4 Types of Poverty that Teach Us the Meaning of Happiness
The idea that “poverty builds character” is something that most people say so you don’t feel bad, usually when you’re going through a stage in your life in which your economic resources aren’t enough to afford something better. But this phrase truly has some truth to it.
Poverty allows us to appreciate what we do have in our day to day. This doesn’t mean that we have to experience this situation in order to reach fulfillment. But partially, all of us who have experienced poverty in some way or another, be it in a material or emotional sense, we learn to value life’s true pillars. Value what we’ll always have or simply can’t be bought: love and who we are inside.
We have all at some point experienced a lack of inspiration, love, friendship or compassion that has lead us to make everything we do or want worthwhile. Therefore, making us feel fulfilled and happy.
What are the 4 kinds of poverty you need to experience in order to appreciate happiness?
1. Poverty of money.
When we live without certain material privileges, like heating for example, we realize that it’s possible to live without it. We learn that it’s not indispensible in our lives. This way we can better understand the people who aren’t lucky enough to enjoy these elements, further appreciating our situation and theirs.
All of this lets you feel free, learn from other people and frees you from barriers that limit and enslave you.
It’s true that the people who have undergone some kind of economic poverty have formed a stronger character, one that’s more human and tolerant. At the end of the day, your dreams can’t be bought. If you need money to make them a reality, your mind will want it so badly that it’ll achieve the impossible. If you want it, you can achieve it.
It’s better to be free and not a slave to material elements that condition your life.
2. Poverty of love.
How can you be sure that you’re in love if you’ve never lived without it? How can you appreciate such a precise feeling if you’ve never felt the loneliness of heartbreak? In order to appreciate such a sacred thing as love, people must experience at least some moments of loneliness. When you feel and experience it, you’ll be much more aware of such a gift as love.
To live without love at some point in our lives makes us stronger and more humble. This is the kind of poverty that makes you the richest in many aspects. Because when you’ve been alone, you learn to find love in any place or action and to value other people in an extraordinary way.
When you have felt what it’s like to be alone, then you can turn that feeling of scarcity into a gift for the rest of your life.
3. Poverty of friends
How can you appreciate the company or solace offered by your friends if you have never lacked them? If you’ve never lived through the opposite, then you won’t know what it’s like to not have personal relationships and support, to not have motivators or the urge to share your happiness with them and life itself.
This anguishing loneliness that many of us have been “lucky” to experience will make you even more aware and appreciative of the fact that your friends and relationships are unique and priceless.
At the end of the day, “happiness is only complete if it is shared.”
The important thing about relationships and friendships isn’t the quantity, but rather the quality. Finding people that hold you up through tough times and with whom you can enjoy having sincerity and trust. It’s true that discovering this in another person can take a whole lifetime to do. But something which will make that search easier is having healthy personal humility and good judgment.
4. Poverty of passion
A passion for life is one of its most beautiful elements. One which will make us feel a great pain in our hearts with its absence.
People that have lacked passion say that they felt empty on the inside. Felt without dreams, desires or goals that made them want to enjoy, share, discover, love, etc. Without it, we go through live like nonliving beings, constantly searching for something to fill us up and stop that deep pain we feel.
Human beings that have never felt this kind of poverty have probably never been “alive enough” to go out into the world and look for something to be passionate about. It’s also true that we’re not all born with a passion, just like we aren’t all born complete and equal.
That’s why I invite you to go out into the world, explore, discover and find. The key is to experience and get to know many different elements. Traveling and getting to know places you have never thought of visiting will fill you with energy and inspiration to discover and keep expanding yourself as a human being. Leaving a piece of your heart available for others and for life.