Tag Archives: Walt Whitman

Investment Advice from a Poet

When it comes to where to invest our money, we have a plethora of options:

  • businesses
  • currencies
  • real estate
  • sports
  • casinos

Some are slow-going and relatively secure. Others are contingent on how all the others are doing. And some are a toss of the dice with the fingers crossed.

All investments have the same end-goal in mind. The investor wants to get a positive return. So, what this have to do with a poet?

Charity and personal force are the only investments.

Walt Whitman

Charity. How is charity an investment? Is there a tangible return on a good deed that has no expectation of getting anything back in return? For the investor that is only looking to increase the portfolio size, it is an obvious no. but are we not all connected as humans on this planet? If we make a charitable investment into our communities, do we not get a positive return? By helping those in need, we can create a portfolio that goes beyond our own lives. This is an interest that truly compounds.

Personal Force. Whitman said this is the other great investment. Once we put ourselves into motion, momentum builds. When we invest in ourselves, whether through education, health, or any other self-improving endeavor, we become more valuable. Our stock goes up.

The challenge for us today is to take Whitman’s words to heart. Charity and personal force. Are there any sounder investments than these two?

Feature photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

Towards the Sun

When we retire to our beds at night, we take it on faith that the sun will rise again in the morning. Of course science will tell you that there will be another morning, but our faith is in believing in the things we can’t see, like the sun on the other side of the earth.

When the sun rises, it brings with it new possibilities. We can feel its warmth even on the coldest days. Its effect permeates into the very fabric of our beings. Our bodies recharge and become healthier. Our minds awake and become more alert and more focused. Our souls, freed from the shackles of yesterday’s worries, gravitates toward the hope that a new day offers.

We can only feel the effects of the sun when we expose ourselves to it. Take a moment to bathe yourself in its light. Face towards it and offer a silent prayer of gratitude for this blessing. In that moment, you will realize no shadows are before you. No darkness, only light.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. –Walt Whitman

Sunshine Bath by Zac Durant
Sunshine Bath by Zac Durant courtesy of Unsplash

Charity 2/17/2019

Charity and personal force are the only investments. -Walt Whitman

What are you doing to grow these two accounts?

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The Virtue of Charity

Many view the act of charity as financial aid to the less fortunate. But charity goes beyond gifts of money. We can be charitable in our actions to those who need it. We can lend a helping hand to those who are suffering physically, mentally, and spiritually. How far can a kind smile, a kind word, or a kind act go? Sometimes these gifts go much farther than money.

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