What makes a successful person ?

My SIL, MC called and she sounded so happy. Her daugther, Eva got a first prize in her  Japanese speech contest in Japan. Her topic is what makes a successful person ? She  said that it is not wealth or frame but the person should be truly happy and smiles most of the time. I could not agree with her more. Happiness is everything. How to have happiness ? Contentment with what you have. If you are easily contented than you will be happy and when you are happy , you will be smiling all the time.

Money helps but it is not absolute. If we have money and we are greedy, we will never be happy. We will always be chasing after money and will neglect our health and our state of mind. After getting more money, we will chase after more and more money. I have told of incidents where a rich man's son light his cigars with a RM50 note in a night club. In his case, did he feel happy burning the RM50 note or just showing off.  Money have no meaning in this case. In real life, this fella die young as he is unhappy and became very stressful.

Our contentment is very basic but we expand it to follow the Jones and become part of the materialistic world. When other people have big cars, we want big cars. Other people have big houses, we want big houses to show that we are successful and people will respect us. I have a friend who have a family of four including himself staying in a big bungalow and when his both sons went overseas for further studies , his wife accompany them and leaving my friend alone in the big bungalow. Now, he is thinking of getting a small apartment for himself. He told me that after his death, his son and wife will sell off his property in Malaysia and bring all his money to the country of their choice. Is it meaningful to have a big house and so much money stash away in property or in the bank ?.

I have told  my readers a story in my previous article of a war time general who fought hard for his Emperor and win many battles. The Emperor told him that he will be rewarded accordingly and he wil be given all the land which he can covered while riding his horse. So, he jump on his horse and ride day and night , rain or shine, under the heat and rain until he fall sick. In his death bed, he told his son that he is too greedy. Now, all the land has no meaning to him and as he only need a land of 6ft by 6ft to bury in after his death.

All of us failed to see this point and we blindly chasing something which we do not need in expense of our health. So, wake up , folks.  Re-assess our needs and count our blessing before it is too late.

Namaste.