(just found this on one of my many scraps of paper on which I capture uncategorized thoughts in the moment)

True impoverishment is not being able

  • to feel love,
  • to be moved by beauty,
  • to be roused in curiosity and eagerness to learn,
  • to laugh for sheer amusement and delight (without a target),
  • to give without counting the cost,
  • to feel connected with
  • and to care for the world and its inhabitants
  • including other human beings and all forms of life.

We put so much emphasis on money as a marker of success and status. We forget so often that true impoverishment and true enrichment are both qualities of the soul.

Impoverishment rarely smiles or enjoys purely. It withers what it touches.

Enrichment laughs often and enjoys much. It enriches everything it touches with greater joy.