If you live for Money, it’s time to get a life!

In School or University, we receive grades and remarks, in a game, we count runs and goals, and at work, we get performance reviews and salary hikes. But life isn’t quite that simple. As we grow it becomes important or us to realize how do we measure success in life? Because, deep inside our heart we all know this little fact that there is more to life than grades, remarks, and money. Like, it is really hard to put a monetary value on intangibles such as a smile, a thank you gesture, time with your beloved, the love of your family etc. And because these intangibles are difficult to quantify, we often discount their true worth. Instead, we turn to more recognizable ways to measure success - money and the things it can buy. And we often forget that the saying, the best things in life are free, is so true. From happiness to honesty, there are some of the life's best treasures that cost nothing at all and we should not take it granted for. Here is a list of few things that money can't buy. If you have achieved these things in life, you surely have achieved the much-desired success. 

Love, Trust, and Respect

It’s a cliche that money can’t buy love, but it’s also true. You buy things and love is not a thing. Love is the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. It is a feeling, an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment. Money can buy initial attraction or even lust, but “true” love comes from mutual respect, trusting each other, caring for each other, sharing experiences, and growing together. Trust is a major part of the foundation of successful relationship and can be earned by being truthful and loyal. Whereas respect can be earned by being a good human being. So no matter how much money you have you can’t buy true love, someone's trust, and respect. They can only be earned with kindness, compassion and affectionate actions. And the only investment required is an investment of time and faith. 

Time

Time is the most precious gift you can give to someone, because if you give someone your time. It’s a part of your life that you will never get back. That’s the most intriguing part about time that once it’s gone it can’t be brought back. As each day passes, the time is lost and there is absolutely no way to get it back again. No amount of money that you make in the future will buy you back the lost time or will get that moment back when you missed the chance to say "I love you" to someone special or the play time with your kids while they were young. So value the present time, because once the time is lost you can never get it back.

World Peace and Inner Peace

Peace isn’t something you buy. There would have been no WAR if money could buy peace. Can money evade the wars? Can money bring back those who died in the name of war? Had money a role to play in freeing slaves from their masters? Think of the amount of money that governments have spent over the years in the name of international peace and happiness. What’s the entire world’s money actually worth when it can’t buy world peace? Even the inner peace cannot be bought with money but one can cultivate it only with his thoughts. It comes when one accepts everything that life has to offer and is able to find positivity out of the most negative of situations. In fact, many times money is the reason which robs us of this inner peace because we keep stressing upon how to earn it, save it, increase it or spend it.

Manners, Integrity, and Character

The amount of money you have doesn’t determine whether you behave well or poorly, whether you hold a good or a bad character and whether your virtues and values are right or wrong. Manners, Integrity, and character are not bought, but they go hand in hand. Manners are taught and practiced at all levels of society by parents and family members who wants to see their offspring form a good character in the society. Your character is more than what you portray for others to see, it is who you are even when no one is watching. Whereas integrity is one of the few things in life that anyone can forcefully take away from you. Your choices are yours. No one (even with heaps of money) can force you to make a choice that you believe is wrong. Money doesn’t confer good manners, integrity, and good character.

Health and Youth

If money can buy health, I think all the rich people would have never been sick. Money can surely buy you the best healthcare in a renowned hospital, treatments by the specialists and the best of medicines, but it cannot replace good health once it’s lost. Likewise, you can spend thousands on surgeries and treatments to preserve your youth, but it’s an illusion. No amount of money you make in the future will replace those days when you looked good, were healthy and your body could do anything easily. So take good care of yourself, because once your good health and youth is lost you can never get it back.

Knowledge, Wisdom, and Experience

Some lessons are best learned through experience and the best knowledge you get is also through experience. Money can provide you the resources or access to knowledge like buying a book or hiring an expert but the actual knowledge is something you can't buy. Getting that knowledge requires the experience of learning, which takes effort. Likewise, money might buy you a good job but would it would not be able to buy you the experience you need to prosper and flourish in there. For knowledge, wisdom and experience cannot be bought but just acquired with time, effort and hard work.

Family and Friends

Money might help support a family, but the foundation for a happy family is love. Even if you earn lots and lots of money you can never buy the closeness and the intimacy which is supposed to be there among the family members. It grows only on spending time together and sharing significant as well as trivial things with each other. In the real world, the poor seem to have closer knit ties than the filthy rich who have broken homes and won’t even know how old their child is. Likewise, a genuine friendship doesn’t come with any price tag. If you are rich, you might attract greedy friends but how many true friends can you actually vouch for if you lose all your money. A true friend supports when everything else fails and make your world a better place to live in.

Happiness and Contentment

It’s another cliche that money can’t buy happiness, but a true one. Happiness and contentment are a state and not an expression. They are neither monetary nor momentary. Money can surely help you with the most sought after life plan like studying in a reputed University, getting a job in an MNC or money can buy you some fun and fleeting joy like a beautiful wedding gown, an exotic vacation, an I-Phone, your favorite SUV but it can’t buy the true happiness. Because true happiness is often found in little things that are way beyond to be bought by money. A smile from a stranger, a giggle from a newborn, a hug from your best friend or a kiss from your lover. You can buy none of these and they still make you happy much more than money ever can. Happiness is being satisfied, content and in a state of joy and that no money can buy.

Money is important, but maybe it’s not the most important thing in the world. You should not give up the pursuit of money and go on some monastic quest for deeper meaning but rather think every now and then about the things you would still have even if you didn’t have money.