Chris Ranieri believes leading a life of riches means more than just accumulating material wealth.
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What is a “lifetime of riches” exactly? How do you achieve it? According to Merriam-Webster, riches can be defined as: “Good things that are available to use or choose“ With choice comes options, with options come freedom. Freedom can also be defined as liberation. Liberation is the state of being liberated, or free. – See the pattern? – The choices you make will determine your riches.
“People have to liberate themselves, because liberation is not a single act. It’s a question of eternal vigilance. Otherwise, you’ll just become enslaved by someone else.” – Norman Finkelstein
There are two type of riches to achieve continued lifetime freedom:
1. Material Liberation– Free from financial problems.
2. Mental Liberation – Free from mental limitations.
When most think of riches they think of money. Having a mentally rich life is just as important as a materialistic life full of riches. Without having a mentally rich life, your material possessions will eventually be lost to your self-destructive mindset.
The reason I equate mental riches to freedom is because without freedom you will feel caged, stagnant, and stuck in the same cycle. Imagine working the same loathesome job for 15 years. You dread waking up every day but you go because you need the money. The money pays the bills, puts food on the table, and leaves little for luxuries. That is living a stagnant life. Nothing changes, it’s the same crap over and over again. All excitement in your life is lost. You are living in a mental cage.
This is what I call being Selfish Progressive .
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The Secret To Living A Lifetime Of Riches can be applied to both material and mental riches. It’s giving Value. That’s it, that’s the secret. Choosing to give something of value to others, and in return you will be rewarded with material and mental riches.
It’s what I call being Selfish Progressive – Being selfish with a good intent that progressively benefits others and yourself as well.
Mental Liberation
Mental Liberation is freeing one’s mind from detrimental thoughts. Negativity surrounds us all, but it doesn’t mean you have to be a part of it. You have to free yourself from those unhealthy influences. When you give value, you are offering someone “a thing”. What that “thing” is can be completely up to you: money, a hug, etc. The thing you are giving them is worth something of value. Like I said, depending on what area you give value in, you will be rewarded because of it. Think of this blog: I am offering you valuable advice, in return I am receiving the satisfaction of helping others.
When you offer value, you should be living in that moment and detaching yourself from the overall outcome of receiving something in return.
How Does This All Apply?
You’re probably asking how this applies to being mentally liberated? How is being selfish-progressive going to give me a lifetime of riches?
“When you give something of value, you are giving to others. In return, you are receiving self-gratification.”
Anyone can give a dollar and not care. Giving a dollar knowing you are going to help someone out, out of the goodness of your heart? That is true giving.
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By giving value, you are also pleasing yourself. Some may say that receiving something in return is selfish. In a way it is, but it’s a POSITIVE selfishness. It is a Selfish Progressive mindset because it’s not only all about you. It is completely okay to be a little selfish at times. It’s normal and needed in this world if you want to better yourself and grow as a person. Spending time alone, for example, can also be seen as positive selfishness.
We all know money is given in exchange for goods and services. But what is giving an exchange of? Giving is an exchange of emotions. You are making someone feel good, giving them an uplifting emotion. Anyone can give a dollar and not care. Giving a dollar knowing you are going to help someone out, out of the goodness of your heart? That is true giving. In return, you both receive the same benefit. – A positive influx of emotions.
Ask yourself:
What is one thing that you can do for others that will make them feel good? – How can you give value to others?
What is one thing you can do for yourself that will make you feel good? – How can you give value to yourself?
Now combine that. What can you do for others that will make both yourself and others feel good?
The Mental Cage
Let’s go back to the mental cage. Let’s say you work as a bus driver. Day after day, all day, you hear screaming kids. It can get annoying and stressful. You WISH you could find a new job that would be less stressfull and give you the freedom you desire. In reality, every job is stressful. How you look at it makes all the difference. Any job you have will allow you to give value. You may not feel rewarded, but you are nevertheless being rewarded. It is up to you to see how.
How To Free Yourself From The Cage
You must train yourself to be mentally liberated. Have a flexible mindset and change your thinking patterns. The more you push for something, the less of a chance you will get it. You cannot be needy because neediness equals unwanted internal stress. You must be detached from the outcome. Don’t confuse that with having an end result in your mind when you’re making goals. Having goals and taking steps to achieve them is important in life.
Everyone has something different to say, and that’s okay. For the person who is disagreeing with you, you are also disagreeing with them.
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Without goals, I wouldn’t have started this blog. Whether I have 0 or 1,000,000 readers or whether you sign up for The SuperCharger Magazine or not, the outcome is still the same in my mind. I am still giving value and I still feel good in return by doing it. It’s a win-win situation for me. By writing this post, I am giving value by teaching you something new, or expanding your knowledge. For myself, I am getting self-gratification knowing I am making a positive impact in the world.
5 Steps To Becoming Mentally Liberated
1. Have an open mind: Being closed off from reality and in your own bubble is detrimental to your health and the health of those around you. Have an open mind about new things, even if you THINK you may not like it, give it a shot. You’ll at least have an answer.
2. Understanding: Be understanding of others. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about it. Just because someone is in a bad mood doesn’t mean they’re an asshole. Try to be understanding of other people’s problems. Help them out if they want it, give them value.
3. Heart, Spirit, Strength: That’s courage. Have the Heart to help others out, the Spirit to do what’s right, and the Strength to overcome those hurdles and never give up.
4. Tolerance: Be tolerant towards other opinions. Everyone has something different to say, and that’s okay. For the person who is disagreeing with you, you are also disagreeing with them.
5. Let go: Don’t live with a stick up your ass. Have an open mind.
Ways To Give And Gain Value
1. Listen to other people’s problems – Listening to other people makes them feel good. It makes them feel valued. In turn, you are learning something about new situations you not have been in yourself. One of the best ways to avoid a potential future problem from happening in your life, is to learn from others who have been there.
2. Action – Take action towards a goal, each day you will feel good because you accomplished something.
Being mentally free is a wonderful feeling. Detaching yourself from the outcome, living in the present and getting out of the cage is what everyone strives for. It’s possible for anyone. You must be mentally liberated, and give value to others.
You may be wondering why I chose Value as the secret instead of mental liberation or living in the present moment. Giving value is more than either of the others. You can give value and live in moment by laughing with someone. You can give value just for the sake of giving without being outcome dependent. You can give value even by being patient with someone and listening to them. The outcome is that you make them feel good, and you feel good by helping.
Photo Credit: Christian Haugen/flickr
A version of this post also appeared at http://chrisranieri.com/secret-to-a-lifetime-of-riches/