It's Memorial Day in the United States. It's a day of remembering those who fought for our freedoms, and I want to take today to remember someone close to me...my mother-in-law and to talk a bit about grief and healing.

I went to Christine Hassler's one-day Personal Mastery retreat this weekend (she offers a 1 day retreat for those in her Personal Mastery course), and boy, was it powerful! I got so much healing from the grief I've been experiencing in the last two weeks.

I don't know if you realized, but I usually post a blog each week. Most of the time, it's on Mondays because although I've never called it this...I think about it being Money Motivation Mondays! Sometimes, I post a day earlier or a day later. Like on Mother's Day, I posted that Sunday. However, I don't think (since I started this blog last June) that I've missed a week until last week.

Last Monday, May 20th, was the three year anniversary of my mother-in-law's passing, and the week before and after, I felt a heaviness that I couldn't just shake off. I also made a decision during this time, that's soul-affirming for me. So, needless to say, it was a heavy time for me, and I just didn't have it in me to write to you, dear friend. I needed nurturing, and so, I took the time for me, by going to this retreat over the weekend.

I found the healing I was searching for, got even more clarity around my decision, and I got a wonderful message from Christine around money and those who consider themselves "healers." (I don't consider myself one, and she said she didn't consider herself one either.) But if you're a healer and you're reading this...this message is for you:

When you feel that calling to heal others, it may feel "wrong" to charge someone a lot of money to do what you do. Does this resonate with you? Does it feel icky sometimes to bring money into conversations when all you want to do is to help? Well, I get that. What I also want you to examine and ask yourself is...what is the meaning you've placed on money?

Money doesn't have any meaning, on its own. We, humans, invented the idea of money...an exchange of currency, and that currency changes forms (cash, credit, electronic payments like Venmo or Zelle) and it even changes its rates depending on countries and inflation! For example, currently (a/o 5/27/19):

1 USD = 0.79 GBP = 0.89 Euro = 1.34 CAD = 1.45 AUS = 19.06 Peso = 31.46 NT = 109.54 JPY

You get the picture. Also, studies have shown that someone making 75,000 achieves a certain level of satisfaction, and anything beyond that doesn't make you much happier.  

So, what am I saying? I want you to examine the meaning you've placed on money and to see whether it's rooted in what you've learned from childhood, what you've learned from friends or the world, and if this meaning is limiting you, in any way. Do you see yourself as "not deserving" to get paid for what you do?

If so, here are some beliefs that may expand the way you see money and getting paid:

• Most of us have the desire to make money from what we love to do, so if you have the opportunity to actually do that, be grateful and keep making money from what you love! 
• You're not making money from healing others. You're healing. And you're also making money. The two are separate and distinct from each other. 
• Getting paid for what you love to do and for your gifts is also a definition of living in your purpose. You're making a living doing what you're meant to be doing in this world.
• Let's say you did your healing work for free, and then you had to get a "real" job to pay the bills and put food on the table. Your "real" job has just taken your energy and time away from your purpose in life and also "robbed" the people who really need 100% of your loving intention and healing work.
• When someone needs healing (whether emotionally, physically, or mentally), very, very, very rarely does anyone go and seek a "free" or "discounted" healer. Instead, you're really looking for the person who is the BEST at what they do and what you need. Most people may even be extremely skeptical by a free or heavily discounted healer. It may make them wonder if they really can help them. 
• From a Biblical perspective, I love the Parable of the Talents in both the Book of Matthew and the Book of Luke, where a master gave three servants "Talents," which were literally the word for currency or money, back then. One servant received 5, another 2, and the third 1. Returning from his travels, the master finds the servants who had more "talents" doubling their money, while the one who had just 1 bury his talent, just to return it. The Master rewarded the two with more money, while punishing the servant who "wasted" time and the "interest" by burying his money, instead of making more of it or just putting it into the bank and earning interest. The parable reminds us, to 1) not to "bury" our talents (both our gifts from God and our money) by playing it safe or being too scared to do anything with them 2) Use the talents (our gifts from god) to make MORE money and we will be rewarded 3) to view God, the Universe and life as understanding, kind, generous and abundant (and you'll get even more), rather than seeing life (and consequently, if you see life this way, you see God this way too) as critical, demanding, scary or never enough.   

Let's use our talents to glorify God, and while LOVE and the work itself are the biggest rewards, receiving money and investing in it, wisely, is also a reward and pleasing to God. In a future post, I'll have Christine Hassler give her views on the spiritual and money! In the meantime, let me know, in the comments below, your thoughts! And if you'd like to shift your limiting beliefs around money, sign up for a free 1-hour session HERE. Now, enjoy the rest of your holiday, if you have the day off!

With Gratitude,