Live Richer By Creating Space For Others

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Live Richer By Creating Space For Others

When are you happiest?

Is it when you’re on holiday? Eating out with friends? Playing sports? Spending time with loved ones?

This list will ofcourse vary for everyone, particularly for those that prioritise creating happiness in their lives.

The chances are, you’re happiest when you are doing something that involves other people.

This bit about ‘other people’ is a piece that is often missed out when we think about what makes us happy.

The other important piece is that happiness is created in our lives through choice and conviction.

I stress ‘conviction’ because the road to happiness has a lot to do with not doing life the way the world does it.

It requires individuality and realising that each of our life journeys is unique and cannot be compared with another.

When seen from this lens, happiness becomes something you must seek with intentionality and with an eternal perspective.

To answer the same question I asked you above, I am happiest when I am serving others.

What I mean here is, when I prioritise others and my relationship with them not primarily for my own good.

In the old world, I might have felt the need to hold back from telling you that as explicitly as I did.

Perhaps because in the old world, I cared so much about what others might think of me and what judgements they might have.

Ofcourse there are other things that make me happy, e.g. enjoying a nice holiday, having a lovely meal etc.

However, these are somewhat temporary and fleeting.

What I’m truly looking for when I’m not trying to appear ‘cool’ to anyone is a deeper state of happiness. This is also known as Joy.

In my mind, the activities that lead to happiness on this deeper level are what I refer to as my dream state. I.e. in my dream life, I’d do more of such activities.

The activities that end up happening each and every day are what I see as my reality state.

The gap that exists between the dream and reality states can vary for different reasons.

The closer the reality and dream states, the more I am living from a place of love and faith rather than from a place of fear.

Fear is often what dominates most of our lives and paralyses us from doing life how we truly want to.

By this I mean, getting to live life without negative external influence from others.

If the gap is growing in your life, for example, you might hear yourself saying things like:

“I am not where I am supposed to be in life”… or “how did I drift so far off course?” etc.

These are often indicators that you’re coasting away and drifting off your true path.

We can experience this drift in our careers, businesses, relationships, health or spiritual lives.

The question is, how do we stop the drift so that the everyday reality state is closer to and becomes the dream state?

Below are some immediate thoughts:

Focus On Each Other

If it’s not obvious to you yet, a richer life is one that is done purposefully with other people.

There ofcourse needs to be a balance with the need for us to have private alone time now and again.

Too much alone time or time with the wrong people could have the negative effect of creating fear, doubt, isolation or even depression.

Connecting with and being with others helps us understand ourselves more and our motivations.

It gives us the opportunity to help one another, forgive one another, inspire and build up one another, love one another etc.

It’s through these interactions that we think about life from a different viewpoint and have the opportunity to be challenged.

Related: The Power Of Generosity & Why It Pays

“Being busy” is one of the most common reasons why many don’t make the time to connect with others.

In fact, for most of us, it’s an excuse to crawl back into our self-focused comfort zones.

I’ve used this excuse many times before and you probably have too.

If a richer life is achieved with other people, what are we so busy doing?

Perhaps it’s time to rethink how we use and prioritise our time, and what we think will truly make us richer.

Reflect: Who were the last 3 people you spent time with independently? And Why? Did you reach out to them or the other way around?

Create Spaces

Beyond just being busy, another reason why we don’t spend time with or invest in others is that we sometimes just can’t.

We live in a culture that encourages living life as close as possible to the red line.

Examples of this include:

1. Money – Many spend more than they earn and as such, leave no margin for others or even to seek opportunities.

I personally think it is a disgrace if we have the opportunity to reach out and help someone in need but can’t because we’ve been irresponsible with money.

When I think about what this blog exists to help with, it is to be able to help you and me create margin in our lives.

Such margin will help us work towards the purposeful goal of financial independence, but equally more important, it will help us have true local impact.

2. Time – Is our greatest asset, yet from one day to another, it is easy to feel out of control with it.

The sun rises on a Sunday and before we know it, it’s Saturday and the week is over again. It’s easy to coast day after day and week after week with no real purpose or advancement.

Perhaps time just exists as a unique feature of this universe we live in and we have to cease it as an opportunity daily.

Rather than see it as a finite resource, perhaps it’s more interesting to see it as an infinite resource, which we can only tap into if we have the opportunity to wake up each day.

Maybe seeing it this way adds weight to why time is so precious and should be appreciated more.

What’s required is the need to be more deliberate about what slots into these days as they pass by.

Creating spaces in our lives gives us the opportunity to be better people and to grow.

It helps us internalise the need for us to get better and pursue our dreams.

By creating margin in our lives, we can seek growth through personal development if we want better careers, for example.

We can seek better relationships by going out and spending time with others.

Add to that, we can have a better impact on our local communities by putting some of our money to work.

The list of possibilities is endless when we do life with a bias towards creating some margin and life energy.

The more we prioritise time with other people, the more we live richer, fuller, more inclusive and expansive lives.

It’s 4.55 a.m. and I’ve had the priviledge of waking up today.

My morning routine and every step I take from this moment should take me closer to my dream state.

Are you living or getting closer to yours?

Related posts:

• What Do You Have In Your Hands?
• 9 Tips For Living A Simpler & More Fulfilling Life
• Why Money & Friendships Should Never Mix
• 5 Reasons Why Self Care Is A Necessity & Not A Luxury
• Self-Awareness: The Must-have Ingredient For Financial Independence

Do please share this post if you found it useful, and remember, in all things be thankful and Seek Joy.