PLEASE allow me to act a bit philosophical today while highlighting some realities of life. On this, one school of thought advocates that - “live your today thoroughly assuming there is no tomorrow”.
The other school of thought advocates that “live your today meaningfully, but at the same time don’t lose the sight of tomorrow”, thereby indicating to the future, which we all know can not be predicted or visualized precisely as of today.
So without taking any side, if we look closely, both these schools of thought remind us a very important motto of our life which we often forget or ignore due to the so called busy lifestyle. The first school of thought impresses upon living a life which is full of enjoyment, happiness and fulfilment.
Often it is observed that we compromise our today a lot, for attaining something in the foreseeable future. As a result we don’t enjoy the today which is available to us and postpone it to a period which may not be available to us (God knows).
Recently I came across a write-up highlighting realities of life where it was stated that – “we earn our wealth by wasting half of our health, and later on we spend the same wealth to maintain or regain our lost health”.
So the end result is a zero sum game. Shifting our focus to the second school of thought, which indicates that while one lives today, he/she should not loose the sight of tomorrow? After studying each school of thought, I may state that both these schools teach us an important element of our life, which is about “balance and moderation.”
Thus life is all about attaining or maintaining an optimum balance and moderation between – saving and spending, work and play, pain and pleasure, as well as value and growth. You would agree that without achieving an optimum balance between these elements will make the life meaningless in one way or the other.
If one decides to just save with no essential spending, that saving has no essence. Conversely, if one decides to just spend the whole amount one earns, then he/she is making him/herself vulnerable to the uncertainty of tomorrow. Intuitively, we know that for many of us the primary stress in our lives is “money”.
For those who have already attained enough wealth, stress comes from the thought of losing it. For others, stress comes from never having it enough. Moreover, providing for family, maintaining a certain lifestyle and paying the bills is undeniably anxiety producing elements.
Remember, working and striving to make money, acquire assets like – dream home, flashy cars, luxury yachts and more stuff is neither healthy nor unhealthy as long as there is a balance.
It is my belief that effectively managing your finances and investments while learning alternative ways to put meaning into your life, in addition to pursuing success,
are the keys to happiness.
Developing personal and financial goals, without becoming neurotically attached, will give you balance and direction. Without goals or a sense of purpose, you will not have the motivation or vision to move forward in a positive way, as you grow old.
Owning a bigger house or making more and more money every year without saving part of our earnings is a terrible habit. Having nice things is neither good nor bad. Rather, it is the happiness or unhappiness and the anxiety that comes with having or not having them, that is distressing.
Not having material things or obsessively striving to obtain them brings with it a whole list of physical and psychological ailments. Stress will trigger everything from migraine headaches, high blood pressure, chest pain, nasty colds, due to reduced immunities, to heart attack and stroke.
You can have a more balanced, meaningful, and contented life with a focus on how money plays a role in our life. Understanding and developing your personal as well as financial goals are the first steps in life planning. Once your goals are established it becomes essential that you develop a clear path to achieve them.
Giving a little thought to personal and financial goals will serve you immediately as well as over the entire span of your life. Others seem to strive for success and material wealth with no clear objective in mind. So in conclusion I wish to state that “It is essential to save and invest for your future, but not to the extent that you are missing the opportunity to live in the ‘now’.”
Thus, moral of the story is – “don’t put this off for another day; you just don’t know what tomorrow might bring.” So, live your today well, but don’t forget to plan for your tomorrow, which is equally important.
The other school of thought advocates that “live your today meaningfully, but at the same time don’t lose the sight of tomorrow”, thereby indicating to the future, which we all know can not be predicted or visualized precisely as of today.
So without taking any side, if we look closely, both these schools of thought remind us a very important motto of our life which we often forget or ignore due to the so called busy lifestyle. The first school of thought impresses upon living a life which is full of enjoyment, happiness and fulfilment.
Often it is observed that we compromise our today a lot, for attaining something in the foreseeable future. As a result we don’t enjoy the today which is available to us and postpone it to a period which may not be available to us (God knows).
Recently I came across a write-up highlighting realities of life where it was stated that – “we earn our wealth by wasting half of our health, and later on we spend the same wealth to maintain or regain our lost health”.
So the end result is a zero sum game. Shifting our focus to the second school of thought, which indicates that while one lives today, he/she should not loose the sight of tomorrow? After studying each school of thought, I may state that both these schools teach us an important element of our life, which is about “balance and moderation.”
Thus life is all about attaining or maintaining an optimum balance and moderation between – saving and spending, work and play, pain and pleasure, as well as value and growth. You would agree that without achieving an optimum balance between these elements will make the life meaningless in one way or the other.
If one decides to just save with no essential spending, that saving has no essence. Conversely, if one decides to just spend the whole amount one earns, then he/she is making him/herself vulnerable to the uncertainty of tomorrow. Intuitively, we know that for many of us the primary stress in our lives is “money”.
For those who have already attained enough wealth, stress comes from the thought of losing it. For others, stress comes from never having it enough. Moreover, providing for family, maintaining a certain lifestyle and paying the bills is undeniably anxiety producing elements.
Remember, working and striving to make money, acquire assets like – dream home, flashy cars, luxury yachts and more stuff is neither healthy nor unhealthy as long as there is a balance.
It is my belief that effectively managing your finances and investments while learning alternative ways to put meaning into your life, in addition to pursuing success,
are the keys to happiness.
Developing personal and financial goals, without becoming neurotically attached, will give you balance and direction. Without goals or a sense of purpose, you will not have the motivation or vision to move forward in a positive way, as you grow old.
Owning a bigger house or making more and more money every year without saving part of our earnings is a terrible habit. Having nice things is neither good nor bad. Rather, it is the happiness or unhappiness and the anxiety that comes with having or not having them, that is distressing.
Not having material things or obsessively striving to obtain them brings with it a whole list of physical and psychological ailments. Stress will trigger everything from migraine headaches, high blood pressure, chest pain, nasty colds, due to reduced immunities, to heart attack and stroke.
You can have a more balanced, meaningful, and contented life with a focus on how money plays a role in our life. Understanding and developing your personal as well as financial goals are the first steps in life planning. Once your goals are established it becomes essential that you develop a clear path to achieve them.
Giving a little thought to personal and financial goals will serve you immediately as well as over the entire span of your life. Others seem to strive for success and material wealth with no clear objective in mind. So in conclusion I wish to state that “It is essential to save and invest for your future, but not to the extent that you are missing the opportunity to live in the ‘now’.”
Thus, moral of the story is – “don’t put this off for another day; you just don’t know what tomorrow might bring.” So, live your today well, but don’t forget to plan for your tomorrow, which is equally important.
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