Money, money, money! Money plays a massive role in each and every one of our lives. It can subconsciously drive our thoughts and decisions and shape our lifestyle. Having money at the forefront of the mind, we can end up carried away by wants and contorted in our understanding of needs.
This week’s Unconventional Life guests, Ali Katz made her millions, felt the empty sting of accomplishing “success” without happiness and went on a journey of a lifetime to heal her relationship to money. With a healthy and balanced approach to how much money she really needs, she now feeds her soul in a way that’s placed her in a better position to be of service to the world.
Examine your relationship to money and free yourself from the money trap.
Money Dysmorphia
Money dysmorphia is a distorted view of one’s financial reality that can cause people to make poor decisions. In this state, time and energy can easily be spent in the wrong place and leave people subject to the insatiable, never-ending need for“more”.
This type of dysmorphia is often sculpted during our early years and shapes the way we think, act and earn. For some it can look like insecurity about never having enough, for others, shame or guilt.
Ali Katz built 2 million dollar companies, wrote a best-selling book, lived in a beautiful home by the beach and sent her children to private school. Amidst all of that, she found herself unhappy and wondering what had driven her to chase a dream that left her feeling completely unsatisfied.
“What I discovered was actually wrong is that almost all of my decisions were being made through a lens of money.”
For her, all of her time, energy and attention was on money. So now what?
When people get into right relationship with money, one that’s not distorted, it becomes possible to examine what the true driving force is.
What is Your Relationship to Money?
Do you worry about money monthly? Daily? Weekly? Hourly?
Do you make decisions based on how it will affect your income? Do you feel trapped, limited or constantly a few steps behind financially?
Ali Katz built up her world and then watched it crumble around her. She now offers guidance to others through her work with “Eyes Wide Open”, praying that they can learn from her mistakes.
Needs vs. Wants
Get exceedingly clear: What do I need as a minimum to thrive?
“It’s incredibly important to understand, what do you really need? We have a messed up view of need in our world. We either don’t want to be needy and so we pretend that we don’t have any needs, which obviously isn’t true. Or we have an overinflated view of what we need. When we have an over-inflated view of what we need, we’re often striving for more, more, more and attempting to fill a need that can never be filled because it’s not a need, it’s a want.”
Once you’ve established a financial figure for how much money you need as a minimum to thrive, ask yourself: What is my minimum to be of service?
Now that you’ve got these two figures in front of you, use them as your compass.
If you find yourself in a spiral of fear and freak out about not having enough money- STOP. Look at your minimum “thrive” amount and “of service” amount. If you have this money and you’re still freaking out, you have now identified that you are experiencing a different fear that resides under the surface.
T.E.A.M.
How do you spend your time?
What is it you spend your energy on?
Where do you focus your attention?
We exchange each of these for money daily. Where are you in relation to these metrics?
We Create the Economy
Money has a place in our current economy, after all, it’s how we exchange and store value.
How you value your T.E.A.M., well that’s for you to decide.
“we create the economy. The economy is not something imposed on us from the outside. We are not at the whim of the stock market or the government or any of these outside or big corporations. That is power and control that we don’t have to be subject to that anymore when we realize we create the economy.”
For free access to Ali Katz’ “7 Day We Create the Economy Challenge” click here
Join the “Eyes Wide Open Tribe ” Facebook group
Follow Ali Katz on instagram: @thealikatz
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This article was written by Olenka Toroshenko
Olenka Toroshenko is a Ukrainian Canadian artist, writer, and producer whose life is in service to a saner, meaningful existence. She is a multidisciplinary performer whose mediums include spoken word poetry, dance, clown, song, and ritual performance art.
Olenka is a Katonah yoga teacher, lifelong student, and lover of coniferous forests. She has worked in news broadcast and politics which have helped shape her understanding of the current cultural paradigm
https://www.olenkatoroshenko.com/
