A Little Story about Wealth & Knowledge

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

– Benjamin Franklin

Do you enjoy learning about money?

I do. I love learning about money. I was fortunate to grow up in a family that loved talking about money, building wealth, personal finance, investing and economics. We still do.

Whenever I am grappling with a financial question or decision, I have an entire band of brothers to turn to for sage advice. My mom was also super savvy with her money; as was her mom and her sister, my great aunt Mary.

My dad…not so much 🙂

In addition to personal finance, I also love learning about money mindsets – in particular, the difference between having an abundant mindset versus a scarcity mindset. This is something I am rather fascinated with at the moment, so I’ve been reading up on it and came across this interesting quote:

“You cross the great divide from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset when you no longer assume that opportunity isn’t there, but, instead, assume that it is.”

– J. Frederick Wilson

I love it! And the older I get, the more I’m realizing how true it is. The more open I am to cool opportunities coming my way, the more cool opportunities that come my way. It’s actually rather astonishing!

Another thing I’ve recently learned is that having a scarcity mindset isn’t just about believing one doesn’t have enough money – but also that one doesn’t have enough TIME. This really resonated with me!

I gotta admit, now that I’m in my late fifties, I find myself feeling a little frantic at times, worrying that I won’t have enough time to do everything – work, writing, travel, love – I want to before I die.

But learning that that type of thinking/worrying is likely an indication of a scarcity mindset, made me relax a little…because I realized it might not be true! For just as there always seems to be enough money, so, too, perhaps will there be enough time. And if there isn’t enough money or enough time, then perhaps it is not meant to be?

At any rate, on the subject of learning about money, I was perusing the shelves of a used bookstore a couple of months ago and came across the book, “Creating Affluence; The A-to-Z Steps a Richer Life” by Deepak Chopra. I immediately bought it. I was a little surprised I’d not read it before.

In the introduction, Chopra shared a story that resonated with me, so I thought I’d share it with you.

The story goes a little like this:

A young man went to see his spiritual master and said that he wanted to become wealthy…partly because he wanted to help and heal the world.

The spiritual master replied that there are two Goddesses that reside inside the heart of every person…but that there is a secret that the young man needed to know.

The young man leaned in a little closer.

“Although you love both Goddesses,” said the spiritual master, “you must pay more attention to one of them. She is the Goddess of Knowledge, and her name is Sarasvati.”

“Okay,” said the young man.

“Pursue her, love her, and give her your attention,” said the spiritual master. “The other Goddess, whose name is Lakshmi, is the Goddess of Wealth.”

“Oh,” said the young man, a little puzzled.

The spiritual master smiled. “When you pay more attention to Sarasvati,” he explained, “Lakshmi will become extremely jealous and pay more attention to you. The more you seek the Goddess of Knowledge, the more the Goddess of Wealth will seek you.”

“Ahhh…” replied the young man, smiling as he put two and two together.

“The Goddess of Wealth will follow you wherever you go and never leave you,” finished the spiritual master. “And the wealth you desire will be yours forever.”

In other words, if we want to increase our wealth (which includes perceiving it in new ways) then I suspect one of the most important things we can do is to keep learning, keep our hearts & minds open to new opportunities…and question our beliefs that there isn’t enough money or time. Because maybe there is. 

Related blogs by Maryanne

BAM! How to Scare a Limiting Belief Out of Your Subconscious Mind

The Math Will Blow Your Mind: The Magic of Compound Interest

The Best Financial Gift to Give a Kid is FREE

Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.