While life’s best treasures cost nothing at all, humans have this strange addiction to the purchasing power of money. From the thousands of years of human history, money has been known to be the wholesome of man and even said to be the second God. As the perfect medium for exchange in today’s complex society, money was brought to eliminate barter trade as a form of measurement due to its portability and easy equation. But this has seen materialism dominate and overrides the care and concern about others. Having money cannot be termed wholly good or bad; it depends on attitude and impact on relationships and priorities. Genuine consumption makes people happier and satisfied, but only to some measure.
Even so, money alleviates certain ills at times and makes some people bullies, abusive and arrogant. Research has proven that those with a higher income are more likely to experience emotions that focus on themselves, such as pride, contentment, and amusement. In their minds, they are rich, powerful and in-charge. This affects the relationships with the people around such depraved beings. On the contrary, those with a lower income have a stronger tendency to portray emotions centered on others, such as compassion and love.
But there comes a point in your life where money no longer gives you the satisfaction you desire. Often, the things that cannot be bought turn to be the things you eternally need. Such are the things you cannot buy with money:
Contents
1. True Friendship
With money in your possession, you can be sure of a circle of people around you. In most cases however, not a single one of them is actually a true crony. Friendship always grows with age and maturity through life experiences. Whoever said friendship costs nothing was lying, it takes time, care and honesty to make a good friend. Sometimes the people you didn’t expect to stand by you go on to become your lifelong friends. And whenever you fail friends as they do you, ask for forgiveness or give it and move forward. Over time, you will get to unmask your weaknesses and vulnerabilities, yet true friends should accept and assist where necessary.
There is a countless bunch of wealthy people out there living utterly miserable lives. Many are tempted to believe that by giving so much to those around them, they can generate true friendship between them. However, this only creates a pack of hungry freeloaders who want to make capital of this generosity. For the most part, if the wealth of the rich source happens to dissipate, so do the people around. Such people will use materialistic products to fill this psychological void in their lives, but the pleasure still fades with time as they get used to having it, leaving them unsatisfied. True friendship is a natural allurement that no amount of money can trigger. Money comes, money goes, but real friends stick around forever.
“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
2. Happiness
Man has made money central to their existence. Money will keep you on the go zipping to-and-fro some of the most prestigious attractive destinations in the world, with some of the most luxurious belongings. Nevertheless, this only works up to a certain point and to achieve an elusive state of happiness, one requires much more than the worldly possessions we all seem to find pleasure in. There are some aberrant life circumstances that are beyond man’s power and can significantly impact on one’s happiness such as cancers, mental conditions and some genetic birth defects.
The more people work, the more on wants and this quality makes make a lot of people discontented and unhappy with their careers, love lives and family lives. There is no generally set point where humans achieve the desired level of happiness; it is dependent on the person. Doing what you like may make you happier than having all these fancy things. Others may get happiness from being close to their loved ones and admiring the beauty of the world. All in all, happiness comes cheap even for millionaires.
“While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” Groucho Marx.
3. True Love
True love is the other priceless feeling. It is the most powerful bond between people, all the important people in your life who will share every moment, every ups and downs of your life. Love provides for companionship, personal growth, and mental and physical stimulation.
Many end up missing out on valuable time with their dear ones while chasing the elusive dollar. Keep in mind in mind that you might have all the money in the world, but good relationships with your loved ones comes at a greater cost. You might come around with gifts and treasures, but it is impossible to buy a compassionate heart where there is none. Money seldom makes people care or empathize more. Love is too grand a notion that can’t fit in a wallet or purse, you just have to slow down and smell the roses.
“False love can be bought; true love is priceless. If you try to buy love, you will go bankrupt trying to possess it.” Matshona Dhliwayo.
4. Health
If you have you have your health, you have everything and regardless of how rich you are, you can’t enjoy it if you are unhealthy. The well-being of a human cannot be likened to a piece of gold or silver since some conditions people suffer from have no cure. Wealth can be acquired and lost, it is not life. People work extra hard at their jobs to advance and earn more, they miss lunch and sleep without considering how much this extra stress affects their health. They are likely to end up rich but their health surely degrades over time.
People face major economic downfalls, but once their health is in good shape both physically and mentally, they still work their way up and make a lot of money anew. You can buy medicine but not health.
“There’s nothing more important than our good health – that’s our principal capital asset.” Arlen Specter.
5. Inner Peace
While you should be grateful of the ability ability to have material things, know that money does not buy you everything that you want. Money tends to gain or lose value by and by but your inner peace of mind is sheer eternal bliss. Once you forget what is and focus on what is not, you only get pain and frustration and end up trying to change so much around you. Remember, money is a commodity that is earned and exchanged for the pleasures of the globe that can’t be changed much; inner peace on the other hand is a state of the mind that can only be influenced by you. Inner satisfaction is key to inner to inner peace and no matter how much you give out to the poor or spend on vacations, you may not influence it.
You ought to be grateful for what you have and if five hundred dollars a month satisfies all your needs, then be happy and satisfied. Some famous men like poets and philosophers we know lived and died in poverty but with contentment and are still remembered and honored for their great works. Psychological research suggests we are happier and more satisfied when we achieve our goals and targets. Every morning, remind yourself what your purpose to accomplish and work towards it.
Generally, richer individuals find greater pleasure in their accomplishments, status, and individual achievements, while the less wealthy find more positivity and happiness in their relationships, ability to care for and connect with others.
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. . . Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful . . . that’s what matters to me.” – Steve Jobs.
6. Respect From Others
Respect must be earned. If you’d like others to view you in a certain way, you ought to see yourself in that way first. You need to have high ethical values and remain true to your beliefs. These values depict the kind of person you are, whether you are rich or not and determine how much respect you command from the people around you. Money will buy sycophants, foot soldiers and toadies, but customarily these are only barnacles that have no respect or appreciation. In fact, wealthy people are known to often cause people to behave in ways that diminish the little respect and decency they might have earned.
Essentially, respect is not obtained because of the thickness of your wallet or the job title you may possess. At a glance, it may seem like people respect those the rich, but in reality, people respect the money. Without money, they are nothing to people especially if they spent it for self-service only.
“You must respect people, and you must respect money. My father said to me: ‘When you respect money, people will respect you”, Yaya Toure.
7. Appearances
You can change how people perceive you, but you can’t change how the real you look like. Money buys a lot of cosmetics that may enhance one’s beauty; natural beauty however, goes far beyond what your eyes can see and entails an inner satisfaction that results to a natural shine. Everyone wants to judge their peers based appearances and if you are not good-looking, you will want to use money to bring the best in you and invest in premium make up kits and plastic surgeries. Plastic surgeons handle vast cases like removing skin, putting new noses, clearing fatty build-up and tummy tucks and reconstructing faces among others. Many were still gorgeous even before the surgery but their self-dissatisfaction makes them insecure about their looks when they compare themselves to others even after the surgeries.
Many tend to overrate beauty; it is something completely independent of material belongings. A positive outlook and attitude give the kind of glow that cosmetics can’t. It explains why an unrestored piece of vintage art is much more worthy than a restored one.
“I think that being happy makes the biggest impact on your physical appearance.” Drew Barrymore.
8. Eternal life
It is undeniable that no amount of money can buy life. All human beings will eventually die and this cannot be altered no matter how rich one may be. The honor of belonging to this great universe with a grand scheme of creations and inventions should be enough. If you live for what is true and good and lasting, then nothing, not even death, can annul the fact that you lived, however brief your life was. However, we humans so much engaged in death itself that we dismiss the struggle against disease from our mind, but death itself.
According to the New Yorker, a bunch of rich people such as Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel, are investing in high-tech genetic manipulation at Silicon Valley to find the possibility of stretching their lives to a span they term as ‘forever’. May they can’t get over the fact that they can’t take the money with them when they die and this makes them want to stay on.
“Eternal life is not primarily duration but the quality of life, “life to the limit.” John Eldredge.
In summary
They say the best things in life are free, true. There are certain situations in life where currency has no value. Money has a role to play but money is not everything. You should not give too much value too money to the detriment of family, health and life. It is important to find a way to live happily and contented. Stay happy and healthy while you can as life is really short. It is time to leave money behind and do something that will be of a great help to humanity. Before settling for anything, think about whether it will really make you happy. If it will jeopardize your basic needs, you may consider foregoing it.
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