“No one can be poor who has enough, nor rich who covets more.” Seneca
By Owen Phelps, Ph.D.
Director, Yeshua Institute
Gratitude is good for us.
A couple decades of extensive research has established that as scientific fact. People who are grateful are also healthier and happier than the rest of us.
Some years ago I wrote a book called The Secret of Wealth. In conjunction with promoting it, I copyrighted a term for myself: “America’s wealthiest man.”
Me? Am I kidding you? Not entirely. Let me explain.
When I showed up to speak to audiences disappointed not to see Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, I conceded that I was not America’s richest man. But I also noted that those two, at the time American’s richest men, had quit piling up their personal fortunes and were busy giving away most of what they had accumulated.
Why? They had learned it wasn’t enough to be rich. Now they wanted to be wealthy.
So what’s the difference?
People who are rich have a lot of stuff. You know, assets, trinkets. Bling. People who are wealthy have enough.
As it turns out, a large portion of people who are rich – even those who are very, very, very rich – do not have enough.
And so they are not very happy.
Instead of counting their blessings, instead of appreciating what they have, they are focused on getting more.
And then more and more and more. They never stop. They can’t stop.
A wise clergyman, Rodney Clapp, once noted that our culture has gone from a “Sanctification of Choice” to the “Deification of Dissatisfaction.”
It is no accident that he chose religious terms to describe our problem.
Many of us are so focused on not having enough -- on needing more -- that we have made our dissatisfaction the center of our lives. And in that way, dear friends, we have made it our god.
So no damn wonder we are not very happy. Not content. Not at peace. But rather obsessed. Obsessed with getting more. More than we have. More than our neighbor has. Way more than most people in the world ever dream of having. But more. Always more.
I’m not sure there’s a cure. If there is, I’m sure that a lot of people – including a lot of pretty rich people – never find it.
But I know there’s a treatment. Which gets me back to The Secret of Wealth.
It’s simple enough. So simple even I was able to memorize it. Generosity fosters abundance.
Got that? Generosity fosters abundance.
Now you may be wondering: How does that happen?
Well, it’s very simple, actually. Otherwise I surely wouldn’t have stumbled on it.
We all know that attitudes influence behavior. We operate out of that framework nearly all the time. But there’s another dynamic at work in the human organism that we often forget: Behavior changes attitudes.
The plain fact of the matter is that when we are generous – when give something away and don’t wake up homeless in someone else’s front yard – we teach ourselves that we have more than we need.
And that’s a very important lesson to learn. Especially when we are immersed in a culture intoxicated by all the material choices we have, where it is so easy to become addicted to getting more. Where we can fall into the trap of making dissatisfaction our god.
Now here’s the really good news: the more we give, the more we learn. The more we are liberated from the obsession for more. The more certain we are of our own surplus, of our own abundance.
We know or we are reminded – for sure -- that we have enough.
That’s the lesson Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have learned. They’re rich. Very, very rich. Now they want to be wealthy.
Ready for the best news? We don’t have to be rich to be wealthy.
Perhaps that explains why the poor give away a larger portion of their meager wealth than the rest of us. It’s true. They know what really matters.
So do the rest of us when we think about it – like we do on Thanksgiving Day.
While you’re thinking thoughts of gratitude today and perhaps all weekend long, sit down and honor your thoughts. Do it by sharing your blessings.
Commit one act of generosity … with your time, your talents or your treasure. Write a check. Make a phone call. Share a smile.
And then do it again. And again.
Because the more you give, the more you learn: Generosity fosters abundance.
And as you may recall, abundance is what Jesus came to give us (Jn 10:10).