The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of Our Inner Resources shows us that
examining our attitudes toward money―earning it, spending it, and giving it away―can offer surprising insight into our lives, our values, and the essence of prosperity.
The Three Truths
Money is like water
No matter how much or how little money you have flowing through your life, when you direct that flow with soulful purpose, you feel wealthy. You feel vibrant and alive when you use your money in a way that represents you, not just a response to the market economy, but also as a expression of who you are.
When you let your money move to things you care about, your life lights up. That’s really what money is for.
What you appreciate appreciates
In the context of sufficiency, appreciation becomes a powerful, intentional practice of creating new value through our deliberate attention to the value of what we already have. Our attention enlarges and enriches our experience of whatever is before us.
Whe have the opportunity to to direct our intention in the way we relate to money, and when we do it empowers us. It becomes who we are and what we are about. When we allow jealousy, envy, resentment, and even vengeance to become the focus of our attention and intention, we become jealous, envious, resentful, vengeful people with our money. When we direct our attention to creativity, courage, and integrity, we become expressions of those qualities in whatever we do in our interactions with money.
- When your attention is on what’s lacking and scarce–in your life, in your work, in your family, in your town–then that becomes what you’re about. That’s the song you sing, the vision you generate. You expand the presence and the power of scarcity and tighten its grip on your world.
- If your attention is on the capacity you have to sustain yourself and your family, and contribute in a meaningful way to the well-being of others, then your experience of what you have is nourished and it grows. Even in adversity, if you can appreciate your capacity to meet it, learn, and grow from it, then you can create value where no one would have imagine it possible. In the ligth of your appreciation, your experience of prosperity grows.
Collaboration creates prosperity
Collaboration and reciprocity are natural, and yet in the world we inhabit, competition and the fear of scarcity often block us from seeing these ways of being with one another.
- In a you-or-me world, reciprocity and collaboration don’t fit.
- In a you-and-me world, is full of collaborators, partners, sharing, and reciprocity.
In that world, our resources are not only enough; they are infinite. When we bring the practice of collaboration and reciprocity into conscious view in everyday life, a kind of alchemy and prosperity await discovery all around us.