Invitation to a Challenge
How Much Could You Improve Your Relationship with Money
If You Loved and Tended Your Money Relationship Every Day for 30 Days?
Have you ever dreamed of flourishing financially, no matter what happens in the economy?
Does it matter that you flourish with integrity in all its meanings–whole, honest, naturally ethical, true to your own values and in harmony with the rest of the world?
Do you want to meet all financial challenges–from emergencies to long-range planning–with wisdom, not panic?
If these questions speak to you, then I invite you to join a 30-day money challenge:
- Every day for 30 days, set aside 10-30 minutes to discover how you can earn, save, invest and share your money with more integrity, purpose and joy.
- Every day, act more from your deepest guidance about money.
- Every day, take small steps to anchor your personal economy in money sanity, money harmony, and money consciousness.
- Every day, share a portion of your increase with others in a way that empowers them to create money sanity, harmony and consciousness.
At the end of this challenge, I hope we’ll all have a richer relationship with money, measured in spiritual, emotional and financial terms. I believe that participating in this challenge can support us in creating an economy that works better for all.
This 30-day challenge was birthed during a meditation at the November 2008 meeting of the Spirit and Work Resource Center at Unity of Berkeley in Berkeley, California. A few of us have now begun meditating and/or dialoguing about money every day. I’ve started this blog to share my thoughts about money for 30 days, as often as I can. Sometimes colleagues and friends will add their thoughts.
Your comments are welcome here with some simple caveats: no direct requests for money or a job; no stock tips, specific job leads or network marketing opportunity; and no putting down of another’s thoughts. Do speak from your heart and your own experience.
Feel free to join in the challenge at any time, maybe starting with the oldest post and working your way forward. Take as long as you wish to work with each post, and feel free to bring your friends into the dialogue.
What will happen to this blog after the 30 days? I don’t know yet. But I do know that taking on any challenge is a lot easier and more satisfying when people take it on together. That includes common dialogue, sharing tips or inspiration, and encouraging each other to do the things that we can only do ourselves.
Your action today and every day of this challenge, if you so choose: Spend some time alone, thinking and praying about your relationship to money. In your journal, note your insights and understandings. If you receive guidance, write it down. As you discern what is right for you, follow that guidance until you are clearly called to go in another direction.
Talk with other people who are interested in exploring their relationship to money. And start reading, listening to and watching wise people. Here are some recent words from Bill Moyers:
“[Our] self-correcting faculty, even in the darkest hours, is the best thing we have going for us. That and the knowledge that nothing we face in the months ahead is more than was asked of our parents and grandparents in war and depression.
“This giant of a country is bleeding badly from savage self-inflicted wounds, but what happens next is still our story to write. We can be thankful for that.”
Finally, be sure to bless your money journey every day. Here’s my blessing for this moment:
May everything I do to earn, save, spend or invest money be done for the highest, deepest and broadest good. May I always be grateful for the gifts of learning and growing, even when times are tough.
Come back real soon with your own insights and inspiration,
Pat McHenry Sullivan
p.s. To comment, click on the word “comment” below.
I’m so glad you’re doing this blog about money. I have my dollar bill on my altar and every day I look at it and listen inside to see what it’s telling me. If there are any negative messages, I do a clearing process. Thanks for the inspiration and encouragement.
Hi big sis- thanks for a timely challenge. As you know, I am part of a small Christian church in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Many of my good friends there grew up in the Mennonite church, which has made them into something many liberals seem to think is an oxymoron: “compassionate conservatives.” Because the majority of our members follow biblical precepts about money, as they understand them, giving to both tithes and other needs has not diminished lately – because they are reaping the good fruit that has resulted from preparing the ground well, planting good seed and good tending of financial gardens. I myself have much to learn yet, and need to uproot old destructive patterns that were established long, long ago. One of these is a deep-down belief that if one has a lot of money, one must have done something unfair/unethical/bad to obtain it. I understand where this incorrect belief comes from: comparing a loving and highly ethical father who suffered financially and emotionally from speaking the truth and being a whistle-blower with the other most important male relative in my early years- someone who was great at making and managing money, but who damaged me and other loved ones with other behaviors. This deep-down distortion about wealth has persisted despite understanding its origins, prayer and study, and despite so many real life examples of good, ethical, kind, giving people who are also good at making and managing money. So, I would appreciate hearing ideas on getting rid of the seemingly perennial weeds that keep invading my financial garden. It certainly requires more than logic and information; money can obviously signify much more than just money. Layers of meaning, layers of memory attach in weird ways.
Pat,
The 30-Day Money Challenge is brilliant and necessary. Brava to you and your colleagues. A spiritual approach to our relationship with money is essential, as well as a shift in consciousness about the meaning of money and how we can have more by serving more with value, integrity and courage.
Thanks so very much. This is the time for this kind of work and I’ve been connected with other women exploring this theme as well. So the perfect time is now!
Dec. 3
Dear Pat,
I am not surprised at the depth and clarity of what you have presented as the 30 day money challenge. It indeed reflects your experience in the business & spirituality connections necessary for a grounded financial response to life.
I was particularly touched by Peggy’s sharing regarding the weeds that persist in her financial garden. After MANY years of intense psychospiritual techniques/ therapists working through very serious damage done to me as a child by adults; for me I know that my money issues persist because I continue to hold on to my fear of misuse of power by others when I speak or express MY power (money). I also am resisting the responsibilities that come with abundance. Regaining our RIGHT to our Divine Inheritance and Its natural abudance is a life process one to which I have dedicated myself 100% since 1994.
I am thankful, again, to you, Pat for your initiative and giving in providing a structure and Blessings and respect worthy guides (i.e. Bill Moyers) along the way of our “money journey”.
The timing of this Blog for me is now. Ill be in touch.
Gracias, gracias, gracias……Sofia
Greetings Pat… and thanks so much for keeping me in the loop with your blog. I cannot emphasize enough the timeliness of the message (or the messenger *smile*) at this point in my life. It was great to meet you and partake in your workshop. Now that I’m back in Florida, your 30-Day Challenge is one of the excellent resources I am utilizing to really *get right* with money and truly begin to co-create the life of my dreams…
One of my deepest fears surrounding money is the increased level of personal responsibility in earning, saving, managing and tithing money. This fear (which I’m working on releasing) has resulted in an *head in the sand* approach to dealing with my finances and I can now honestly admit that my personal/family finances are in complete disarray. The good news, however, is that I can can change and I am willing to change… and knowing that you and others are there to support and encourage me is just icing on the cake!
I’d like to share with you a few ideas that came through to me during your workshop at Unity of Berkeley. Namely…
**Financial responsibility is not a *burden* but it is a GIFT
**Rather than ask God to help me *fix it*… ask God to help me make me whole
**Remember to forgive myself daily for not preparing myself, educating myself, supporting myself or saving *enough*… and especially for making fear-based decisions about money, finances and personal economy
**Make a conscious decion to CHOOSE courage… no matter what
**Take (and praise myself for) baby steps daily knowing that *Financial Awareness Creates Empowerment*
Thanks a mil, Pat… peace and blessings… cari