Since July 15, I’ve been writing about The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom. This is my fifth piece in the series, and today I want to reflect on the third type of wealth: Mental Wealth—the spiritual foundation of your life, the part that keeps you grounded and resilient, especially when the going gets tough.
Again, Bloom opens this chapter with a question:
“What would your ten-year-old self say to you today?”
This question points us to one essential quality that many of us lose as we grow older: curiosity.
Curiosity is one of the key pillars of mental wealth. It keeps our minds open, flexible, and alive. When we’re curious, we’re more likely to explore new paths, forge deeper relationships, and rediscover wonder in our everyday lives. But as we age, routines settle in, fears pile up, and we begin to trade exploration for predictability.
The ten-year-old version of you, by contrast, is still wide-eyed—brimming with questions, imagination, and possibilities. Would that younger self recognize you today? Would they feel proud, puzzled, or disappointed? That question invites reflection. Are we still in touch with what once made us feel alive?
Growing up doesn’t mean growing dull and uninteresting. That childlike energy—openness, creativity, awe—can be reintegrated into adult life. That’s the message at the heart of mental wealth.
Drawing from Buddhism, ancient Greek philosophy, and Japanese aesthetics, Bloom reminds us of a universal longing: the desire to live authentically and meaningfully. Yet this longing often clashes with external pressures. Society rewards efficiency, conformity, and distraction. To live with mental wealth is to resist the gravitational pull of the ordinary.
And from that resistance comes inner strength, your mental wealth. It makes you antifragile—able to weather hardship without being broken by it, and to handle success without losing yourself in it. You keep moving forward with purpose, grounded in a deep sense of meaning.
The Three Pillars of Mental Wealth
Purpose – your personal mission or long-term vision that gives meaning to your daily experience.
Growth – your commitment to curiosity, learning, and change.
Space – time for stillness, solitude, and self-reflection.
Of these, purpose is the core. A strong purpose aligns your daily actions with your values. It doesn’t need to be grand or world-changing—it just needs to be yours.
Bloom says his personal mission is “to create positive ripple effects in the world through writing, entrepreneurship, and human connection.” That mission guides his decisions and simplifies his life.
This is what he calls a “life razor”—a principle that helps you cut away distractions and focus on what truly matters. With purpose, even the smallest step has direction. A blogger pledging to write one news story a day for 10 years may sound extreme, but such “big missions” act like lighthouses: they don’t move, but they help you navigate.
Your mission doesn’t need to match your day job. It just needs to tie you to something larger than yourself. So you’re not merely coasting from day to day—you’re moving with intent, toward a future only you can define.
Furthermore, having a mission benefits also your health. A US study of over 7,000 people found that after age 50, those with strong purpose and goals had significantly lower mortality risks. Another study showed elderly people with a clear mission lived an average of seven years longer, with better quality of life. As a famous saying goes: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
A Better Ending:
Mental wealth enables you to live with clarity, curiosity, and conviction. It’s about carrying your ten-year-old self forward—not to remain a child, but to stay alive to wonder, to remain open to change, and to keep asking the questions that matter.
Because when you’re grounded in purpose, fueled by curiosity, and protected by inner strength, you gain something rarer than wealth: a mind at peace, and a great life well-lived.
To be continued...