The richest life

In my 20-year study of prosperity — the ability to consistently live with ease and purpose — one of the more surprising revelations was that prosperous people fail more often than those who struggle with money.

Like many people, I think, I began my adult life with the impression that success meant failing less — and yet, when we look around at people who build wealth, it’s relatively easy to see that they take more risks than people who do not. They launch businesses and buy houses and stocks at the wrong time — but they also launch businesses and buy houses and stocks at the right time. In other words, they take action, even in the face of potential failure.

Taking more risks inevitably leads to more mishaps, but it also means that more opportunities are seized and successes realized.To be prosperous, then, means to risk — and to become more courageous and resilient when risking potential failure.

This New York Times article explores the mindset of failure, and ways we can shift our thinking to cope more graciously.

Intelligent failure

There are so many things in life that thrill me: the way the clouds get caught in the trees here in Vancouver, beautiful music — the way children laugh. And, of course, a well-crafted essay that articulates something novel that intuitively rings true. (For example, Paul Davies brilliant article in the New York Times.)

One of the struggles of my life is the intersection of science and spirituality — believing that there is more to life than what can be seen and measured through our limited understanding — and yet believing too that anything that is true has demonstrable consequence. In midlife, I have surrendered to the mystery, but I find such pleasure in those that dare to illuminate aspects of unanswerable questions.