State of Mind

cabin

Did you know that feeling richer or poorer is often a state of mind?  Did you know that sometimes the poorest of us are the happiest? Did you ever wonder why? This happens because sometimes the people we see as poor are richer than we could ever imagine.

Before you leave, thinking I am just one more crackpot, let’s just think about this for a second. We base our ideas of wealth on our ideals, and things we think are worth more. Everybody does. Even the people we think are poor do this. The only difference is the things we look at is riches, and the things they look at is most valuable are different.

A poor farmer or mountain family living in Appalachia may live in an old log cabin with no electricity or running water. Their bathroom is an outhouse, both summer, and winter. They may have to grow their own vegetables. Hunt for whatever meats the land can give them. And, make their own clothes. Because of these things we see them as poor. Because of the same things they see themselves as rich.

They are rich because they get to live with their extended family. They are free to do what they wish when they want to. They have plenty of exercise and live entertainment. And they live their life the way they want to live it, the same way their family has lived it for generations.

Others from around the world, who we look on as poor and destitute, hold the same ideas of being rich. They do so for many of the same reasons. They do not look at all those things they cannot afford, instead, looking at what each person has, and is happy with it.

There will always be people with more toys, and coins, and other stuff than we have. And, people who have less. My goal is to be happy where I am with what I have. Remember, it’s not the toys, it’s the state of mind.

 

 

Author: Mike Balof

A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, Mike used to lay in bed at night and worry about what would happen if his plant closed or found himself without a job. One day his plant closed. Rather than panic and hysteria (OK, maybe a little) Mike found himself carried away on the adventure of his life. Mike started with the best job he ever had working at Home Depot. He spent 8 years working with job seekers at a local workforce center, helping them to find employment. He then started his own company developing courses, writing books and urging others to follow their own paths into the future. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training and a Bachelor of Business Management, earned through the University of Phoenix and an AAS degree in Electronics Systems Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. Mike is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: