Money, Money, Money, Money: Self-Compassion For Our Pockets

Money

We all need self-compassion for our money problems.  Whether we do not have enough, and suffering mightily under unpaid bills, and foreboding future payments, or whether we have plenty of it, and find ourselves sad and lost every time we mistakenly think it is the answer to our unhappiness. 

The truth is that money can solve several problems, just none that demand happiness.  To be truly happy, you must accept that right now you are enough.  Ironically, it will not matter whether you have a dearth or an abundance of money.  If you allow yourself to be enough this very second, then happiness will no longer be out of your reach.

Money, Happiness, and India

Some years ago, they did a documentary on money in India.  It turned out to be a documentary on happiness, but I will try not to get ahead of myself.  In India, there is a great disparity in the income level of its inhabitants.  You have the very rich, and the very poor, and not too many people in between.  Strikingly, reporters found the rich people to be very stressed, and unhappy, and the impoverished people to be quite content. 

When they pushed for more information, they discovered that the rich people worried every day about losing the money they had amassed.  Contentment seemed out of their reach.  The impoverished people required few things that they could reasonably acquire: food, and perhaps a bath in the river.  They had more time to spend with their families, and friends.

Self-Compassion For Money

Self-Compassion is important because it tells us that we can be content right now.  We do not need to wait until all of our troubles have passed, and we have accomplished great success, and great wealth.  This sure is nice given that great success and great wealth may not be available to us.  If all people deserve to be happy, why should we need those things to be so? 

When I tell people this, they rattle off a litany of worries and concerns related to money.  Of course, we must be compassionate to these difficulties.  We come by them naturally, and the pressure they place on us can be unbearable.  Yet, like all things, we can notice where they manifest in the body, soften around them, let them pass, and be kind to ourselves. 

You know what does not cure torment?  You guessed it!  More torment.  Being good to ourselves, and taking the time to enjoy ourselves is a way of allowing our body and brain to heal, so that they are more capable of managing the problems that lie in our present and future.

So, the self-compassion saying goes, ‘If you want to be happy, you must make room to be happy now.”  Your mind will come up with all kinds of reasons for you not to be.  We respond to this behavior with compassion.  You have come by these worries naturally, and we are deeply sorry that you must manage them.  We would also like to make some room for kindness and happiness.  Just because suffering is abound does not mean that your life needs to be immersed in it.

You Are Already Complete

There will never be a time, when money makes you more complete than you are now, which you already know.  I accept that we need it to pay for important things.  No matter how much or how little you have, do not let it determine your happiness or contentedness with yourself. 

By your very nature, you are enough.  Let that sentiment sink in, and come back to it, when money calls you and tells you that if you just get a little more that it will allow you to finally be happy.  Money is full of crap.  You can tell him that I said that.  Wishing you lots of happiness and contentment.

365 Days of Self-Compassion.  Day 144.  In The Books.