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Health & Fitness

BLOG: Money and the Meaning of Large Houses

The slippery slope when it comes to money is the quest for power, self-importance and greed. A healthier relationship to money is couples sharing and abundant life with a willingness to serve.

Patience and a carefully reasoned desire to serve have produced financial rewards ~David F. Miller

How to ask for a pay raise and get it is about increasing the amount of cash in your life. How you use the cash is another matter altogether. David Miller, wrote the above quote as a retired vice chairman of the board and chief operating officer of the JC Penney Company. I found the quote in the foreward of Eric Butterworth's book Spiritual Economics. When it comes to right living I can't say enough about Butterworth's brilliant wisdom.

How to ask for a pay raise and get it is also about taking responsibility of the financial decisions we make. Miller warned of Mr. Penney's experience and his willingness to succumb to the temptations of personal power had a disastrous economic results.  I would also argue that financial responsibility lies, not in the accumulating of more things, but rather acquiring a richer life full of joy and creativity.

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However, like Mr. Penney, I too was caught up in acquiring wealth as a measure of my worth. My husband and I purchased a 3,200 square foot home 15 years ago. I unconsciously thought that's what you do when you acquire money. A great big house was a means to show the rest of the world that we were successful!  [To be fair the house was my idea and through my powers of persuasion I convinced my husband we really needed it].

Now less than 3 years away from becoming an 'empty nester' I wonder what the future will hold for my husband and I in this home that is large enough for two families. Through my spiritual growth I now know the house could go away tomorrow and my sense of well being and self-worth will be intact. The house is no longer a symbol of success but rather a haven for life's miracles.

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The slippery slope when it comes to money, as Mr. Miller describes, is the quest for power, self-importance and greed. A healthier relationship to money is couples sharing and abundant life with a willingness to serve. Lofty ideals for sure and one truth many of us are not ready to put to the test. Yet.

It's a strange dance that partners money, power, things, gift giving and receiving. We don't ask for pay raises because we want more things. We ask for pay raises because the simple act of 'asking' is empowers us to take responsibility for our financial health and well being.

Your turn. Any 'aha' moments in your life when it comes to money and meaning?

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