Roadblocks happen.  Stuckness is real.  Problems are inevitable.  Anytime you venture into new territory conflict is bound to arise – I promise this blog will get better, keep reading. The other day I was walking down the stairs in our house to find a snake slithering on in.  Once it heard me, it quickly slid underneath the piano to hide.  It put me in an uncomfortable situation, but once I took a deep breath and found some space away from it, (yes, standing on a barstool) I began to notice it’s beauty.  The scales that closely lined its body were beautiful.  

My mind began pondering snakes and I remembered learning about how they shed their skin as they grow.  What happens is, as they grow in size they simply don’t fit their skin anymore.  It’s worn out.  How uncomfortable I thought!

But that’s how making money and following dreams can feel like at times.  Knowing and believing that true self-value comes from the inside and no amount of money can change that is grounding.  This concept of inner wealth vs. outer wealth arrives front and center when those rough patches approach.  As my family stepped forward into this new opportunity of real estate investing and approached a lot of new territory, we secured ourselves in this belief time and time again. 

Roadblocks

When the moment of trouble approaches your investing and wealth building journey, it can be a signal to get grounded, to become mindful.  During this time you are forced to look inward at an attempt to understand the ways in which your value is based upon external circumstances.

Us humans often carry beliefs that no longer serve us.  Some common examples are:

• I will find peace and happiness when X happens.
• All work and no play to earn money.
• Earning money means more problems.

These may seem childish to you.  However, when you stop to examine the noise within, aka negative self-talk, you’ll notice that these and other common narratives surface. Practice facing these head on, acknowledge them for what they are, write them down.  Writing them down and seeing them allows you to stop and ask yourself, is this thought true?  How does it make me feel when I think it?

When these moments happen to either my husband or I while we are working and feeling stuck,  we do just this.  Generally we can catch one another in these moments and can encourage the other person to begin redirecting their thoughts back to why we began in the first place.  Other times we write down these old beliefs and call them out for what they are.  

What’s Your Why?

When my husband and I began this business opportunity we knew that we would encounter many obstacles.  When this happens we go back to discussing why we are doing this work in the first place.  Julie Cameron, author of the popular 90’s book The Artists Way, (still relevant today) writes, “By listening to the creator within, we are led to our right path.  On that path, we find friends, lovers, money, and meaningful work.  Very often, when we cannot seem to find an adequate supply, it is because we are insisting on a particular human source of supply.  We must learn to let the flow manifest itself where it will – not where we will it.”

There have been many times when we’ve had to stop in right in our tracks with what we are doing in the moment, realizing we are forcing our will.  We step back, review our why, and trust that as we move forward the right doors will open and the wealth will come.  We stay mindful of this through our process and trust that focusing on our goal each day in strategic steps will take us on our special path.

Creating Your Why

Here are a few steps we used to help us narrow down our why.  

1. What’s your life purpose? Just decide.  Choose something.  But choose something that makes you feel good and feels possible.  That leaves you with a buzzing sensation, not one that only sounds right to your brain. 
   1. Having trouble? Think about what you want your loved ones to be saying at your eulogy.   What do you want them to say that you accomplished? What do you envision your “perfect day” would look like in 5 years, where would you be waking up? what are you doing? who are you doing it with? Get specific and have fun with it, you are literally manifesting your dreams to come alive.
2. Next, cut your purpose down into smaller aims that feel like a stretch – but still a possibility to achieve within a year.  
3. In addition to life purpose aims, add in some self care aims as well.  For example, I will feel immense love for myself everyday and treat my body very very very well, like a trusted friend. 

Conclusion

Let this be your starting point as you head toward making mindful money.  Remember that snakes outgrow their skin, it’s uncomfortable.  However, they are still a snake inside.  You will face some discomforting situations as you begin to generate wealth.  Remind yourself who you are inside and why you are heading that direction in the first place.