Feeling Joyful Proven Result of Giving Back Life Plan

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Dear Wellness Seekers,

Feeling Joyful Proven Result of Giving Back Life Plan is shared with two purposes in mind: 1.) As we move into the last quarter of the year, it is timely to reflect on our state of affairs; 2.) Exploring what is in our control to identify ways to enhance our feeling of real joy.

Since I was young, I always felt the need to have a financial plan for a secure future. Now is the time of year I take pause to evaluate my life goals. My family financial advisor founded a firm called Valiant Wealth. Doug Vander Weide is a man of purpose and character who has a range of successful clients including professional athletes. In a world of bad characters he is one of the ‘white hats’ with a full life because he  cultivates the dimensions of what he calls a Wealthy Lifestyle. To him it is not about being rich, it’s about feeling wealthy because you focus values as the filter for making the right lifestyle choices along the journey to financial independence. This in turn provides a true sense of joy that is priceless.

Doug suggested a book – The Thin Green Line by Paul Sullivan, “Wealth Matters” Columnist for the New York Times as a way for me to go deeper into the psychology of joyful living as he knows it is my passion. I picked up a copy to read on my trip from West Palm Beach to Los Angeles for a pivitol development meeting on AbodShelters Foundation with Ty Pennington, our Goodwill Ambassador. Investing a portion of my time to helping guide this organizations efforts to improve shelter conditions for the worlds neediest populations is very important to me. But I wondered how do these efforts really affect my level of joy or my wellbeing? Am I making the right choices with my time? My Advisor shares my passion for giving back as his is very active in NGO’s and works with clients to develop their philanthropy activities, so he understood my questions.

The book’s author Paul Sullivan, sheds light on many valuable ways to think about our relationship with money and time as few others have. Including the positive impact giving back offers us and how it not only makes us feel good it actually impacts our financial wellbeing for the better.

Here is just one example. Many wealthy people he interviewed have various reasons for giving but one that captured my imagination is the act itself makes them feel good. Paul calls them members of the pure-joy club.  Their mix of planning and spontaneity can serve as a model to others because it can be adapted by people of any income level. PINIMAGEOne wealthy couple says they have never kept track of giving or spent a lot of time planning to have great impact on a cause. They just love the feeling of taking one opportunity at a time, evaluating its authenticity and giving in the moment. For them the feeling is the motivator as it is not the amount you give, but that you give.

But here is what is stunning to me. Further more, this study by the American Enterprise Institute indicates people who give to charity regularly were generally more affluent, all other things being equal. People who volunteer also do better financially, the data showed.  People who give to charity are forty-three percent more likely than people who don’t give to say they’re very happy people. If you give blood you are happier. If you volunteer you are happier. You cannot find any other service that won’t make you happier.  The data indicating the many positive ways giving impacts life is extraordinary!

Feeling Joyful Proven Result of Giving Back Life Plan attempts to put the spotlight on what is really important to developing a life of joy. Giving of yourself by way of  resources – talent, time and treasures is the a doorway to joy. It is the kind of self-care that starts with focusing on the wellbeing of society first but puts self interests second. The opposite of a world where self interests seem to prevail over all else personally and politically. To me this is a secret to a joyful lifestyle.

To Your Self Care Journey To Joy,

Ginny