Standing at the Hyatt I greeted each newcomer to our abundance networking club, “Living The Secret”. We usually had about 25 people each week at these Thursday night meetings. People came for different reasons, I noticed. Some came to learn more about the Law of Attraction. Some came because their friends came. Some came to network their business. Most came back, and that was always a good sign that we were providing a good space for people to share and express themselves.
After a few months my attention moved to one particular type of newcomer. They would introduce themselves and then somewhere in their conversation they would say “I am Spiritual”. At first I took this to mean they were announcing that they were not religious, but believed in a Universal Intelligence.
They would engage in the group discussions and without an exception, they would be having extreme financial lack issues in their lives. They argued about ‘the money-grabbing world’ and the importance of love and relationships and divine spirit as most important. As you can imagine, whenever someone else networked to promote their business, these ‘spiritual’ people would react and I would invariably be handling complaints and be losing these members.
If you have been following my twitter or read my book you already know how I feel about spirituality, money, others and love. To me, all of it is divine. All of life is spiritual, and money is neither good nor bad; it is a way of expressing what we value in the world.
By making a declaration such as “I am [label]”, we are announcing to the world: “this is how I want you to relate to me. I only accept this and anything else is not compatible with the Self I am being.” Labels define, divide, distinguish and polarize.
In my Work on this planet, I have chosen to be upfront and speak my truth about Beliefs. I study them, I help others reveal and transcend them and I actively work on my own to uncover and choose my beliefs.
So let’s look at the multiple beliefs that may be underneath the Label “I am spiritual”.
- Money is bad.
- Too much money makes people bad.
- I am afraid that I may love money too much.
- I don’t like what I see in the world and I think the wrong is related to money.
- Rich people are bad.
- I cannot do good work for the world and get paid well for it.
Whatever your beliefs about money, it is important to explore these statements and consider what source or primary thought they rest upon. A Belief is not Truth, but it can be true for you if you accept and internalize it. The choice rests with you once you realize it is a Belief behind your actions. And it reflects your results in life. If you don’t like your results, look at your thoughts and the Beliefs running your moment-by-moment choices.
Spirituality has nothing – and everything -to do with wealth. It is a paradox because by opening up to wealth you will find a more empowering definition of Spirituality which is based on abundance rather than lack. The difference rests on your Beliefs about money. When you stop repelling and rejecting the concept of money, you will find the flow opens; the money to pay your bills, live in comfort and do great things in the world is enhanced greatly. And then you can continue to BE Spiritual. Whatever that means to you.
Abundant prosperity to you.
Lori Mitchell is an Author and trainer on the SPEED Manifesting method and is committed to showing people their own power and inspiring them to live the life they came to live.
Comments
Hi Lori
Good observation. ‘I am Spiritual’ is just another label and in fact a ‘judgement’ of those who people may perceive as being ‘not spiritual’. This is called separation..whereas true spirituality is about oneness….we are all connected and everyone, every situation is our teacher, if we choose to heed the lesson.
We are in fact all spiritual beings living a human experience…however not everyone is yet aware or conscious of this.
Spirituality is NOT necessarily about denouncing all forms of money, wealth or material goods. It’s about your relationship with the divine, the Universe, God, your higher power – whatever you may like to call it. It’s about who you are BEING in the world, moment by moment.
Wealth, prosperity and abundance, to me, are not just about money and possessions. It’s about having an abundance or wealth of anything valuable and worthwhile in life – clean water, air, love, friends, inner peace, family, time, laughter, shelter (be it a tent or a castle), and yes money as well is a part of the whole picture but only a part. Money alone doesn’t bring happiness, it’s the FEELING what we can DO or BUY with money that CAN bring happiness (though not necessarily). eg. more money/financial abundance/prosperity may mean you can have more time with people you care about, more massages, better quality food, more life experiences. But it’s not essential for that.
I often find many people who are quote spiritual unquote and have judgements about money or anything to do with that are the ones who have an unhealed wound in this area…and many times it relates back to upbringing, conditioning, culture, ultimately it comes down to deep feelings of unworthiness. (This statement alone is likely to trigger ‘spiritual people’ with a negative view of money even more).
This is a whole other topic altogether so I won’t go into it here now.
What I would do is invite those people who have ‘energy’ about money (ie. it triggers a negative feeling in them) is ask themselves what does this really mean? Where does it stem from? What power are you giving this thought/idea/belief?
Money is, after all, just an energy vibration, like electricity, a table, a book, us as humans…
We can choose to change our relationship with money that empowers us rather than disempower us..and use it simply as a tool to help create more positive change in the world. This doesn’t have to mean anything grandiose like saving the world…it could be as simple as feeling secure in knowing your basic needs are met, you are self sufficient and you have the freedom/choice to pursue goals, interests, activities that bring you joy.
Some of the most beautiful, loving, aware, conscious, generous, positive people I know also happen to be financial wealthy. Funny…they didn’t necessarily start out that way. Once they brought who they were being into alignment with the Universe and let go of any attachment to money, it just started to flow.
I have discovered through personal experience, some of the most highly evolved and ‘spiritual’ people I know are in fact the extremely wealthy ones..because they understand the relationship of money and the divine. And even if it was all taken away from them (which has often happened in the past) it doesn’t change who they are….their security comes from within..and so they recreate the wealth effortlessly all over again.
Thank you JulieAnn. I love the distinction you make about wealthy people being deeply spiritual. So often it is wealthy people that get a hard time in the news, in bedtime stories and mainstream movies. It is wonderful to be alive at at time when we are coming back into balance about true abundance.
Hey Lori,
My experience with most people who don’t feel like they have enough money (both those who are truly broke and those who just “think” they are), is that often they try to cover up by making excuses.
Saying something like “I’m spiritual” is just one of many. The truth is virtually no one wants to be poor, or overweight, or sick, or anything else that they perceive as “not good enough.” So they make up excuses about why they can’t have what they want.
It’s much easier to say “I’m spiritual” and therefore broke than to say “I’m the creator of my life and I’m broke because somewhere along the line I chose to be.” Eek! Who wants to admit that? It makes you feel like a failure just thinking about it.
But the truth is we DO create our reality and we ARE responsible if we are broke. And creating abundance (or health, great relationships, or anything else you want) is really about declaring to the Universe “YES!! I get it! I *know* I’m the creator of my experience, I understand how it works and I’m kicking butt!”
One final thought. Especially when you’re new to LOA, it can be difficult to get out of the rut you’re in. It takes a bit of focus and practice to get out of the “I’m spiritual” thinking and into the “I’m spiritual AND rich!” thinking. And I bet it works the other way too. I would bet that people who live in abundance would find it difficult to switch gears and buy into the lack reality.
Peace,
Maria