To want more than you have is a normal and healthy way to go through life. It is called motivation and drive. Despite being regarded as negative personality traits, they are the ones that propel us to newer heights. This is a good thing. However, when wanting is coupled with inactivity, we are more likely to envy our neighbours and feel unlucky because others have more, than to contribute anything positive either to ourselves or the lives of others.

NO SUCH THING AS GOOD KARMA

Just about everybody wants to have a lot of money without really working for it. The Internet is teaming with get rich quick schemes because people continue to flock to them. When somebody wins a large prize like a lottery jackpot the first word that comes to mind is: “Lucky!” Some might even think of karma. A Hindu friend who once explained what karma really is. People tend to think of karma in terms of luck. In reality, it is simply the universal effect of a cause. It cannot be good or bad. It just is. In other words, we are all endowed with luck; karma is the lack of said luck. So, really, saying bad karma is the same as saying “I just walked into a corner, bad corner.”

LUCK IS NOT MEASURED IN DOLLARS

Wise men say: Hoard your money and the universe will take it away from you. Live your life wisely but with enjoyment, and you will live in a state of equilibrium. So, if you just sit at home and save, a tree will fall on your roof and you’ll spend your savings on a new roof. Perhaps the reason most of us have not won big in a lottery is because of all the times nothing bad happened when it could have.

MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK

Sudden relief is one type of luck. The other is feeling the head of a child you never thought you’d have fall gratefully on your shoulder as you scoop him up, or watching him run away from you for the first time when you say it’s time for bed. Suppose you had a child and saved all their baby stuff hoping to use it for the second one, but getting pregnant the second time doesn’t come easily. If we return to the lesson of the wise we’ll wonder what use there is in hoarding things we’re not sure we’ll ever need again. So, pack everything up except for what has true sentimental value and seek out those expectant friends and acquaintances and give them something they’ll definitely need. They will be grateful for the hundreds of dollars you’ll have saved them, and rest assured you will soon welcome a gift worth more than all the gold in the world.

Much has been said in recent years about the prevailing sense of entitlement within our society. Periodically sitting back and taking stock of what we already have and purging what we no longer need is a great way of understanding how privileged your life already is, as well as make room for more. When you clutter up your life with other people’s yet-to-be-found treasures, you’ll have little ability to realize more.