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If some is good, more must be better, right?

In our culture we are so accustomed to messages that tell us that bigger, taller, and faster is better. We need more of this, that and the other. A quarter pound hamburger is good. Surely the half pound must be better. We super size everything from our food to our houses, in an attempt to satisfy our emotional needs and wants.

Avoiding is Obsessing

What is it about human beings that typically we only have a binary view of money? We either make it into an idol or label it evil. For most of us it is the reason we do what we do, whether our choices lead us in the pursuit or the avoidance of money.

Partnership

Who are the important partners in your life and, in particular, your financial life? Your spouse? Your parents? Your boss or place of employment? Your clients?

The funny thing about money is that we often get so tied up in our heads with the partnering, planning, preparing and implementation of our “financial strategies” that we rarely begin at the beginning.

Loving Discipline

I am basking in the satisfaction of having completed my income tax filing this weekend. I am feeling quite organized and accomplished in my financial life having completed this task well in advance of the deadline. In my glow of triumph, I was sitting and thinking about how wonderful the fruits of discipline actually are.

Our Daily Bread

The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God Himself.
- Ernest Holmes

The Lord’s prayer says give us this day our daily bread. What is this daily bread and what is the nature of how we receive this bread?

The "Winter"

As I sit home-bound during the third significant snowstorm this winter, the stillness has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the gifts of the season.  For many of us, the doldrums of winter are a trying time. Daylight is limited and we are generally less active. Our energy is lackluster and we very often experience the uncomfortable feelings that we avoid in our busyness. Animals cope with this season by hibernating, but the human animal resists the cyclical nature of life and growth. The medical profession even has a diagnosis for extreme symptoms, Seasonal Affective Disorder. We may try to overcome it but in the end, we cannot help but experience these ebbs and flows.

Financial Security??

Are you seeking or have you achieved financial security? What do the words mean to you? Do you know someone who is financially secure?

In truth these words are probably one of the biggest fabrications that has been used to brainwash us. Financial security is not a real thing. Security cannot come from or be based on financial things. Money is energy and therefore has an impetus to flow, transform and change. If we are looking to money (or any external thing) for security, we will always be left wanting.

Loving Work

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Why do you do the work that you do? Is it for the money? Do you love what you do? Please give this question some serious consideration and answer honestly, because you must understand that the answer is critically important to your experience of wealth. Love is not something that comes to us from outside ourselves. Love is an internal orientation to the world, a posture from which we have gratitude and appreciation for the details of our life.

Story Time

Are your stories facilitators of your dreams or heavy baggage that prevents you from moving forward and living life fully?

What are the stories you tell yourself about money, your life and God? We are creatures created for sole purpose transformation, and yet we have this inner need to find some stability to which we can cling. Unfortunately, for most of us this takes the form of holding on to narratives about our lives and ourselves that are no longer serving us well. Inevitably either for our benefit or detriment, our experiences are radically shaped by the stories we tell ourselves. These deep-seated beliefs that we carry with us in every moment are not necessarily the “truth” about us, but they become our reality.

Divine Ideas

Money never starts an idea; it is the idea that starts the money. W. J. Cameron

Have you noticed that when you get inspired by an idea, get a clear picture of the process and results, and pour your heart and soul into working toward that picture; that all sorts of people and resources suddenly appear to support you? From out of nowhere the right people, places and things are drawn to you. Somehow the money needed to move the idea forward seems to appear at exactly the right time? It is almost as if someone knows what your intentions are!

The Lack of Lack

How often do you take the time to listen closely and deeply in conversations? One of the things I love to do is listen behind and between the words and sentences and attempt to discern what underlying beliefs and assumptions are being relayed.

Wealth

Are you wealthy?

Ok, I’ll admit that is not a fair question. In order to answer the question, we first have to decide how we define wealth.  Most of us think of wealth as something that has to do with dollar signs and a number that is called our “net worth.” 

What Is

I have discovered that for most of our financial journey we deal with what we wish we had or did not have in our lives.  How many times do we sit and daydream about what we would do if we had more money?  Or wish that we knew how it would feel to not have so many bills to pay?  We either look forward to the promise or challenge of the future, or we long for or run from our past.  It is truly a rare gift to find someone able to sit comfortably with what is in their fiscal world.

Response Ability

How do you feel when you sit down to pay your bills each month? Most of the people I know think of money as a burden. For many of us, finances cause us extreme stress and consternation. Consequently, often we are in a hurry to hand over responsibility for our money to someone else: the bank, our spouse, or our financial advisor. While there is nothing wrong with seeking advice from others, at the end of the day we must take complete ownership for how we use our resources.

For the Love of Money

I always find it fascinating that most spiritual people are so quick to dismiss money and finance as part of the seeker’s life and journey. It seems to me that this reticence to deal with the issue of money is more a reflection of our discomfort with money, than the nature of money itself. I know that we have all been taught that the Bible that money is the root of all evil.

In fact, most religious and spiritual traditions say that the love of money is the root of all evil.

Finally I'm Blogging

After years of thinking about publishing a blog, I am finally here. A friend of mine inspired me to take this leap after consulting with me about her own idea for a blog. I said to her: "there is no risk." Strangely enough, after all the time I spent considering the idea, it boiled down to these simple words. So, I decided to take my own advice.

I have had the opportunity to share with a number of people recently, that I am more convinced than ever that our relationship to money is a window into our soul.