Are You Dissin' Your Money?

A common theme in my work with clients entails assessing the current state of their relationship with money–what’s working and what’s not–and identifying ways to improve this relationship.For many people, the idea that we actually have a relationship with money is a novel concept. I ask clients to think about how they are treating their money. After some reflection they often sheepishly admit that if they were treated the way they are treating their money, they’d end the relationship!

So, how are YOU treating this partner of yours, money?

Taking care of our money, tending to this relationship, takes as much time, energy, and intention as any other important relationship in our lives. If you want greater ease around money, and would like more money to come into your life, I ask you to examine what you are putting into this relationship. As Barbara Stanny so bluntly puts it in her book, Overcoming Underearning, “If you want [money] to last, you’ve got to take care of it. Throw it around carelessly or ignore it completely and guess what’s going to happen? ” She further asserts: “Of all the people I’ve interviewed for my books, or met during my travels, I can safely say, the ones with the highest net worth were not necessarily the ones who made the most money. They were the ones who took the best care of their money.“

As an example, one of my clients is in sales and receives multiple commission checks each month. Before our work together, these checks would arrive and remain unopened–tossed about–until she gathered them up for deposit. Through our work together, she has created a ‘receiving ritual’ that delightfully expresses her newfound respect and appreciation for this income. Now as each check arrives, she opens it, pauses for a moment of gratitude to welcome this money into her life, and places each check in a beautiful ‘gratitude bowl’ until her next trip to the bank. Can you see the difference something like this would make? These are the types of subtle shifts that create a “welcome mat” for more abundance to enter your life.

Your Action Steps To Financial Smitten-hood:

Think about how you are treating your money and find one small step to bring more respect and appreciation into this relationship. One simple way to start is to pull out your wallet and take a look at what’s going on in there. This is one place that your money lives. Is your wallet neat and organized? Is it crowded and/or overflowing with receipts, expired gift cards, or a ton of coins? Sometimes even old gum wrappers seem to snuggle in there somehow! Is your wallet a place that YOU would want to hang out, if you were money?

Take some time this week to clean out your wallet, and see what this feels like.