TruthBook Religious News Blog

Monday, March 02, 2009
Paul B. Farrell
MarketWatch

This is an entertaining and informative article, well worth the read. Please click on "external source" to access the complete article...

Take a few moments, read the "14 Secrets" below, then finish this simple sentence: "I'm the happiest (and richest) investor because ..."

Impossible? After all, we can't all be "the richest," let alone "the happiest." Yes you can. This is your life. Each of us in our own unique way can be "the happiest and also the richest" ... in your special way, in your world, all by yourself. You decide. Just do it.

Here are a few reminders, my Zen Millionaire's 14 secrets to being happy and rich. Maybe they'll jar your memory, maybe bring a smile, maybe help you see that at this one moment in time, in your own unique way, you really are the happiest, richest and luckiest investor living in the whole wide world:

1. Happiness is making others happy

2. Happiness is doing what you love (even if you're not doing it)

"Success is getting what you want," says Uncle Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha. "Happiness is wanting what you get."

3. Happiness is some Cheerios and a warm puppy

For Peanuts' creator Charles Schultz, it's very simple: "Happiness is a warm puppy." And pure joy in Anna Quindlen's "A Short Guide to A Happy Life:" "Get a life in which you pay attention to the baby as she scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger. Turn off the cell phone. Turn off your regular phone, for that matter. Keep still. Be present. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you." God bless Snoopy and cheery Cheerios!

4. Happiness is getting lost in whatever you're doing

5. Happiness is getting into action and doing what's right

6. Happiness is also doing nothing, just whistling

7. Happiness is faking it so good you really are happy

8. Happiness is more a bunch of little moments than big deals

9. Happiness is knowing when 'enough is enough'

10. Happiness is not being attached to money and stuff

Remember Henry Miller's famous opening line in "Tropic of Cancer:" "I have no money, no resources, no hopes, I am the happiest man alive."

11. Happiness is spending less than you earn

Americans know this truth, from Charles Dickens' famous formula: "Annual income, 20 pounds; annual expenditure, 19 pounds; result happiness. Annual income, 20 pounds; annual expenditure, 21 pounds; result misery."

12. Happiness is doing what you really love

13. Happiness is being of service ... to your world

In "The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success," Deepak Chopra says: "Everyone has a purpose in life, a unique gift of special talent to give others ... ask yourself, 'How am I best suited to serve humanity?' Answer that question and put it into practice.

14. Happiness is about being 'rich in spirit'

"Instead of focusing almost exclusively on our finances," says Ralph Warner in "Get A Life -- You Don't Need A Million To Retire Well," we "should be thinking about the things that truly make a difference in our later years; our health, spiritual life, relationships with family and friends, and having a plate full of interesting things to do."

Now add your comment, complete this sentence: "I am the happiest (and richest) investor because ..." The prize? It comes from within, an investment that will continue growing, making you richer in "spirit and in fact" as "you cause happiness wherever you go" today, and every day. And share this column: Email it to friends and loved ones.

Labels: happiness, money, Paul B. Farrell, service