xo,
Sunni
This week I’m doing another installment of the Money Myth Busting series of emails I’ve been doing over the past few weeks, I hope they’ve been helpful and provided some shifts in perspective or at least an alternate view to consider and play with. This week we’re picking up with some more money myths you’re probably familiar with…
9. Rich people are assholes.
Okay, first off I apologize for the crudeness of this one, but I did that intentionally because our minds/egos ARE crude, they simply repeat the stories we’ve heard, even if we don’t want them to and wish they wouldn’t— and one of the main stories in our society is that rich people are assholes. It’s in movies, tv programs, and bedtimes stories. It’s everywhere. And it’s simply not true. What IS true is that people are (and can be) assholes. Poor people are assholes. Rich people are assholes. Middle class people are assholes. Everyone can be assholes. And if we’re really brave we also can admit that WE sometimes are assholes, or have been at past times in our lives, even if just for a moment.
So yes, there are people with money who behave like assholes and there are people without money who behave like assholes. There are people with money who behave in hateful uncaring ways, and there are people without money who behave in hateful and uncaring ways. Money does not change who you are, it just MAGNIFIES who you are. So if you were stingy and mean without money, you will likely be stingy and mean with it, except that people will notice more then. The money just magnifies the traits that are there. That doesn’t mean people can’t change however, mean rich people can become kind and generous, and mean poor people can do the same. And vice versa! People who are kind can become mean and stingy too, rich, poor or middle class.
The point I am making is it is not the MONEY that makes this difference, it is the character, heart and soul of the person and where they are at in their journey right now. Money just expresses that the same way their words and actions express it. For example, a person who has $100 in the bank could pay their waitress a generous tip and thank her with a smile, that expresses their gratitude and kindness through money. OR another person who has $100 in the bank could not give the waitress a tip and complain and sneer at the waitress. And same for someone who has $1 million dollars in the bank, they might sneer and complain and not leave a tip, or they might leave a big tip and a smile. In all cases their words, their actions, their facials expressions, their energy and their money expressed who they were being in that moment, and money was just one facet of that expression.
10. Refusing money makes you a good person. Not having more than you need to survive makes you a good/better person.
We’ve kind of been over this one, both above, and in the angle of “money is not spiritual” but it’s a very strong one and deserves repeating, as it is one of the main ways people subconsciously keep themselves in survival mode and don’t allow themselves to thrive and have beyond “just barely enough”. Because they have been taught and believe it is “good” to refuse to have more than what they need to get by.
But as we uncovered in the myth above, money does not make people good or not-good. People are who they are in the moment, and money simply expresses through that. That is why one billionaire could keep all his money in the bank and another could have most of it in circulation through funding new businesses, building new schools or research centers, donating to causes that call to their heart and/or employing thousands of people through their business — WHILE they have the beautiful wealthy lifestyle they want for themselves all at the same time, they share abundantly with many hundreds, thousands or potentially even millions of people AND they live a life of abundance. Just look around, you will find examples of both.
This myth is just another device the mind/ego makes to create a “them and us” mentality, separation, superiority and mental warfare. It deadens “the other” to us and makes them into a character or an object instead of a person, the “other” in this case being the one who has more than just enough to survive. In this scenario the one with just enough gets to feel like the better person. It’s still pure mind/ego story. But the only reason they need to feel like the better person is because of the deep shame and sadness they are carrying (perhaps without even knowing) for NOT having more like they think they “should”.
Nobody should or should not have more money! It is not good to have more money and it is not good to have less! It is just a CHOICE we each have the freedom to decide and move towards in this life if we want to, but most people do not feel they have a choice or can ever have more because that is all they’ve experienced or seen in their personal lives (SO FAR!) and so they settle and they use feeling like “a better person” to ease their shame. I know this because I did it (unconsciously), and it is one that still triggers me from time to time because it is so deeply engrained.
When we feel shame, we unconsciously judge others to ease our shame, it’s not our fault it’s just how the mind is programmed. But we can change that program! Love/goodness expresses through money just as easily as it expresses through non-monetary means. And the sooner we all drop the better-than/worse-than comparisons and the separation that stems from that, the happier and more abundant we ALL will be.
I’ll be continuing this money myth busting again next week – and if you like these and would like them to continue, please feel free to share a money myth you’ve heard or believe and would like me to explore.
And if you’d like to work with me on creating more abundance with more ease in your life, click here to find out more »
