Growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt of the South, I inherited a lot of nonsensical ideas about money. "It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven than it is for a camel to enter the eye of a needle," and "Don't store up treasures where moth and rust may destroy them..." and that sort of thing. Until I was in my mid-twenties I thought the old psalm said, "Money is the root of all evil," and of course, the revelation when it came was only to understand that it wasn't the thing itself, it was "The love of money" which was the root of all that evil. Rich people were greedy, slobbering demons, as far as I understood it, who would stop at nothing to take the last teeny morsel from the mouth of anyone in their paths.
After recovering from that harsh upbringing, it has taken me years to unearth and overcome the remaining brainwashing I was given around money. In the last decade, I have come to understand and appreciate it, not just as "another form of energy" like food, and love, and all the rest; and not just as a useful trade note for ease of exchange; but also as means to lots of things I really enjoy like: housing, and food, and health care, not to mention, wine and chocolate and family vacations. And considering where I had come from, I felt like I'd come a long way with my relationship with money.
That is, until I started to become familiar with T. Harv Eker and his wonderful book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. This little gem is full of eye-openers on the subject of the differences between the ways rich people and poor people conceptualize money and earning money. The thing that clicked for me in a way I had never before considered was that rich people think about having money not just spending it. Before, I had only thought well of money as a means to get things I wanted or needed, or to empower others to get what they wanted or needed. At best I fantasized about all the people I could help with more money. And always, in my fantasies and imagining of being rich, I was giving lots of money away, spending tons, and using charity to justify the wealth.
Then, quite suddenly, I was handed this concept of just having money, not as a means, but as an end in itself. Rich people don't focus their money attention on how they'll spend it -- they know they'll have no trouble doing that. Rich people focus instead on having money, and making more, and keeping lots and lots of it. And they aren't ashamed to just possess the money itself. It doesn't have to be headed toward the greater civic or collective good, in order to be worthwhile or guilt-free. And it doesn't have to be simply a middleman to personal pleasure. Money is the intention, not it's potential trappings.
The second discovery that changed my money thinking was Morgana Rea's (patented) Prosperity Coaching technique of transforming one's interactions with money into a literal relationship with it. She teaches people to stop relating to money as a loveless ogre that you're ashamed to even bring into the room; and instead to relate with money as if it was the most wonderful, understanding and supportive, generous lover you've ever had -- a "Money Honey", she calls it. You get rid of your old inhibiting programming around money, and initiate a new directive to your mind to interact with an actual character (in your thoughts) who is a representation of your money, and ask it how best to woo and keep it.
Both of these concepts worked together to crystallize the idea for me that Money is Nice. It isn't a monster waiting to get me. It isn't a trickster waiting to teach me an embarrassing lesson. It isn't a demoralizer, or a family-wrecker, or gate-way obsession. It isn't just for charity projects. It isn't just for buying all the things we need. Money is nice all by itself.
Now, the fear of scarcity... that thing is really the root of all evil.
And by the way, camels could, after the city gates were closed for the night, enter through a small portal in the wall called "the eye of the needle". Though it was difficult to get the camel to move forward on its belly, any camel could do it.
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Be well.
