The Greatest Form of Wealth

Chinese New Year is just round the corner. Sales advertisements on TV and newspapers, decorations in the shopping malls and songs played by the radio stations are all adding to the festive mood.

As we busy spring-cleaning our house and stocking up on the New Year goodies, back in our mind, we are always hopeful that this coming new year of the Pig will bring us lots of wealth and prosperity. One of the most common greetings we have for fellow Chinese is ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’ which means wishing you good luck in acquiring wealth.

When we think about wealth, it is always related to money. We often say a person is rich when he has big houses and big cars and wears branded clothing. Those are material wealth and they are easy to be seen. And these impressions are always formed during Chinese New Year gatherings amongst the Chinese relatives and friends.

One strange phenomenon amongst my relatives is that we hardly keep in touch until there are occasions such as Chinese New Year celebrations, weddings and funerals. And for some, Chinese New Year celebration is one good opportunity to show off what they have achieved in the past one year. Going around visiting in new expensive clothes, watches and jewelries gives them an elevated feeling. After all, what’s wrong with that? I have worked hard to acquire those material goods. It’s not like I have stolen them from somewhere.

In his book ‘The Greatness Guide’, under subtitle ‘The Seven Forms of Wealth’, motivation guru Robin Sharma mentioned that wealth could come in seven different forms. They are:

(i) Inner wealth – positive mindset, inner peace, high self-respect and deep spiritual connection,
(ii) Physical wealth - health,
(iii) Family and social wealth – strong relationships with family members and friends,
(iv) Career wealth – professional achievements,
(v) Economic wealth – money and material acquisitions,
(vi) Adventure wealth – experience in meeting new challenges, traveling, forming new friendships and learning,
(vii) Impact wealth – to make a difference in other people’s lives.

The wealth that is easily seen comes in the form of physical wealth and economic wealth. Unless you communicate and understand more of a person, other forms of wealth are not apparent. Especially when you have a big group of relatives and friends during a gathering, you hardly have any time to catch up in depth. Exchanging ‘ang pows’ (red packets containing money – oh, money again) and mandarin oranges would have kept us busy enough. Not to mention we are suppose to say only good words for good luck and avoid bad things even though they might be true. A lot of people just chose to bury their heads in a game of mahjong or locking their eyes on TV or simply munching on Chinese New Year cookies.

To me, the greatest wealth that I have comes in the form of the relationship with my wife. Yeah, you think I am just trying to make her happy. Yes, you are right, my top priority is to make her happy. And I am not doing it because I have to. I do it because I want to, because I love her. And this wealth has multiplied. It comes in the form of relationships with our son, Caden. Oh gee, I cannot be mushier than that.

So, as we make our New Year resolutions and celebrating Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year one after the other, perhaps we should look further than just wealth on the surface. There are many other forms of wealth that we should strive to acquire in order to be a truly rich person.