pathway to your attaining your money wisdom.
But how and why?
Thomas Berger, author, once said: “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” So, your wisdom also comes from the application to your everyday life and living all the information and knowledge you may have acquired through asking many self-intuitive questions.
There is an old proverb that says: “He who cannot ask cannot live.” Life is all about asking questions, and seeking answers from all the questions asked.
Your thinking is also a process of your self-intuition through asking many questions to create self-awareness and self-reflection. It is the natural habit of your thinking mind to solve all your problems by asking relevant questions and seeking answers from them. Through the process of solving problems, you then make things happen, including getting your money wisdom.
So, increase your mind power by asking many questions to initiate its intent to learn, to discover, and then to change yourself for the better.
Asking yourself many relevant questions about money may ultimately change your pre-conditioned mindset filled with all the half-truths and the myths regarding your money wisdom that you may have created for yourself voluntarily or involuntarily all these years.
Reverse thinking is your thinking mind going backward by asking many relevant questions to find out how and why your mind may have its current mindset of your money wisdom.
In addition, asking relevant questions may enable you to experience everything related to all the questions you are asking about yourself, others, and the world around. Living every question in its full presence is your money wisdom.
However, you must be patient toward all those questions that you cannot find the answers right away. Enlightenment may dawn on you one day when you find yourself asking fewer or even no more questions. It is because by then you may already have all the answers to all your questions; that is your ultimate self-wakening to the absolute truths about your money.
THE MONEY WISDOM QUESTIONS
Here are some of the questions you may want to ask yourself with respect to your money wisdom:
What is money?
Money is not just about coins and dollars; it is about anything and everything in your life that you may have knowingly or unknowingly in your mind attached a price tag.
Money is emotional. So, you must have your money wisdom to navigate that reality by creating your own money beliefs and money habits that may affect your emotions when you feel the abundance or the lack of money.
So, what are your money beliefs? Do you believe that money can buy you many things, if not everything? Do you believe in the power of money?
What are some of your money habits, such as the ways you earn and make your money, as well as the ways you save and spend your money earned? Do they give you security or insecurity?
Does money matter?
Of course, money matters in life. You cannot do without your money, which always matters to you. That is the reality.
Your money can do many things, but not everything, and that is also the reality of your money wisdom.
Your money may provide you with access to resources which can be used to help you meet some but not all of your everyday “needs” and “wants.”
With more money, you can live rich; with less money, you can still live richly.
But how to live richly, if you cannot live rich?
Thrift is the answer. Thrift is an alternative lifestyle to consumerism, materialism, and over-consumption in this material world you are living in.
Thrift may help you work less, and not more. Many people are not paying with their money; instead, they are paying with their time from their lives. Are you one of them? Are you doing two or more jobs just to earn that money to spend more?
Thrift may promote your positive consumption values. Are some or most of your purchases aimed at your instant gratification, or just enhancing your self-esteem, making you feel rich, such as wearing a designer’s dress?
Thrift may encourage your savings. It may give you more space to save, thereby instrumental in protecting you from negative income shocks, such as an unexpected unemployment.
JULIA SMARTY
Copyright © Julia Smarty
Click here to get you paperback copy of YOUR MONEY WISDOM, and here to get your e-book.
You are living in a world wanting wisdom. The majority of people experience the lack and not the abundance, while only a small number of people feel both the affluence and the wealth. Surviving and navigating in this world of money disparity require profound wisdom-the perspectives of human wisdom, Biblical wisdom, and the TAO wisdom from ancient China.
So, always ask yourself many questions regarding your money wisdom, given that money always plays a pivotal role in this world of both abundance and lack.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz, a German-born American mathematician and electrical engineer, once said: “There are no foolish questions and no one becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.”
So, continue your life journey asking yourself many self-intuitive questions with respect to your money wisdom. The spirit of wisdom demands you to ask as many questions as possible on how you view the world today based on your past and present life experiences. Your money wisdom is your individual need to think more about your money. Do not bury your head in the sand! Just be wise on all your money matters!
Asking-questions-and-seeking-answers may give you your money wisdom. Your own life experiences are often responsible for your judgmental attitudes, your bias prejudices, and your assumptive presumptions-they may prevent you from knowing your real self, as well as from separating the truths from the half-truths or the myths about your money wisdom.
The truth of the matter is that your money wisdom is all based on your own perceptions and interpretations of your life experiences. That is why your money wisdom is uniquely yours.
Your money journey in this world is forever filled with missteps and detours, irrespective of your abundance or lack. Even if it may seem to be a bed of roses to you because of your abundance, it is always filled with some thorns. So, you need your spiritual wisdom to give you hope and guidance on your money journey.
To attain that spiritual wisdom, you need your faith-which is your trust and obedience to your Creator. According to Saint Augustine, faith is to believe in what you do not see, and you will then see what you believe. So, if you believe in your money wisdom, you will then see your security in every aspect of your life, whether you have abundance or lack..
To apply your money wisdom in the material world you are living in, you need the wisdom of the TAO-which is the humility to detach yourself from all attachments that you think define who you are. With no ego, you may then become self-enlightened: perceiving the “nothingness” of all things, as well as self-intuiting your “connectedness” to anything and everyone in the world. So, you are in balance and harmony with anyone and everyone, and you are no longer at war within yourself with your fear of insecurity-that is ultimately your money wisdom.
THE WISDOM OF ASKING QUESTIONS
Always enhance and empower your wisdom by asking yourself many questions to find out the absolute truths about anything and everything, including about self, others, and the world around. The clarity of your thinking through your own questions-and-answers is the only pathway to your attaining your money wisdom.
But how and why?
Thomas Berger, author, once said: “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” So, your wisdom also comes from the application to your everyday life and living all the information and knowledge you may have acquired through asking many self-intuitive questions.
There is an old proverb that says: “He who cannot ask cannot live.” Life is all about asking questions, and seeking answers from all the questions asked.
Your thinking is also a process of your self-intuition through asking many questions to create self-awareness and self-reflection. It is the natural habit of your thinking mind to solve all your problems by asking relevant questions and seeking answers from them. Through the process of solving problems, you then make things happen, including getting your money wisdom.
So, increase your mind power by asking many questions to initiate its intent to learn, to discover, and then to change yourself for the better.
Asking yourself many relevant questions about money may ultimately change your pre-conditioned mindset filled with all the half-truths and the myths regarding your money wisdom that you may have created for yourself voluntarily or involuntarily all these years.
Reverse thinking is your thinking mind going backward by asking many relevant questions to find out how and why your mind may have its current mindset of your money wisdom.
In addition, asking relevant questions may enable you to experience everything related to all the questions you are asking about yourself, others, and the world around. Living every question in its full presence is your money wisdom.
However, you must be patient toward all those questions that you cannot find the answers right away. Enlightenment may dawn on you one day when you find yourself asking fewer or even no more questions. It is because by then you may already have all the answers to all your questions; that is your ultimate self-wakening to the absolute truths about your money.
THE MONEY WISDOM QUESTIONS
Here are some of the questions you may want to ask yourself with respect to your money wisdom:
What is money?
Money is not just about coins and dollars; it is about anything and everything in your life that you may have knowingly or unknowingly in your mind attached a price tag.
Money is emotional. So, you must have your money wisdom to navigate that reality by creating your own money beliefs and money habits that may affect your emotions when you feel the abundance or the lack of money.
So, what are your money beliefs? Do you believe that money can buy you many things, if not everything? Do you believe in the power of money?
What are some of your money habits, such as the ways you earn and make your money, as well as the ways you save and spend your money earned? Do they give you security or insecurity?
Does money matter?
Of course, money matters in life. You cannot do without your money, which always matters to you. That is the reality.
Your money can do many things, but not everything, and that is also the reality of your money wisdom.
Your money may provide you with access to resources which can be used to help you meet some but not all of your everyday “needs” and “wants.”
With more money, you can live rich; with less money, you can still live richly.
But how to live richly, if you cannot live rich?
Thrift is the answer. Thrift is an alternative lifestyle to consumerism, materialism, and over-consumption in this material world you are living in.
Thrift may help you work less, and not more. Many people are not paying with their money; instead, they are paying with their time from their lives. Are you one of them? Are you doing two or more jobs just to earn that money to spend more?
Thrift may promote your positive consumption values. Are some or most of your purchases aimed at your instant gratification, or just enhancing your self-esteem, making you feel rich, such as wearing a designer’s dress?
Thrift may encourage your savings. It may give you more space to save, thereby instrumental in protecting you from negative income shocks, such as an unexpected unemployment.
JULIA SMARTY
Copyright © Julia Smarty
Click here to get you paperback copy of YOUR MONEY WISDOM, and here to get your e-book.
YOUR MONEY WISDOM
NOTHING LASTS
All human attachments are the raw materials with which we both consciously and subconsciously create our own identities through a period of confusion and uncertainty that may eventually lead to not only the identity crisis but also the attachment illusions that distort our perceptions of the realities of life. Without human attachments, there will be no identity crisis, and no illusion of the mind.
For example, does the attachment to money bring happiness?
According to Harvard Business Review, money and happiness are not positively correlated, because money may make people less generous and more demanding and domineering. In addition, money may not bring out the best of an individual: the more money that individual has, the more focused on self that individual may become, and the less sensitive to the needs of people around, as well as the more likely to do the wrong things due to the feeling of right and entitlement.
The bottom line: any attachment to money only creates an illusion in the mind.
An illustration
Barbara Woolworth Hutton, also known as “the poor little rich girl”, was one of the wealthiest women in the world during the Great Depression. She had experienced an unhappy childhood with the early loss of her mother at age five and the neglect of her father, and thus setting her the stage for a life of difficulty in forming relationships.
Married and divorced seven times, she acquired grand foreign titles, but was maliciously treated and exploited by several of her husbands. Publicly, she was much envied for her lavish lifestyle and her exuberant wealth; privately, she was very insecure and unhappy, leading to addiction and fornication.
She died of a heart attack at age 66. At her death, the formerly very wealthy Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation by others around her, as well as due to her own lavish and luxurious lifestyle.
She was the unhappy poor little rich girl! She was widely reported in the media, and her story was even made into a Hollywood movie: “The Poor Little Rich Girl.”
The reality is that Barbara simply had too many attachments in her life: beauty, celebrity, fame, love, and above all, wealth-they had created too many illusions that they all ultimately brought about her unhappiness.
Remember, the more attachments you have, the greater is your ego-self; unfortunately, an ego-self is not the real self, and so the so-called “happiness” is nothing more than just an illusion in the mind. The ultimate truth is that nothing lasts, and everything remains only with that very moment.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
Click here to get your book ANYTHING IS EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS NOTHING! NOTHING IS EVERYTHING! Click here to get your e-book.
All human attachments are the raw materials with which we both consciously and subconsciously create our own identities through a period of confusion and uncertainty that may eventually lead to not only the identity crisis but also the attachment illusions that distort our perceptions of the realities of life. Without human attachments, there will be no identity crisis, and no illusion of the mind.
For example, does the attachment to money bring happiness?
According to Harvard Business Review, money and happiness are not positively correlated, because money may make people less generous and more demanding and domineering. In addition, money may not bring out the best of an individual: the more money that individual has, the more focused on self that individual may become, and the less sensitive to the needs of people around, as well as the more likely to do the wrong things due to the feeling of right and entitlement.
The bottom line: any attachment to money only creates an illusion in the mind.
An illustration
Barbara Woolworth Hutton, also known as “the poor little rich girl”, was one of the wealthiest women in the world during the Great Depression. She had experienced an unhappy childhood with the early loss of her mother at age five and the neglect of her father, and thus setting her the stage for a life of difficulty in forming relationships.
Married and divorced seven times, she acquired grand foreign titles, but was maliciously treated and exploited by several of her husbands. Publicly, she was much envied for her lavish lifestyle and her exuberant wealth; privately, she was very insecure and unhappy, leading to addiction and fornication.
She died of a heart attack at age 66. At her death, the formerly very wealthy Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation by others around her, as well as due to her own lavish and luxurious lifestyle.
She was the unhappy poor little rich girl! She was widely reported in the media, and her story was even made into a Hollywood movie: “The Poor Little Rich Girl.”
The reality is that Barbara simply had too many attachments in her life: beauty, celebrity, fame, love, and above all, wealth-they had created too many illusions that they all ultimately brought about her unhappiness.
Remember, the more attachments you have, the greater is your ego-self; unfortunately, an ego-self is not the real self, and so the so-called “happiness” is nothing more than just an illusion in the mind. The ultimate truth is that nothing lasts, and everything remains only with that very moment.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
Click here to get your book ANYTHING IS EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS NOTHING! NOTHING IS EVERYTHING! Click here to get your e-book.
MONEY FANTASIES AND MONEY MISERIES
If money really matters to you, then earn more.
To earn more, capitalize on the skills you already have, enhance and improve them, and look for better and richer employment. In addition, there are likely many other skills you may possess that cannot be or have not been fully maximized or utilized wherever you are working. Then, harness those skills and capitalize on them through doing some freelance work on the side to maximize your current income.
If, on the other hand, you do not have the basic skills, and you do not want to learn and acquire them, and yet you always crave money and wealth, then your cravings are only your money fantasies.
What are money fantasies?
Only your money wisdom can separate your money fantasies from the money realities.
There was the story of a beautiful and sophisticated woman in her mid-twenties who wrote to an investment counseling company looking for a list of eligible bachelors with earnings of at least $600,000 a year. That woman had money fantasies in her mind.
According to experts, using marriage as an investment is a money fantasy, and no more than a bad investment bargain-just like investing into a shrinking currency. Imagine, the beauty of that woman will shrink over the years, while the $600,000 may grow over the long haul.
So, marrying into money, buying the lottery, and winning at the casino are all money fantasies.
What are money miseries?
Money miseries are also the realities for many, who always feel dissatisfied, frustrated, insecure, and insolvent. This mental condition suffered by many is often a result of constant exposure to media news of the rich and the famous, as well as their own perceptions of “possessions equal satisfaction.” It is your own mental interpretation of what you see verses who you really are.
You have money miseries if you have a job with a modest income but still living from paycheck to paycheck. If you are struggling with money miseries, you need your money wisdom to change your belief system, to stop comparing yourself with others around you, as well as to identify all the whys of your emotional feelings about and around your money miseries.
Why so many are broke?
According to The Wall Street Journal, many consumers (nearly 70 percent) are living from paycheck to paycheck. More than 50 percent consumers worry a lot about money, such as retirement. Once they lose their jobs or encounter any financial crisis, they become broke.
Even wealthy celebrities, such as Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson, go broke.
Mike Tyson, a boxing champion with several heavyweight titles, earning over $300 million dollars during his successful boxing career, ended up in bankruptcy in 2003.
Michael Jackson, recording artist, dancer, singer and songwriter, earning more than $500 million dollars, was heavily in debt when he died in 2009.
Of course, you might say: “If I had those millions of dollars, I wouldn’t become broke?” But if you cannot change your current spending habits, it would be a lot more difficult to change them when you have become a wealthy celebrity, such as Mike Tyson or Michael Jackson.
So, going broke is no respecter of persons, whether you are poor or rich.
The bottom line: Everyone needs to have the money wisdom to know how to earn, invest, and spend money to avoid going broke.
JULIA SMARTY
Copyright© Julia Smarty
Click here to get your paperback copy, and here to get your e-book.
If money really matters to you, then earn more.
To earn more, capitalize on the skills you already have, enhance and improve them, and look for better and richer employment. In addition, there are likely many other skills you may possess that cannot be or have not been fully maximized or utilized wherever you are working. Then, harness those skills and capitalize on them through doing some freelance work on the side to maximize your current income.
If, on the other hand, you do not have the basic skills, and you do not want to learn and acquire them, and yet you always crave money and wealth, then your cravings are only your money fantasies.
What are money fantasies?
Only your money wisdom can separate your money fantasies from the money realities.
There was the story of a beautiful and sophisticated woman in her mid-twenties who wrote to an investment counseling company looking for a list of eligible bachelors with earnings of at least $600,000 a year. That woman had money fantasies in her mind.
According to experts, using marriage as an investment is a money fantasy, and no more than a bad investment bargain-just like investing into a shrinking currency. Imagine, the beauty of that woman will shrink over the years, while the $600,000 may grow over the long haul.
So, marrying into money, buying the lottery, and winning at the casino are all money fantasies.
What are money miseries?
Money miseries are also the realities for many, who always feel dissatisfied, frustrated, insecure, and insolvent. This mental condition suffered by many is often a result of constant exposure to media news of the rich and the famous, as well as their own perceptions of “possessions equal satisfaction.” It is your own mental interpretation of what you see verses who you really are.
You have money miseries if you have a job with a modest income but still living from paycheck to paycheck. If you are struggling with money miseries, you need your money wisdom to change your belief system, to stop comparing yourself with others around you, as well as to identify all the whys of your emotional feelings about and around your money miseries.
Why so many are broke?
According to The Wall Street Journal, many consumers (nearly 70 percent) are living from paycheck to paycheck. More than 50 percent consumers worry a lot about money, such as retirement. Once they lose their jobs or encounter any financial crisis, they become broke.
Even wealthy celebrities, such as Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson, go broke.
Mike Tyson, a boxing champion with several heavyweight titles, earning over $300 million dollars during his successful boxing career, ended up in bankruptcy in 2003.
Michael Jackson, recording artist, dancer, singer and songwriter, earning more than $500 million dollars, was heavily in debt when he died in 2009.
Of course, you might say: “If I had those millions of dollars, I wouldn’t become broke?” But if you cannot change your current spending habits, it would be a lot more difficult to change them when you have become a wealthy celebrity, such as Mike Tyson or Michael Jackson.
So, going broke is no respecter of persons, whether you are poor or rich.
The bottom line: Everyone needs to have the money wisdom to know how to earn, invest, and spend money to avoid going broke.
JULIA SMARTY
Copyright© Julia Smarty
Click here to get your paperback copy, and here to get your e-book.
BUDDHA'S PERSPECTIVE OF IMPERMANENCE
According to Buddha, life is like a river. The water flowing in a river is like a progressive and a successive series of different but unified movements of water, all joining together to create the impression of only one continuous flow of water. Likewise, human existence is moment to moment, with each moment leading to the next. It is also an illusion that the person in this moment is the same person in the next moment; just as the river of yesterday is not quite the same as the river of today. To think otherwise is human illusion.
Even from a scientific point of view, Buddha’s perspective is true. We know that cell divisions take place in each living being continuously: old cells in our bodies die and are continuously replaced by new ones. Technically speaking, all individuals are constantly subject to change, and the change is a continuous movement, just like the flowing water in a river.
Remember, in life, everything remains only with that very present moment; ultimately, everything is nothing.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
According to Buddha, life is like a river. The water flowing in a river is like a progressive and a successive series of different but unified movements of water, all joining together to create the impression of only one continuous flow of water. Likewise, human existence is moment to moment, with each moment leading to the next. It is also an illusion that the person in this moment is the same person in the next moment; just as the river of yesterday is not quite the same as the river of today. To think otherwise is human illusion.
Even from a scientific point of view, Buddha’s perspective is true. We know that cell divisions take place in each living being continuously: old cells in our bodies die and are continuously replaced by new ones. Technically speaking, all individuals are constantly subject to change, and the change is a continuous movement, just like the flowing water in a river.
Remember, in life, everything remains only with that very present moment; ultimately, everything is nothing.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
MONEY AND HAPPINESS
Human existence is meaningless, if it is devoid of human happiness.
Since time immemorial, man has been searching for happiness. Many believe that human wisdom holds the key to ultimate success in the quest for happiness. Hence, the pursuit of wisdom is also as old as age.
Happiness is like a carrot-and-stick to a mule-forever unattainable: the more pain inflicted on the mule, the greater desire it shows to reach out for that unreachable carrot in front. Maybe that explains the painstaking pursuit of happiness by many. Indeed, happiness is not only abstract and intangible, but also elusive and evasive.
Happiness comes in many different forms. What happiness to one individual may not be happiness to another-just as one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Happiness is uniquely personal. In addition, even if it is attainable, happiness comes and goes, just as day and night. Furthermore, no matter what, happiness has to come to an end with the expiration of life.
It is human nature to seek happiness by any means, and human wisdom is considered the most appropriate way to attaining human happiness. During the brief lifespan, humans seek their own wisdom to help them pursue their happiness that may come to them in many different forms, such as wealth, good health, satisfying relationships, successful careers and endeavors, and among others.
Sadly, the many different forms of happiness that most people crave and pursue in their lives may not bring them true and lasting happiness.
Why not? It is because there are certain myths about true happiness.
One of the myths is that happiness is about experiences. Accordingly, many use money to buy those pleasant life experiences, such as going on a vacation, throwing a party, or buying an expensive dress. The memories of those happy life experiences in the past, as well as the thoughts of those happy moments to be repeated in the future-both are unreal: the past was gone, and the future is yet to come. So, the happiness created by those memories and thoughts in the human mind is unreal and self-delusional at best.
Another happiness myth is that most happy life experiences have to do with sensual sensations, which are based on pleasures derived from the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. But sensations can provide only sensual pleasures-such as the excitement of new experiences, the thrill and passion of sex, or the delights of a fine meal-they last only a brief moment or two, and they do not contribute to true and lasting happiness.
The truth of the matter is that all your wonderful life experiences are only to be enjoyed, and then to be let go of, just as a delicious meal is to be enjoyed, savored, and then to be digested, and ultimately eliminated from the body. So, the continuous quest for happiness is elusive and evasive, just like chasing the wind.
The truth of the matter is that happiness is but a state of mind, and that is why it is abstract, intangible, and unattainable. It is all in the mind’s eye-just as John Milton, the famous English poet, says in his masterpiece Paradise Lost:
“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.”
According to the Harvard Business Review, money and happiness are not positively correlated, because wealth may make people less generous and more domineering. In addition, money may not bring out the best of an individual: the more money that individual has, the more focused on self that individual may become, and so the less sensitive to the needs of people around, as well as the more likely to do all the wrong things due to the feeling of right and entitlement.
An illustration of going from riches to nothing
Barbara Woolworth Hutton, also known as “the poor little rich girl”, was one of the wealthiest women in the world during the Great Depression. She had experienced an unhappy childhood with the early loss of her mother at age five and the neglect of her father, setting her the stage for a life of difficulty in forming relationships.
Married and divorced seven times, she acquired grand foreign titles, but was maliciously treated and exploited by several of her husbands. Publicly, she was much envied for her lavish lifestyle and her exuberant wealth; privately, she was very insecure and unhappy, leading to addiction and fornication.
Barbara Hutton died of a heart attack at age 66. At her death, the formerly wealthy Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation, as well as her own lavish and luxurious lifestyle.
Barbara Hutton was the unhappy poor little rich girl! She was widely reported in the media, and her story was even made into a Hollywood movie: “The Poor Little Rich Girl.”
An illustration of going from rags to riches
Christopher Paul Gardner is an American businessman, entrepreneur, investor, author, and philanthropist. In the early 1980s, Gardner was very poor and homeless; he was often sleeping on the floor of a public toilet. Gardner never dreamt that he would become a multi-millionaire one day. His very inspiring life story was even made into a hit Hollywood movie, starring Will Smith: “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
Gardner was brought up with the belief that he could do or be anything that he wanted to do or be. He was homeless, but he was not hopeless. He often dreamed of wealth and success, and his dreams were not mirages. Because of his right doing, he made his dreams come true.
Initially, Gardner made his living by selling medical equipment. He did not make enough money to make both ends meet, and his poverty made him homeless for a year.
Then, one day, Gardner met a stockbroker in a red Ferrari, who offered him internship because of his incredible drive and sustained enthusiasm. He had a successful investment career, and he subsequently opened his own investment firm, Gardner Rich & Co.
More than two decades later, after the death of his wife, who challenged him to find his own true happiness and fulfillment in the remainder of his life, Gardner then made a complete career change. He became a philanthropist and a remarkable motivation speaker traveling around the world, focusing not on his own wealth, but on humanity and helping others to get their happiness.
According to Gardner, life journey is always a process of lesson learning and forward moving:
“People often ask me would I trade anything from my past, and I quickly tell them NO, because my past helped to make me into the person I am today.”
“On that life journey, mental focus is essential: focusing not just on the big things in life but also on the small things as well; appreciating what you have rather than dwelling on what you lack.”
“What seems like nothing in the eyes of the world, when properly valued and put to use, can be among the greatest riches.”
“Wealth can also be that attitude of gratitude with which we remind ourselves everyday to count our blessings.”
“The balance in your life is more important than the balance in your checking account.”
According to Gardner, everything begins with self-belief and doing.
“I just wanted to make a million dollars. But I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t play ball, so I said to my mother, ‘How am I going to make a million dollars?’ And she said to me, ‘Son, if you believe you can do it, you will.’”
“It can be done, but you have to make it happen.”
The above illustrations show that money can make you happy or unhappy, depending on your money values, and how you apply them to your daily life and living-that is, your money wisdom.
JULIA SMARTY
Copyright © Julia Smarty
Human existence is meaningless, if it is devoid of human happiness.
Since time immemorial, man has been searching for happiness. Many believe that human wisdom holds the key to ultimate success in the quest for happiness. Hence, the pursuit of wisdom is also as old as age.
Happiness is like a carrot-and-stick to a mule-forever unattainable: the more pain inflicted on the mule, the greater desire it shows to reach out for that unreachable carrot in front. Maybe that explains the painstaking pursuit of happiness by many. Indeed, happiness is not only abstract and intangible, but also elusive and evasive.
Happiness comes in many different forms. What happiness to one individual may not be happiness to another-just as one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Happiness is uniquely personal. In addition, even if it is attainable, happiness comes and goes, just as day and night. Furthermore, no matter what, happiness has to come to an end with the expiration of life.
It is human nature to seek happiness by any means, and human wisdom is considered the most appropriate way to attaining human happiness. During the brief lifespan, humans seek their own wisdom to help them pursue their happiness that may come to them in many different forms, such as wealth, good health, satisfying relationships, successful careers and endeavors, and among others.
Sadly, the many different forms of happiness that most people crave and pursue in their lives may not bring them true and lasting happiness.
Why not? It is because there are certain myths about true happiness.
One of the myths is that happiness is about experiences. Accordingly, many use money to buy those pleasant life experiences, such as going on a vacation, throwing a party, or buying an expensive dress. The memories of those happy life experiences in the past, as well as the thoughts of those happy moments to be repeated in the future-both are unreal: the past was gone, and the future is yet to come. So, the happiness created by those memories and thoughts in the human mind is unreal and self-delusional at best.
Another happiness myth is that most happy life experiences have to do with sensual sensations, which are based on pleasures derived from the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. But sensations can provide only sensual pleasures-such as the excitement of new experiences, the thrill and passion of sex, or the delights of a fine meal-they last only a brief moment or two, and they do not contribute to true and lasting happiness.
The truth of the matter is that all your wonderful life experiences are only to be enjoyed, and then to be let go of, just as a delicious meal is to be enjoyed, savored, and then to be digested, and ultimately eliminated from the body. So, the continuous quest for happiness is elusive and evasive, just like chasing the wind.
The truth of the matter is that happiness is but a state of mind, and that is why it is abstract, intangible, and unattainable. It is all in the mind’s eye-just as John Milton, the famous English poet, says in his masterpiece Paradise Lost:
“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.”
According to the Harvard Business Review, money and happiness are not positively correlated, because wealth may make people less generous and more domineering. In addition, money may not bring out the best of an individual: the more money that individual has, the more focused on self that individual may become, and so the less sensitive to the needs of people around, as well as the more likely to do all the wrong things due to the feeling of right and entitlement.
An illustration of going from riches to nothing
Barbara Woolworth Hutton, also known as “the poor little rich girl”, was one of the wealthiest women in the world during the Great Depression. She had experienced an unhappy childhood with the early loss of her mother at age five and the neglect of her father, setting her the stage for a life of difficulty in forming relationships.
Married and divorced seven times, she acquired grand foreign titles, but was maliciously treated and exploited by several of her husbands. Publicly, she was much envied for her lavish lifestyle and her exuberant wealth; privately, she was very insecure and unhappy, leading to addiction and fornication.
Barbara Hutton died of a heart attack at age 66. At her death, the formerly wealthy Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation, as well as her own lavish and luxurious lifestyle.
Barbara Hutton was the unhappy poor little rich girl! She was widely reported in the media, and her story was even made into a Hollywood movie: “The Poor Little Rich Girl.”
An illustration of going from rags to riches
Christopher Paul Gardner is an American businessman, entrepreneur, investor, author, and philanthropist. In the early 1980s, Gardner was very poor and homeless; he was often sleeping on the floor of a public toilet. Gardner never dreamt that he would become a multi-millionaire one day. His very inspiring life story was even made into a hit Hollywood movie, starring Will Smith: “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
Gardner was brought up with the belief that he could do or be anything that he wanted to do or be. He was homeless, but he was not hopeless. He often dreamed of wealth and success, and his dreams were not mirages. Because of his right doing, he made his dreams come true.
Initially, Gardner made his living by selling medical equipment. He did not make enough money to make both ends meet, and his poverty made him homeless for a year.
Then, one day, Gardner met a stockbroker in a red Ferrari, who offered him internship because of his incredible drive and sustained enthusiasm. He had a successful investment career, and he subsequently opened his own investment firm, Gardner Rich & Co.
More than two decades later, after the death of his wife, who challenged him to find his own true happiness and fulfillment in the remainder of his life, Gardner then made a complete career change. He became a philanthropist and a remarkable motivation speaker traveling around the world, focusing not on his own wealth, but on humanity and helping others to get their happiness.
According to Gardner, life journey is always a process of lesson learning and forward moving:
“People often ask me would I trade anything from my past, and I quickly tell them NO, because my past helped to make me into the person I am today.”
“On that life journey, mental focus is essential: focusing not just on the big things in life but also on the small things as well; appreciating what you have rather than dwelling on what you lack.”
“What seems like nothing in the eyes of the world, when properly valued and put to use, can be among the greatest riches.”
“Wealth can also be that attitude of gratitude with which we remind ourselves everyday to count our blessings.”
“The balance in your life is more important than the balance in your checking account.”
According to Gardner, everything begins with self-belief and doing.
“I just wanted to make a million dollars. But I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t play ball, so I said to my mother, ‘How am I going to make a million dollars?’ And she said to me, ‘Son, if you believe you can do it, you will.’”
“It can be done, but you have to make it happen.”
The above illustrations show that money can make you happy or unhappy, depending on your money values, and how you apply them to your daily life and living-that is, your money wisdom.
JULIA SMARTY
Copyright © Julia Smarty
The Happiness Wisdom
by Stephen Lau
Many are unhappy not because of what they have experienced throughout their life journeys, but because they don't have the human wisdom to perceive and process what they've experienced.
Happiness is a state of mind, due to the the perceptions of the human mind. Change your perceptions to change your so-called realities. Empower your mind with human wisdom -- ancient wisdom from the East and the West, conventional wisdom, and spiritual wisdom -- to think differently to have totally different perspectives of what may have made you happy or unhappy.
Looking at real examples of real people from all over the world may enlighten you, and help you live as if everything is a miracle.
Click here to get more details to see if the book is right for you.
To get your digital copy, click here; to get your paperback copy, click here.
by Stephen Lau
Many are unhappy not because of what they have experienced throughout their life journeys, but because they don't have the human wisdom to perceive and process what they've experienced.
Happiness is a state of mind, due to the the perceptions of the human mind. Change your perceptions to change your so-called realities. Empower your mind with human wisdom -- ancient wisdom from the East and the West, conventional wisdom, and spiritual wisdom -- to think differently to have totally different perspectives of what may have made you happy or unhappy.
Looking at real examples of real people from all over the world may enlighten you, and help you live as if everything is a miracle.
Click here to get more details to see if the book is right for you.
To get your digital copy, click here; to get your paperback copy, click here.
My Way! No Way! TAO Is The Way! by Stephen Lau
This is one-of-a-kind approach to depression, a mind disorder in a world of depression.
Unlike the conventional ways of avoiding depression, such as the use of exercise as distraction,.suppressing the symptoms, such as the use of affirmations or visualizations, and up lifting the depressive moods using medications, this new approach uses the ancient TAO wisdom from China to let you fully experience anything and everything in depression.
TAO wisdom is the way through depression, instead of avoiding it. You may become enlightened and free yourself of depression forever; if not, at least you may look at your depression differently.
To find out more and to read some excerpts from the book, click here.
This is one-of-a-kind approach to depression, a mind disorder in a world of depression.
Unlike the conventional ways of avoiding depression, such as the use of exercise as distraction,.suppressing the symptoms, such as the use of affirmations or visualizations, and up lifting the depressive moods using medications, this new approach uses the ancient TAO wisdom from China to let you fully experience anything and everything in depression.
TAO wisdom is the way through depression, instead of avoiding it. You may become enlightened and free yourself of depression forever; if not, at least you may look at your depression differently.
To find out more and to read some excerpts from the book, click here.