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May/June 2007 Living Now
Caring for Your Soul in Matters of Money

by Karen Ramsey

Sixteen years as a financial planner has led me to an unexpected conviction about money: everybody struggles with it, no matter how much they have.

Where there is a money struggle, there is money baggage, and where there is money baggage, there is a soul being blocked. However, there is great hope in this fact, because when you remove that block and allow the soul's voice in, you can change your relationship to money forever and begin to give your unique gift to the world. Time after time I have seen this insight dissolve money issues and transform lives.

Take, for example, Oliver and Anita. They argued constantly about her overspending and his passivity around finances. But they transformed a stress-filled marriage into a dynamic, purposeful partnership, where they now work together in an organization committed to ending world poverty. Or Phillip, a successful physician who was so uptight about spending that he ruined family holidays and left his kids and wife walking on eggshells and dreading his moods. He moved from a fear-based frugality to an easy generosity, completely changing the family dynamic.

Through years of teaching seminars on this subject, I have seen people overcome their chronic struggles with money and find their soul's purpose. Their transformations were possible only when they realized that their money baggage was the culprit behind many of their financial struggles. Without knowing it, it had pervaded their lives, unconsciously shaping their perceptions and steering their behaviors.

Here are some tips and strategies to help you release your money worries and move forward with the energy that happens when soul and money intersect. Your life can be different - filled with inner direction and connection with your life purpose.

Step One: Discover your money baggage and put it into words.

Everyone has money baggage: an erroneous belief formed in childhood based on observations or experiences around money. For Anita, the key event behind her chronic overspending was being punished as a small child when she took some coins from her father's bedroom dresser. Part of her money baggage was: I'm bad with money. At age 60, Phillip finally summarized his feelings - putting his belief into the words he might have used as a kid: I have to be frugal and work long and hard to make money. There is never enough. If I don't have enough, I'm not safe.

To discover your money baggage, examine your earliest childhood experiences around money. How did you relate to money? Was it discussed in your family? What are your earliest memories? What did people communicate or not communicate about money? Looking at all of this, formulate a short statement that captures the essence of your childhood feelings about money.

You have unconsciously lived your whole life in alignment with this belief, but that can change, and fairly quickly.

Step Two: Listen to your soul, and let it give you a new money message.

I grew up on a farm in Colorado with hard-working, always-exhausted parents. My money baggage is: You have to work hard to get money, and even if you do, you'll never make enough. After years of incredibly hard work - through high school, college and career - never getting ahead and dreading a lifetime of such struggle, I began some serious soul searching.

Listening to my soul led me to a new money message: It is my birthright to have abundance in all areas of my life and I give generously from this abundance. This message now guides my life in constant creation. Today I enjoy a business successful beyond my wildest dreams, I have time for my family, take several weeks of vacation a year, and can afford to give charitably to my favorite causes. My story and these other stories of transformation underscore the essence of my conviction: You have a unique gift to give the world, and if you listen to your soul, you can begin, step by step, to have your relationship to money empower your deepest self.

Step Three: Take small actions that are consistent with your new money message.

I want to emphasize the importance of action, of taking small, consistent steps, guided by your new money message. When we create our money message, we are generating and activating a new language inside ourselves, a fresh centering point that can shape and empower the rest of our lives.

Just as you unconsciously built your life around an erroneous, limiting belief (your money baggage), you can begin to construct a new life guided by your soul and in alignment with your unique gift to the world.

Karen Ramsey is a certified financial planner professional, workshop leader and author of Caring for Your Soul in Matters of Money and Think Again: New Money Choices, Old Money Myths. She is rated among Seattle Magazine's Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Managers in 2007. Visit www.caringmoney.com.