Being Conscious with Money

The Story

As human beings, we like to create meaning from our experiences and we tell stories about these experiences. We also absorb stories from culture, fairytales, religion, our parents, friends and advertising. We believe these and rarely question them, even when they don’t serve us. When it comes to money, stories or unexamined thoughts turn up in variations like ‘Earning money always involves tough sacrifices’ or ‘Rich people are evil’ or ‘Greedy people ask for a raise’ or ‘I am terrible with money'. Understanding, learning to play with and challenging some of these stories is the key to having a more conscious relationship with money and consequently having more choices with money and life. 

Sometimes these stories can be empowering like when we believe money is simply one of the many ways we can meet our beautiful human needs. At other times, disempowering unconscious beliefs can sabotage us; these include stories of unworthiness and lack or what we ‘should’ be, they hold us back from living a happy and fulfilled life.

Questioning these stories, especially if they keep you stuck, frozen or with a limited range of choice is vital to having a conscious relationship with money.

In this guide, Cleona Lira helps you explore your relationship with money. 

What is the role of money in the search for meaning? Is our relationship to it one of the chief factors that keeps us in our prison, or could it also be a tool for breaking out, for awakening to a life filled with intensity of purpose? ~ Jacob Needleman

The two aspects of money 

Money is neutral. It is something we made up so I can exchange my cocoa beans for your grains. And yet, money is so many things because we need it to live our lives. The lack of it or even the natural supply of it can trigger many emotions within us as even those of us with ‘enough’ have unease with money. So Money is also important. It is one of the ways we meet our human needs for safety, security and ease in the world.

The feeling of disempowerment 

As a financial advisor, I have many money conversations. One of the disempowering stories I often hear from women is “I just don’t understand money (pensions or investments) very well, so it has kept me from doing anything”. Actually, I also hear this from men. This feeling of ‘incompetence’ stems from not being familiar with the language and vocabulary of money.
This disempowering story isn’t limited to people that ‘don’t know anything about money’ – it is a cross section of individuals including those with finance degrees or investment bankers; personal finance is a different ball game and some deeply unconscious money blocks can be at play too.

What’s the solution? 

Pay attention to disempowering stories about money and examine those that don’t serve you. You can use a template like Byron Katie’s The Work to do this, which is very powerful in looking at our mental constructs and shifting thoughts that create suffering. Doing this work of self-awareness, will help you move towards a more conscious relationship with money creating more choice in all aspects of your life – work, saving, earning, investing and spending. This, in turn, will give you greater freedom and clarity with money related choices. And who doesn’t want that?  

Cleona offers workshops in London on this topic. It is her passion to create spaces to talk about money to gain more clarity and freedom in how to use it. Don’t live in London? You can subscribe to her newsletter to learn more.