Resource vs. Resourcefulness

Pondering regarding the lives of successful individuals is both inspiring and surprising all at the same time. As a counselor and coach, I have always been astonished by the irony when it comes to achieving greatness among human beings. 

Most of the people who seek my help do so as a result of the imminent nuisance in their lives, but once I dig deeper I recognize that the majority of these persons who find themselves lost actually come from relatively wealthy and affluent families where they had everything they could possibly demand to triumph in life. Expensive gifts, attention, best schools, all means of support, yet you see that many of them are in fact dissatisfied with their lives and continue their existence without much sense of purpose. 

On the other hand, you come across folks who have been through all sorts of crises, kids who did not have enough money to buy food while they were at school, people who have been abused in every conceivable realm growing up, and despite experiencing the type of things that make someone else cry; interestingly enough, very often these people are the ones who make the most out of their lives. 

Thus, the question lingers: What makes the difference between the lives of those who come from nothing and manage to achieve everything, and the people who start their lives amidst all the feasible assets and end up dispirited and hopeless? 

The most outstanding answer to this question was given by Tony Robbins in his historic presentation at TED few years back. He declared that what we truly need in order to thrive and flourish is not resource, but rather resourcefulness. The distinction between these two are quite transparent, while resource refers to the material advantages such as money, time, and social status, resourcefulness is all about using whatever you have in your possession so as to solve difficult problems; creativity, passion, goal, love, determination, conscientiousness, motivation , and most importantly the ability to dream are what constitute the foundation of resourcefulness. 

In the following speech, the legendary Tony Robbins clarifies what truly makes the difference in the quality of people’s lives: 

Talk Show Podcast Episode Twelve, Slowing Down the Life

 

Dwelling in the modern societies, particularly in metropolises, is correlated with a hectic and fast pace that prevents most of the people from taking delight in their present moment. We are led to believe that we ought to accomplish every task as fast as we can; it is as if the whole world is going somewhere pretty quickly yet the majorities do not know where they are going.

Those who know me would tell you that I am a fan of Buddhism as well as Taoism, the ancient Chinese philosophies that consider life on its own purposeless and devoid of meaning. Buddha monks believe that life comes from NOWHERE and goes to NOWHERE while in between there is NOW-HERE.

Thus, this philosophy of life which is used in mediation focuses the life’s attention on merely the present moment rather than the past or the future, and attempts to seek none other than peace of mind by not getting involved with the things that are of no real importance.

I sincerely hope that we would not end-up becoming like one of the grown-ups in the historic book The Little Prince written by Antoine de Saint−Exupery. I yearn that you, the listener, try to slow down if just every now and then, sit for a slow conversation, and try to smell the flowers on the way.  

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