Sep 24 2008
The Soul of Money - Two
More wisdom from The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist, which began with the previous post:
“Money flows through all our lives, sometimes like a rushing river, and sometimes like a trickle. When it is flowing, it can purify, cleanse, create growth, and nourish. But when it is blocked or held too long, it can grow stagnant and toxic to those withholding or hoarding it.
Like water, money is a carrier. It can carry blessed energy, possibility, and intention, or it can carry control, domination, and guilt. It can be a current or a currency of love–a conduit for commitment–or a carrier of hurt or harm. We can be flooded with money and drown in its excess, and when we dam it up unnecessarily, we keep it out of circulation to the detrimant of others.”
Twist goes on to point out that Mother Teresa, whom she idolized and eventually visited, kept no cash reserves, and that “her method of fund-raising was to pray, and that God had always provided what she needed…” Mother Teresa operated more than 400 centers in 102 countries with “just enough.” Twist does not suggest that everyone operate without cash reserve, just to be aware that money, like every aspect of life, carries positive or negative energy.
With that in mind, she asks some interesting questions:
“Do you know the flow of money in your life? Are you mindful of how it comes to you? Are you consciously allocating where you want your money to go? When you can see the way money flows through your life, it gives you power to see where you are in your relationship with it and where you want to go with it….
The way money flows to you and through you to other purposes isn’t unrelated to your life. Does your money come to you through work, relationships, or perhaps existing wealth that carries the energy of nourishing generative commitments and values? Or does it come to you through work or relationships that deplete or exploit you, other people, or the environment? An unhealthy relationship with the way you acquire money is something that can suppress your life. The way we earn it and the way we spend it have an effect. It matters.”
If this has your attention, I recommend the picking up a copy of the book and one of those new highlighter/Post-it combo pens. And may we all improve our money karma…
