Wealth Grows When You Grow Deeper

Wealth is a road paved with suffering. Until you decide to mine yourself. I have multiple homes around the world, millions in investment accounts, and platinum for life memberships. Let me share my discoveries on the road to wealth.

“That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife’s slain body in his arms.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

The essence of my journey so far is that you can only grow your wealth if you grow deeper into yourself. Like all profound things in life, wealth is a paradox. The less you need it the more you get. But I might be jumping to the end too soon. Let me share some milestones on my journey so far.

1. Becoming rich is no sign of happiness. Just a symptom of lack.

The first million Pounds showed up on my net worth in my late 30’s when I was probably the most dissatisfied with my state of life. I was irritable, arrogant, restless, selfish, and reckless. Yet I was rich. Getting rich is a superficial goal. It always lures like a one-night stand but the satisfaction never lasts. You have to know that before you chase it. You have to know that you are operating from a place of lack. Of not being enough. Good enough…successful enough…cool enough…But it’s a part of the journey to wealth. So don’t worry about it. Cash in.

2. Feeling rich is a lifelong grind.

If all you want is to be rich and richer…you will spend a lifetime missing it. It will never be enough. You will remain eternally thirsty. It again is a superficial quest. It is a lazy goal that will drive you desperate and make you depressed. More millions will not make you happier. After a point, money hits marginal utility. It will give you confidence, courage, choices…but you will still feel a little hollow. Like eating rich food with no salt.

You will have to look elsewhere for what you are really looking for…freedom.

3. Wealth starts when you own your time.

You will get to a point when you don’t trade time for money in exchange. Time is yours to spend. Wisely or not. You will worry about how you use your time. Or how you waste it. You will worry about how little time you have and how your attention needs to focus on its direction.

The new currency that matters now is awareness and attention. You gain great satisfaction from introspection and inaction. You stop going outside yourself for fulfillment. You dig being alone with your mind.

4. Wealth is felt when your mind grows silent.

True wealth begins when your mind is tamed. When you can observe its chatter. When you can calmly observe its tantrums. When you can bring it to rest at your feet and watch it grow silent. That is a sign you have reached the super-wealthy club. Now you can use this space to do some good in the world.

5. Wealth grows when compassion grows.

At this depth of self, you feel compassion for the world. You think of serving more than satisfying yourself. You start to devise cunning plans to grow the good in the world. Without any praise for yourself. Your ego loses all power over you. You feel kindness for yourself and all life around you. You lose all your anger and jealousy. You stop taking from the world. You delight in giving. You can’t help but be grateful. You can’t help but feel wonderful for all that you have in your life. Life becomes an endless eruption of miracles all around you.

6. Wealth is measured in the quality of your values.

At this depth, you find the gems called values. Deep convictions of how you want to Be in the world. How you want to act. What you want to add to and be a part of. Values start to guide your every action. Your life becomes an authentic original life. You decide what gives your life meaning. Not something you read or some guru preached. Your values come from your own experience of what makes you feel tranquil and complete. At this depth of self, you have found your roots. Invisible to the outer world but the essence of who you are. You have found a sacred real estate that is untouchable by any external force or circumstance. You now know that no one can take this away from you. You will never lose it.

7. Wealth is kept when you stop needing it.

At the deepest point of yourself, you realize that it does not matter what happens in life. You don’t need anything to feel complete. You stop grasping and doing and just let go. You become alert. Alive. In sync with The Space within you.

Coda:

We all crave the things we lack. It’s our nature. We think the more we get the better we will feel. Thus becoming a millionaire becomes a goal for a lot of us. But real wealth is when you mine yourself. Go deeper into yourself. And find the rare earth that we actually crave. To know who we are.

Wealth grows as you grow deeper. Going inside yourself is the only path that will lead to happiness. So garb your millions and let’s go.

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Previously Published on medium

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