What Constitutes the Shady Side of Wealth?

When a majority of the world remains in a constant struggle to achieve the wealthier status, it is important to understand the mind-wealth connection deeply. Is there a limit to being wealthy or do people stop somewhere from further accumulation of money? Let’s start by knowing how money impacts the brain, which is also the reason why most individuals keep playing with their physical and mental health to only focus on working hard to earn.

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Ego satisfaction: Firstly, ego is of several types, from serving oneself in a narcissistic manner to satisfying one’s need to be recognized as powerful. Wealth is one of the best ways that many people use to serve different types of ego. There are those who believe that rich rule this world and money can buy everything for them. Then, there are those who think that they can gain the control over others’ opinions and lives if they can achieve a wealthier status. This is because our society has been programmed in a way to worship the rich and believe that rich individuals are mostly the result of hard work. Using such mind programming, a few higher strata individuals also flaunt their ability to work hard to earn money, which is another type of ego that they are serving unconsciously. Although it is not harmful at the initial stages of wealth accumulation when it is done with the purpose of meeting basic needs of life, this behavior can go to dangerous levels when that ego about the ability to hard work starts reflecting in an individual’s deteriorating bodily, mental or soul health. This is a good reason to keep introspecting in order to keep a check on one’s deep attachment to monetary things and the level of richness one desires to achieve for internal satisfaction and life’s stability and security.

Power: It is true that money offers stability and security to everybody. However, it is also true that it centers the power in the middle of the palm of its owner. The good side of this power is that it delivers the required confidence and control over life to the owner, as they get more to spend towards living comfortably. The shady side, on the other hand, shows up at a stage when the person forgets where to stop or slow the process of accumulating wealth and start enjoying the real life for which they have earned or have been earning. Just a few people recognize this to stay grounded and balanced while hiding under the bundles of notes; the rest realize the importance of living life happily when their final breaths begin snatching their money power. Well, money can surely deliver power in a world of illusions, but it cannot buy healthy emotions, true love, peace, tranquility, or a set of new breaths for anybody!

Status and identity: Reaching the top is a dream for many, but do many understand the identity differences and social distances wealth creates? There are again two sides of the coin. It is great to build oneself up and rise to the peak of success positively. Money then becomes a part of the natural career progression process. Sharing such wealth with the loved ones and other people in need definitely carves a great identity for a high-status individual. The other side is much darker. When somebody rich has no concern with social welfare, the same wealth can make them arrogant through their status and unconcerned about the emotions and problems of the unprivileged. According to many studies, a higher socioeconomic class makes a large bunch of people feel special and worthy of what they have earned. Class privilege then defeats the teachings to the world that there are fair opportunities available to all. It oppresses lower-status individuals and demands them to work harder to gain their fair share of success, even without a concern for their survival conditions. Rich by default become the ignorant judges of poor in such cases, neglecting the differences between the skills and abilities at both ends. Still, this behavior is limited to a portion of wealthy population, and perceptions of higher strata individuals are also changing with times.

Addictions: Another shady side of wealth is its addictive nature. One earns and then earns more and then some more as their lifestyle alters along with this behavior. After the basic and luxury needs are met, one may move towards exploring more ways to spend their earnings. Alcohol, drugs, gaming, gambling, eating – these become causal activities. The individual may thus start moving up from the grounded reality and the roots from which they have risen. However, their brain chemistry may become so exhilarating that in no time, the coin may flip to the other side where anxiety and depression stay in the lack of grounding ability.

How to Avoid the Shady Side of Wealth?

While rising through the ladder of success, it is critical to keep a watch on one’s ego and hunger for power and control. It is also important to see whether you are managing your wealth right and serving the society you want to lead. Spending unnecessarily and unreasonably can waste the precious wealth you may have built through actual hard work. Avoid the waste and use it to heal others who do not have the opportunities available to be like you. Be sensitive to the emotions of those who are not bestowed with a rich destiny in this lifetime. Spend on some luxury but don’t go addictive and overboard. Nobody will ever reward you for owning 100 cars and 10 houses! Nobody can even help you to carry all that stuff to the metaphysical world…!

Explorable Emotions…

At some point of time in history, did any of you think that you would be telling even your best friend about your bedroom secrets? Did you think that you would be expressing your love and sentiments for the dearest of people in your life in front of the whole world who does not even care to listen to your personal stories? You may or may not have done that, but it has actually become a reality with the establishment of social media platforms in our daily lives.

Some of you may find this funny, but give a read…

Emotions!

I was recently going through some Facebook posts of my friends. While scrolling down, I arrived at a post in which a friend of mine was tagged. So, out of curiosity, I started looking at the photo album. To my surprise, it was posted by my friend’s husband who had tagged her in his own birthday post. It was a thank you message from the husband to the wife. It also had pictures of all the stuff the wife had purchased to gift to her husband on his birthday…a bottle of perfume, a bouquet of flowers, some scented candles lit on the table, and an expensive smartphone. Her husband had actually thanked her for the emotions those gifts involved! I thought: ‘Are there really those true emotions in the pictured gifts?’ and ‘Could the husband not say this personally to his wife who must have been sitting beside him while he posted these pictures?’

Anyways, I moved on..

Then, there was another post where a friend of mine had his anniversary. He had also tagged his wife and written a complete philosophical thesis that just gave this gist: ‘My friend loved her wife very much, as she was beautiful and caring.’ Well, I thought: ‘Are other wives uncaring toward their husbands and don’t their husbands love them?’ and ‘Will his wife give him a reward for writing this thesis for people to read and not for saying a few good words in her ears?’

The final questions in my mind were: ‘What do I do with my friend’s husband’s/wife’s emotions…I don’t even know them?’ and ‘is this Facebook’s fault for displaying stories that are not relevant to me?’

The point is not simply about these two posts or millions of other similar posts on social platforms. The point is about the expression of emotions. While we have always seen people expressing their soft emotions at a personal level with their spouses, friends, parents or children, these emotions have now gained platforms where they become public, or in better words, for the public.

There is deep psychology behind a person expressing emotions of all kinds. However, in such cases, it appears that the topic is not all about ’emotions’ but about ‘the need for social approval,’ ‘the need for social acceptance,’ ‘the need for achievement,’ ‘the need for superiority,’ and ‘the need for community love.’ According to my personal analysis, people displaying their emotions on public platforms are majorly looking for the love and acceptance of the society for their relationships. There is also a tendency to show the happiness and joy one has been gaining from a relation. In fact, a person may also attempt to reflect a happy relation that may not actually be so happy in real life.

There is, sometimes, a trial at displaying one’s achievements in a relation. This may also leave the person with a sense of satisfaction and superiority, as they imagine themselves to be better off in relations than their friends or relatives. They feel that this achievement (in their terms!) can hide their other failures in life. Thus, it is actually the diversion of people’s attention from their failed careers or education to their successful marriages or friendships. Last but not the least, the above kind of behavior may just be the public display of affection. More likes, favorites and comments from friends mean a happier relation for some, as these bring along social approval for a so-called “beautiful couple.”

But is this display really so “beautiful?” Well, everybody has his/her own opinion on it. So, what is the real psychology behind this behavior, according to you? Food for thought…explore it!!