Money is one of the most important and valuable currencies of your life. I say “one of” because I put two others before it:
1) Time: This one of the most sacred relationships you have because time is the currency of life. If you are in a battle with time you are in a battle with yourself and how you are choosing to live your life.
2) Food & Drink: the currency of your physicality. This determines how you feel inside and out all day, everyday. And then there’s money.
I used to believe that if I focused on money, it meant I was shallow. Now, I understand that being a grown-up means caring about the money I make/have. The more I have, the more of a difference in the world I can make.
Most of us have a really tumultuous relationship with money (not that dissimilar to time and food). You probably can catch yourself thinking you shouldn’t have to deal with something so complicated and often emotional as money. You more than likely have all sorts of theories about how hard or hopeless it is to deal with money. It’s important to clean out all that mental mishegas (Yiddish for craziness) about money but first I’d like to offer you a new context for money:
Your Grace Period is Ending Check out this theory. Most of the areas of life (love, career, money, body, health, family etc.) have a grace period. That is, a time when the area seems simple, easy, or not in our hands.
At some point, the initial grace period goes away and we have to figure out how to sustain the area maturely. We work to keep love alive and stay connected to our partner, keep our bodies in great shape, and enjoy healthy food and exercise. In this case, we have to consciously handle money so it flows freely but not frivolously.
Most of us view this transition out of a grace period as a major effort, where designing and planning become a problem or a glitch. But I say it’s perfect. It’s exactly what is necessary to help you grow up spiritually … a growth spurt if you will. And, here’s the clincher. It’s also time to stop resisting and complaining about your new responsibilities and get inspired by the idea of growing up about money.
Inspired or insipid is a contextual choice.
Starting to Deal You’ll feel better as soon as you start dealing with your money. First you need to admit to the amount of money you want to make and how much you want to save by a certain date.
This admission forces you to start addressing and planning, which is a good thing because dealing always feels better than dilly-dallying. Don’t get too romanced by the goal itself; once you get there, you are just going to start wanting the next goal.
What you SHOULD get excited about is implementing Personal Integrity® in the area of money, which is when you align your heart (what you want) with your mind (a plan) with your body (actions). Declaring your money dream, planning how to make it happen and taking the right actions to get you there will have you immediately start feeling more happy, proud and powerful.
In some ways this is simple to grasp, but your negative theories, family background, and past mistakes sure do get in the way of this being an easy ride. So, on to the next step …
Mental Clutter Clearing
You will need to also unpack your mental baggage so it doesn’t keep you subconsciously repeating mistakes and patterns. I want to give you two steps that you can use to begin to do this work on your own:
List out all your beliefs and theories about money.
Then talk them through with someone whose relationship to money you admire.
See if you can come up with some new theories instead of your old, tired ones that keep you stuck on repeat. Here are some old theories of mine that I managed to debunk, along with my new, reinvented theories.
Old Theory: If you focus on money, it makes you shallow. New Theory: Being a grown-up means caring about the money I make/have. The more I have, the more of a difference in the world I can make.
Old Theory: I can’t handle having a lot of money; it’s too much responsibility. New Theory: I’ll take my learning one step at a time. I trust myself to deal with decisions as I go and I know I have great resources if I need help.
Old Theory: What’s the point anyway? You can’t take it with you. New Theory: Tastes Sounds like my inner chicken/voice of fear talking to me, no? It’s okay that I am a little afraid to grow up and be more powerful, but I don’t let it stop me from playing big and like I mean it.
We are always gathering evidence to prove our theories. So, we need to make sure our theories align with our dream.
All the best, Laurie
P.S. Ready to tackle your money theories? Try a subscription to Inner.U, our new digital coaching course, and get the tools to build abundance—for life. Or, if you’re an entrepreneur looking to make your mission possible, check out the new online business course from HG co-founder Lauren Zander offered in partnership with Mind Body Green.
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