[https://vimeo.com/21063795]
Long and hard, as long as I can remember I have thought thought, think, thank, thunked about money. What is it? Why do we have it? Why doesn’t anyone ever seem to have enough of it? And what is enough money anyway?

Money simply represents energy. Money is not energy.  Energy around money comes from human interpretation of it. Money symbolizes an exchange of time and meaning.

I give you _______ and you give me an agreed upon amount of money. You and I agree that the exchange is valued at a certain amount of money, most often informed by what the market (society) deems as “fair”. The money you give me can then go towards something else with a perceived monetary value.

Hmmm. I wonder.

What would happen if we started using money energy and our personal time energy for the things we need, and limit our want-based spending? What would happen if we became more observant of others needs around us and share the things we have, to reduce need-based suffering and waste?

If I have two blankets, and I only use one, why should I hold onto the unused one, when there are people homeless and cold every night in my city? Is it better to allay my fear of being cold in the future by hanging onto an extra? Or by sharing my unneeded possessions generously, won’t that secure my needs in the future? Regardless, the blanket I don’t need now could help someone tonight, and that human’s needs should take priority over my fear.

It seems ludicrous to judge a person by the amount of money they have or by their earning potential.

As a corporate PR writer, I made a whopping hourly rate for my skills and experience. Even then I didn’t feel I was making enough. I was operating from a belief in lack instead of believing in a world that is tremendously abundant.

Our culture has conditioned us to want more. Money has become a drug, creating an insatiable (and impossible) quest for more more more.

For most of my adult life, I was fearful of not having enough money. I noticed that my drive for money had a hold on me, and I didn’t like that feeling. I asked myself what the fear was really all about? What was I really afraid of? It turned out that to me, not having enough meant I would have fewer choices, but in reality, it’s not that I have fewer choices, it’s that perhaps the scope of my choices change. I was afraid of running out of food, or the things that I need. Afraid that because I haven’t started saving for my children’s college education that their happiness would somehow be compromised.

This isn’t true.

I’ve never really been a big consumer of stuff, but now more than ever I find ways to consume less, especially where merchandise and material goods are concerned. I primarily use money to buy food for my family. That’s about it. More often I create things for my friends’ and family members’ birthdays, and try to buy used if I need something. My commitment to this new use of my own personal energy reduces the resource waste from transportation, packaging, and invests my time in creating things that are hopefully more likely to be treasured.

The truth is I have everything I need in this moment. Thankfully, I have food, shelter and fresh water. I have loving and caring friends and family. I have the ability to help others, and the ability to give of my talents and skills that others find valuable. I have a mind and a will power that will create opportunities for me to fulfill my basic needs and the needs of others.

I believe in the power of love and personal energy far more than I believe in money energy.

“Enough is abundance to the wise.” ~Socrates

Heidemarie Schwermer (in the video above) shares the four things:

There are four things which are very important in our lives:

1.The contact to myself. I have to know what is important for me, whom I am, what I need really and what I like really!

2.The contact to the you! Why don’t I like this person? Why this person makes me so angry? What does it reflect to me. What can I learn? Each person is a teacher for me and not an enemy!!!

3.The contact to the society. It is important that everyone takes care of the environment. We are responsible for the things around us and when we are awake we can handle a lot in the world!

4.the contact to the universe. If we notice that each of us is a cell in the universe we can change our behaviour with other people and the world. If we can see the world like a whole and us like a part of it we change our behavment completely, because we take responsability for all! These four points are all (in my eyes!)

Love, blessings and thanks to Loran, for inspiring me to finish this piece, and to Heidemarie Schwermer  for sharing her vision and the German to English translation taken directly from her Web site http://www.heidemarieschwermer.com/englisch.html .

© 2012 Becky Jaine