Mind and Pursuit of Money

Mind and Pursuit of Money

Money makes many things. Yes, indeed, money matters. But, how much? It is up to each one of us to decide. It will determine how we live our lives and what the quality of that life will be.

Many people claim that it’s money (not love) that makes the world go around. They could well have added that love of money can turn lives upside down. What is the value of money? A one-hundred rupee note has the same value for everyone and at all times, right? Wrong! What is its value to you when you are in a mall? & on a desert island? What is its value when you have earned it? & when you have found it on the street? What is its value to you when you realize it can buy you a pizza? And when you are told it can buy a hungry child’s food for a whole week?

So, money does not have the same value to everyone and at all times. Realizing this, internalizing this crucial truth, will refine our ideas regarding money and create healthier attitudes towards it throughout our lives. When you think about it, managing money is more to do with managing attitudes and expectations than the actual money itself. It is to do with assigning a suitable slot for “money” on our values pyramid. Very often, we don’t take the time and effort to do this early enough in life. The result could be a temptation to take unethical or even illegal shortcuts in the blind pursuit of money without even a clear idea of what it means to us. Lurking on the horizon are the consequences… potentially a lifetime of family tensions, job dissatisfaction and consequent poor health.

How should we determine the ‘slot’ for money on our personal values pyramid? For a start, we could list all the things that money cannot buy and decide how important those things are to us. A very memorable advertisement for a credit card company had the tagline “There are some things that money cannot buy; for everything else, there’s…….!” For instance, money cannot buy good health, a loving family, genuine friendships and strong character. It cannot buy empathy and loyalty. On the contrary, poor attitudes to money can destroy any or all of these.

Next, we should analyze how big a role sentiment plays in our way of thinking, if at all. That pearl necklace that your grandma gave you last year, so unfashionable and out-of-date, does it have a value to you other than in terms of what it can fetch when sold on one of those ubiquitous “quick-sale” Internet sites?

When the elderly man down the street says he doesn’t want to part with his house in his lifetime because it holds very good memories for him, would his relatives be right in branding him “selfish” for not handing the house over to developers and distributing the profits among his heirs?

There are no universal right and wrong answers about the value of money. But there are right and wrong answers that are unique to a particular person’s value system. If we don’t take the time to introspect and determine where we stand on this very important issue, we may be allowing ourselves to let money determine our decisions, our relationships and, ultimately the quality of our lives.

 

D.SoundaraPandian

immortal_cs@sify.com