The one thing about money

I went to Charlie Davies’ money workshop a couple of days ago … he calls it "The one thing about money" – but for me, it turned out to be more like "The one thing about almost absolutely everything." I may write more about that later.

For now I want to tell something about Charlie’s workshop.

Charlie first encountered these ideas a few years ago whilst attending workshops run by Peter Koenig. Since then Charlie has been shaping this material into a form of his own and this, in turn, is my take.

Everyone has a money practice, a way they relate to money.

Many people’s money practice goes something like "I’ll get more and more of it until … ".

The until varies from person to person but often sounds a bit like this, "I’ll get more and more money until I’m free" or "happy" or "secure" or something. Actually, and this is the point, neither freedom, happiness nor security are inside money waiting to pop out and fix things. Those are self-penned stories we tell ourselves about money. Money is not happiness and happiness is not in money. Money has no characteristics of it’s own – it’s empty. We author our own money stories.

Perhaps then, if happiness is not in money, it won’t help to have more. After all, not all rich people are happy.

Charlie offered an alternative money practice, like this …

By Increasing our awareness of the stories we tell ourselves about money, our relationship with money can improve. We might be more creative with it and more relaxed around it, we might even befriend it.

Charlie gave a very practical demonstration of the way we give meaning to money. He also gave a very clear way of implementing this alternative money practice. You can find out more about Charlie’s workshops by emailing onethingaboutmoney@gmail.com or having a look at The one thing about money Facebook group.

Money | Comment (0)