What is Prosperity to You?
By
“Prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness that attracts the things. Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just having money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking, and not just a lack of money or things.“ - Eric Butterworth
WHAT IS PROSPERITY TO YOU?
We have been having exceptional weather for us here in Ireland – snow, ice, flooding, water shortage. The news is full of recession, hardship, people being very angry with the government.
We’ve been unable to get out of the house for days on end, and haven’t had water for a few days. The lack of water threw me for a bit I must admit – it seems I have a great attachment to clean hair, and until I found a way to wash it using buckets etc, I found it hard to function! I realised that in the greater scheme of things this wasn’t a great hardship, but it was the focus of my discontent for a few hours! However, for the rest of the time, I have felt very PROSPEROUS throughout this period. I have had such a feeling of gratitude for:
the blue skies
the beauty of the snow
having a warm home
having a house full of food
the internet
having great family and neighbours……… and much, much more
The main thing that I have been grateful for is because I work from home and for myself, I have been able to walk with my dogs every day in the snow and to see them bounding through the snow and over the ground. And still work!!! I was thinking on one of the walks of the years I worked in London and had to spend hours getting to and from work to get to work in the snow, now I just get up and go to my computer. Arrange my work to give me time to see friends, go to the beach, walk the dogs, cook nutritious meals – and still earn a good income. If that’s not prosperity, I don’t know what is.
I’m not a millionaire, I don’t have unlimited resources, I work very hard (sometimes much longer hours that when I was employed) – but I have a sense of prosperity that I didn’t have 10 years ago.
I think a lot of the reason why, is the increasing sense of gratitude I have developed – through practice. I’m not going to lie to you and say that I feel grateful for everything all the time – I don’t always manage it in the moment. For instance , initially, I wasn’t at all grateful when the water went off for a few days. What I find happens now is that I am less comfortable when I feel that I am complaining, and I just don’t want to stay there for too long. I used to be a lot more comfortable being angry about the system and injustice etc, so was happier to stay in that state. Nowadays, it doesn’t take long for me to choose to go into a more grateful state and to see what God might have been trying to tell me in the situation I was complaining about. (in the water instance, I became much more conscious of the privilege of having water arriving in a tap, hot and cold, most of the year – not many people in the world have that).
All of this helps me to feel more prospserous. To be aware of I have, rather than what I don’t have.
Do you feel prosperous now? What would help you to feel more prosperous? What can you do in the next 24 hours to help you to feel more prosperous?
