In the first Wellness Forum post, I want to recognise that wealth applies to a state of being and has little to do with the amount of money that has been acquired.
We know phrases like "wealth of knowledge" and the interesting Albert Einstein, when asked about wealth put another way, said: "The most precious things in life are not the things you get with money".
If wealth is not intertwined with happiness, contentment, fulfilment and self-realisation, then it is fundamentally flawed.
George Petch
Wealth can therefore be attributed to several key areas: financial, social (relationships), physical (health), mental (spiritual and emotional) and time (freedom). Obviously, in future editions of the magazine I will focus on financial wealth, but for now I want to state emphatically that a wealthy person whispers.
So you've experienced the phrase... money talks and wealth whispers when surrounded by people whose seemingly unstoppable goal is to enlighten you about how much they have and how important they are.
Unfortunately, the Costa del Sol is awash with such candidates.
Therefore, in this article I want to focus on non-financial wealth and I promise that I will focus on financial wealth in future editions.
I know that physical wealth is discussed throughout this magazine, so it allows me to focus on the three aspects: social, mental and temporal.
I am sure you have all been around a person, at some point in your life, who has the ability to energise you and lift you above your current state of mind, leaving you feeling special and vitally important. Generally, this will be the result of being listened to in a way that leaves you feeling almost euphoric. A person who has the ability to listen without personal agenda, judgement or using your prayers as a springboard to launch their own is rich. Compassionate listening is a gift from one person to another and is rarely found in our usual busy routine. In fact, this gift fosters vulnerability, which is the gateway to building deep and rewarding relationships. The absence of listening stunts the growth of the relationship and frustrates the space for emotional expansion.
We are bombarded by emotional and spiritual influences and words like strength, integrity, honesty and courage are rarely used in our everyday language or experience. In an age where putting oneself first has become the prime mover and asking for help has become synonymous with weakness, a person who shows strength shines like a radiant star. Added to this is the person who has found an answer to life's question of .... what are we here for ..... with humility and total selflessness .... this is a rich person.
Finally, the quest we all have to make time acts as a constant reminder of the vitality of doing the important things and not the urgent ones. Sometimes they are one and the same, but most of the time they are two intrinsically different things. A person who always seems to have time to do the important things, when they happen, is truly free. Not necessarily stress-free and yet free to be present to the task at hand and not subject to the attachments of life... again a rich person.
Please accept my apologies for delaying the topic of financial wealth until the next issue. There were some ideas I wanted to share with you all.
My parting message to all of you would be to seek wealth in its fullest sense and spend energy on building muscle in each of the five aspects of wealth.
EN