Kay:
Hey, Hey Questers! Welcome to Episode 99! Today we’ve got a quote coming to you from Coco Chanel, and, she says, “There are people who have money, and people who are rich.”
Shi:
And we will get to this quote in just a second, but can we just talk (real talk) about 99 episodes? I got 99 episodes and this one’s…one of them!
Kay & Shi:
*(Laughter)*
Kay:
Super exciting! Well, stick with us tomorrow and we will get extra ridiculous on episode number 100!
Shi:
But, for today, we are on episode 99 and we’re talking about money, and riches, and how they are different. And, when I think about money vs riches, I almost think about intelligence vs wisdom. And, even though they are separate and they are different, so many of us still just equate money = rich.
Kay:
Well when we imagine what a rich man “looks like”, most of us probably don’t think of someone who’s smiling from the warmth of their heart. You think of a guy who is driving around in a Maserati and throwing a hundred dollar bills out of the car and “rolling out 100 dolla’ bills and it kills”…OH YEAH…There’s going to be a lot of songs…
Shi:
We’re in a singing mood apparently for Episode 99! Well, and before this we literally got four words into our outline and then did about a 45 second rendition of “Money Can’t Buy Me Love.”
Kay:
We’re big Beatles fans!
Shi:
Anyways...money can’t buy us love, and it can’t buy us happiness. And, money isn’t the only thing that makes us rich, as Coco reminds us here! “There are people who have money, and people who are rich”, and this is just a rich quote, because it helps make one of those minor distinctions that can have a major impact.
Kay:
Now, many of us, when we hear quotes like this, tend to think, “well, yeah, but a little bit of money would be really great right now” or, “okay, money can’t buy happiness…I get that. BUT, if I were to have some money, I would be pretty happy about that.”
Shi:
Right? And the disclaimer, of course, is that money CAN buy you freedom, and it can buy you things that make your life more enjoyable, and that you enjoy for a TIME, but lasting happiness doesn’t come from money. If you are a happy person and you have money, it can certainly help. But, if you are bitter on the inside, NO amount of money is going to fix that!
Kay:
If you don’t believe us, take a look at the people who win the lottery! I mean, many of them end up even worse than they were before they won the unimaginable riches. When we were doing some research on this, we found that – while one would expect they might win the lottery, and then just go back to their normal lives (enhanced with riches), INSTEAD we found that a significant amount of people who have won…are now addicted to drugs, living in a trailer, on food stamps, and really don’t have much of anything. And these stories are intense.
Shi:
And they’re SAD. I mean, I just really feel bad for these people. The money just comes at them, and they have no real reference for how much money that is, or how much money things cost to keep going. And they get taken advantage of. And so we certainly can see that money can maybe buy them temporary happiness, but certainly not lasting joy and lasting richness. And wealth? That comes from a completely different source.
Kay:
Yeah! Well, money is currency, which means that it’s a form of energy…which means that it flows in and it flows out. You get paid…you pay rent – you get money…you spend it. And that’s part of it. So when we are really talking about being rich….we’re talking about fulfillment, and the things that truly fill you up. Not the stuff that comes in and goes out, but the stuff that comes in and stays there, and makes you better because of its presence.
Shi:
Exactly. I mean, let’s play that fulfillment game for a second, and talk about why fulfillment trumps money – or materialism – or false happiness…like the kind that’s created from social media, dopamine hits, food, or any other external source. I mean, fulfillment really is filled full from the inside out, and doesn’t come from an outside source. And, when we play that game, we really are more on the rich side of things. An early mentor to me was a fellow named Tim Paulson, and he wrote a book called, “Love And Grow Rich.” And, he told a story from his childhood about his father. He used to ask his dad a lot, “Uh, daddy…are we rich?” And his dad would always say, “Son, we are rich in blessings.” And I just LOVED that turn of phrase SO much! It’s always stuck with me. And, now that I have my own kids, (who are nine, nine and six) questions of money come up like, “Do we have money?” and, “Would we have a hundred thousand dollars?” and, “What do we have for this?” And, they’re curious! It’s hard not to take offense to it, but it’s easy to give them a response like, “We are rich in blessings.” So, if that’s a helpful phrase for you, tuck it in your pocket! It can aid you in your parenting or any other realm. But, what else can aid you is this quote that we brought to you today – for Episode 99 – from Coco Chanel…who says, “There are people who have money and people who are rich.”
Kay:
SO – today’s quest is to: think about what makes you rich in life. Now, remember, we’re not talking about monetarily rich, or richness in currency, because that’s energy that’ll flow in, and flow out. But: What makes you rich in your feeling of fulfillment? Take a quick moment of gratitude for whatever that is. Sink it in, and feel extra rich today!
Shi:
Feel those riches!
Kay:
…In your blessings 😉
