People often use the words “wealth” and “prosperity” interchangeably, but are they really clear about what each word means and what it manifests in their lives? While the two words may seem to have similar meanings, they actually don’t. Webster-Merriam Dictionary defines wealth as “abundance of valuable material possessions or resources” and prosperity as “the condition of being successful or thriving.” While those are adequate definitions, we like Robert Kiyosaki’s definition of wealth the best because it’s the most practical and applicable to daily life:
If you were to stop working today, given your current living standards, how long will you be able to live before you go broke? Wealth becomes a question not of how much money do you have, but how long could you live on what you have?
And then there’s Shakti Gawain’s definition of prosperity:
Prosperity is not about how much money you have in the bank or how many material possessions you have, it’s about having a fulfilled heart and soul. She interviewed many people about prosperity and discovered that most, regardless of the actual number of dollars they had, most felt seriously lacking in their overall sense of well-being.
So when you use the terms wealth and prosperity, are you using the word that you really want? The two are not the same. Which one do you want, or do you want both? Regardless of what your answer is, you have to set goals for each. For instance, if you want wealth, or to increase the number of dollars you have, you have to make a plan that calls for reduced spending, increased saving, investing and so forth. If, on the other hand, you just want to have a sense of well-being no matter how much money you have, then you might want to check out meditation, simple living (living with very few things), and so on.
You may want both wealth and prosperity, which is a great idea. Learning to feel and be prosperous no matter how much money you have will help you reach that high emotional vibration that will actually attract more money to you. And having some concrete financial strategies and a deep understanding about how money works helps, too. No matter what you want, just be clear about it. Kno
