Okay, let’s have a look at the dictionary definition: Prosperity is – ‘The state of being prosperous’
Well that wasn’t much help. So, what is the definition of ‘Prosperous’?
Prosperous means – ‘successful in material terms, bringing wealth and success.’
Okay now we are getting somewhere.
Now that we know what prosperity is, how do we go about finding it?
Let’s Talk About Prosperity
Although we have the dictionary definition above, I’m not overly happy with it. I think prosperity should not only apply to material wealth and success, it should also include the level of mental, emotional, and spiritual wealth and success too, don’t you agree. For what is true prosperity if it doesn’t reach into every facet of our lives?
If we take this to be the true meaning of prosperity, then we need to approach our question from a more holistic point of view.
We need to first know ourselves in the context of all of these areas. And in the case of those who are put off by the word ‘spiritual’, you can just think of the more general term ‘human life’ – this would easily incorporate not just your material health and wealth but your emotional and mental health, along with the state of your relationships and quality of life in general.
In order to find prosperity in all of these areas, we must be very clear about the things that we want in our lives and the things that we don’t want.
We must also make sure that we are living a way of life that regularly removes anything that doesn’t serve us in our quest for prosperity. An example of this would be if we had some sort of addiction to a negative and wasteful behavior or perhaps even an attachment to a person who is overly negative or detrimental to our cause in some other way – this needs to be dealt with so that our ability to be truly prosperous can flourish.
Internal & External Prosperity
We can’t just consider our external environment or external resources as a means for prosperity. This is true because we might attain a high level of wealth and consider that prosperous, but then there is an economic collapse and we lose a large portion of our wealth due to investments going downhill.
At the same time, we might own a beautiful house and a beautiful car, but perhaps one day there is an environmental disaster and we lose absolutely everything.
We must, at the same time as ensuring external prosperity, ensure that our internal prosperity is completely safe and secure. We do this through the means of internal mental and emotional mastery. If we do this, it will ensure that even if we do lose everything materialistically, we don’t lose our ability to remain happy and in a state of internal peace if that happens. This is true prosperity.
So, if you have been focused solely on external prosperity up to this point, you need to enhance and expand your world view a little.
And if you have been focused solely on internal prosperity, well you’re probably not much bothered by external prosperity anyway, so good job to you and keep going with it.
At the end of the day it comes down to a common point of interest – that being knowing yourself and your innate capacity to the best of your ability, and then developing a mindset and way of life for yourself that supports, encourages and cultivates this innate capacity for prosperity, not just for yourself but for others also.
Governing your life in this way will ensure that true prosperity will come to you, and you will also become a force for good that can help others attain exactly the same thing that you did.
The world, your world, will be a much brighter place if you can do this.
So, get to work. At the end of the day, true prosperity comes from you. There’s no one in the world who can give this to you, you are going to have to forge this one for yourself. Good Luck!
