Episode 3 – What is Money?

Hi! I’m Michelle
MoneySo let’s talk Money. The reason why I want to talk about money today is that well if we don’t talk about money we may end up homeless….we live here on Earth and on earth we have to pay bills and we have obligations and basic needs such as housing, food, transportation, healthcare, education etc which require money. And because this podcast is about bridging the gap between spirituality and prosperity and bringing heaven to earth through self awareness and consciousness I thought it would be good to make certain distinctions at this point. Plus I am a very grounded and pragmatic person and I Love the options Money affords in my life which include generosity.There are so many conscious and unconscious feelings around money so perhaps a great start is to share with you what I think money is. Money isn’t just a currency, a piece of paper or legal tender or a medium of exchange like the financial world likes to think of it.
Money in my experience has in it stored all the lessons you’ve learned, mistakes you’ve made, your failures, aha moments, breakthroughs, your time, your energy and effort. And if you think about it… this means it has in it stored the best of you and when you pay for something you are giving the best of yourself in exchange for something of equal value or in exchange for the best of others. So when you receive money it means that you are receiving the best of someone else in exchange for the best of you. And so if you think about money in this way you will have much more reverence towards money and you will take care it, nurture it, and respect it because all of a sudden in this context it becomes sacred or at least it does to me.
Money isn’t good or bad. It is neutral and YOU are the one giving it the charge. So the charge depends on how you hold it inside you. In more practical terms this means that the reason WHY you engage in money making gives money its charge. Maybe your reason why money is important to you is because you want to provide a good lifestyle for your family, a better school for your kids, maybe retire your parents, or pay for much needed healthcare for a friend, etc. I know when I started out the charge I gave money was shaped by a desire to retire Jack from his job…we hated being apart from each other most of the week and that desire fueled me to work 60-70 hours weeks on our land investing business EASILY without feeling like it was a struggle (that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard but my why was bigger than any obstacle.) so it felt light vs heavy or a burden…I was working away with joy in my heart. Once I had successfully grown the business to the level where it was a liability for Jack to keep his job…he joined me and he left his job so we could work our land business together…and at that point the charge we gave money came from a big desire to retire his dad from his job as a school teacher in Germany. After 40 some years my father in law was burnout and his health was deteriorating.So the intention behind making money is how we integrate the spiritual with the material and the act of money-making can become a matter of the heart.Another distinction I want to share around Money is that in my experience it amplifies who people are being in a specific moment in their life…meaning Money is an energy that tends to amplify who you already are. If you are a jerk, money will amplify that and if you are a generous and compassionate person, money will amplify that too.Money also can consume your time and your thinking and very easily the act of making money can turn into a carrousel where you go for a great spin and have a lot of fun but when you get off the carousel you are in the exact same spot financially, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Especially if you are only income statement wealthy vs. balance sheet wealthy. It can be a great source of freedom for some and a great source of limitation for others. It can trap you or set you free. I have experienced both and probably so have you.

I remember a time in one of our businesses when MAKING MONEY was really hard and this was the direct result of the state of stress and confusion in my mind and body. I was constantly overwhelmed and trying to figure out many ways (because we saw others doing the same) to make more money faster. We were trying hard to take care of payroll and our basic needs and I was caught doing a lot of things on my own vs hiring them out because I kept thinking….how can I hire more help if I can barely breakeven. What I didn’t realize though is that I was being cheap in spirit because I was trying to be a reservoir of money instead of having it be in FLOW.

After deep contemplation and down time, I clearly remember reframing my thinking and not thinking of hiring someone as yet another way in which money would leave our account but as an opportunity to exercise generosity towards myself (because I was tired and stressed and definitely needed the help) as well as exercising generosity towards someone that needed that job and could do a much better job than I ever would. The moment I got help with activities in the business that were not in my Genius I started having and trusting witty ideas that seemed to come out of nowhere almost like magic and we began to turn the ship around in that businesss vs. trying to copy what others were doing and trying to do it without any help.

There were so many lessons from this experience but one lesson for me here was I don’t have to do certain things only because others are doing them especially if they don’t aligned with my Genius or the Genius of my company. Your Genius and that of your company is unique and I like to think of it as unique as DNA and therefore there is no competition and no sense in comparing yourself to others or trying to do certain things only because others are doing it.

Another lesson is that the key to prosperity is simplicity. The moment we cut out any revenue generating activity, lines of business and products that didn’t align with our Genius, our values, and our lifetime goals…. money-making again became much easier. What followed was explosive growth in our investments and active businesses and windfalls that I could have never strategized or predicted. So be open to the possibility that when you only operate in your Genius.. it will be way better than you imagined.

I’m not gonna lie this last lesson was not easy. When you start your journey as a business owner… financial success comes from saying YES to everything but to really experience explosive growth you will have to say NO to certain investments, no to offering certain products, no to certain lines of business, no to no to certain clients, no to certain events, relationships, opportunities, shiny pennies. I remember this transition feeling supremely uncomfortable…. So uncomfortable I could feel it in my body (the discomfort manifested itself with aches, pains, headaches, self doubts etc and I truly believe that part of this pain is because you are killing so many options that don’t align anymore and you feel like you are dying inside because you really are…your old self is dying and you are giving birth and giving your full commitment to your new lighter self.

A second lesson is a lesson in generosity and setting myself free from a cheap spirit to keep money in FLOW so both our new hire and we could come up higher.

And now this same philosophy applies to our apartment investment business. We value transformation and generosity and now can offer those same values to our investors by allowing them to participate in our acquisitions and therefor participate in creating generational wealth for our families while they continue to do what is in their Genius and we do what is in ours.

Another thing I can say about money is that I have found that the Flow of money in and out is unique to each person at any given time. Some of us are $2000 a month kind of people and money flows in and out in that amount. Others are $100,000 a month kind of people.

And For those who have never been in the company of a lot of money or money doesn’t seem to stick around for very long please know that you may be bankrupt on self-respect. When we don’t respect ourselves, we don’t respect others and we certainly don’t respect money…I know this from experience.

Finally I want to close by saying that many of us are so scared of becoming still even for a few minutes a day and contemplate the murkiness of our mind and our actions that we go for years down the wrong path at high speed due to momentum and due to the fear of missing out… not realizing that if we take the time to slow down and reflect on some of the basic concepts I am presenting… Clarity will set in and you will realize that scheduling some stillness or thinking time is not a waste of time because it is full of potentiality.

Pauses to breath or thinking time to reflect to see if you are being aware of whether money has you thinking about it, worrying about it or spending all your time trying to make more or protecting it… is key to bring prosperity with ease. This awareness along with intention or the charge you give money is really THE most important currency not the money itself.

I know from experience that Holistic decisions that come from clarity create more peace, more joy, more freedom and more money. I know that when I take time off to rest, play, rejuvenate, reflect and simply contemplate the beauty around me I not just taking care of me but I am taking care of US (my family, my team, my clients, my partners, my investors, my community, etc) and that is incredibly meaningful and it brings me a lot of peace and joy.

I also know for sure that gratitude for what you have now creates relaxation in both the body and your mind. And the more relaxed your mind is…the more clearly your thoughts become. With Clarity come healthier choices and with healthier choices come more prosperity into your life.

Why I am sharing all of this with you…well I am not trying to sell you anything but I have come to understand that the healing of the whole around money is directly related to my own healing and vice versa so with that I wish you a wonderful rest of your day and wish upon you inflows of Cash, inflows of lightness, and inflows of Grace in your life and hope to spend some time together in the next episode.