The Soul of Money

We are whole and complete and most of all we are “sufficient” as Lynne Twist puts it in her beautiful book “The Soul of Money”. In there she reminds us how much we have become easily manipulated by the media that is bombarding us with messages telling us that we are not beautiful enough until we buy that particular cream, or that we smell bad until we buy that particular deodorant, or that we are not eating right until we buy that particular type of food.

We are too tall, too thin, too fat, too poor, etc. Consciously or not we have become part of a culture that is out of control. We live in a society where we allow ourselves to be manipulated into consumption at the cost of our health, happiness and our environment. We seem to not longer know how to stop and to ask ourselves why we wanted these things in the first place. We seem to have forgotten that all we actually wanted was to love and to be loved. We wanted a little fulfillment and instead we have learned to settle for the symbols of love – beauty, youth, status symbols, jewelry, cars, houses, etc. – rather than the real thing: love. The results are obvious disease and endless addictions.

It is time we get back in touch with our core, with our hearts with our love for ourselves and others. Independently of what’s happening around us, we have to begin reevaluating our needs and ask ourselves which ones are actually wants. We ought to find out for ourselves how much personal freedom and moment to moment happiness we are willing to give up in exchange for those wants. We need to make a conscious decision on how much pain we are willing to accept in order to achieve something that we don’t really need but think we have to have because someone else told us so.

When we realize that we are perfect the way we are our hearts start to open up and we begin giving and making a difference in the world. The moment we give our love, time and money to serve we notice how rich, wealthy and prosperous we actually are no matter what your bank account looks like. A life of meaning and fulfillment begins. The moment we let go of what we don’t need we get what we want.