Money is A Form of Qi!!
by Honora Wolfe
Family Money Traditions
Every person receives a whole
variety of messages about money as children. This “information” can cloud our
vision where our finances are concerned and keep us from having a healthy
relationship with the green stuff that we need to be successful business people.
Here are a few of the most
common messages about money:
“money doesn’t grow on trees”
“money is the root of all
evil”
“money makes the world go
around”
“do you think I am made of
money?”
“you have to work hard to
have money”
“you need to marry a rich
spouse to survive”
Sound familiar?
Because money is such a
survival issue, these messages get imprinted deeply within us and can control
us unconsciously all our lives, often to our detriment.
Each of your parents probably
had a different money “style.” Each of these has good and bad points in how
they handle money…and what you internalized as a child. How has this affected
your professional life and relationship with $$?
Were your parents:
Worriers (always obsessed with all the bad things that
could happen)
Monks (money is bad, embarrassing, causes anxiety, and
to be avoided)
Gamblers (always risking the family assets one way or
another)
Amassers (love to have more…but not for any particular
reason)
Overspenders (shopaholics)
Avoiders (“I won’t think about this now, I’ll think
about it tomorrow.
This
person never balances their checkbook!)
Hoarders (Like to count their
money, but don’t like to spend it.)
My Relationship to Money
Take some time to think about
the questions listed below. Write down your answers. Written messages to
yourself have great power.
1. What messages about $$ did
you receive as a child?
2. Did your family have
traditions about $$, work, spending, saving, and/or investing that you are
adhering to or departing from in your life and how well is that working for
you?
3. How have those messages
affected your relationship with $$ as a professional for better or worse?
4. What one thing would you
like to change about your
relationship with $$?
5. How would that one thing
improve your professional life?
What is Money?
Basically, money is a form of
energy exchange. We have decided what is of value in our culture and we
exchange our time and our energy in lesser or higher amounts to get what we
want.
If we think about money as a
form of qi, this may help us to revise our thinking and our relationship to
this vital part of our life.
What do we know about
diseases of the qi? There are two
basic things that can go wrong in the body (or in the universe) with qi.
1.
Not enough
2.
Not flowing freely
So it is with money, too. If
we remove all our value judgments about it, we need it in adequate amounts and
we need to keep it flowing freely, as long as it is the basic form of human
energy exchange that is currently in use.
However, if you have
unnecessary internal “judgments” about money in your bodymind, it may be
difficult to maintain #1 and 2 above. For example, if your money style is
hoarding, it will be difficult to maintain the free flow of it in your
life. If your money style is an
avoider or a monk, it may be difficult to ever have enough money because the
money makes the avoider nervous and it makes the monk feel guilty.
Assignments:
1. Worriers: Give yourself
the assignment that for one day per week you will not think about money and not
worry about it. Then do your best to follow through.
2. Monks: One day per week buy a small thing that you
don’t need and see what comes up.
Examine feelings that arise and see if they have any
reality or not. Where do they come from?
3. Gamblers: Take a look at all the ways that you
gamble in your life. Are there ways you can get
the same thrill that don’t involve the use of money?
(People with serious gambling problems
need to join Gamblers Anonymous!)
4. Amassers/hoarders: Consider your reasons for
enjoying the collection of money for its sake
alone. Could you replace that satisfaction by
collecting friends, good works, or climbing ‘14ers?
5. Overspenders: Create a budget (or should we call it
a spending plan?) for one month. Put in a
line item for clothing or other discretionary spending
and stick to it.
6. Avoiders: Spend one afternoon each week or every
other week balancing your checkbook,
creating a budget, or organizing your finances in some
way and see how that feels.
These are just suggestions. You might think of other
personal “assignments” that feel more to the
point. For me, even the acknowledgement of my money “style”
helps me keep it from hurting me
(and those who work with me!) as a business-person
because it no longer resides only in my
unconscious. I highly recommend this exploration.
For more help getting to the bottom of your own money
issues, there are many books on this
subject. One good one is The Money Mirror by Annette Leiberman.
