WHERE IS MY MONEY? (PART 2)

Money, money, money.

Every one of us, it seems, must have an encounter with its intriguing personality. We all need it, and it affects all of us one way or another, whether directly or indirectly. And without doubt its powers and abilities are endless. It pays bills and buys things. It runs governments, businesses and other organisations with the non-profit making appellative. Some believe they need it (and plenty of it as a matter-of-fact) for their lives to be very comfortable. Others need it to show their power and class. Others need it just to get by for a while, at least. You know what I mean, because even you need it.

Does everyone, however, deserve to have money? Stupid question, you think? Maybe, maybe not. But you still need to ask yourself that question…if you actually deserve to have money. And if your most likely answer is yes, ask yourself why you think so.

And why am I even saying so? It’s pretty simple, really. Some of us don’t deserve to have money because it is not just an item that we must have, but something that we must respect; and some of us, quite frankly, don’t respect it. Our lack of respect for it is arguably one of the main reasons we hardly have it, and not just because we don’t have the dream job or dream business or dream contract or dream whatever else that should guarantee us a steady supply of money. Our lack of respect for money makes our handling of it careless and so money in turn reacts carelessly towards us.

The personality of money, I keep saying, is intriguing. In fact, money is neither good nor bad, careful or careless. Instead, it always takes on the personality of the person in whose hands it is. Money x-rays and amplifies itself in us. And the way we handle it is the way it will behave.

Money doesn’t buy things, people do. Money of itself can’t deliberately waste itself or invest itself, people do. So before you start stammering again about not having money and how if you had you would do this and achieve that, please take out some time and look at yourself again. Don’t look at money, look at yourself.

So that you know, money can never leave your hand without your permission except it is taken away from you by force. Think about it. If you keep your money anywhere, except someone else takes it or moves it without your permission, you will still come back to meet it where you kept it. Money will always obey its owner, it will always obey you. Money is very loyal and never causes problems for its owner. That means you are solely responsible for how money has moved in your hands over time regardless of how small or inadequate you may feel it is. Handling money is like driving. The fact that you can move a car from one point to another does not mean that you can drive. For you to be classified as driving, there are rules. You must respect every other road user, you must keep to your lane, you must adhere to speed limits rules, etc. In like manner, having money isn’t about volume, never about having it in millions or billions, because if you don’t know how to handle it properly, you will waste it. Money has its own rules too and when you properly operate them, then you have money. That is why someone may be earning Fifty Thousand Naira (Nigerian currency) and will be comfortable compared to someone who possibly is earning One Hundred Thousand Naira or more.

So, the way money works in your mind is the way it will work in your hands. If your mind is filled with the spending and wasting mechanism, that’s how your money will perform; and if your mind is thrifty and much more careful at spending, that’s exactly how your money will perform. The problem, therefore, with money isn’t money itself but the person in whose hands it is.

In truth, we really can’t have everything or buy everything because we really don’t need everything. Some people buy on impulse, others just crave to buy, spend, buy, spend, because they feel that their status in society seriously depends on it. It’s an incredulous way of thinking but it’s pretty rampant in our society today. We are so caught up in the desire to impress others who may or may not be bothered with our impressions anyway. I have always asked myself, “Why should I spend money I don’t have to buy what I don’t need in order to impress people I don’t like? (and who MOST LIKELY DON’T LIKE ME EITHER!!!!!!). It’s a terrible life to live and an unnecessary pressure to carry. But some allow themselves to be under such pressure and inevitably make decisions that now negatively impact on their money.

So, where is my money? My money is inside my head, inside my mind. Whatever my mind says, my money does. We must therefore learn how to control the things happening inside our minds and consequently control the money we have in our hands.