Quote: “In our willingness and openness to transform, it’s impossible that new opportunities won’t come our way.”
How much (fearful) mental energy do we use while thinking about money?
Whether it’s about the money we want or the money we are afraid to lose, there appears to be this common agitation that gives “money” a power over our ability to be present, focused, and joyful.
Maybe sometimes we come upon some money, and that becomes our permission to enjoy life and be happy. Then, moments later, we enter a space of agitation as we now become fearful of losing that money or unsure about what to do with it.
I do find it fascinating. These internal states of high and low are not responding to the reality of money coming or going, but more so, they are responding to our (conditioned) stories about money and what we decide it means about us.
I’ve been grappling with this the past week as I’ve been making preparations to move out of Portugal and head toward Greece. The mind has this agitation about what to do with all the “stuff” I bought to furnish the place I’m living now.
Part of me wants to just give it all away and avoid the project of listing a thousand items online to sell – in the hopes of getting some of my money back. I notice the fear that arises about “loss”; the loss of money I spent collecting things I can’t take with me.
I’d like to think I’m not a fan of “buying stuff” for this exact reason. Then, I look at all my “stuff” and realize maybe that’s not so true. 😂 Apparently, I do like to buy stuff.
Fearing Loss Limits Growth
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
What I realize, or what I’m watching happen, is something I’ve been through several times before: I’m fearing the loss of money as I step into a new opportunity, and my fear of loss makes it quite difficult to move forward and focus on the opportunity.
I know exactly what’s going to happen, based on previous experience. I’m going to get to wherever I’m going, some time will pass, and then I’ll look back on this moment and laugh at myself for ever being worried about it.
The same has happened (and continues to happen) as I make business decisions and take risks. There are these moments of fear… “What if it doesn’t work out?!” Then, I take the leap, some time passes, and I ultimately discover that it worked out exactly as it was supposed to work out.
Did it go how I thought it would go? No, it never does, but I learn and grow. The growth part is what matters. The growth part is what happens when I take risks that ultimately move past my fear of things not working out.
Money is… a Reflection
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha
The more I anxiously want money, the more I push money away. The more I anxiously want to hold on to my money, the more I limit more money coming into my life.
Money is an instrument of flow; it comes and goes, and in its coming and going, it can serve a deeper purpose that’s 100% unrelated to my intrinsic worth and value.
The value of money is not an inherent value in money itself. The value of money is the value I place on it. This is also to say that money has no power apart from the power I give it – which is also to give away my power to money.
My experience of money is not to experience “money.” Rather, it’s to experience how I perceive money, it’s to experience what I “think” money is, what I create money to be.
If I “think/believe” €5,000 is “a lot of money,” then that assumption, in some way, creates a reality where €5,000 is hard to acquire. In my conditioned belief about it being a lot, it sets up so many other experiential expectations about what is or is not possible for my human journey.
The Unconscious Creation
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
We have to step back and take a breather, and relax these conditioned beliefs and fears around money.
Why? Because we are unconsciously designing a reality for ourselves that is not based on the abundance of reality itself, but based on our unconscious and fearful assumptions.
Moment by moment, these beliefs and assumptions are projected outward from behind our eyes, and we paint a reality that matches our unconscious beliefs.
The belief that money is hard to come by, will create a reality where money is hard to come by. If you believe that money is your enemy, you will create a reality that proves it to be true.
If you look at your growth journey thus far, from childhood to now, and look at your environmental conditioning, then your current reality with money makes perfect sense. As in, based on what you’ve been taught, it makes sense that you believe what you believe about money.
Maybe, little by little, you’ve broken free from some of that conditioning. Possibly, you’ve seen through some of those illusions of lack and allowed for more abundance in your life. Of course, this isn’t just about money itself, it’s about seeing more of what’s really true; or, rather, letting go of the lack and scarcity you now see that wasn’t true.
You became more open. You realized that what you “thought it was” (your conditioning), wasn’t an accurate representation of reality and the truth of what you really are.
These small or large realizations reshaped your experiential reality; you started looking for something else. In essence, you started searching for evidence of abundance, rather than searching for evidence of lack. You started searching for evidence of why things are possible for you, rather than searching for evidence of why things are not possible for you.
The Moment of Transformation
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
How do we consciously participate in the transformation of our unconscious beliefs about money?
In one way, I could say that it’s already happening. The fact that you’ve taken the time to read this expresses a degree of openness within you for the transformation to take place.
The first question of, “are you even willing?” is an important question. Clearly, yes, you are. The willingness is what always sets the stage for transformation. The willingness is also… openness.
Some people are not open; some people are so firmly rooted in their belief that their thoughts about reality are an accurate reflection of reality; rather than… the reality they experience is a reflection of their beliefs. They are a prisoner to their thoughts, thinking that life is happening “to them,” rather than Life is happening as they create it to be.
Transformation requires letting go of the old and stepping into the new. And… as you know, letting go of the old is rarely ever easy. Letting go of the old is like letting go of what gives us security, even though that security is limiting our experience.
Stepping into the new is stepping into the unknown, and in many ways, that doesn’t feel or seem safe. Well, guess what, it’s not safe for the old and limiting parts of yourself. It’s not safe for your limiting beliefs that you’ve identified with. It’s not safe for who you currently think you are.
The limiting self you currently identify with dies, and something new is born.
Give Birth to Something… New
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
If something “new” is born, then it’s something new; as in, it’s unknown.
Imagine a new child coming into the world. Do you already know what this child will become? Do you know how its life will unfold? No, what you do is welcome this new child into the world with a deeper and more conscious awareness – that will inevitably lead to a more conscious experience.
You see, it doesn’t matter so much what the child becomes. What matters is your growth journey that allows you to show up in a more conscious way. If you show up in a more conscious way, then whatever happens will be a reflection of that new level of consciousness.
This is where we let go of the outcome, where we let go of… “What if it doesn’t work out?!” Which is like saying… “What if the child doesn’t become who I want the child to become?!” It’s not about that, silly.
Can you embrace something new? Can you prioritize and embrace the growth of your conscious awareness (seeing more of what’s true) over whatever superficial outcome you think is important?
In our willingness and openness to transform, it’s impossible that new opportunities won’t come our way.
The question is: are we going to meet those opportunities?
Or, are we going to buy into our fears and assumptions that ultimately push away the exact thing our hearts are asking for?
