The Idea of Money

Money.

What comes to mind when you think about word? 

Is it a positive thought or a stressful thought?

For most of my life, that five letter word had a lot of negative weight in my mind. Growing up it was clear to me that “Money doesn’t grow on trees” and from the moment I became an independent, bill-paying woman, I FELT it! My concept of how it was earned, who deserved it, and why some people had it and others didn’t was much the same as almost everyone else; it was something only accessible by the fortunate, and all others had to fight for it. 

Anytime I would see something amazing, like people enjoying a day on a yacht, the thought that, “It would be nice to be on a yacht, if only I’d win the lotto!”. I couldn’t fathom myself working enough hours to earn enough money to be worthy of something like being on a yacht! Although I had never lived on the streets, I knew I wasn’t part of the 1% of America which has most of our money.

One vacation in 2014 changed my entire perspective of that! My older brother was engaged to marry one of my best friends in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, at an All inclusive resort. Luckily I had well over a year to plan and save for it because this trip was not going to be cheap! I managed to get enough to pay for the trip, and I had enough spending money to enjoy myself while I was there. 

For once, I was going on a vacation that was already paid for, and I would have play money that wouldn't affect weather my bills would be paid or not. 

From the moment the vacation started I had experiences of abundance. The resort is all inclusive, so the restaurants are 5 stars, and you could grab a drink at any bar or grab a drink for your whole group and not have to calculate how much you are spending (outside of tipping, of course). I had enough money to do an excursion each day I was there!

One of the excursions was horse back riding on the beach. I'm going to write a separate post about THAT whole experience, but something that was so eye-opening was getting to know our horse guide, and riding all the way from the mountains where these little towns are to the beach where the locals would go. During my trip a group of little kids ran up to me asking for my bottled water. I had told the kids no because I had been drinking that water and it probably had my backwash and germs. It didn't occur to me that they didn't have the luxury of clean (bottled) water the way I did and that they didn't care that it wasn't an untouched bottle of water. 

Our horse guide, Luis, told us his whole story about growing up in the mountains, and about how in their country owning a horse is a common thing and it's something they are very proud of. He told me about how his whole life's dream is to move to Texas and raise horses there. Here I was talking to a guy who according to his financial situation, would maybe never get to travel outside of his island. 

Suddenly, all of my problems were miniscule and petty. Not once in all of my "brokeness", my micro loans, my paycheck to paycheck and defaulting on loans, was I ever truly poor. In fact, in comparison, even at my worst I was living in luxury! 

***I realize the dictionary does not recognize "brokeness" as part of the English language, but my philosophy is, if you say a word and the listener/reader understands what you are saying, then do that is correct!

The entire experience at the resort was a week with my family and friends, not concerned about a single thing in the world, waking up early to eat a 5-star breakfast, going to the beach, eating a 5-star lunch, going on an excursion, eating a 5-star dinner. It was absolutely the richest I ever felt in my life! I had begun affirming the true reality which is "I am abundant. I am always taken care of, in the most perfect way. Happiness is now."

My perception of money as this difficult thing, this thing that keeps running out changed to it being something fluid, something that comes easily to me, something that is really unnecessary when quantifying true wealth. The fact that I am in such great health and I am so happy and my family is all doing well and are all finding happiness, THAT is true wealth. And when you have faith that you are truly abundant, the circumstances change so rapidly to match your surroundings to your thoughts or in other words, your outside to your inside. Make sense?

A few months after that, I went to the beach here in Florida with some friends. There is this thing I do in the water every time I go to the beach. I sit in the ocean feeling the current moving around me. I face out to the furthest point in the horizon, I close my eyes and I pray. I visualize all of the things I am thankful for and I smile. I spread my hands out to allow the energy to flow freely from my fingertips and I give thanks. Then I sit in silence for a little bit, allowing the waves to rock me back and forth. One this particular day, I was remembering the feeling of abundance I felt at the resort in Punta Cana, and I started affirming to myself, "I am so abundant, it flows from my cup and fills others". And out of nowhere, a dollar bill floated right in front of me!

That was the clearest sign to me! You couldn't convince me otherwise! Shortly after that I had gotten a promotion at my job and my roommate moved in with me, cutting the bills in half! And it all started with one thing: my thoughts. 

I hope there is something you can relate to in this story. Look around you, at the job you have (at least you have a means of income) at the place you live (at least you have a bed to sleep on) at the breath you are breathing (at least you are still here with us). Take a look at all of that and begin to believe in your abundance. That is the only way. 

"Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into" - Wayne Dyer