The Awakening

The Awakening

July 03, 2013

I woke up this morning with part of the puzzle solved about why some people are rich and others are poor like myself.

The answer is quite simple, the world all revolves around money, those who have it and those who don't. 

Everyone has heard the saying "The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Poorer". I believe that statement is true, but why is that? The world economy is floundering, the middle class are fast disappearing, and the poor are getting poorer, yet the people with money seem to be prospering even more than they did in the past. The question is: why is this happening?

I honestly believe that most of our  school systems and their teachers teach the children of today more about having a good work ethic, doing the best job that they can and little to nothing about the importance of having money. The reason, I believe, is that most people today have no idea about the real importance of money. The book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" explains a lot of things as to the focus of the two dads. I read the book years ago but didn't understand what the author was trying to teach... until this morning.

When I retired with only a small pension to live on, the knowledge that, somehow after all those years of working for wages, I did not have enough money to survive on comfortably hit me. Where did I go wrong?

I spent most of my working life trying to do the best job I could, otherwise the owner of the company would find someone else to do the job. Today we call that 'workplace stress'. 

Ask yourself this: for however many years that you have been working what has been your main focus, the job, helping others, or the money? You need to be honest with your answer.

It does not follow that the better that you are at a particular job, the more you will be paid or that you will be promoted. Usually the opposite is true. However, this is what is taught in schools: be good at your job and you'll get ahead.

All these things were running through my head when I woke up and I had to write them all down. Yes it is true that this is the way that I spent the last 55 years of my life and I have nothing except the satisfaction that I did good work to show for it. That satisfaction of doing a great job does not buy me anything today.

I decided that this morning I am going to change my focus on life. At the age of 70 I do not have as many years left to become wealthy as most younger people have, but I have accumulated a lot of experience through my lifetime that I can now use to my advantage.

Yesterday I read the following two quotes:

"Simply believe that your life has changed, and it will."

"You may not have control over the things that happen in your life - but you always have control over how you handle them."

These two little quotes made me realize that this is the way that I should have been living my life years ago. 

The first step I personally had to address was to make sure that my body is physically able to accomplish what I am setting out to do. I have started this process by changing my diet and taking the right supplements to rebuild my body back to where it should have been if I had been taking care of my body for the last 70 years. 

After 70 years of not looking after my body this seemed to be an enormous challenge if not an impossible one. I believe that most people take their body for granted. I know I did. Will I be able to repair the body to where it should be? Only time will tell, but at least I am trying to make it happen. I relate the body to a machine, by oiling the bearings the machine will last for an indefinite length of time. Without oil the machine will seize up and stop working.

Having a body that is working properly will allow me to be able to enjoy my new life.

This is the first in a new series on my quest for freedom and direction for my future. I hope that every one will learn from my experiences and not make the same mistakes. I will post the next part soon so please watch for it.