Wealth Part 2

To continue thinking about Wealth, I’ve just returned from traveling and many conversations about challenges and opportunities. What if you considered all those a part of your wealth?

So many people say to me, “I wish it would get easier!” “I know that this is a growth opportunity, but I wish I could pick them instead of having to deal with what shows up!” “Yes, but this problem seems harder than what other people have to handle, so why me? Why do I get all the hard stuff?”

Sound familiar?

What if you saw those same problems as things that enriched your life? What if you realized that the challenges you face are blessings that help you grow and understand more about yourself, and help you learn to love what you haven’t loved?

I had two amazing conversations this week with people who were working with people that they had a low opinion of–that they believed were somehow beneath them. And these same people were frustrated about not being able to create enough abundance in their lives, more or less stymied in their efforts to make money and feel successful at their work.

When I asked them about it, they had myriad reasons for why they were “right” and the other people were “wrong.” One even said she felt she was “casting pearls before swine” when talking about her work with clients.

What I find interesting is the correlation between lack of abundance being accompanied by a miserly attitude toward the very people supposedly being served. What do I mean by miserly? By not recognizing that these clients are simply people on their path, doing the best they can with what they have to work with, counting on her to help them grow, then she is hoarding her wealth of knowledge and understanding instead of sharing it with them in an authentic way. She says one thing but thinks another, so how authentic is that?

When I called her on it, she was shocked. She truly didn’t realize what she was creating in her life by that attitude, and hadn’t seen the connection between hitting walls in her life and the walls she built between herself and her clients.

If the world is our faithful mirror, showing us what we actually think and believe about ourselves and life, then wouldn’t it make sense that having the success she was seeking would keep being out of her reach and be stuck behind the walls she was creating?

What I love about this is it is possible to change our experiences by changing our perceptions. If she starts seeing these people as her collaborators and allies in the creation of meaningful work, including the challenges and difficulties they bring as part of the process, she can change her experience with them. If she could see the difficulties with them as blessings, gifts to her for her own growth, opportunities to see things from a broader perspective, chances to develop some new skills in communication, wouldn’t that increase her effectiveness and earn her the respect and loyalty of those clients? And wouldn’t that then increase her ability to win new clients based on the success of that project?

And to see that as part of the wholeness, the wealth of our human experience–wouldn’t that show up in greater abundance in our lives? Instead of trying to get rid of or get away from the “negative” experiences in life, by embracing them, appreciating them and learning from and through them, we actually increase the value, meaning and wealth of our lives.