Money Has No Memories. Experience Has
I was forwarded an interesting article recently titled “Money Has No Memories,” which I would like to share with you. I was not able to find the author to this, but it is very well written and presents some great advice in the current economic times.
You will never know what the total cost of your education was, but for a lifetime you will recall and relive the memories of schools and colleges. Few years from now, you will forget the amount you paid to settle the hospitalization bill, but will ever cherish having saved your mother’s life or the life you get to live with the just born. You won’t remember the cost of your honeymoon, but to the last breath remember the experiences of the bliss of togetherness.
“Good times and bad times, times of prosperity and times of poverty, times when the future looked so secure and times when you didn’t know from where the tomorrow will come? life has been in one way or the other a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Beyond all that abundance and beyond all that deprivation, what remains is the memory of experiences. Sometimes the wallet was full? sometimes even the pocket was empty. There was enough and you still had reasons to frown. There wasn’t enough and you still had reasons to smile.
“Today, you can look back with tears of gratitude for all the times you had laughed together, and also look back with a smile at all the times you cried alone. All in all, life filled you with experiences to create a history of your own self, and you alone can remember them all.
The first time you balanced yourself on your cycle without support?
The first time she said 'yes' and it was two years since you proposed?
The first cry? the first steps? the first word? the first kiss? all of your child?
The first gift you bought for your parents and the first gift your daughter gave you?
The first award? the first public appreciation? the first stage performance?
And the list is endless? Experiences, with timeless memory?
“No denying that anything that’s material cost money, but the fact remains the cost of the experience will be forgotten, but the experience never.
“So, what if it’s economic recession? Let it be, but let there not be a recession to the quality of your life. You can still take your parents, if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the local park. It doesn’t cost money to lie down or to take a loved one onto your lap.
“Nice time to train the employees, create leadership availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive. Hey! Aspects like your health, knowledge development and spiritual growth are not economy dependent.
“Time will pass? economy will revive? currency will soon be in current? and in all this, I don’t want you to look back and realize you did nothing but stayed in gloom. Recession can make you lose out on money. Let it not make you lose out on experiences? If you are not happy with what you have, no matter how much more you have, you will still not be happy.
“Make a statement with the way you live your life: How I feel has nothing to do with how much I have.”
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I have been told that there are opportunities to learn from every adversity. Many people I talk to on a daily basis are talking about the amount of money they have lost in the market or their business during the current economic recession.
One question I try to ask them is, “If you still had the money you had lost most recently, whatever the amount, what would you do with it?” This usually gets them thinking. Some may say that they would have kept their money in cash or in CDs, but others typically say: “I would have taken a long vacation. I would have finished my basement. I would have bought a new car or paid off my home or other debts.”
There is a great lesson to be learned here. Stock market downturns are not new. If you look at it historically, we have had bear markets every few years and chances are this trend is not going to go away.
So the question is, what have you learned about money from the most recent economic downturns?
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