The big 4-0 is truly a profound reality check. Staring down the barrel of this moment, I am overdue for a serious inventory. Unquestionably, it has to be about more than just looking at where I am in relation to where I hoped to be, what I am doing in relation to what I want or wanted to be doing, to look at Net Worth as an important number, and to figure out what action needs to be taken. It cannot be as simple as saying, well, I have money karma, but that is the only problem. I am starting to realize that if money is a problem, there are other things going on that influence it. Money issues may be the result of several other smaller issues that combine to generate some tight cash flow. On the positive side, my debt is very low, I don’t impulse buy, and I never spend a huge amount at one time unless its a matter of life and death. One of the things that will come to an immediate halt is my tendency to do a certain thing that leaves me only tired, angry and broke. So I am setting a concrete-solid deadline of May 10th for a certain project I am working on, and that is one thing taken care of. Now I need to take some time to explore what some other things might be that feed into the money karma. My chief weapon in this battle is meditation. If I center my life around this practice, what happens is that the ‘metabolisms of consumption’ that drive desires to spend money on this that or the other, start to vanish. I return to the basics- shelter, food, clothing, coffee and Borders. The next part of the puzzle is clarity of intention. The bucket list is my chief weapon here, this enables me to really screen out things that aren’t on it and stay focused on the items there. I can clearly visualize the items getting crossed off, plus I even know what to do once the list is complete. The last part is to just trust myself. Althought the results are not always obvious and there is some delayed gratification involved, I have to just trust myself that I am on track and know what I am doing, and in the long-term, the little seeds I plant and nurture will come to flower. Something that was very encouraging is my spring cleaning project, which is going splendidly. My living space, my habits, the way I have things organized is ready to support a higher, leaner, meaner and more productive way of functioning and thinking. More to come.
