My husband is like my reservoir of inspiration, a few days ago we were talking about wealth, its distribution and the unfairness of life in general and he said and I quote:
‘You know there are people who live on less than a dollar a day and others live on millions a day!’
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief and he continued,
‘Lakshmin Mittal (UK’s richest Asian) bought a property (around 2008) worth £117 million pound for his son and got a £70 million property for his daughter. The guy is rich but that’s not where I’m going… Is he contented with his life?’
‘I bet I’ll be if I have that kind of money!’ I quipped in with a smile.
My husband grin then continued,
‘In a remote village in Nigeria, a farmer could be living on less than a dollar a day, take care of his wife and children. Eat and breathe on his farm, and believe me, this farmer could be more contented with his life than our rich Mittal.’
I nodded in agreement and he continued but I’m not going to write everything we talked about that night. When we went to sleep, I couldn’t remove the image of the farmer from my mind – such a simple, uncomplicated life… and I wonder how many of us can live without our iPads, iPhones, Apple laptops etc.
Don’t get me wrong, wealth is good but when we attach the success of our lives to material wealth, it’s a tragedy. And this brings me to this wonderful quote from Dalai Lama:
‘When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‘Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.’
I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of this week. I’m almost through with packing (we recently moved house) and If you look on the sidebar of my website, you’ll see the image of my new book, Cydonia, you can pre-order before it’s official launching date on the 16th of this month.
Keep smiling and keep loving my friends!
Much love, always!
🙂
Seyi Sandra David 
Such a powerful post, it’s full of life truths! Thanks for sharing this Seyi!
Christy Nelson
🙂
Thanks Christy, I’m glad you like it! Thanks for the visit.
Blessings. 🙂
I totally agree. I could be just as content sitting on a rock overlooking Charleston Harbor as I would be in a penthouse overlooking Central Park. Contentment does come from within! Thank you for reminding us of that! Blessings,
And thanks for reading Ellie! Life is like a rat race and sometimes we need to pause and just enjoy it! Have a nice day!
Blessings. 🙂
Borish Johnson, the Mayor of London gave a speech this week saying that Greed is good. It’s good for the City of London.
Excellent post.
I don’t agree! Boris says a lot of crap, and sometimes he’s right because greed is like a trophy coveted by many in London, (sadly so).
Thanks for your visit and comment, appreciate it.
Cheers. 🙂
Enough! Enough already!
He heeee!! 🙂
How are you enjoying your new home? I ‘m still not done with unpacking yet!
I’m loving it (hated all the work though) there’s lots of space and like you, I’ve not even scratched the surface of packing yet. Thanks for your kind visit, would hop over to yours soon!
Much love. 🙂
Money can’t buy happiness. It can rent it for a couple of hours though 😉
You’re right Al, been miserable cut across everyone, regardless of the strength of their pockets.
🙂
🙂
This reminds me of a not too similar discussion I had with a colleague. He asked me what I would do if I was very rich. I said I would work for four hour a day and spent the rest of my time writing. I added that most of the money would go on everything relating to writing. He was surprised, he said most people with money often engage in activities that would multiply the money. We are always after so much that we forget what makes life worth living. All we need in life seem to become not all and contentment is lost. Contentment to me is knowing what is important and the ability to see the reason to not forfeit the important things for the trivial ones but that is just me.
Great job Seyi, this post got me thinking.
Thanks for reading Fikayo. It’s just so sad that we chase after shadows sometimes, hope you’ll strike it rich so you could write to your heart’s content! I’m grateful for your visit dear friend!
Much love. 🙂
It is always a pleasure
Cheers! 🙂
Very true sis. Since our fingers are not equal, so is the human status. But it’s important we give a helping hand to those in need regardless of our status. Or where we find ourselves.
I had food today, tonight I have a place to sleep. I have work tomorrow if it actually comes. My family is safe today and mostly happy. I could use one more dollar today, but if pressed I could spare one too. If a million dollars comes my way it won’t last long because too many around me need it more than I do! I think your husband is right.
Nice posting, very insightful, very fitting for us all.
Simple truths in this post. Thanks for sharing part of your conversation & your thoughts.
Much love & many blessings to you!
Hey Seyi 🙂
Great post….I thought of this story that will illustrate your point. I read it here http://greatjourneyofjoy.com/2013/08/26/you-may-already-be-there/
It’s a quick read, but it expresses your husband’s sentiments exactly.
Blessings always
JC
Living in Bangladesh for five years has taught me the truth of these points extremely well. The happiest people I know on earth are also some of the poorest there too and live where life is given and taken away without warning and without mercy. Yet, my friends here live life simply, really and just about as contentedly as you can get. I couldn’t want to be rich now even if I could be. Just enough to put food on the table is to be truly content. 🙂
I agree absolutely agree Ken, not that having money is wrong or evil but it’s just unfortunate how people change when they’re rich! A simple life is to be treasured!
Thanks for taking time to stop by and leave a comment.
Cheers. 🙂
Yes indeed.
No problem – my pleasure 🙂
You are completely right contentment has nil to do with money. Money is richness, material richness, but we are all human, all have souls, and hence all require so, so much more.
Excellent post.