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: THE currency of your life. This is literally ALL you have to work with when it comes to designing a life you love, that makes the impact you want it to.
2) Food & Drink: the currency of your physicality. This determines how you feel all day, your health, how you look and often your self-esteem. Pretty darn critical to life, ay?
Most of us have a really twisted, tumultuous relationship with money (kinda like time and food!). You probably can catch yourself thinking you shouldn’t have to deal with something so complicated and often emotional. You might have all sorts of theories about how hard or hopeless it is to deal with it. It’s important to clean out all that mental clutter, and we’ll get to that in a minute, but first I’d like to offer you:
A NEW CONTEXT FOR MONEY
Try on this theory: That most of the areas of life (love, career, money, body, health, family etc.) have a grace period. That is, a time when an area seems simple, easy, or not in our hands.
At a certain point, that goes away: We have to figure out how to sustain love maturely, or how to keep our bodies in great shape, how to enjoy healthy food or exercise and how to handle money so it flows freely but not frivolously.
Most of us view this transition from grace and ease to effort, designing and planning as a problem or a glitch. But I say it’s perfect. It’s exactly what the universe ordered to help you grow up spiritually. And, here’s the clincher: It’s also time to stop resisting and complaining about your new responsibilities. Get inspired by the idea of growing up about your time, your career, your love, your body and your money.
MORE GOOD NEWS!
I have more good news:
You’ll feel better as soon as you start dealing. One of the things you should admit to is the amount of money you want to make and how much you want to save by a certain date.
I know, so uncomfortable, right?
This admission forces you to start dealing and planning, and what I want you to know is that dealing always feels better than avoiding. 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 how good it feels to align your ideals, your plans and your actions. Because you are daring to say what you want and to start making and keeping plans to get there, you are going to start feeling more happy and powerful immediately. In some ways this is simple, but your negative theories, family background and past mistakes sure do get in the way of this being an easy ride.
REMEMBER THE CLUTTER CLEARING
You will need to unpack your baggage too so it doesn’t keep you repeating mistakes and imitating your lineage. I want to give you one of the first steps, that you can do 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. Here are some old ones of mine that I managed to debunk, along with my new, reinvented theories.
Old: If you focus on money, it makes you shallow. New: 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: I can’t handle having a lot of money; it’s too much responsibility. New: 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: What’s the point anyway? You can’t take it with you. New: Sounds like the chicken talking to me! 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.
I’d love to hear some of yours! Leave a comment below with some old theories about money that you are ready to let go of.
All the best, Laurie
P.S. – Take the Current Reality Quiz! It’s a quick, easy, and fun (we swear) way to self-assess and get a better idea (or at least an honest one) on what areas of your life you need to work on.
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