Bad Karma Lady - What is Your Money Energy?
Money is money. There is nothing good or bad about money. It is the energy, the relationship we have with money that determines whether it creates good or back outcomes - makes us feel happy or sad.
Our experience around money is derived from the energy - the negative or positive meaning - we give it.
Money, in and of itself, is worthless. It has no value. It's only when it is used to generate something else does it hold any worth.
Money can buy stuff, status, power and sometimes even people.
Money can nourish countries seeped in poverty.
Money can starve a hungry soul.
Generating money to achieve our wildest dreams, to serve others, to spread enjoyment and enriched experiences is one thing. Hoarding money in a desperate attempt to feel worthy or to control others is quite another.
We know money does not buy happiness. Inner wealth creates happiness.
Money is, indeed, a primary means of commerce, growth and expansion. Money is something we use as a means of exchange to build, create, distribute, buy and sell the things we want to consume in order to enjoy a specific experience.
Money is a means to a desired end, not the end itself. Today, money is merely digits in a computer somewhere. Money by itself, provides nothing. It's what we exchange money for that provides what we ultimately want.
For most people.
For some people, money - and the amount they have - is the means through which they identify their self-worth. They have a disordered, sense of low self-esteem and belief that money is scarce. There isn't enough so grab all you can in order to have value. Money is the only means used to measure self-worth.
There isn't enough money in the world to fill the empty chasm of such self-inflicted discontent. Mis-identification with money is one of the sources of the quiet - or not so quiet - desperation that Henry David Thorough wrote about so elegantly.
Money can be used to create wonderful experiences that serve the greater good of all. We live in an abundant world. We are here to imagine, create and enjoy a rich delicious life as we include others in that experience.
You don't have to look very far to see examples of good and destructive energy around money. Many wealthy people use their wealth to enrich the lives of others.
Look at the philanthropy and dedication to service of people like George Clooney, Oprah, Richard Branson, Bill and Melinda Gates, Bono and the people you meet in your daily life - financially rich and poor - who exchange large or meager amounts of money to enrich others as well and themselves.
Their wealth generates more inner and outer wealth for themselves and the people they serve.
There are examples of people, companies, societies and governments who use money to control or force their way of thinking upon others and for other destructive means, intentionally or unintentionally. Money is not the root of all evil. It is the money energy of the person using or receiving money that evokes the destruction, the evil outcomes.
More often, though, the person with a negative energy around money - a money disorder - is the one ultimately hurt the most.
Bad Karma Lady
I know a woman. I'll call her Andrea. She lives in a $5 million dollar home with no mortgage, has a Rolls Royce, jewelry, clothes, and passive income. She is 70 years old, in good physical health and is "set for life".
You'd think she'd be more than a happy camper enjoying life and all it has to offer.
She is anything but happy.
Andrea is the poorest person I know. Many poor, woefully impoverished people, have more inner wealth, dignity, compassion and strength of character than Andrea.
Andrea is alone - trapped in her gilded cage.
Her fear of 'not having money' has driven her to become penniless in terms of her emotional self-worth.
She married - several times - for money, not love. The marriages ended in divorce.
She's alienated her friends.
She rules her family relationships with an iron fist of control and power.
Andrea treats all 'lesser people' with disdain.
She complains most people are either out to get her or jealous of her.
Her expensive mansion is falling apart.
Her Rolls Royce is in need of repair.
Her house and overstuffed closets are filled with cheap crap.
She doesn't travel or enjoy much of anything.
She cringes at the thought of spending any money.
To spend a dime would be giving up a part of her soul.
Andrea's sense of self is wholly embedded in the amount of money she has.
In that sense, Andrea lives a squandered life of poverty.
She uses her bank account to mask her deep insecurity, anxiety and low self-esteem.
She is unable to value anything other than money. Personal values such as love, integrity, honesty, trust, accomplishment, compassion, loyalty aren't placed in the same zip code as her attachment to money.
For Andrea, money is the only measure of esteem and desirability. It is the only thing with which she has a relationship.
Andrea suffers from a money disorder, an addiction to money at the cellular level. Her personal motivation and identity is so dependent upon how much money she has she would be completely lost without it. She's afraid that without money she'll be nothing or will die.
All of her thoughts, beliefs, feelings, choices, actions and outcomes are birthed in this state of fear. From that place she destroys anything of real value - relationships, fun times, love, opportunity - that comes knocking at her door.
She is privately known as the "bad karma lady", a woman who victimizes and views her life from a victim's perspective. She demolishes any fulfilling experience and blames others for her empty, joyless life.
To the extent that Andrea, or any one of us, identifies with something outside of herself is to the extent of our misery.
Desperation, emptiness, feelings of disconnection, loss of vitality or sense of meaning and purpose are all symptoms of external identification.
Inner wealth and esteem is an inside job. A life story well lived and well told is an inside job.
There is a natural healthy flow to the energy of money as it is earned, saved, invested, spent and exchanged for experiences that make hearts sing. Cutting off that flow through wretched hoarding in a frantic attempt to feel validated sucks the life energy out of the hoarder.
It stops any opportunity for the positive energy flow of money that can touch, influence, impact and create the kind of wealth that enriches lives and mankind itself.
Know this: We are not a bank account. Our sense of worth is developed from the inside out. Nothing outside of us can fill our internal vault of life enriching resources.
I encourage you to continue to be mindful of your money mindset. Pay attention to how you feel when you think of money or people with (or without) money. Reach for a new and better perspective if your money energy is low or negative.
Develop and express a sense of inner wealth that matches - or exceeds - your outer affluent potential.
Its what you're here to do and enjoy.