The meaning of wealth has nothing to do with money, riches, property, or investments, and I’m going to show you why and what you can do.
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If you want to be wealthy you don’t need to put loads of money in the bank, make a ton of money, invest in stocks, or any other system about which we’ve been told. Experts in finance say “it’s not about what you make, it’s about what you keep,” and this is true for far more than money.
Despite Puff Daddy’s famous lyrics, it’s not all about the Benjamins (though they do help with some things). It’s about the flow. Flow of information, resources, and energy. Truthfully, it’s about the meaning. I’ve met “poor” people who feel wealthy and I’ve met “rich” people who don’t feel wealthy no matter how much time, energy, things, or friends they have.
In order to be wealthy, we must..well… BE wealthy. It’s not a thought, or a condition. It’s a state that eludes many – our culture has designed it to be so. Between the semantics we use, the meaning we assume, and the stories we tell, poverty seems to be baked in.
I’ve spent the past 15 years cracking the code on creating this state of wealth – I call it the Mindful Mantra. Today, I’m going to show you what I’ve learned. But first, let’s bust some myths:
Mindset
Let’s imagine the words “poor” and “rich” never had to do with money. Just for now.
The word “poor” in English is more often used as a pity word to be feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, and less than. It’s a victim mentality that makes those on the other end of it feel pitied and helpless. It’s seen all the time: “Poor baby,” “you poor thing,” and “you’ve done poorly.”
These words create a belief in the huge gap between you and in your desires.Decisions seem more complex and difficult, the illusion that there’s more to the story than there really is becomes the dominant thought.
On the other hand, “rich” is frequently associated with decadence, density, and satisfaction. It implies more than enough & abundance, regardless of how much that rich chocolate cake costs. “Rich” can also describe flavor – you know that cake you never finish because it’s “too sweet”? Think about it – the “rich chocolate cake” is presented simply – without too many decisions or options.
Overwhelm
Ever gone to eat at a buffet? They’re not made for the rich. There’s a lot of options. Too many, generally. Where do you start? What do you eat first? How do you guarantee you have room for dessert? Most of the time, people that go overeat.
Here’s the deal: The more decisions we have to make, the more mentally taxed we become. This happens way sooner than we think, and it makes us dumber. In the studies, this phenomenon happened with one simple question – if you had to spend $1,500 to repair your car, would you do it now, take out a loan, or do it later?
When this phenomenon – called “bandwidth tax” occurs, it’s more challenging to care about decadence or richness, we begin perceiving more problems than solutions, and it becomes much harder to make the most basic of decisions.
Lather, rinse, and repeat, and before you know it you’re 10 shots in and giving yourself a broken ankle from just choosing to get out of bed. This is your self-fulfilling “poor” story.
Bias
We have broken thinking machinery – called bias by nature. Bias makes it easy to draw meaning where there is none. The worst part? We’re all subject to it. Have you ever seen those two arrows – “which one seems longer”? We know the answer, yet we still see one as longer than the other. Bias is the logic demon that claims us all.
If we are biased toward complexity (i.e. poor) we will perceive ourselves as poor and experience more poverty. As this happens, it becomes harder and harder to diffuse those biases. We encounter more bandwidth tax, experience more bias, and the cycle continues.
Bias comes about because our mind is designed to draw meaning from the nothingness – it’s a pattern-finding machine. Because of this, we see patterns and draw meaning where there are no patterns and there is no meaning. We believe this meaning as fact, and then begin acting as such. We think we’re on the road to Oz, when we’re actually on the Highway to Hell.
If we find a way to diffuse these biases they can have less of a hold on our mind, decisions get easier, and we have easier access to the feelings of “wealth”.
Tactics
In all of what we’ve described, it’s easy to have an impulse that says “reduce the tax so you can see more!” or “produce more at a higher value so you have more benjamins!”
There’s one problem with this: The wanting for more will always be there. It will NEVER go away. We can’t escape it as humans, and why should we want to? If we were to have everything we ever wanted, what would there be to live for?
Simply having ways to make more doesn’t speak to embodying wealth. These impulses to “act now or forever hold our peace” tactics will temporarily help you feel some relief, sure, but they will never resolve to “wealth” or “richness.” It’s very similar to adding sugar on top of a prepared food to make it sweeter vs completely re-working the recipe to make it more “rich”.
Recap, and the promised land
So we’ve covered
🧠 Mindset
🤯 Overwhelm
📊 Bias
👣 Tactics
But what the aych-ee-double-hockey-sticks can we do about it?
1. Stop and smell the roses – almost literally, provided you have roses and a properly working nose. The biggest contributor to “poor” is not noticing the space and means you have. It’s there, and it only takes a moment to notice. How much less taxed could the tactics of life be if you approach them already satisfied?
2. Trust Your Instincts – the “drunk” tax, bias, and all of these “poor” mechanics create too much noise for you to hear your intuition.
To Trust your instincts is not the same as trusting your impulses. Impulse is a thought, but impulse comes as an “ah ha” solution to something rather than a mindless tactic. Impulse often requires a story to explain why it’s a good idea. Do you feel like you have a story to tell to justify your action? If so, you’re probably dealing with an impulse.
3. Release your story – What more is “poverty” other than feeling like you “can’t” have something? Everything or experience you don’t have has a story that’s associated with how you should have it. So now ask yourself: “why don’t you have it?” Think about that. What if you could get that thing or experience in a way that was different from how you thought it should go?
Using these three steps, you’ll notice more space, be naturally guided more to the answers that aren’t story, and have things unfold more naturally. There will be less stress about them, because you won’t be as attached, and you’ll be turning your attention to the things that are important to you, rather than the lack of them.
From here, true wealth can grow.
From here, you’ll begin noticing the abundance you already have.
From here, you’ll have the relief you’ve been seeking in a way that doesn’t add more to the plate or take more from the wallet.
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Previously Published on Facebook
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