Your Path to Prosperity

             By Bayo Ogunmupe

     Rectify your heart and you will rectify your life. Lust, hatred, vanity and self indulgence- breed poverty and weakness; whereas love, meekness, compassion and self forgetfulness grant you wealth and power. It is the mind of a virtuous person that has power to create prosperous circumstances and happiness. In a nutshell, you will only become prosperous when you are disciplined. Indeed, wealth and happiness come most easily to those who forget themselves in their service to others. The above mentioned matters constitute the mindset of the people marked for prosperity.
     Then where is the path to prosperity? Certainly, you can find it  through stocks, bonds, real estate or the ownership of a company. These are tangible expressions of wealth, but they say nothing on how to gain prosperity. In fact, prosperity is created by individuals, but such a people harbour particular personal qualities. In his book: The Path To Prosperity, James Allen argues that prosperity is always personal, resting squarely on the degree you have refined or bettered yourself. Though it is possible for anyone to become rich, but to be happily prosperous suggests that you have peace of mind in addition to monetary riches.
     Allen is most famous as the author of : As A Man Thinketh, which beautifully expresses the idea that you create your world through your thoughts. The Path To Prosperity goes deeper into the link between your mindset and material abundance. From these books we learn that to be prosperous, you must have a good heart by becoming truly valuable to your fellow human beings. To be rich, you have to follow the path of righteousness, not the path of corrupt enrichment that turned Nigeria into a rich one percent glowing in a sea of mediocrity.
     A prosperity seeker abjures evil. He accepts problems as gifts which he attracted to himself through ignorance. He then chooses to endure them, becoming free to become a careful molder of his own circumstances. The self awareness gained through struggle enables you to choose the true path. You, realising all you are, is as a result of what you have thought. If you are happy, it is because you are thinking thoughts of happiness. That is why people with a positive mindset quickly get over setbacks and soon become prosperous.
     Being an optimist essentially makes you think in certain ways despite current reality- this can be learned and it often makes all the difference to a person's career success or failure. Thus, to get out of undesirable conditions, stop being a complainer. The way to a better life is through delivering service and providing love. Adversity helps you master yourself through patience and self control.
     The paradox of true prosperity is that it comes to those who forget about themselves in providing service to others. As they become highly valued, they are showered not only with money but with love and honour. Anyone can gain wealth if he tries hard enough. But prosperity and peace of mind only arrive at the door of people who have mastered themselves. You can pursue wealth directly but it is wiser to purify yourself in the provision of service. For in the midst of riches, you remain virtuous, seeing yourself less as an owner than as a steward of divine abundance. Outside of contentment, there is neither prosperity nor power, but only the appearance of abundance.
     The path to true prosperity revolves around good character, also known as integrity. The Greek philosopher Aristotle said: "The hardest victory is the victory over self", but it is a victory that empowers you to win in all other spheres of life. In this 21st century you do not need religious faith to understand that the greater your moral depth and courage, the more you stand out from your peers.
     No work on refining your virtues of diligence, integrity and sympathy is ever wasted. The more abundant such qualities the more easily riches are attracted to you, compared to people who only chase short- term gains.