Are you Wealthy?

I recently heard Dr Gay Hendricks give a new definition of wealthy that caught my attention. He said, “A person is wealthy when they have all that they want and want all that they have.” What an interesting definition of wealth. So how does a healthy person have all that they want? Isn’t drive and ambition a natural part of being truly healthy? I would definitely say yes. In fact if there was no drive, ambition or need for achievement, I would say something is missing.
In my mind what it really comes down to is the person comfortable with themselves and are they pro-actively engaged in their own personal journey. That state of being is critical if we are going to be truly wealthy. It is not dependent on what you have. It is based on who you are and how congruent your own conduct and behavior is with that person.
I've also heard it expressed like this: Be; Do; Have. Start with being who you are and then out of that being, do what you need to do, and ultimately you will have everything you need to have. Then, what you have will be more than enough.
Unfortunately many of us have been working off a formula something like this: Do > Have > Be. If I do enough, I will eventually have enough, and then I will be somebody. Many of our traditional thoughts about wealth revolve around the idea of accumulating things. If I can accumulate enough stuff, cars, houses, money, trophies, degrees, friends, etc, then I will be somebody-I will finally be happy with myself.
The truth of the matter is that none of those things can really make you happy with yourself. In fact, the more reliant you become on external sources to make you happy, the less happy you normally become. All that stuff you're accumulating eventually becomes a millstone around your neck. In the words of Dr. Hendricks, “you end up not wanting what you have.”
Are you beginning to see the insanity of living a life based on Do; Have; Be?
Let me frame this for you one more way. Our traditional view of success goes something like this:

Me + Something = Happiness/Success

Our new model for success and happiness looks like this:

Me + nothing = Happiness/Success

If you're looking for something to come along outside of yourself to make you happy, you are headed for ongoing disappointment and despair. We don't control anything outside of ourselves. But we do have control over ourselves. True happiness comes from within. Start seeing yourself as successful and happy in the present and you will be well on your way to ongoing success and happiness. Success is a journey not a destination.