Physical wealth will only get you so far, true wealth is determined by the wealth in your heart. The true currency of this life is not money, it is fulfillment. In this article, you will learn about the diseases of the heart which prevent you from having a wealthy heart.
“The pursuit of spiritual attunement, not physical attainment.”
Benefits of a wealthy heart
True wealth is the wealth of the heart. To be wealthy in the heart means to be able to feel fulfilled and content with all that one has moment-to-moment. This type of contentment is not possible when the heart is diseased. A diseased heart is a heart that is afflicted with any of the traits listed below.
Many people live with these diseases unconsciously, so by becoming aware of them within you, you gain the power to change.
You will notice the following benefits arise as your heart becomes wealthier:
- Increased feelings of joy through selfless love
- Decreased irritability and an unbothered attitude towards life
- Greater clarity about self and others
Simply becoming aware of the diseases will help them cease. But it takes considerable openness to see your own ignorance.
Diseases of the heart
- Showing off
Showing off is when you adjust your actions or appearance for external appreciation or acceptance. Showing off is split into 3 categories: profound, covert, and subliminal.
Profound: Evidently seeking praise by displaying expensive possessions, beauty, or performance. The desire to stand out and be the center of attention.
Covert: Subtly showing off to be seen as good. This can happen in day-to-day occurrences such as holding a door open for someone just because you know you are being watched. Or, offering to help just so you will be seen as helpful.
Subliminal: Being encouraged to do a good deed because others are watching and you don’t want to be seen as bad. For example, knowing others may be watching encourages you to give money to the homeless person which you would not give if you were not being watched.
Showing off can lead to a confused sense of identity or fluctuating opinions.
- Arrogance
A person experiencing arrogance thinks highly of themselves and sees others as below them, therefore treating them in an inferior way.
Feeling superior: This is seen when people of higher positions in the office ignore those in lower positions or devalue them. Another example is racist folks who treat people unfairly due to a self-imposed sense of privilege.
Feeling special: Another variation of arrogance is when a person thinks they are uniquely special. This type of person might expect fame or have grandiose pursuits.
No one is impressed by your possessions as much as you are.
Morgan Housel
- Envy
Envy is the experience of anger, sadness, or bitterness brought on by being exposed to someone in possession of something that you desire.
Mild case: Witnessing someone achieve or obtain something that you deeply desire and feeling sad about not having it, mixed with bitterness towards them.
Moderate case: Seeing someone with something you want and feeling angry at them for having it. Having a strong
Severe case: Being envious of seeing anyone in any circumstance better than your own and wishing ill upon them.
The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.
Baltasar Gracián
- Comparison
Comparison is the tendency to glamorize the gifts of others while undermining or failing to see their own. By thinking this way, you will fail to recognize your own unique qualities, which we all have.
Comparative thinking is poisonous because there will always be room to compare. Someone will always have something that you do not. Someone else’s path will never be your path. When comparing yourself to others, you fail to appreciate what you have which is the essence of fulfillment.
Try not to get lost in comparing yourself to others. Discover your gifts and let them shine! Softball is amazing that way as a sport. Everyone on the field has a slightly different ability that makes them perfect for their position.
Jennie Finch
- Resentment
Resentment is covert anger that comes as a result of feeling you have been treated unfairly. This leads to feeling the need for revenge which can come out in the form of micro-aggressions or passive-aggressive behavior. One of the causes of harboring resentment is not forgiving or letting go of past experiences.
Resentment is a poison that lays dormant in the heart, It is a subliminal hatred that is held within. It comes out in the form of wishing ill for others, not acting in their best interest, being irritated easily by trivial matters, creating arguments out of simple matters, catastrophizing others’ mistakes, connecting them to other past occurrences, and easily being triggered into a bitter state.
Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
Malachy McCourt
- Negative thoughts
Negative thoughts are counterproductive perceptions about self, others, and outcomes. Perception is your unique interpretation of your surroundings. Negative thoughts can be normal for the human experience, but having too many negative thought patterns can be a red flag and prevent you from fully experiencing life.
Someone experiencing negative thoughts can be overly critical and judgemental of themselves, their environment, and others. They tend to get upset over flaws or shortcomings that may be regarded as insignificant by others. As evident, this is quite a depressing state to be in, especially considering that the reality is not as bad as the perceptions one holds.
Dwelling on negative thoughts is like fertilizing weeds.
Norman Vincent Peale
- Fear
Fear is a highly subjective subject, with each person having a unique set of fears they must overcome. It often forms as a result of conditioned responses in non-life-threatening situations.
Such as fearing water, which could be due to the fact that someone tried to drown you when you were two years old. There may be no memory of when the conditioning occurred, but it is still a conditioned response.
There are all kinds of emotional fears such as the fear of abandonment, rejection, loneliness, change, getting hurt, failure, and many more.
- Attachment to the physical
Attachment here implies deriving too much pleasure from the ownership of worldly belongings. Worldly possessions include monetary goods, people, and status. People who are severely attached to physical gains remain fixated on finding joy in materialistic pursuits.
Expectation is the enemy of joy. When you let go of expectations, everything is able to amuse you.
It feels good to have material gains, but when your life lacks purpose or service, the attachment to these things leaves you stuck on a hamster wheel chasing ephemeral thrills. You fail to experience the joy of altruism and live in a world where the threshold for pleasure keeps raising. The problem with such attachment as a source of pleasure is that it will not lead to true fulfillment, but rather leads to greediness.
Don’t Gain The World & Lose Your Soul, Wisdom Is Better Than Silver Or Gold.
Bob Marley
- Greed or covetousness
Greed is a never-ending hunger that leads to covetousness. Covetousness is an excessive longing for worldly gains; success, possessions, or wealth. Greed is a poisonous trap that prevents a person from feeling fulfillment, thus never really enjoying the fruits of their wealth.
Greediness leaves you with an insatiable hunger and makes you anhedonic to the blessings you already have. The more you feed the hunger, the hungrier you get.
Greed is permanent slavery.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
- Selfishness
A selfish person only cares for matters that concern themselves. They show little or no concern for the welfare of others. Usually, a selfish person lives in an egocentric and shallow bubble with a lack of empathy and compassion for others. Usually, they only seem to care when there is something of benefit to them.
- Deceitfulness
Deceitfulness includes any form of insincerity such as lying, cheating, or pretending. Many people fall into the trap of thinking they are free from pretense or deceit because they do not lie and are not overtly fake.
All forms of deception result in your personal truth becoming unclear.
As with all the diseases of the heart, there are levels to the severity of the disease. When the disease is severe it is usually obvious and the symptoms are overt. But many people go about their lives while these diseases remain covert deep inside.
It takes considerable courage and honesty to look at yourself and see what diseases you may need to clear. In order to know your personal truth, you must have clarity.
In order to have clarity, your heart must be pure and free of deceitfulness.
Major deception: is when people lie about their status, wealth, or what they did over the weekend. This includes pretending to be someone they are clearly not, and knowing that they are pretending for the sake of getting external validation.
Covert deception: is a layer of deception where it can become so normal that you don’t even realize you’re doing it. This comes in the form of telling your friend you’re 10 minutes away while you haven’t started making your way. Or, canceling a meeting and lying about your whereabouts rather than being direct. These may be known as little white lies, but they are still lies.
Subliminal deception: comes in the form of mirroring the expectation of others. For example, pretending to be okay with a certain topic being discussed because the majority of people in the room are on board. Or, agreeing with everyone when they say they like the orange juice simply for the sake of small talk.
This is still deception because you are not being a hundred percent true to yourself.
In conclusion
You now have some idea of the diseases of the heart and their varying degrees. The more you actively pursue the path of self-awareness and growth to overcome these moral obstacles, you will grow to become happier and clearer of your life trajectory.