I'd like to see people change the way they define success

I had a friend recently say, "My wealth is in the people who are in my life, not the money in my pocket."

 I wish we could all see this and truly believe it to be true.

The cliche that money doesn't buy happiness is often ignored in the exodus to the nearest Walmart or local mall. It could be because people are immersed in a culture that sees the accumulation of goods as the definition of success. Media images barrage us daily with products and lifestyles of opulence and money to burn. This is something that needs to change, indeed must change, for our planet to survive. The world cannot sustain every human in the world driving their own car, for example, or owning their own monster house. The legacy we leave behind for our children is at stake.

I think the whole predatory attitude of businesses that measure success as short term gain (revenue-per-quarter) is wrongheaded and actually kind of self-defeating. That's the kind of mindset that leads to spam and telemarketing. Business, like life, is all about relationships. Relationships based on greed never work. Relationships based on respect are always better.

A wise friend told me recently lot of our ideas of "success" - whether in the work or personal arenas - have to do with being concerned about what other people think of us and our choices.  Our culture pressures us all to conform and to want what everyone else wants. Others' perceptions of us then kind of morph into our identity - how we perceive ourselves. 

I totally agree. So much of the time people have such a narrow definition of success - it is merely about income or wealth. So many of the people I know who are successful may not qualify as wealthy by any standard

It also brings up a larger issue for me. Is a product really cheap if we don't pay for its environmental impact or true labour costs? If we def