Do you consider yourself rich or poor?  Have you been holding on to those why questions like:

• Why am I just not making enough?
• Why am I still so poor regardless of how hard do I work?
• Why am I not as successful as my friends or relatives, etc.

I used to embrace myself with that thought too. But not anymore, as I came across the following story that drew my attention to realize how wealthy and fortunate I actually am.

Being poor is not as scary as, if a person were to secure and lock himself/herself up with the thought of being poor. In fact, that’s a pathetic thought when one were to acknowledge the fate and destiny that one was born poor, and die poor. Poor man, poor life. The difference of a filthy rich and poor person,  is not the actual amount of money he/she is holding on to; but the thought - to stay poor or move yourself to the greener side of the meadow.

There was a young man always grumbling, blaming, and complaining about the fact that why was he not born rich, why was he unable to get rich. It was until one day, an old  man came along, saw this unhappy young man, and asked for the reason of his unhappiness, when he should have been a cheerful, passionate, and motivated young lad at this young age.

The young man answered, “I do not understand why do I have be born poor, grew up in a poor family, and most probably I’ll continue living in this way till my last breathe in life. I have so many things I wanted to do, so many wishes that I hope to fulfill. I want to learn to play music so that I can attract a good and pretty lady. I want to get married. I want to roam the world and see how beautiful the world is out there with my beloved. But I can’t do all these, all simply because I am POOR!”

The old man took a good at this young lad said, “You, poor? I can see how rich you are! “

The young man was puzzled, “Why do you say so, mister?”

The old man ignored his question and instead asked him, “I can make you rich, but there’s a condition in exchange. Here’s my proposal, if I were to chop off one of your fingers, and pay you $1,000, are you willing to accept?”

The young man thought for a second, answered him, “No. Without a finger, how can I fulfill my desire to play nice music?”

The old man continued, “How about giving you $10,000 in exchange for one of your hands? Would you accept?” The young man again answered firmly, “Of course not! How would I be able to hold my beloved with warmth, and protect her well?”

The old man carried on, “How about giving you $100,000 in exchange for your youth, once you agree, you will be turned into an 80-year-old old man?”The young man insisted, “No way! If I were to become a sickly 80-year-old old man, I can’t even go for a tour around the world.”

The old man then offered, “Here’s my last offer, I am giving you a million dollars for the condition that you will die immediately. Are you willing to accept?” Without a second thought, the young man responded, “Definitely not! What would be the use of a million when I can’t even get to spend?!”

The old man smiled and said, “That’s it! You are a millionaire. Why are still poor when you already have got over a million dollars worth of assets.”

So, you can see, it is not sinful to be poor, neither is it the end of the world. If you think of it as an accumulation to experience, a test in life, the thought of training one to become a successfully useful person, then you would be more appreciative towards it. If one has never tastes the bitterness in life, one has never really lived; if one has been been banished to the poor state, one would never appreciate the true meaning of life and wealth.

It is when you hold the thought of appreciative and thankfulness towards this tough challenge, then you can truly and honestly experience and going beyond the state. Being poor, is just a test for you to comprehend,  experience, and demystify one of the smallest defect in your inner self and life. But, you have the choice to magnify and enlarge it enough to negatively pollute your thoughts, or it could also be able to let you understand the meaning of being contented, and being able to fight against ordeals. Like always, there’s an angel and a devil living within you.

So, am I right to say that you are definitely WEALTH!

self confidence, self improvement, success

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Self Confidence, Success Secrets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.