Every one of us has millions or billions of assets embedded in us. But perhaps we don’t even notice them. All of these fortunes are just hanging around us. You are the only one who holds the key to unlock them. Recently I have read a simple book entitled “You Are Really Rich, You Just Don’t Know it yet” by Steve Henry. After reading this book, I realize I can be that rich. In summary, Steve Henry has turned everything that can bring happiness into dollar sign ($). Money can buy a lot of things seemingly, but not everything. The author has shared a total of 50 types of assets that make one becoming rich. After reading this book, it inspires me that ‘rich’ can appear in various forms. We can be physically rich (healthy), intellectually rich (knowledgeable), spiritually rich, financially rich, etc. Out of the 50 assets shared in this book, I have picked 10 of my most favorite assets that can make me immersing in ‘luxury’.
Asset 1: Having Good Health (worth £180,589)
No matter how financially rich we are, if we are not physically rich, we are not going to be rich spiritually. I still remember last year when I was lying on the bed in a hospital due to suspected appendicitis, I was wondering how wonderful if I could go to the office to work. Thus, if you are not financially rich, try to think about someone who is financially rich but still needs to swallow dozens of pills every day with the hope of achieving physical richness.
Asset 2: Living in a Peaceful and Safe Country (worth £129,448)
I always feel thankful of staying in a peaceful and safe country like Malaysia. Malaysia may not be the richest country in the world financially. But staying in a country that is free from natural disasters like earth quake is good enough to make me ‘rich’ spiritually. Sometimes, I was pondering why there are some people out there spending their so-called precious time to complain about how imperfect their country is, but they may have forgotten to adjust their vision towards the advantages of their country.
Asset 3: Spending Time with Your Family (worth £110,047)
I always enjoy the time of having meals with my family. May be it is because I stay far apart from them. So when I go back to my home town and spend time with my parents and brother, I will feel extremely pleasant. Even though you may stay with your family and have a chance to meet them every day, you still need to grab the precious moments you have with them. We may not have joyful moments throughout the whole journey of our life. So, when we still have the opportunity to enjoy the richness together with our family, we have to seize it without hesitation before it becomes too late.
Asset 4: Spending Time with Friends (worth £63,256)
Spending some quality time for some informal gatherings with friends always makes me feel intellectually and spiritually rich. During the gathering, we may feel excited when we discover new information or knowledge from our friends. Conversely, if we vent our pique or share something unhappy with them, we can likely become less angry or less frustrated as our dissatisfaction has found its ways to exit. You can be truly rich if you have a group of friends who will stand by you when you are in the downcast period. Learn how to deal with your anger, explore this flash video.
Asset 5: Feel Better, Feel Fitter (worth £36,970)
Some people don’t really like to exercise. May be because of laziness? I don’t know. Personally I love physical exercise very much as I love the feeling of sweating. Sweating makes me feel like releasing all the toxins from my body, especially when I fart a lot after physical exercise, hehe…. If you want to be financially rich, first of all, your target is to be physically rich.
Recently, I have gone through a medical test on my lung function. The FEV1/FVC ratio (a calculated ratio used in the diagnosis of obstructive and restrictive lung disease) of my lung test report is 96.4%. I was told that the normal values are approximately 80%. The result showing 90% or above is considered pretty well. But another test result that totally contradicts my FEV1/FVC ratio is the result of my ‘lung age’ which was diagnosed to be 86.8 years (I am only at my late 20s). I was advised by the doctor to have more physical exercise in order to achieve better stamina. It is pretty shameful for me to announce this result while I am promoting about physical richness in this blog. But the point I want to convey here is sometimes we may think we have done sufficient physical exercise to keep ourselves fit. But if we really undergo scientific test like what I have just done, we may realize we are still remote from the word ‘fit’. So spend more time to exercise to keep yourself physically rich before you realize your lung age to be 80 when you are still 30.
Asset 6: Learning Something New (worth £60,171)
It is always the challenge to ‘start’ something new. Most of the time, we need to have some motivations to initiate a new task. Why? I think it is because of laziness and fear. As we have already used to do something, when we want to start a new thing, it simply means we need to spend some time and effort in the learning and exploring process. In this case, most of us may be attacked by the virus of laziness. Secondly, we may encounter a certain level of fear when we are asked to learn new things. Questions like ‘Can I manage it? Will it be tough?’ may dominate our mind. The fear exists due to our suspicions on our ability of handling new tasks. But according to my personal experience, it is definitely tough to learn something new, but after you successfully manage it, you will feel intellectually and spiritually rich due to your satisfaction of being able to overcome it. Explore how to overcome your fear, read this article - P.E.P.S.I – The Magical Potion That Submerges Your Inner Devil.
Creating this blog is another thing that makes me spiritually rich. Besides sharing ideas with the readers, another factor that makes me happy is the ability to manage a website after experiencing many rounds of trials and errors in the technical aspects like website coding, etc. But the whole process is really fulfilling as I see myself improving day by day.
Asset 7: Going on Holidays (worth £91,759)
You cannot be financially too poor to go on holidays, but on the contrary you don’t have to be financially rich to go on holidays, as we can choose to relax ourselves at the areas nearby. You can travel to the next state within your own country to understand more about the culture and lifestyle of the people living there if you want to be intellectually rich. You can also travel to the island within your own country to free up your mind with the surrounding of the nature if you want to be spiritually rich. If your finance can allow you to move further for holidays, feel free to do so, as long as we achieve our purpose of going on holidays.
Asset 8: Enjoying Your Favorite Drink (worth £29,651)
Imagine you are sitting on the sofa in your living room, savoring a cup of hot coffee, listening to a relaxing melody. Perhaps you may not be a coffee lover, in this case you can choose to enjoy whatever drink you love the most, at whatever place you prefer the most, and listening to the whatever song you enjoy the most. I personally enjoy doing this when I want to relax myself. Try it out! It is the easiest way to make you spiritually rich!
Asset 9: Laughing (worth £108,021)
Laughing is something that can really make you rich spiritually. I always enjoy watching comedy that can really make me laugh like the productions by the Singaporean filmmaker, Jack Neo. Comedies may not be the only media that can make you laugh. In fact, sometimes, gathering with friends (asset 4) can also tickle our funny bones when our friends share about some funny stories with us. So don’t forget to have a good laugh when you feel spiritually poor.
Asset 10: Having Time for Yourself (worth £80,558)
Sometimes I really enjoy time of being alone. For example, go for jogging alone. If you are a female and decide to go for jogging alone, do go to the park that has a lot of people and avoid jogging at areas that are far away from the crowd. The definition of ‘being alone’ here is not necessary doing something at a place that has nobody other than you. The word ‘alone’ here can actually mean that you do something at a place that nobody knows you, then you will have time to communicate spiritually to yourself and ponder about something without the interruption from others. Sometimes we may confront with too many obstructions that disable our real thoughts. In this case, we may need some ‘alone’ time to carefully listen to our own voice and thought.
The prices stated above were calculated by the author, Steve Henry. How did he come out with all these figures, seriously I don’t know. But in summary, even simple thing like ‘having time for yourself’ is also one of the assets that make you rich if you know to appreciate it. Congratulations! You are really rich! Please admit this fact!
I don’t know that those assets can be quantified!
Health definitely is the number 1 asset.
I almost could have written this myself, I agree with so much of it! But you did a better job than I might have. My husband and I feel that we are richer than many of our friends who earn 3 or 4 times what we do, because we appreciate what we have and have learned to live simply.
Your point #9 reminds me of a saying that has long been a favorite of mine: “You have to have a sense of humor. Otherwise, it isn’t funny.”
Best wishes,
Zana of simplegreenliving.com
Fantastic article. Most of us take these assets for granted most of the time. Family should be number one though – health comes next. Loneliness is the worst sickness, no?