Living the rich life

Our problems can’t be fixed by just having more money.  We hear a lot about how the NHS, where I work needs more money.  Yes, it does but simply throwing more money at it without a proper, sustainable plan, isn’t the answer.  Neither is it the answer for us on a person level. Having more money won’t suddenly make us happier.  Money allows us to enjoy different experiences, and not have to worry about a roof over our heads or food in our stomachs.  Yet we sometimes see images of people who have little money still leading a rich, simple and fulfilling life.

Its not about the money, it’s about our thinking about the money that creates how we feel about it.  Podcast fave Tonya Leigh suggests we should concentrate on living a rich life in the life we have now so that we can become a match for more riches. Riches come in many different ways. Stop putting off feeling good for “one day when…”, stop waiting for the money and start living for it now. We can train our minds to think richly, stop focussing on lack, scarcity and fear and focus on something bigger and greater than where we are. True wealth is not determined by how much you have in the bank but by what you feel.

TL offered some suggestions on how to live a rich life:

• Want what you already have – we spend so much time thinking and worrying about what we don’t have, what’s missing from our lives.  When we change our focus, we start to see what is abundant in our lives.  TL suggests living in that state of appreciation for what we have now, our health, our families and friends, food and all those things we take for granted.
• Enjoy and take care of what you already have – we can be so focussed on aiming for the next thing and the next thing that we forget to enjoy what we already have and take really good care of it. 
• Check your assets – assets doesn’t just mean your bank account and savings.  It includes your health, friendships, intellectual capital, physical assets in terms of your home, food and clothing, time.  What are the assets you currently have that makes your life so abundant and wealthy?  Focus on that to feel rich.
• Practice thinking like a rich person – when we think like a rich person we start to feel like a rich person.  When we feel like a rich person, we attract more riches. At the core is to train your mind to think abundantly.

We don’t have to buy things in order to be rich.  We don’t have to have more ‘stuff’. Just because you’ve got a lot of stuff, doesn’t mean you’re rich. Stop fighting for misery and excuses to feel bad.  Start looking for reasons to feel amazing and rich. 

There are over three billion people in the world who have no running water in their homes, when you think about your life from that perspective, you’ll see that your life is very, very rich.