By Julie Oshins, “Play It Forward”
I’m interested in money - not just in acquiring money, but also in the relationship to money. It’s tax time. I own two businesses and forecasting into 2016, I again find myself looking at this relationship and possible mental limitations that may be affecting it. Money is our long time friend, but most of us feel more comfortable asking for, or confiding, the intimate details of a sexual relationship than the figures of bank accounts. SO much of what we believe about money is something we inherited from our parents, community, and society. We were raised to believe things like - money is evil, or it doesn’t grow on trees etc. If you think about it, if you treated your loved ones the way you treat your relationship to money, they probably wouldn’t stick around!
If you are interested in exploring your inherited money beliefs, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence is one of the most powerful books I have ever read, and delivers on it’s title. This book urges you to redefine your life values and your association with money. It started me on the path to be at peace with money, and have a job that reflects my values.
It’s important to love what we do, because we choose to trade our “life energy” for CA$H. Many spiritual leaders state that it’s all energy anyway. Money, our thoughts about money, buying something, or getting paid for our services. According to Deepak Chopra, ” The Universe Operates in dynamic exchange- giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe.” I explored this energy concept a little further by participating in a 41 day abundance experiment,where the daily assignment was to give away some form of supply (money, food, clothes, time, etc.) remembering money or supply doesn’t go anywhere and releasing-receiving are ONE and the same. The key is to find a balance and to keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives. Keep that energy moving!
Then, to get brutally honest with myself, I looked at my spending habits.
I discovered something very interesting in a book called Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending.
The book states, “Research shows that experiences provide more happiness than material goods, because experiences are more likely to make us feel connected to others. If you’re like most people, remembering an experience conjures friends and family, sights and smells.
It’s the fleetingness of experiential purchases that endears us to them. Either they’re not around long enough to become imperfect, or they are imperfect, but our memories and stories of them get sweet with time. Even a flawed experience becomes a good story.
Hmmm. Aren’t we in the business of providing services, which create experiences? And we already know this, right? What people remember after an event is the party, how much fun they had, not the chicken or fish, or even most of the other tangible details-
Over 57% of Americans report that experiential purchases make them happier than material purchases.
Knowing this, what if our primary focus was to create the type of memorable experience that is priceless.
Living an epic and meaningful life is about creating, sharing and capturing memories earned through experiences that span the rich spectrum of life’s opportunities. If you are not already, get really good at visually and verbally painting the experience clients will have if they hire you, and you may find yourself in demand for providing invaluable experiences and delivering your clients the biggest happiness bang for their buck!
