Wealth Through Happiness: The Ultimate Source of Prosperity

In his best-selling book on prosperity “Think and Grow Rich,” author Napoleon Hill said that anyone who is old enough to understand the value of money yearns for it. Considering that most of us spend the majority of our lives working for and desiring money, it’s easy to see why he said this. Truly, anyone you meet is interested in having more money, even if they claim not to be. As Zig Ziglar said:

“People who say they aren’t interested in money are gonna to lie about other things too.”

Yet, according to a study conducted by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University, 10% of the people in the world own over 85% of the wealth. On top of this, 79% of the other 90% percent are living paycheck to paycheck (or worse). So if people want money so much, how come so many of us work our fingers to the bone and end up with nothing but boney fingers to show for it?

Believe it or not, the pursuit of money is actually what’s causing most people to live in poverty and want. Understanding this paradox is the biggest secret wealthy people know, and it starts with one decision…

Follow Your Heart and Prosperity Will Follow You

No matter what profession you’re in, there’s no doubt that the harder and more passionately you work at something the more likely you’ll be to succeed and to prosper. In just about every field, you can find a small number of people who make a LOT more money than the majority of “hardworking” people do. Do these people know some mysterious secret of success that seems to be eluding everyone else? Are they somehow more disciplined, motivated or enthusiastic than the majority of people?

Certainly it might seem this way on the surface, but a closer look reveals that they aren’t any more motivated, disciplined or enthusiastic than you or I. Instead, they’re making the most of their natural drive to succeed by focusing their efforts on the pursuit of happiness instead of the pursuit of money. Sound backwards in comparison to popular thought? Of course…and that’s why the majority of people on this planet are broke.

According to the New York Times, around 80% of people who go to college never end up working in the field which they study. Now I don’t know about you, but this tells me that most people aren’t doing what they really want to do with their life. So how diligently do you think the average person will work when they’re doing something they’re not happy about and which they feel no sense of purpose in? If you’re thinking: “That depends on how much money they’re being paid,” I’d invite you to consider the following story and think again:

Several years ago, there was an experiment done at a California University where the subjects were hired to dig a ditch in exchange for an hourly wage. Near the end of the day, the workers were told to fill the hole back in because the job was done. They were also told that when they returned the next day they would be paid twice as much to dig the hole and fill it in again. Most of them didn’t return, in spite of the raise in pay.

The next day, the hole was dug and filled back in again, and again the workers were told that they could return the next day and receive twice as much pay for doing the same thing. Again, the number of worker’s decreased. This continued until there were only a few workers left, who were probably there only because of the money and who felt no sense of passion or purpose in what they were doing. Most likely, once the money stopped doubling, even they wouldn’t have stuck around.

This experiment proved that people need to feel a sense of significance, variety and contribution in their work just as much or more than they need money. This is because the basic human needs for significance, variety and contribution provide us with the most important thing life has to offer: happiness.

Sure, it’s possible to continue working at something which doesn’t make you happy. But no one can do this indefinitely without their drive to succeed, and more important their attitude, being chipped away at. Not to mention that such a person will never be able to compete with the one who’s driven by their natural passion; a passion which can only be awakened by pursuit of genuine happiness. It’s this passion which can be harnessed to drive you in the direction of success and prosperity just as naturally as water flows downhill.

So how can you awaken this source of passion and prosperity within yourself? It begins with one question…

What Would it Take to Make you Feel Truly Alive?

Most of us pursue success with so much ambition and haste that we blur right past it without a second glance. Sure, there are times when we come into contact with happiness. But if we aren’t deliberately pursuing our natural source of passion, these encounters with happiness will always seem to come and go without notice. Consistent happiness can only happen on purpose, and it begins with the deliberate pursuit of that which makes you feel truly alive.
Harold Whitman wrote:
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
This “being truly alive” is the most valuable contribution that anyone can give to others and it’s the greatest gift life has to offer. Marianne Williams once said that when we overcome our insecurities and shine our inner light, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. This is why so many of us are inspired by and attracted to people who are full of life and passion. It’s the hope that we too might be able to have the same “inner glow,” the same drive and the same enthusiasm for life.

This is also what causes us to believe that these people deserve all the help that we can give them…whether it be money paid for their services, belief in their dreams or whatever else might help them to achieve the object of their desire. So if you want this kind of support and contribution on your side and all the prosperity which comes with it, following your heart might just be the most valuable decision you’ve ever made.

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