Prosperity -- Journey or Destination?

In some regards, prosperity seems like a binary state. You are either prosperous or you aren't. It's like a destination. Once we've arrived at a state of prosperity, we imagine that all things will be well and we can finally relax. Until then we are not prosperous and don't get the benefits. The value, then, is in being prosperous. So whatever your definition of prosperity is (a profitable business, no debt, passive income) you can't enjoy the benefits until you meet the goal.

I think this is a limited view. There is also value in becoming prosperous. The process of moving toward the desired state is as valuable and as beneficial as reaching that state. I think that this is a view lacking in a lot of financial thinking. People get very focused on the value of the end goal (being debt free is a common one) without acknowledging the value inherent in striving for that goal (being thrifty, maximizing income, exercising discipline). In addition, there's the reality that things are always changing. You might be prosperous now, but there are no guarantees and security is largely a myth. You have to keep doing the right things to maintain that state.

It's tied to the difference between happiness and contentment. Contentment is a sense of pleasant satisfaction with the context of your life (who you are, where you work, where you live, and so on). When you are happy with your life as is, that's contentment. Contentment can be based on long-term (my marriage) or short-term (a vacation day) aspects. Contentment is passive happiness. It's happiness with what is. I imagine that the point at which I reach prosperity will bring me a sense of contentment.

Now happiness itself is more difficult. It's defined as either a state of contentment or "a pleasurable or satisfying experience" (Merriam-Webster online). It's the second definition that I find interesting. It implies that while you can't experience contentment without happiness, you can experience happiness without contentment.

That means that while there's a flavor of happiness reserved for people who's lives are in a good "as is" state, there's still happiness for those who are hungry for change. In fact, it's perfectly likely that at any one point, you can be completely contented with some things in your life, while wanting to change others. But even if you are currently content with nothing, that doesn't mean you can't be happy. So while I can't claim contentment with our current financial situation, working toward prosperity makes me happy.

And if happiness with what is (contentment) is passive happiness, then happiness in the act of striving is active happiness.

It's easy to equate pleasure with happiness. The experience of a great meal, wonderful sex, lovely trip, or relaxing afternoon are all things that seem to imply happiness by definition. Satisfaction leading to happiness is again a more interesting supposition. After all, a "satisfying experience" can be a hard day's work well done or besting a rival or coming through your "dark forest" unscathed and having learned some really useful lesson. You can find satisfaction in both highly esoteric areas, such as a burst of enlightenment, or completely mundane ones, like a well-scrubbed toilet. So satisfaction can come from an experience that isn't necessarily pleasant.

In fact for some people, the happiness that comes from some deeply satisfying experience might be even greater than that which comes solely from pleasure. What brings you more happiness, a perfect dessert or having learned a tough new skill through your own hard work and efforts? I have to admin that I'm a big a fan as any of the occasional deep-fried dark chocolate pie, but the happiness I get from the new skill lasts longer.

Finding our way to prosperity is, for me, a long string of learning and gaining new skills. Rethinking my assumptions, readjusting my attitudes, and practicing different habits.

When humans seek out happiness (sometimes forgetting that the wellspring is inside us all along) we tend to seek out the "things" that will make us happy rather than the "experiences." I suspect this is due to market and consumer culture and it certainly doesn't lead to prosperity. And when we do seek out "experiences" to make us happy, we tend to go for the pleasant ones. After all, to seek pleasure and avoid pain (in the general sense, some people have different definitions than others) seems a natural human instinct.

However there's also value in seeking out the experiences that challenge us in order to reach a goal. For my goal of prosperity, I feel like the satisfaction of doing the right things right now brings me happiness.

I do think that being happy is trainable, at least among those with normalish brain chemistry. We can decide to be happy, even if we don't decide to be complacent about where we are in our lives. We can take the happiness from our good experiences. We can be happy where we're at, even if we aren't happy with where we're at. Being happy confers a whole host of mental, physical, and emotional benefits. I believe that happiness and a positive attitude is critical to prosperity (more in this in a future post). So it's in our best interest to be as happy as we can be.

At least that's the advice I give myself... when I'm not too cranky to listen.