What Does Money Mean To Me?

Bob shared with me a podcast from Speaking of Faith. It was an interview with Rachel Naomi Remen about the current economic crisis. I was so riveted by it that I listened to it a second time and took notes.

Here they are:
Remen started the discussion by suggesting that the current financial crisis forces us to face three key questions.

1. What can be trusted?

2. What sustains me?

3. What do I really need in order to live?

Remen said that the economy is pointing the finger to a spiritual emptiness that many of us experience. She described money as the densest form of human energy. She then suggested that energy follows beliefs. This moves us to ask: What is a good life?

She described some of the beliefs many of us live by. These include- I am not safe. I am alone. No one will help me. We buy into these beliefs and they become our story. She said they become our small story. The story that tells us that comfort is life's goal. Our deepest yearnings become lost because we are following the small story in order to fill ourselves.

Remen described how her own life has changed. She shared that she is now asking what is important as she shops in the grocery store. She believes we are now awake and uncomfortable. This leaves us asking the question what do I need to let go of? what is worth working for? Human energy becomes valuable again.

This talk reasonated with me on so many levels. Since the first of the year, Bob and I have been meeting every Monday morning to look at our finances and make the plan for the week and track our progress towards our goals. We both suck at managing money. Luckiliy, we both work hard to compensate for this. However, this current crisis has challenged us to become more conscious not just of what we make but also of what we spend. There have been some ugly moments as we face the reality of our own over spending and waste. However, there has also been some newfound joy.

I really like to cook. I have been cooking quite creatively to make food go further. Eating out has become the luxary it was meant to be rather than a mutliple times a week activity. These could all just seem like tactics, but they are actually more than that. At the root, we are deciding what is really important to us. What gets cut first? What is holy to us and will be the last thing to go? Even more than that, I have been reminded as Remen points out what sustains me. The things that sustain me are pretty simple- the people I love, a hot bath, warm coffee, books ( I got a library card), a journal, an internet connection. Truth is I don't require all of these things to be happy. I can be sustained simply by the people I love.

Our dear pastor,Rick, said on Sunday- what if we just have to live on less. For some reason that stuck with me- I can handle that. I will not die from that. I might even become a better more interesting and creative person from it. I might find a way to live into a bigger story that is not limited by the stuff that the lulls me to sleep.