Money problems can be inconvenient and painful. There is fear about providing for ourselves and our loved ones. We feel stress over not being able to afford experiences and material goods that make life interesting and fun. We dread the intrusion of threatening collection calls and shrink from having to feel the brutal shame of having our money problems and insecurities exposed.
Recently, I listened to a friend rant in fright and fury over not having enough money. When she cried out for financial security, bells went off in my head. I wondered: Did Bill Gates seek financial security? Did Oprah Winfrey seek to confine herself to a secure job? Had they allowed these concerns to dominate, Bill and Oprah might have stuffed themselves into roles that would have stifled their spirits and deprived those who benefit from their work.
People who live meaningful, joyous, prosperous lives first seek freedom of self-expression and the ability to live, love and work that honors their authentic selves. The details of food, shelter, and play are worked out in the process of stepping up to the plate and being who they really, truly are.
Aiming for security often limits the imagination to the status quo. For the sake of security, we cast our vision low, exclude our heart’s desires, and reject our dreams. We survive, rather than thrive. Survival is deadening if we have finances, but not food for our soul. Some of us think we have to sacrifice a living income for self-expression or sacrifice self-expression for a living income and that only a lucky few get both. Life with self-expression and no finances can lead to ruin. To fully realize our potential, we must find a way to do both.
When we incorporate our authentic selves into our everyday lives, even the work we do just for money is transformed and functions as a vehicle that expresses and serves our higher purpose. If we don’t make enough money, or don’t have work at all, finding ways to serve our dreams raises our esteem above the erroneous assumption that our paychecks (or lack of one) reflect our self worth. On the other hand, we can have lots of money, but not be financially secure if we have disconnected ourselves from our true natures and made the dollar our masters. Our true natures must be revealed, cultivated, and allowed to grow.
Lift Up Your Vision
In the past, whenever an opportunity came up that cost a lot of money, I would immediately say, “I can’t afford it.” Not a second thought, a pause, or a moment’s reflection. Not, “What if …,” or “How can I…?” Just “I can’t,” in effect, denying my capacity to be large, stretch, grow, and tolerate the ambiguity that comes along with not immediately knowing how I can afford to attain my heart’s desire. Denying a capacity to grow is a form of dishonesty. My definition of dishonesty includes disowning one’s power to actualize themselves as well as disallowing the impulse of the Divine to express itself through each individual. This dishonesty manifests itself as financial turmoil, serial “people” problems, and boredom. Pausing and asking how or what creates a vessel for receiving abundant ideas “out of the blue.”
The meaning we attach to a small bank account is dangerous to the psyche. When we compare our self worth to our net worth we in effect tell ourselves, “I don’t have” or “I don’t own, therefore I am nothing.” As soon as our thinking is lifted up from attachment to any social category such as poor, lower class, broke and we go beyond the assumption that our finances determine our worth or defines who we are; we are on the way to experiencing financial freedom.
I am increasingly able to afford more of what feeds my soul and meets my needs by the power of intention that stimulates me to take the action that causes a positive reaction in my environment. I spend less money on fear-driven trifles that provide fleeting feel-good sensations and invest more time and money on that which serves my life mission and purpose. I am witnessing signs that a life-long dream (or something better) is in the works.
Shame and Guilt
The shame and guilt we feel about ourselves due to money problems must be reconciled. Feelings are information and a feeling of shame indicates self blaming or equating our bank accounts with our self worth. Such feelings turn in on us and wear a deep groove in our esteem which can trap us in an unending cycle. To reconcile is to restore to harmony or health. There are many spiritual practices that aid in the restoration of long-standing habitual and demeaning patterns of thinking and feeling. One way these demeaning feelings are reconciled is by identifying the beliefs behind the feelings such as: I am stupid/bad/unworthy, the economy is mucked up, or I was abused as a child, so I’m messed up for life. As we become conscious of beliefs that dictate our actions, we frame new beliefs. I am worthy. I am open to receive abundance and to give of myself abundantly. Or as Eric Butterworth affirms, “The Whole of God-Substance is present where I am—all about me and within me.”
After refreshing our money consciousness, we should use whatever resources we have at hand to make decisions. Prosperity and abundance increases with the spiritual practice of ferreting out the beliefs that multiply error and by entertaining only what we would love to see manifest in our lives.
Financial Freedom at the Core
At the core of being free from financial straits is moment by moment identifying with the Source of all abundance rather than with the forms the abundance comes in. I do not intend to promote a disregard for the need to take care of the common practical concerns of living as it regards money. There are many common, practical practices and processes that might serve our true goals such as government, corporate employment, unemployment insurance, disability, loans, grants, and public assistance. However, the aforementioned organizational structures are not the true and only Source of our prosperity. To think so, stifles our imagination and inhibits our creative flow. The true Source of all abundance is Divine.
Financial freedom has more to do with our thinking about money than it has with our having money. Enjoy financial freedom today by identifying with our true natures and the Universal Source of true wealth. Rather than meditate on lack (worry is meditation), let’s focus on what we have—what Inez Singletary describes as “a complete and inexhaustible inner wealth that will become available for our use for spending, sustaining, and building.”
The following books are recommended on the journey to financial freedom.
The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment
by Maria Phd Nemeth
Overcoming Underearning: Overcome Your Money Fears and Earn What You Deserve
by Barbara Stanny
Copyright © 2007 by Deborah Singletary
