Week #1: How to feel more relaxed about your money situation.
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest stressors that can keep us from enjoying a happy life is mmmmmoney. And money – as well as being about cold hard cash – is actually just as much about emotion and energy as the bank balance. We have an ongoing emotional response to money, so understanding our emotional money patterns is a supremely powerful way of resolving uncomfortable money situations and setting ourselves up to create a future that feels financially safe and abundant.
Because – without realising it we give money the emotional power to make us feel very, very good, or… very, very bad! I have lots to say (when don’t I!) so this is the first in a 4 part series on how to improve your relationship with money.
I work with clients that are really very well off indeed, and some who have saved up for a really long time in order just to be able to work with me privately (one of the main reasons I developed my low cost online group coaching programme ~Wellbeing Warriors~ was to make quality life coaching accessible to anyone regardless of the budget – you can hop on the waitlist here).
I ask clients to place a “satisfaction score” on their relationship with money – out of 10 – and the answers are super illuminating. Why? Because the quality of the relationship has nothing to do with the dollars in the bank! I have had multimillionaires score their satisfaction with money at 4/10 (“There is so much to maintain, and I just cannot slip up for a second, it could all get taken away”), and a student living on a shoestring score her money satisfaction at 8/10 (“I have what I need, I’m happy”). Here’s the thing:
We will feel uneasy about bills and dread paying them. We will make money choices from a place of fear, and often those are the money decisions that sabotage our long-term goals. If, however, we feel our fiscal needs will always be met and we are safe, our relationship with money will be one of flow and ease. If we understand that money is simply an energetic currency and it’s meant to move – to ebb and flow like the ocean, that it’s an ongoing relationship of money in, money out then our relationship with money will be one of ease and flow.
When we try too hard to hang onto money it becomes an energy that is stagnant. The flow gets blocked off. Less goes out, and less comes in. When we release our grip and start to get comfortable with the inevitable daily, weekly, monthly ebb and flow of money we can relax knowing we have it handled, and make calm pragmatic choices based on what we want in our lives, rather than choices driven by fear and panic.
I’ve banked with Westpac for 12 years now, and am loving the new app they have just launched, #CashNav – it gives an accurate daily update on the real-time rhythm of my money, and has really helped me feel more secure around money. To be able to relax and trust the natural ebb and flow. By seeing the natural pulse of my money going in and out, and seeing that it’s always refilled, sometimes in the most unexpected ways, or that things are actually costing me much less than I imagined they were has been so empowering. Learn to trust the rhythm of your money by increasing it’s visibility, and getting better connected to your emotional reaction. When we worry less about money we increase the amount of joy in our lives exponentially.
Next week in the “All About The Money, Honey” Series – How To Redefine Your Relationship With Money for greater ease and flow.
This 4-part “All About The Money, Honey” series is brought to you courtesy of my friends at Westpac (check out their new #CashNav app to get a realtime update on the ebb of flow of your money rhythm) – all views, opinions, tools, tricks and tips are, as always, 100% my own.
You can read the other articles in the series right here.
Week 1 – “All About The Money, Honey!” Money Series
Week 2 – Looking Money In The Eye. Getting honest about your REAL money habits.
Week 3 – Why your Diet is like your Money Habits – and how to overcome self-sabotage
Week 4 – If you think you can’t afford it, how to get what you want without breaking the bank
