When we don’t worry about our security, we can be at our best, we can shine. That is the time we discover ourselves and our full potential.We begin to respect ourselves in the act of creating wealth and our image about ourselves changes. Our confidence changes, all of a sudden it is tangible.
There are several areas of our lives, where we have our greatest learnings, where we meet our greatest teachers that help us to turn inward and discover ourselves. Relationships, parenthood and health are among them and so is wealth.
When we think we don’t have money or resources, our security is threatened and a lot of deep-rooted charges and programs reveal themselves. And when we start to move in the opposite direction, beginning the process of creating wealth, we start to dream our biggest dreams and face our greatest fears.
Only when we follow those dreams, when we work towards fulfilling our material desires along with our spiritual desires, will we grow in our every day life and on this material plane that we live on.
When we are wealthy, wecan contribute to the greater good of the society. When we have money, we spend money. We add to the circulation of wealth that flows all around us. By adding to this circulation, we contribute to everyone else who participates in this society.
A simple example could be Mary who is throwing a big birthday party. She might be hiring a venue and a DJ. She might order catering, supply drinks and decorate the venue. So by throwing a big birthday party, Mary will likely spend quite a bit of money. But the money will be in circulation with so many different people: the owners of the venue, the DJ, the caterers and their suppliers, etc.
Sometimes, we think that money is “gone” when we have spent it. But it is the exact opposite! In fact, money becomes alive when it is circulated. It does nothing if you try to hold on to it. When you circulate money (i.e. you spend it), it does what it does best: creating joy for everyone around it.
Don’t take this as an encouragement to spend all your money though! We will get to some basic money management principles later in the book.
The point here is simple: the more wealth you have, the more you can add to the circulation of wealth. You can contribute more to the society around you.
Creating Wealth as a Spiritual Pursuit
The Vedas, the ancient, sacred texts of Indian culture, described a fourfold path of life: Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha.
The purpose of Artha is to be successful, create wealth, earn money and have stability in our lives.
The purpose of Kama is to fulfill our desires, have pleasures in life and achieve our goals in life by overcoming and learning from the obstacles that we face.
When we fulfill all our desires and take up all opportunities, eventually we will find our Dharma, our path in life. This is unique to each person and could be anything from being a business person, to being a mother, a social worker, a teacher, or anything else. Following our Dharma, our path in life, gives us absolute pleasure. It grows naturally with us and we grow naturally with it. As we follow our Dharma, it becomes natural that our sense of self expands. Thus we start to contribute to the lives of those around us as well as our own.
The fourth level is Moksha or liberation from suffering. According to the Vedas, when you follow your Dharma, your path, you will naturally experience liberation from suffering and an awakening to a higher Self.
Like the start of our spiritual journey, where we realize that we don’t want to or cannot live with our suffering anymore, there could be a similar “point of no return” with your finances. You may come to a point in your financial situation where you realize that you don’t want to, or cannot continue living the way you have been living.
For me this “financial awakening”, the point of no return, was when I had followed many different paths, accumulated a lot of knowledge but had never gained the success or financial results that I wanted. My past experiences seemed like failures and I knew I could not continue to follow other people’s paths. I needed to muster the courage to put everything that I had learned together and forge my own path.
Until this point I had relied heavily on two people in my life for financial advice and security: my husband and my father. When my marriage deteriorated, I realized that if he was not there I would be totally on my own with my finances and I’d better start putting the things I had learnt into practice.
The combination of these two situations became big enough to drive me.
For other people, the pain of not having what they want is a big enough driver for their “financial awakening”. Or their passion towards achieving something is so great that they become obsessed with it.
Financial awakening, like spiritual awakening, is a journey. It really begins with the point of no return, where we realize we want to walk down this road, even when it gets tough. Once we’re on this journey, it will take us through ups and downs, highs and lows. There is no question that we will make mistakes along the way, but we will also have gains and great achievements.
We should be aware that our journey of financial awakening is not merely about wealth. It is just as much about learning, growth, self-worth and experiencing joy in the process.Our souls crave experiences and growth on all levels. Our journey of financial awakening balances the spiritual and material worlds, and allows us to continuously and joyfully grow and develop on the material level.
To find the joy and passion it takes to go on this journey of learning, of growth, of facing our fears and taking risks, we need humility.
We need to open not only to receive, but also to truly experience what wealth and prosperity mean to us and bring to our lives. It could be the sense of self-worthor achievement; it could be the joy of supporting your family, your loved ones. It could be a sense of freedom, taking responsibility for your personal growth and your finances. Or it could be the inspiration to build something that is bigger than you, your family or even your community.
Exercise
1. Have you experienced any moments of financial awakening in your life? Write down what happened and how you felt at the time.
a. (Writing this experience down and re-reading it at difficult times on your journey when your motivation is low will help you to stay focused and achieve your dreams.)
2. What do wealth and prosperity mean to you? If you have difficulty answering this question, write down the first 3 associations you have when thinking about the term “wealth”.
3. What is the reason you downloaded this book? What are you hoping to learn and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?