As I was driving home this morning, I noticed what a beautiful crisp autumnal morning it was. The sky was a clear blue, the trees were full of burnt orange leaves, alight in the morning sun and there was a low lying mist coming down from the mountains, laid on the foothills like a blanket.
For those in the northern hemisphere, in full spring, we are at very different places in our biorhythms for sure, with nights getting shorter instead of longer as they are here. Either way, seasonal change is upon us and, with it, an opportunity for reflection. As I was driving back home from the mountains to my coastal town, I was listening to Dr. Jude Currivan being interviewed, Her words, along with the breathtaking views of nature I was seeing all around me, reminded me that despite the different experiences we are all having, everything is interconnected none the less. While Dr. Currivan is a scientist - a cosmologist with a background in physics - and holds a Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Reading, where she investigated ancient cosmologies – what I particularly love is that her work explores the intersection of science, consciousness and spirituality, emphasizing holistic approaches to understanding the universe. Although much of my interest lies in the microcosm of human psychology, I always view it in relation to our part in the bigger whole. So I was particularly interested when the podcast delved into the topic of conscious evolution; this refers to the progression of self-awareness over time. From single-celled organisms to complex human communities, each step signifies an increase in consciousness. This expansion of awareness extends from personal growth to collective, planetary, and universal levels. Just as individuals evolve through experiences and learning, so too does humanity and the universe as a whole. So as I was driving along appreciating how seeming small acts of self awareness can make a huge difference in the world, I was also reflecting on the workshops I have been doing this week with Kate Northrop. Many of the wonderful concepts she talks about in relation to money were timely reminders for me of things I learned in my twenties from the likes of Alvin Hall and Robert Kiyosaki. Back then I had begun to put many of the concepts - like offering more value rather than more time, and leveraging time and money to make passive income – into play, albeit I was still in an early phase of conscious learning. But between my move across continents to a country with a much smaller economy, and my focus on having and bringing up a family, I hadn’t thought about these principles in many years. But Kate’s work is now based on something she only really learned the importance of in 2019, and wasn’t featured in any of the work I read or did thirty years ago either. And there’s certainly no spoiler in sharing that her belief that a relaxed nervous system is key to abundance, as she has discussed this concept in her books, talks, workshops, and interviews. This is the same principle I’ve come to learn in my own work, and it has a universal application, it doesn’t just apply to money. But the beauty of Kate’s work is that this is where she goes deep with it and helps countless people break through their unconscious barriers in relation to this topic of finance specifically, so they are able to define and live the kind of life that is important to them. It was interesting reflecting on my own path to purpose, which really has never been clear to me, other than my desire for a family and a knowing that I wanted to be of wider service to the world. Money was never a focus, but I was aware enough of it to know I didn’t want it to be an issue either. I really only went to university because I had no better idea of what to do with my life at that point and, back in the 1980’s and early 90’s, the UK government was offering free education, along with grants for living expenses. That was followed by postgraduate study in what is now called Human Resources, but I was still none the wiser about what I actually wanted to do as a career. After a few years in the recruitment industry, I stumbled upon network marketing. In itself, it wasn’t for me, but it did lead to 7 years of personal development and growth on many fronts. As a consequence, I found myself drawn to customer experience roles. I was such a strong advocate for improving internal systems, processes, structures and cultures within organisations based on customer feedback that I won several awards, sat on various working groups, and many opportunities in that field opened up to me. After emigrating, I continued working in that field, but it soon became evident that transformation was only possible in organisations when the top decision makers were able to see the value of it to the extent of driving it or getting behind it themselves. Instead, in most organisations, customer experience transformation (which most substantively requires quite a bit in leadership training and development) is often seen as “nice to have” and transformation programmes are often cut in lieu of more short sighted goals. When I exited that kind of work to bring up a family, I knew it wasn’t a field I wanted to return to at that corporate level because it requires such intrinsic change. However, what the intensity of bringing up children taught me, was that the desire and intellectual know-how alone don’t create intrinsic change. Why? Because my own deep seated patterning kept tripping me up. As I’ve mentioned many times, for all sorts of reasons most of us end up with some really unhelpful belief patterns that get hardwired in there. Unseen, yet running the show: I’m not worthy, I don’t belong, I’m stupid, I’m too much, I’m not enough, I’m alone, I’m afraid… the list goes on. These arise in childhood before our conscious memories; they are our ways of interpreting the world depending on many factors, including our earliest experiences and our natural personalities. We aren’t aware that these are then hard wired into our neurobiology, our nervous system, and so our sense of felt safety and “normal” are set in relation to these. That means we may not always be attracted to compatible or healthy relationships – and that can include our relationship with money, health, sex, intimacy, people, fun, our confidence, and our connectedness with the world around us, among many other things. So when I think back to a time a couple of decades ago where I created a “root cause” field in a new system we were installing to track customer issues, I think that in my enduring intrigue around the human psyche (and search for something meaningful to contribute) I was always looking for the root cause of dysfunction – the “why” behind a lack of success in many things despite desire, goal setting and right action. And that is it. Listening to Dr. Jude Currivan discuss various big topics - including our interconnectedness with the cosmos, reframing the universe as a great thought rather than a great object, the significance of the laws of physics, the holographic nature of the cosmos, and the potential for conscious evolution - I can see the first steps are cultivating conscious awareness of our own dysfunction and sense of separateness. As we navigate our individual paths, let's remember the profound interconnectedness of all things and the potential for conscious evolution within ourselves and the world around us. Whether it's in our relationship with money, our partnerships, our parenting, or any other aspect of our lives, let's embrace the journey of self-awareness and growth as a pathway back to unity, belonging, and to achieving our greatest potential in all things. What small step can you take today to foster greater awareness and connection in your life? If you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy Embrace Your Evolution: Who Do You Want to Be this Time Next Year?, Embrace the Wonder of Your Senses Every Day to Embody Your Soul, How to Live in Conscious Self Awareness in the World, Trust That It’s Absolutely Okay to Not Know Where You’re Going and Normal Is Dysfunctional That Is the Growth Opportunity. To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog.
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Image by Gabe Raggio from Pixabay This week I have been clearing through boxes and boxes of old paperwork and sentimental things I’d had stored in the attic for – in some cases - decades. It’s been a journey that has been cathartic and very insightful.
It’s obvious to me that some of the criteria I had previously used in deciding whether to keep things related to the time and energy I had spent on them. Some of it was good energy, some not. Too much of the piles of things “I might need at some point” were about defending positions, decisions or actions should they ever be revisited, a real echo of the defensive child part of me within. While I haven’t watched or read a huge amount of Marie Kondō, I certainly heard her famous phrase ringing in my ears “Does this give me a spark of joy?” This physical task and these physical boxes seem to me a good metaphor for all my life’s baggage, and the ways in which I’d been unintentionally buying into scarcity – a lack of faith in my right to make my own decisions and have my own opinions, that I’m not worthy somehow, that it’s not safe to let go of the defenses I’ve built around me to name a few. When I hear the word abundance my mind automatically takes me to thoughts about money. And while money is certainly an indicator, I’ve had quite a few reminders lately that how money flows to and from me is just one part of a much bigger – and more meaningful – field of energy. Rha Goddess, in her audio programme Making Money, Making Change, subtitled Build Your Business, Make a Profit and Serve the World, talks about the economies of Love, Truth and We. About a new level of generosity that is sourced from something different than obligation and pressure. She also cites the existing Economy of Scarcity “which invites this obligatory giving as a way to prove you’re a good person; which is painful”. I can attest to that. For Rha it’s about how we attract, how we earn and how we spend. She sees the opportunity to do that in ways that actually forward and further more love, generosity and communal wealth. Her priority is to contribute to economies that are life-giving, where people can thrive and prosper; economies that carry dignity, honour and respect at their centre. “In the Economy of Love” Rha says, “I’m tapped into a more prosperous supply. When I’m giving from that place – a well sourced and well resourced place – I can be more generous. The giving contributes to my expansion as opposed to my contraction”. “In the Economy of Truth, I’m accountable and responsible for the choices and decisions I make and the impact they have on me and others. I’m willing to see where I’m a part of the solution and where I’m part of the problem. I’m willing to be actively engaged around moving to places that enable me to be more a part of the solution than a part of the problem.” “In the Economy of We, it’s a story of us. It’s the fact that we are not on an island unto ourselves. We have seven billion neighbours that we share space, air, water and energy with. How do we do this together so I’m not dominating, obliterating or subjugating you? How do I expand you? How do I contribute to you? How do I uplift you? How do we work in ways that make the pipe bigger and the world better, which we have all had a hand in and an active role to play?” I love this way of looking at my life and the world I live in, it provides a compass for my personal and work existence. I can see clearly the areas where I’ve been acting out of obligation and in accordance with unhelpful beliefs that no longer serve me. I’ve been doing the work to build my self esteem and healthier boundaries and will continue to do so. Dr Sue Morter agrees true abundance reveals itself through love, compassion, joy, connection, adventure, play, laughter, invention and imagination. She encourages her clients to reconnect with the memories of abundance in their life in order to stir up and reactivate those more positive and potent energies within. Rha, who is a sought-after entrepreneurial soul couch, also recognises that people hold core beliefs that hold them back from abundance. Beliefs such as:
In a podcast Making Money, Making Change, she talks about healing our relationship with capitalism by separating the culture of capitalism from the principles of economy. She also talks about healing the original experiences that created the other dysfunctional beliefs. I read a clear example, written by Heather Shumaker, author of It’s OK not to share…And Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids, of how these types of beliefs come about and where we typically constrain abundance in our society. She says: “I’m all for cultivating generosity in our kids. It’s our job to help our children deepen their care and awareness of others. But the way we generally approach sharing backfires… Here’s a typical scenario involving preschoolers: One child is busily engaged with a toy when a new child comes up and wants it. A nearby adult says “Be nice and share your toys” or “Give Ella the pony. You’ve had it a long time”. What happens? The child is forced to give something up and her play is interrupted. She learns that sharing feels bad. It’s the parent here who’s sharing, not the child. Traditional sharing expects young kids to give up something the instant someone else demands it. Instead of you saying “Five more minutes and then its Ella’s turn” teach your kids to say “You can have it when I’m done”. This teaches positive assertiveness. It helps kids stand up for themselves and learn to set boundaries with other kids. What a terrific life skill. How many of us adults have trouble saying “no”? The best part of all is when the first child willingly hands over the toy it’s a joyous moment for both kids. That’s the moment when your child experiences the rush of good feelings that comes from being kind to others. It’s true generosity.” So, as I see it, there is this idea that the person we arrived as gets sort of parked, frozen, and layer upon layer of self limiting beliefs are added that we adopt in order to be accepted within our family, and our society. But as Rha Goddess says “The question is, are those beliefs what you want to believe? As you sit in that belief, does it empower you?” And, most importantly “Would you be open to an upgrade (of these beliefs)? Not to suggest that changing our beliefs is easy, but it can be done with awareness, practice and persistence. Dr Morter believes “Those ideas of inadequacy and insufficiency were part of the plan, that you would then conquer them, rise above them, and remember the masterful being of abundance that you truly are”. Rha asks “In your time to think (over the last eighteen months), have you recognised that you do have power? Have you recognised that there are things that are important to you? Have you recognised that you do matter? That the choices you make matter, that the decisions you operate from matter?” And she continues…”That the things that have happened to you matter, and that it all shapes the way in which we see ourselves and the degree to which we believe anything is possible or not possible in our reality? Step one is to consider the possibility that you can actually do something about it. But if you really want to change the game, you must embrace the fact that you’re a creator.” I also like Dr Sue Morter’s audio meditation on money miracles with Marci Shimoff, which is worth a listen. I enjoy bringing memories of abundance back into my awareness, memories of playing as a child out in the street where we lived, for example, where I was free to connect, laugh and imagine as I was climbing the street lights to cross over garage rooftops and find new hiding places. It always resonates with me when Dr Morter then says in her lovely mellow voice: “This life is mine; I am generating this entire experience so that I might fully reveal in my own true abundance. I reveal as love, compassion and joy. I reveal as connection and adventure, I reveal knowing that all I need is right here and will rise up to meet me the moment I engage, that everything is in my favour. This is the world of abundance.” Is it time for you to clear out some of those old boxes of beliefs stored in the attic of your mind and create space for some new beliefs that serve you with abundance? If you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy Clear the Fog of Trauma to See the Magnificence of Your Being, What’s Your Relationship with Money? … And a simple technique to improve it, Put Money in its Place, Autonomy – Break Free of Money Fears and How Dead Does the Horse Need to Be to Want to Get Off? To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog. As 2020 draws to a close, I was reflecting on a piece of news an old colleague of mine had posted about a lovely surprise holiday her husband had booked to a tropical location at the end of next year. Probably like many people, I am unsure whether that kind of travel will be possible again by then, but I started to wonder whether that was even the right question to be asking myself.
In his article 15 Great Quotes on the Importance of Asking the Right Question Mitch Ditkoff states how, as a consultant, he continues to be astounded by how few organisations have any kind of process to press pause, reflect and make sure they are coming up with the right questions. Setting aside questions about COVID19 itself for now, I started to think back to those early lockdowns, when much of the world seemed to stand still. It was a time when we as a family got to pause, reflect and take stock. I can understand people wanting to get back to holidays and social activities, but what did that pause shed light on? There were reports of Venice’s canals running clearer, the clearest they’ve been in sixty years. An article in Science Direct sadly concluded (after research looking at the effects on the environment during the first global lockdowns) “Coronavirus itself is Earth’s vaccine and we humans are the virus”. Talk of holidays and “getting back to normal” evokes in me a sense of frustration. I’m going to ignore the expression “the new normal” for the moment, because that seems to be more associated with control and fear, and that is not the kind of future I’m envisaging. But this idea of life going back to the way it was before the global pandemic seems ridiculous to me. It has amplified so many issues about our environment and our social, political, economic, technological and personal challenges that it is a time in history ripe for change. But having witnessed the relatively quick return to a lack of human connection between commuters in London after terrorist attacks in the early part of the millennium, I know how quickly distraction sets in. During the lockdown here back in March through May, I revelled in being able to stroll out my front door and walk peacefully through our neighbourhood. But as soon as the restrictions were lessened, road traffic increased and the peaceful walks became crowded with road noise and traffic fumes, so now I have to get in my car to drive elsewhere if I want to take a peaceful walk. I loved that my car did not get its tank refilled for over two months, it weighs on me that I consume fossil fuels. Yet, like many people around the world, I have commitments that would be extremely difficult to meet without running a vehicle. How can I find ways to change this? How many governments and major political parties right now are even thinking about the lessons this crisis has taught us and have evolution on their agenda? That said, I know my most effective voting takes place through the money I spend and the things I give my attention to. So where am I placing my attention? What am I spending money on? Am I using my resources in a way that would encourage the kind of change and transformation that could be for the benefit of not just me or my family, but for all of humankind, the creatures and the living planet on which we all reside? I learned this year that I have white privilege. What other privileges do I hold? How can I give other people the benefit of my privileges? How can I help dismantle the systems of oppression within myself and for others? I also learned from The Social Dilemma documentary that social media is six times more effective at spreading false news. Since conspiracy theories have abounded in 2020, I’ve watched friends and family become polarized on important topics to a degree that neither side seems able to hear the other. I’ve had to ask myself, am I using social media as a tool? Or am I letting it demand my attention and manipulate my thinking? And where is my own resistance to hearing others’ opinions? I learned that, in a time when our country faced a health risk, our government cut off the supply to my chosen form of healthcare and made only pharmaceuticals available. What can I do to ensure I maintain a freedom of choice in my healthcare even in times of crisis? I learned that I was absolutely spot-on in my self assessment that I am not cut out to home school my children. Yet being able to give them and their schoolwork such individual attention led me to asking the right questions that uncovered their neurodiversity, and still more questions to find the right support and training so they can flourish. I wonder how I can support all children in their uniqueness to flourish? I learned the importance of self sustainability. With panic buying, a lack of groceries and no access to garden supplies, keeping emergency supplies and a variety of fresh things to eat growing in our garden became more important. It highlighted all the problems I had known about with mono-farming and the way we currently source goods and services from around the world. What more can I do with our budget to encourage local and organic businesses? I learned that reconnecting with my partner and children was simultaneously challenging and liberating. It brought about a huge amount of personal change in terms of consciously shaking off old beliefs and behavioural patterns that weren’t serving us. Where to next on that I wondered? And then I got one of Claire Zammit’s emails that asked seven power questions:
It reminded me that, while I have learned a lot about myself this year, the road ahead lies wide open for me to keep learning. 2020 is a year that I think of as catalysing. It has led me to ask more questions than it has produced in terms of answers. I’m always impatient for change, and I know as I look back change will probably seem quicker than it feels right now. Am I asking the right questions I wonder? So long as I keep taking time to pause and reflect on the bigger picture of my own life, I’m confident the right questions will arise. The question is, with holiday season almost upon us at the end of this landmark year, what are the right questions for you to ask yourself right now? If you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy Change the World One Day at a Time, Want to Make the World a Better Place? Tune In, What Value Are You Adding to the Currencies in Your Life?, How You Are Complicit in the Oppression of Others, You See What Happens When Leaders Are Not Grown Up on the Inside and The Internal Shift You Need to Help Solve the Social Dilemma. To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog. “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.“ ~Ayn Rand
It’s a funny thing money, a bit like time, it’s a human construct that has almost created the illusion it’s in control – it does, after all, seem to drive a lot of decisions individually and globally. Perhaps like you, I found myself growing up in a time where fitting in, getting good grades, going to university and getting a good job to earn decent money were the main thrust of my first couple of decades on this earth. I was so busy trying to live up to all these expectations, and be good at them, that I had no clear idea of where my true talents lay or what it is that would make me happy. If I’m being honest, I thought you got a job to be successful and got married to be happy. I found both to be pretty hollow. Over the years I carved out a fairly successful career for myself, certainly from a monetary perspective. I had eventually discovered I had a knack for foreseeing what was needed to drive change and make it stick. Having managed people and change for many years, one thing was obvious to me – intrinsic motivation is key. Ironically, I had also come to know what a soulless merry-go-round I was on. “How many people are being paid for what they feel is their purpose, their calling, right now? Versus how many are chasing money in order to survive?” I used to wonder. From all I observed, it seems like those following their passion are in the minority. At what point do we jump off the merry-go-round and stand back to look at the bigger picture? The Lego Movie is a great parody of our era and well worth watching for those who need a refreshing perspective on the big picture. It helps to laugh at ourselves in order to find a healthy jumping off point, which is precisely what I did. But how many watched that movie and went back to their cog in the machine? Why are people so willing to put up with a life hardly lived? Regardless of historical facts and theories, I figure that - however we came to be here – this planet was not under anyone’s control. There was no one handing out land, nor other freely available resources, no one was ‘in charge’; humans simply used what they needed, nature provided. That was our starting point. So how did we get to the point that most of us have to pay to live on the land nature provided? Why do we have to pay for the food that naturally grew to sustain us? Why do we have to pay for materials provided in nature to offer us shelter? Worse than that, all the bits we have constructed to come between us and nature (the aforementioned merry-go-round) have made this world less healthy for us all. Why are we so caught up in a world where money has become the architect of our lives? There are theories. The best I’ve heard was summed up in the form of a story about a priest in the days of Egypt’s great empire. The priest watched from a platform for many months as slaves were driven to build the walls of some incredible architectural structure. He observed how hard they had to be driven, due their lack of intrinsic motivation, and how much it was costing the state to keep these slaves and their families. After his months of observing he instructed the masters to free their slaves and, instead, offer them gold to do the same work. Initially reluctant, the masters had no choice but to comply as the priests of the day were powerful. However, they soon relinquished any doubts as they saw the slaves flocking back to take up the coins on offer – overall it was a much more lucrative deal for the state. “We shall call this democracy” pronounced the priest. Regardless of theory, it is a story of relentless greed, of one taking from another to feel more powerful. It is a story that can have no happy ending until we each find that the power that is being sought lies within. The ‘why’ of it all, is less important than what we do about it. With realization, new habits are required to break free of the chains that bind us in so many respects. When I left the corporate world a few years ago, we also moved cities in a bid to reduce our outgoings and pursue a better quality of life. I was determined to figure out who I am, and it had also become clear to me that our young children wanted to be in their own home with their own parents more of the time. In moving, we had anticipated I wouldn’t have to work. But, with only a certain degree of willingness to downsize, it turned out there was still a shortfall. Initially I took up some short term consulting work to bridge the gap. In doing so, I was sabotaging the little time I had to let the seeds of who I am even settle in their new soil; having grown used to having a small amount of regular reflection time in the short months between leaving the big job and settling in our new life. I had experienced firsthand how answers to questions I’d been asking myself for years (like “who am I?”) began to reveal themselves now that I was paying attention. Although I had given up work I was still busy, with a household to run and young kids to take care of there is little let up time. I listened to and read anything I could find that was inspiring, I got out into nature and I tried to fill my cup as much as I could in those small pockets of time I had stamped for myself. My desire to protect that time was so strong that I pursued no more consulting work, recognizing that it put me straight back on the merry-go-round. That said, while I had faith that things would work out in the long run, I constantly worried about how we were going to pay next month’s bills. I started meditating regularly, which I define as a practice of continually become aware of your thoughts and releasing them, to help me find the calm and trust that lay below all the day to day worry. Over time that helped me become more and more aware of my thoughts throughout the day and how they were sabotaging me. One day a new thought occurred to me, “what if I never had to make money?” I sat with that for a while, and realised how the load lightened at just the thought. Sure, I knew money was required to pay the bills, but as I listened to a hypnosis audio on financial success every day for a month, it prompted me to think about the different ways money had flowed to me in the past. It discussed the nature of money, how money moves based on value and confidence. It was logical, calming and a good gear shift for me in terms of valuing what I was bringing to the table. While it was no longer a top notch salary, the roles I undertake are extremely valuable none the less. I had balked at the mere hint of being a stay at home mum, reliant on her man’s income; I am extremely autonomous. Yet I didn’t see those playing out the role as superwomen winning either. Finally I felt at peace and confident about my decision to relinquish the need to make money at that point. This wasn’t an outward discussion, it was an inward shift. While our bank balance still didn’t look at all healthy, I stopped focusing on it and started to talk to my partner about the future again, about what we wanted from it. We started to dream about taking holidays abroad now that the kids were getting a bit older, perhaps even getting back to the UK to see my family. In some way, that shift in focus seemed to dislodge us from a sticking point. Simultaneously my partner’s patience with his own work situation broke. Master of his craft, 30 years of experience, yet still working for minimal pay and poor conditions, he wanted to take a hold of his own reigns. He got set up using the simplest of business constructs here and was off and running with only a small outlay. Not considering himself a salesman, he shied away from pursuing cold leads, instead sticking to known contacts. But his reputation preceded him and he had no difficulty picking up work. A couple of years in and it’s almost hard to remember those days of wondering how we were going to make next month’s bills, neither of us have looked back. While I inevitably picked up the support role, doing all the invoicing, marketing and bookkeeping, it’s not my core focus and I still have regular time set aside to pursue my own calling. Interestingly, when I did a review of our income and expenses last year, while the business had done well, just like most years we also received a good chunk of money from other sources that we would not have anticipated. It was just like the hypnosis audio had reminded me, unexpected tax refunds, gifts and so on. Money flows in many ways. We regularly talk about what comes next now, not wishing to get in a rut again. When we look back on the pattern of our lives, it reassures us that the things we are focused on tend to come about sooner than later – for better or worse. More than that, as I’ve continued to focus on the pursuit of uncovering more of the authentic me, I have experienced the empowerment that comes from putting my true needs ahead of the many other things that are vying for my attention. When mum died last year, it strengthened my resolve to live my life now, and to its fullest. With that in mind, money is firmly in its place. It is simply a mode of exchange. I can see that our relationship with money as a society will change as we evolve, as we each reclaim our power to live the lives that make us happiest and start to trust ourselves as the driver, the architect, rather live a life dictated by the boundaries of our bank balance. If you understand what I am saying here, you will know I’m not talking about accumulating debt in order to fulfill your dreams. I’m talking about changing your inner relationship with money. Instead of chasing the money, chase your dreams, value yourself enough to put you first – even if, like me, that means taking only a small amount of regular time to pursue your heart’s desire or to focus on finding out what that actually is. Money is a means to an end, one day we may decide it is no longer needed as a form of exchange for goods and services we need or desire, we may go back to the custom of barter. Regardless of what evolves, it will start with you and I taking control of our own lives, our own happiness. Use money as intended, a tool to help you create the life you design for yourself. If what you read here resonates and you’d like a fresh perspective on a situation in your own life, feel free to contact me. There’s no charge or strings attached, I truly enjoy helping where I can, click here for further information. To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog. In this journey to me over the last few years, as I’ve come to understand who I am and the way life works, I place more and more value on autonomy. Having broken free of the economic chains that once necessitated a career in the corporate world, there are still so many lessons to be learned.
As my friend and I caught up on life’s events, my heart sank as I heard the words “Maybe I should just take the job and be grateful, how many other people out there are going to jobs every day that they don’t like and they do it to feed their families?” It was a rhetorical question. When I listen to people I try and let the words wash over. I have an internal tuner that is trying to get a fix on where there are and I always hope that I can find the right words to inspire them in some way. My friend had been sharing a story of a job interview her agency had sent her to. She’d known right from the start it wasn’t the right fit. Wrong fit is too subtle, though there was nothing wrong with the job itself, for the right person it would be great. For my friend, however, this would have been an unequivocal slow road to death. Not a physical death, but a smothering of the soul certainly. Yet, there was money to consider. We are so enslaved to money, a concept of our own making, in so many ways. Just in the last few weeks, my partner and I had been looking at restructuring our finances and had applied to our bank for a new home loan. Bearing in mind my partner is in the first year of a new business, the bank were cautious about lending and offered a deal which depended on reducing our other lines of credit. On the face of it, that makes sense, yet it didn’t feel right, I felt constrained. As I pondered this, I came to realise the issue is about autonomy, my autonomy. The lines of credit the bank was interested in constraining are both mine; hard earned lines of credit. When I was growing up, it was to the tune of “never a borrower or lender be”, yet once I’d experienced the benefits of ‘buy now pay later’ on low (or no) interest credit I decided credit was a good thing when leveraged the right way. I’ve never been one to save a lot just for a rainy day, nor have I ever built up lots of debt at high rates of interest or defaulted on a payment. But credit has always given me flexibility and security, and that gave me autonomy. When I moved to New Zealand in my mid-thirties, I had to start over rebuilding my credit lines, the ones I’d had in the UK were of little use in this foreign land. Having rebuilt, the credit has allowed us to juggle our finances these last few years while I stepped out of the corporate world and my partner made the move to self employment. It’s a delicate balance; I don’t want to go overboard on security based on ‘someday’. I know I’ll always be taken care of, that being based on confidence in myself and trust that life works out rather than a reliance on anyone in particular. But I also know things don’t necessarily line up instantly, so having some tangible security is a good thing. So I decided to walk away from the deal the bank were offering and explained why via an email. Then I went for a walk on the beach and felt elated, lighter, with an absolute knowing that I’d done the right thing. “No doubt” I thought, “I’ll second guess myself later, but I’ll remember this moment and I’ll know it was the right thing to do.” To my utter surprise, the next day the bank came back and offered the deal, allowing me to keep my lines of credit. It was like I’d hit a rock, decided to go around it, and then it just yielded. I wondered at the many times in the past where my self-righteous indignation would have kept me wrangling with the rock to no avail. Which is exactly what I was imagining as my friend was relaying the story of the conversations about this job mismatch with her agency, and the angst she was feeling; she was well and truly tussling with the rock in front of her. As I wondered what to say, I realised just how much our fears about money keep us enslaved. Yet autonomy is also deep rooted. At our heart we know our value, we are freedom seekers and don’t like being beholden or reliant on others. We get conditioned into cultures and societies that make us fearful and dependent, everything from the adverts on television to many common mythologies of childhood perpetuate that fear. My friend did not need answers, she’s smart, she just needed to hear what she was actually saying to herself. Purged of our stories, we hugged farewell, and I hoped my amazingly talented friend was done tussling with this particular rock. “If not today, someday soon” I thought. The next day she shared that she’d resigned from that agency, through which she has experienced so much dishonor and disappointment, this particular job just being the latest in a long line. I am delighted she’s chosen her autonomy and I can’t wait to see just what life yields to her in response. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that people just up and quit their jobs, but each and every day we make a myriad of choices, choices that can keep you imprisoned in fear, or choices that can take you closer to the freedom you feel within. Autonomy is not achieved in one fell swoop, it starts with a decision to be more conscious about the choices you are making. Are they made from fear? How real is that fear? Is fears about ‘someday’? Suppose you made a different choice? One that made you feel empowered rather than enslaved. Take small steps towards your autonomy, and over time you will build confidence in your own ability to take charge of your life. Money is a commodity, it flows to and fro, its value based on confidence – and if you can have confidence in your own value, in time you will look back and wonder at why you ever let anything other than your best life unfold. Knowing I’ve helped in some way through my writing means a lot - I’d love for you to like, comment on, or share these thoughts with others, or contact me directly at shona@shonakeachie.com, I’m always happy to help if I can. To be the first to receive these posts, you can also subscribe to my newsletter and, as a special thank you, you will receive the link to my video 3 Steps to Becoming You. I get a lot of emails about techniques to attract more money into my life and I ignore them. It’s not that I don’t want more money, or that I don’t believe these techniques could work, it’s that attracting more money has never really made it to the top of my list of goals in life.
Believe me, it’s in the mix, it’s just that when I compare it with my other goals, and I imagine a life without the other things I want versus the money, it’s way down the pecking order. I guess I’ve always felt like, in the scheme of things, my needs would be taken care of. Yet, no matter how much money I have earned (and I’ve earned a lot) it never seems enough. So I had a bit of an ‘ah ha’ moment as I was listening to someone talk about their worry over paying the bills. I realised that, while money isn’t in my top 5 things to focus on, and while I inherently believe everything works out in life, I still have a lot of chatter in my head that is keeping money from coming in. Phrases like “cut your coat to suit your material” and “money doesn’t grow on trees” were part of my childhood. I grew up knowing that my parents worked hard for what they got, and that it was always just enough to pay the bills. Meanwhile science is finally catching up to the fact that we are all energy, and our thoughts – and the feelings they perpetuate – act like magnets for the things we want (or don’t want) in our life. As I said to my daughter after we visited an exhibition about earthquakes that made her worry, if you worry, the universe sends you something to worry about. Chances are, you’ll never experience an earthquake, so it’s best to focus on things that make you feel good, so the universe will send you more of the good stuff. Yet at home my partner and I often send our children messages about the cost of things, the roots planted in our own subconscious in our early years, conveying a sense of lack. There have been many times when our youngest daughter shows us in no uncertain terms that she feels no such lack (as she wastes this or that). We have had a habit of chastising her, but what message does that send – that she too should deny the abundance she most naturally feels? However it can be hard to feel abundant when you have to face the stark realities of paying a bill and there’s not enough money in the bank. Especially since we are so used to letting what we observe dictate how we feel. Yet it’s the opposite approach that works in our favour. You don’t even need to feel good about the specific thing you want in order to get it, so long as you are not feeling bad about it or other things either. There’s the rub. While I might feel like everything works in my favour in the end, and so I don’t get overly motivated to “make a million” or some such goal, there are daily moments when I am creating conflicting energy in my relationship with money because of my contradictory thoughts. Ah ha! The question is what to do about it. Here’s the stark reality, if your finances are not where you want them to be, there’s some subconscious beliefs that are getting in your way and it’s time to create stronger, more self-serving ones…
When I started to look at some of my beliefs, and wrote them down, it started to get to the heart of where the glitches (let’s call them) in my subconscious are. It’s not like these thoughts are loud and clear, they haven’t gotten that bad yet that they are consciously screaming at me. Though getting a migraine after doing the monthly bills is probably a major signpost. I wrote my thoughts down because it’s the most focused form of thinking; otherwise thoughts stream through my head like there are on fast-moving, simultaneously flowing, conveyor belts that I can’t ever quite grasp. Leaving behind a regular paycheck can be scary because suddenly you are thrust into a world where you can’t always see where the money is going to come from right at this very second. So I started there, I wrote “I worry about having enough money to pay the bills next month”. Then, taking a lead from the advice I’d just given my daughter about the universe sending you more to worry about, I flipped it. If that was what I didn’t want, what do I want I thought….”not to have to worry about money”. Mm, still a bit too much of a ‘worry’ feeling in there, so I stole a phrase I heard recently in an Abraham-Hicks conversation “I want make choices in my life based on what I truly desire (not what I can afford)”. In itself, that achieved very little, so I continued along the vein I’d heard Esther Hicks talk about. I started to pull out thoughts I already have that match that. There were many. I started to recall the many ‘big’ decisions I’d made in life that money could have had a bearing on, had I let fear dictate the decision: whether to be in certain relationships, whether to emigrate and whether to have children – or have more children. I got on a roll, realizing it really doesn’t even affect many of my day to day decisions. Then I hit a hot button, I realised that while I hadn’t let fears about money get in the way of most of my big life decisions, I had let it have a big bearing when it came to which career to pursue. So I started again, I wrote “I need to do something in order to earn money”, then I flipped it… “Money comes with ease”. Again, I found many examples of this that I’ve experienced in my life: generous gifts from relatives, redundancy packages, rising equity in property, rising investments and savings, bonuses and unexpected rises in pay or tax rebates. The list went on, and then I realised how aware I am of the many other ways money can flow to people that I haven’t yet experienced, like big wins and inheritances. Then I hit another hot button, residual income. Years ago, when I ran my own business, I learned a lot about the risks involved and knew I had uncovered something. Heaps of thoughts started to flow – negative, scary thoughts – like “it takes 2 to 5 years to make money in business, and most fail in that time”, “you have to sell, sell, sell in business”, “only the lucky few artists (in the broadest sense of all creative endeavors) ever make it” So I tried to take the essence of all those thoughts and flip them, I got to “I can pursue my heart’s desire and money will flow easily”. This time I struggled to come up with matching thoughts that I already have. Sure, I know there are successful writers, speakers, artists, musicians and so on, and I know enough of those stories to know instant success isn’t the norm. I also know enough about how this stuff works, the process of rebuilding my beliefs, to know that they won’t change when they don’t sit right. Time to get more general I realised; what if I separate out pursuing my heart’s desire from money flowing with ease? I was already comfortable that money can flow in many ways other than a paycheck, or things like royalties or income from affiliates, so I set that aside. I focused on my heart’s desire, which right now involves pondering life’s big questions through my writing. Then I captured some of the negative thoughts I have, like articles not getting published in more public streams because of changes in algorithms, or because it’s not the right platform, and I wrote “there are people who are eagerly awaiting the content I publish”, and got on a roll (thanks to all those who have hit ‘like’, commented, shared and connected with over this last year). That took me into the territory of one of my goals, to become an accomplished author, which for me is about knowing my writing resonates with people, feeling like it makes a difference. With that I felt satisfied I was back on track after the wobble I had about money. All in all, while looking at your relationship with money can provide some valuable insights, what you really want to make sure is that you are soothing any feelings about ‘lack’ in order to allow more. Knowing what you want is one thing, but believing you can have it is where the work is. That starts with getting on good terms with what’s happening in your life right now, the stuff that smacks you in the face each day. If you find you are constantly resisting ‘what is’, try out this process and see if it can’t remove some barriers for you, make you feel a bit better about where you are. That, ultimately, is always your aim; to feel good about right now, to allow more of the good stuff into your life. Go on, give it a try. Knowing I’ve helped in some way through my writing means a lot - I’d love for you to comment on, or share these thoughts with others, or contact me directly at shona@shonakeachie.com, I’m always happy to help if I can. 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