Ticket 2 Ride

Money is very handy and it can make life’s journey a more comfortable ride; however, there are a few things you can’t purchase at the “Life” store.  The list below is a set of internal qualities that comprise the foundation of who we are.  Like rings of a tree, they serve to provide our structure and reflect our growth as individuals.

This list of ten is by no means a complete list.  Obvious omissions from the list are health, justice and love.  The impact of money on these three items would make for an interesting follow-up article, but I will leave these for each of you to ponder.  And now, the list (in no particular order)…

1. Respect – A positive feeling of deep admiration elicited by our abilities, qualities or achievements. In some cases, respect is a deference for a person or other entity, but often it is something that maybe is earned or built over time.

2. Integrity – The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions. Doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. Integrity is the base setting on the moral compass.

3. Common Sense – Having a basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge things. Ordinary good sense and having the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way, and to make good decisions. Common sense is a toolkit of reason based on how most people would solve similar problems or make decisions.

4. Peace of Mind – A state of mental and emotional calmness, with no worries, fears or stress. In this state, the mind is quiet, and you experience a sense of happiness and freedom. Money can provide experiences and distance from worries but it cannot organically replace the neurological responses created by worries or fears. A listen to Boston’s Peace of Mind will provide a temporary sense of euphoria.

5. Patience – Something that many men do not have (Joking!). The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset. Patience is a level of endurance. Enough said.

6. Happiness – A mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Money can provide things and experiences that bring joy or improve our situation, but it cannot provide the feeling or a prolonged sense of contentment. Singer David Lee Roth is to have said that while money does not buy happiness it can purchase a yacht to park right next to it.

7. Wisdom – The quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgment. The ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom can be developed through the experience of life, of making choices and of learning from the results.  You can buy the exposure to knowledge, but that is not the same as wisdom.

8. Faith – Being confident or trusting a person or thing or a belief not based on proof. Having faith might feel like a degree of gamble. However, in reality, it is relying on the strength of one’s belief and acting on it. Take a leap of faith.

9. Humility – Modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance. Not letting one’s ego run loose. Humility is compatible with being confident, self-aware and appreciating one’s strengths.

10. ? Number 10 is blank because everyone will have something they believe should be on the list. There is a popular credit card commercial with the tag line, “What’s in your wallet?” In this case it isn’t money, but it is something else of great value.  A better question might be, “What’s inside you?”