Money and Pleasure

There seems to be a taboo that both money and pleasure share. Get too much of either one and it won’t be good for you.

Too much money, and you might become a zombie, part of the walking dead without a soul.
Too much pleasure, and you set yourself up to be gluttonous. (You know the feeling after too much Halloween candy, right?)

Piggish, greedy, insatiable are the felt undertones of both money and pleasure.

So, you learn to turn down the volume of your desires.

The problem is, when you turn down the volume to your desires, you also turn down the volume of YOU – the real, authentic you! And, trust me, living that way just isn’t as fun.

Turning UP the volume to your desires feels exhilarating (sometime at first scary), and so rewarding because you get to experience more and more of the real YOU!

Turning DOWN the volume of your desires feels limiting, either/or like, and creating a division of essentials vs non-essentials.

Let me explain more via my money story….

To begin with, I felt no joy with money. Any dollars coming in were to go to paying the bills, and there was little room for “non-essentials.”

Unknowingly, I treated pleasure as a non-essential as well. Pleasure would be nice but it only gets to happen after the essentials on my to-do list are done.

Worst of all, was that my desires became non-essential as well. I could hear myself say “It would be NICE for X,Y, or Z to occur. I’d love it!” But, secretly, a part of me believed my desires belonged only to the lucky, chosen few – not me.

Is it any wonder that just like there was rarely “extra” money for “non-essentials,” there was also rarely “extra” time for pleasure?

Little did I know… I set up my life to make just ends meet with what I was able to receive both financially and emotionally.

Now, it’s your turn!

1. List out your current Essentials & Non-Essentials

Essentials: I actually demonstrated I valued this by spending time, energy & money on it.
Non-essentials: I would feel more expansive receiving this but thus far, keep telling myself it would be nice!

2. Plan now for what you would like your 2017 money to value.

Which of your 2016 “non-essentials would become essential? (list them in order of importance & why they matter to you).

3. How would it feel like to receive the above? Feel in every ounce of you how great it feels to receive this pleasure with ease, joy, and love.

4. Decide:

A. YES, I decide I will value myself by turning a non-essential into an essential.
B. NO, I decide I will continue to limit myself due to self-imposed limits on time, energy, & money.

Here’s the deal, I know #4 can sting. At least it did for a while for me, as I kept choosing B. The limits felt real – like 6 figures in debt real. It’s only through being on the other side that it’s so easy to see the fear that is creating the belief that you can’t, you are limited. What I know is that your non-essential list is present because you CAN receive it. At some point, if you want out of the current money trap, you’ll choose A. That’s how we each become free.

Whatever your A “non-essential” is, I hope you choose to receive it with joy!

Let’s change your money story and turn up the volume to your truth together!!