True Wealth

I am a quote collector. I love quotes that make me feel something in the moment I read it or hear it. A recent one that came across my desk that gave me tingles up my spine....always a good sign, was " Wealth is the ability to fully experience life", Henry David Thoreau.

What I love about this thought is no one is excluded. If everyone believed this quote to be true, there would be no disappointments in life. Every person that would be able to fully experience life, whatever that happened to be, would consider themselves wealthy.

Now of course, for this to be true, we would have to give up the belief that to be wealthy is only determined by how much money we have to spend or happen to have in a savings account, bonds or trusts. Now, I am not against that kind of wealth, but that alone does not make a life worth living or valuable.

Some may also only treasure the life experiences that were easy or thrilling or with a positive outcome. Don't get me wrong.....I love those kinds of life events, yet I recognize that some of the more challenging experiences take me to a new level of understanding and appreciation. Over the course of my life time thus far, I have discovered there is more to the mix that makes life full than the obvious.

When I focus on life being a series of experiences and I am fully open, accepting and willing to live them, regardless of the associated emotions or circumstantial side effects, then I believe life will be full. My wealth account of living would be at the max.

The alternative of not fully experiencing life by resisting, complaining or hoping something would end only creates a cloud over the potential learning and growth that is laced within each experience. I am open for it all.

If anyone should ever overhear me complain about a challenging future life event, please remind me of what I am stating here. Sometimes we all can forget that there are blessings in every experience.