Still brewing this one in my head, though it's clear in my heart.
Oh, money. Yet something else we can all relate to… but have little idea of what it really is.
We, as a community, equate it to many things in this life. I often say money is oxygen. We need it to live in our world just like oxygen. And if I’m being 100% truthful – which is what I strive to do here – I absolutely hate it.
Now let’s take that back before the manifesting gods hear it.
See it’s not that I don’t love what money affords me, of course I love that. What I do hate about it are the mindsets we hold around it collectively.
There’s a misconception that money is scarce, that there’s not enough to go around for everyone, that there’s a limited supply. And yes, while quite literally there’s only a fixed number of bills out there, there’s also a constant flow of these bills.
I hate our collective understanding of money because it’s a false paradigm of what’s actually available to us.
And while this might be a bit idealistic, bear with me through this thought exercise. It just might flip a piece of your perspective.
We have arrived on this planet, and hopefully you believe that we would not have been brought here had it not be because this planet can and does sustain us in the most critical ways for our survival.
You need to breath oxygen? We got that covered. Water? Yup. That too. Nourishment in the way of food? Ditto folks. These trees grow your leaves, fruits, nuts and veggies and there are a few animals running around here too if that’s your thing.
So if what money has come to represent are facilitated exchanges of all these things, and there’s an abundance of these things on our planet readily available to us, then there’s a scarcity of money?
?
A brief history on how money came about…
I have a stalk of corn. I’m tired of eating corn. It would be nice to have some potatoes for dinner tonight, so I go over to my farmer neighbor Mary next door, and she decides “yeah, I’m kinda tired of potatoes now that you mention it. I’d love some corn.” And so, Mary and I trade some ears of corn for some potatoes. I leave happy and she leaves happy and when we return home we’re even happier because our families are happy to eat something new for dinner.
Somewhere along the line Mary and I decide we’d really like some leafy greens in our diet, so we go over to our farmer neighbor Roberto next next door and see if he’s interested in some corn or potatoes in exchange for some kale.
Farmer Roberto ain’t havin’ it.
He’s on a strict Whole30.
Mary and I look at each other and think, what on earth can we do? We really need some roughage in our diet.
What can we offer farmer Roberto for some of his kale?
As Mary is kicking around the dirt, she notices a special looking little shell. She picks it up and says to Roberto and I, “what if we all agree to exchange kale for this little shell. The next time Roberto decides he wants some corn or potatoes, he can bring this little shell to us and we will provide them to him happily. It’s a unique shell, so we’ll know it’s from our agreement.”
And this is exactly how money came to be. Humans decided they needed a token to “hold” value to facilitate trade.
The creation of money was driven by the need to trade for goods.
But we’re confused, and so we hoard money, fear when we do spend it or screw someone over we love because we need for money so badly.
The thing is, I get it. I understand what it feels like to be desperate for cash. And what I told that desperate girl and what I’m still telling this woman now is, don’t ever doubt that this place has more than enough to sustain you.
You just need to go out and get it.
Money is something we made up. It’s fallible, and like any system, it has issues and imperfections. And to live and die by an imperfect system, to sacrifice the things we sacrifice in the name of money – our health, our sleep, time with our family – it’s short sighted.
The next time you’re panicking about money or are thinking of sacrificing big things for it, like your happiness, think about its origins, how it came about and what it truly represents. I’m not saying it’s going to stop your need for it, I’m just saying it might put it into perspective.
It only has the power we give it, collectively and individually.
All my love,
Nat
Photo credit goes to:
Advertising Agency: TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris, Johannesburg
Executive Creative Director: Damon Stapleton
Creative Director: Nicholas Hulle
Art Directors: Shelley Smoler and Nadja Lossgott
Copywriter: Raphael Basckin
and https://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/the-zimbabwean-the-trillion-dollar-campaign/ for sharing it so beautifully.