Must You Sell Your Soul To Get Rich?
Most of us have tons of conflicting ideas and beliefs about money. We’re told it’s “evil,” or you have to somehow do “evil” things to get it.
We see people that have a lot of money and it’s clear they’ve not been the heroes of community service in order to get it.
Maybe our mixed up beliefs about money have been passed on through the generations, by people who never seemed to have enough.
It’s certainly hard to want something, not be able to get it, and yet be told at the same time it’s bad, or wanting more of it is bad.
When it comes to inner-conflicts, we humans sure have enough of them!
Which is why this little exercise is very helpful.
It’s based on the idea that money is really just potential energy. Potential energy for stuff. Wealth. Higher order stuff that has been made from lower order stuff.
Back in the old, old days, you made stuff, and then traded it for other stuff.
Then money was invented, so you could trade stuff for money today, and trade the money back into stuff later on.
The more money you had was just a measure of how much stuff you’ve made (or helped to make) that other people wanted.
When I was a kid, we’d trade stuff at school. Mostly our lunches. But sometimes marbles, baseball cards, and other stuff.
Nobody told us how to do that. We just did it. You might say that trading stuff for other stuff is in our DNA.
Money just makes it easier.
Anyhow, here’s the exercise.
Before you buy something, imagine the money is just a representation of stuff you’ve made in the past, and the stuff you’re trading the money for (or buying) is something somebody else has made.
Put yourself in that little kid’s mind. Where you’ve got something, they’ve got something, and you want to trade.
Actually visualize this in your mind when you “pay for” whatever you are getting.
Appreciate the trade. Appreciate that what they’ve done is valuable to you, and what you’ve done is valuable to them.
Fully feel that appreciation when both of you say, “Thanks.”
The more you practice this, the more you’ll start to feel a natural, normal affinity for money, and all the cool stuff you can trade it for.