This is a quote that came into my mind when I was checking and saving my emails during my routine trips to college. But this, I feel, has a lot more lasting impact, even though at that time I only made money through Associated Content (the site you’re reading this article on, or where this article came from,) just like a starving artist writing articles for money. But I sidetracked myself.

(I don’t use the word digress like others do. I use understandable words like this instead to help make understanding things easier.)

The reason I say this saying is because of either the rich and wealthy who don’t see the blessings of their luxurious abundance, those who are well-to-do but don’t have the time to smell the sweet roses of park avenue, or mainly, in a worst-case scenario, those who receive their late (rich) relative’s inheritance and have (rarely) spoiled children to whom their dead give their money to. These lucky few are sadly blind to the truth: The truth that they didn’t stop and count their blessings. They don’t have the time, or even the effort, of being thankful of the riches they’ve acquired. Overall, they don’t appreciate their wealth, and sometimes they take it and use it without any thought until they lose it.

In summary, the wealthy, rich and famous millionaires, multimillionaires, billionaires and other “aires,” live and enjoy the good life, but they don’t appreciate it! They don’t stop and smell the sweet roses in the garden of their lives!

This is why I’ve said that quote earlier. Sometimes the rich and wealthy need a bitter taste of being broke, if not complete poverty, to perhaps realize with complete clarity, not only how fortunate they are of the fortunes they were given or have earned, but cause them to find other ways, old or new, creative or already existing, of making money from scratch in case of becoming bankrupt, broke and landing in the poorhouse.

If I were a teacher of wealth appreciation and enlightenment, my course would be this as written:

Wealth Appreciation and Financial Survival 101

“In this course, I will be glad to teach you the true values of your wealth in order to have you count your blessings and to appreciate the good life you’ve been given. You will be reduced to being a part of the poor or middle-class masses, the 95% of people who are struggling just to get by. You are cut off from all sources of your wealth and riches. Your entire bank accounts, your inheritances, any and all of your multiple streams of income, they will all be frozen and locked out of your grasp.

If you got any living relatives, they can support you, but this, however, is an option you can take or reject, and they are restricted from giving you more than at least $10 dollars. That, along with the food stamps you will be given by the government, are for the bare essentials of life, that’s if you can afford them:

• Food
• Water
• Outfits
• Shelter
• Electricity

Remember: the choice is up to you, and you yourself.

You can take up a job if you want, but that’s a side-lesson to teach you of the Rat Race. Don’t think of a job as a place to serve and slave away for a measly paycheck, rather you’re earning money to have it work for you. Think of a job, a career, a moneymaking hobby or anything that you love to do for money as Dead President Drafting or Cash Recruitment. Think of your money as your own soldiers, servants, slaves, etc. Just imagine if an army of George Washington, Abraham Lincolns, or even Benjamin Franklins were yours to control and command to do your bidding! You can send them out to have them make money for you while you’re out doing what you love!

You are also allowed to use leverage-based resources; free ones at best. You can leverage other people’s time, money, talents, and energy; even pool your cash with other struggling people’s money as a team with the same goal of obtaining wealth. Leverage your resources to your advantage, and remember to learn and use your millionaire mentality that brought you wealth before you started this course.

You can also go out and look for treasures in other places and search for gold, silver, jewels, rare artifacts, etc. If you have enough money from your working at a job, you can buy a metal detector ad use it to find anything worth some money.

Another thing you can use is the Internet as a way to slowly (but definitely) create a fortune online, especially the use of auction sites like eBay, and payment processors like PayPal.

The possibilities of rebuilding your wealth are limitless. In the island of financial survival where you’re starving, broke and lost without a map, use your brain as both a tool and a weapon, and keep your eyes open for opportunities and possibilities.

However, there are restrictions to this course, and your financial partner will be keeping an eye on your every move and dollar spent. Here are the restrictions of what you can’t do to rebuild your wealth:

• No stealing
• No pick-pocketing
• No gambling
• No scams or get-rich-quick schemes
• No fraud, deception or any dishonesty
• No cheating people
• No giving away sensitive information, including the teacher or the faculty
• No bodily harm to yourself or others
• No hostile takeovers
• No con artistry or swindling
• No ridiculously high prices or markups when selling your products
• No hype, fluff or filler when selling your products
• No other miscellaneous illegal activity

Based on the severity of the incidents stated above, you will be penalized a number of points for the number of incidents that you’ve racked up. Your normal point score is 1,000. If it reaches zero, your actual wealth in full will be locked up for a year as punishment of your negative actions. All it takes in this financial test is regular, everyday common sense, and abiding by the law for you to be careful. So here’s the scoring system:

• 1,000 – 800: 100% full wealth kept (Great job; really good!)
• 800 – 600: 80% wealth kept (Not bad; Very good!)
• 600 – 400: 50% half wealth kept/taken (Oh come on! You can do better than that! Good)
• 400 – 200: 20% wealth kept (Needs improvement though. Fair)
• 200 – 0: No wealth kept (Game Over; Literally Poor)

This course will take place for one full year on this date, and ends next year on the same day, or on the first weekday of next year. Remember, this is financial survival, and you must do what’s necessary and right to stay alive. Your financial partners will keep me updated on your progress in full detail, and will report back to me once a month. If there are problems, I will help you, but I won’t be there to be asked for money, and I will not, pull you out if you’re in financial jeopardy. You are responsible for your actions, and only you and you alone, the now-formerly rich and wealthy, will decide the outcome and results of your journey of wealth appreciation and enlightenment.”

“The hungrier one becomes, the clearer one’s mind works – also the more sensitive one becomes to the odors of food.”

-George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon

The Camel Trader of Babylon

You see, when someone is starving, people will do anything to survive whether it’s food or money. Starvation and thirst, desperation and frustration, these are the motivators that will cause people to resort to things that will keep them sustained. It’s like that fight or flight instinct that we had ever since our oldest ancestors in the beginning of time. There are other motivators that help heighten the need for living, such as bankruptcy, having empty wallets and/or empty pockets with no money (being broke or poor), the fear of not having money, financial starvation, the fear of being fired, the desire of the good life that one’s missing out on, the greed and gluttony of food and/or finances, all of it. Although they release our dark side and our primal instincts that devolves even the most civilized person, they also reveal or deepest needs and wants for more than just basic survival.

We all want more and more and more, but if you don’t stop and appreciate what you do have, we’ll never have enough, and I do mean never. Appreciation of the good things in life, even personal ones, is one of the true ways on the road to wealth, riches, financial abundance and overall success.