When we think of compassion, we may think of offering it to others, but not necessarily to ourselves.

First of all, why would we even need compassion for ourselves?  Don’t we only need compassion when we are going through a very difficult time in life or are experiencing horrible physical pain?

Yes, compassion is needed in those situations, but those are only the extremes.  Why not offer ourselves compassion with any kind of suffering.?  You are suffering when you resist what is present in every moment.  You are suffering when you are waiting in line and you get angry or irritated.  You are suffering when you are sitting in traffic and feel antsy and trapped.  In these cases, we direct our anger at the person or car in front of us. We may also get angry at ourselves for not being patient.  But the anger at ourselves for feeling this way is just more suffering.

Do you commit to a book even when you are bored with it?

In 2010, Google managed to count the amount of books in the world--128 million. If you read one book a week and live to your mid-80's, you will have read 4100 books. That's 0.003% of the books in the world.  You won't even skim the surface.

Now imagine if you only read one book a month.  That's under 1000 books.  Your lifetime reading accomplishment stat goes to 0.00075%.  

All this tells me life is very short.  When it comes to reading, make your time count.

I made a comment to a friend the other day:  “I would love to be a wealthy hippie.” I thought being a wealthy hippie would take all my worries away--I would not HAVE to work, worry about money, or pay bills.  All my anxieties about money would disappear.

But, is this really true?  I have never been a wealthy hippie, so I can’t truly go from specific experience, but I've had times in my life where I had plenty of money and times where I haven't.  Yet, in both places, I worried about money--I would worry when it was going to show up and/or when it was going to disappear forever. It doesn’t matter how little or much money I have--I worry about it running out.  I may think being a wealthy hippie will allow me to be worry-free, but it's not really true.

When you look externally for things to be a certain way, you probably will never find happiness, even if things turn out how you want.  Happiness can only be found within us, as it is a state of being--a state of acceptance--with whatever is happening or not happening externally.

Studies have shown lottery winners end up being at a similar state or level of happiness as they were BEFORE they won the money.  This tells us money does not automatically guarantee happiness. If we have issues or challenges we don’t like before the wealth, they may change form, but will still appear after we have money.

When I think back to my wealthy hippie comment, what I am really looking for is peace and freedom. I think money will automatically make this happen. However, instead of focusing on the money or lack thereof, my focus should be on creating peace and freedom in my life, moment by moment.

My intention every day (and moment) is to create space for peace and freedom. It takes the pressure off from worrying about money.  This does not mean I’m not making an effort to ‘make a living’, but I let go of the worry of where the money is going to come from.  It's a moment-to-moment practice sometimes!

Even with my intention, I do get buried underneath the money worries. Coaching has served me well here, time and time again, to bridge the gap between where I am (worrisome, fear-oriented) to where I want to be:  experiencing peace and freedom.  In the end, the mind thinks worrying is productive, but it really isn't.  The key: find the space within you that creates the experience you want to have in the moment and bring it forward.

All of the points above do not mean gaining wealth is a bad thing.  It’s more about determining the true reason you seek wealth in the first place. Is it to have security, peace, or freedom?  Since money does not automatically provide these, in what ways can you create it now in this moment? Peace and freedom can be found at any moment, whether you are a rich hippie, a poor hippie, or a middle-of-the-road hippie. Peace and freedom are much more important to me than the drive for wealth.  Not sure what you are really looking for?  Check out my values page for help.