Last May after writing these Grace Notes for about 6 months, I received a paypal donation of $10. A month later someone sent $100. A couple months after that I got $25 and then another $10. And then $100 again.
Now that is a weird thing, when your beliefs about money and how you get it is supposed to be hard work, and you’re supposed to be selling something or doing something that feels work-ish.
When it first happened, I thought “what is this? is there some mistake?”
This person out in the world who had sent me that first $10 also sent me an email saying she was tithing to what supports her in her personal inner journey. And that would be these posts.
You mean, just by being myself and having this practice of writing…which actually feels like it’s for me, people express their appreciation by sending money?
Holy Moly. I was so moved. And I saw with more clarity some of my own assumptions about money, because receiving these donations turned some of my beliefs upside down.
This is what I thought before:
- People pay you if you work very hard and give them a lot of energy, relief, attention, or time
- You have to push, drive, be disciplined to make money
- Money is NOT easy to get
- I have to hide my true feelings if I’m going to get paid
- The harder I work and the more time I work, the more money I will get
- If I am enjoying myself or doing what I would do right now anyway, for fun, then it’s weird to get paid for it
- If I wasn’t getting paid for something, I wouldn’t do it
- If I had all the money in the world that I needed, I would do NOTHING and I would be FREE to go the SPA
Really?
One of the most fascinating insights I ever had around money was when I did The Work with Katie on those rich people out there. Those greedy, jet-ski-using consumers who cared about nothing but themselves and their money!
Those people who went to fancy restaurants, spas, tropical islands, and who drove big ridiculous cars.
I think someone called them the 1%. Like they are Someone Different, in a different category, living in a different world, than me.
Mother Teresa was OK, because she was putting all her millions towards suffering people, but that guy who bought himself a 2 hour massage, a Four Seasons Buffet lunch, and a fancy suit from Nordstroms…now THAT guy was a selfish, greedy prick.
When you have all these rules about what is good or bad or selfish or generous about money, then you have to be so careful all the time. You have to watch out for your own inner greedy self that wants to win the lottery and go to the spa.
Who would I be without the thought that if I had a lot of money I would turn into the hoarding, sneaking-to-the-spa rich person who offered nothing of value to the world?
I mean really….it’s like my evaluation of human nature (when having these thoughts of money), including my own, is that everyone would prefer to have fun and do nothing and never exchange energy for money in the form of “work”.
Is it true? Can I absolutely KNOW that this is TRUE?
No. I see tons of people with great amounts of money flowing through their hands who are very involved and interested in giving, changing, making a difference, creating.
No. I notice that I myself don’t really like to sit around. I like writing and creating. I love teaching. I love working with people. I’ve done it a lot for free. I’ve PAID for workshops myself!
What if the turnarounds are just as true or truer?
- Money is easy to get, it is easy to receive, it just shows up, like air
- People pay me if I work very easy and give myself a lot of energy, relief, attention and time
- I have to relax, wait, and be undisciplined to make money–I have to allow my wild, chaotic, creative self to come forward and play
- I have to expose my true feelings to get paid
- The easier I play and the more time I play, the more money I will get
- If I am enjoying myself and doing what I would do for fun, why not get paid for it
- I do many things all day, every day, which don’t involved getting paid for it but I do it anyway….do I really have to get paid to do something?
- Have you ever been in a spa all day? It gets boring. I would want to do more, very soon, beyond this.
I found out, too, that when I had only $10 left in my bank account, and a mortgage due, and a first late payment which is the first step on the road to foreclosure, and not enough money to get gas to drive my car somewhere….I was still breathing and thinking and warm, and comfortable.
Who would you be without the thought that you are greedy or that going to the spa is a waste of resources, or that luxury is not cool?
What if even all this was not true? What if money was not my business? What if I didn’t believe the thought that there is not enough money somewhere?
Free to find out who I really am. Free to relax. Free to have or not have and enjoy both states and question what fears present themselves.
“Abundance has nothing to do with money. Money is not your business; truth is your business. I am not going to get wealth on the other side of the truth; I am going to get something much more important than that, something so powerful that everything else looks like nothing. But as long as I think it should look like money, I am cheating myself.”~Byron Katie
How is it the most fun ever, the most wonderful, the most interesting, the most perfect that you have exactly as much money as you have….and those other people have the amount of money they apparently have?
Who would you be without your story of money?
Someone who is sent money by strangers, out of the “blue”.
Love, Grace
Click here to register for any of these classes online. You can also send an email to grace@workwithgrace.com if you’d prefer to mail a check or want to ask questions.
- Earning Money: What’s Your Problem? Questioning Your Beliefs About Money, Work and Business. Mondays, February 4-April 1, 2013, 7:30 – 9:00 am Pacific time. 8 weeks $395. No class March 4th.