What is wealth?
At the Alchemy Group the members of our team have an agreement - no matter how “crowded” our schedules get, we will all continually find ways to invest in and inspire ourselves. This is one of the ways we are able to inspire all of you! (Remember: inspiration in = inspiration out)
One of the many ways Sandy & I are staying in integrity with this agreement is participating in a 6-month long coaching school - The CFJ Coaching Success School. I am currently deep into my second year in the school. Just when I thought I'd discovered all there was to discover, or had said all the "wows" there were to be said, this past weekend blew my mind! I want to share a profound "ah ha" moment I had with you now.
On day two of the school guest faculty member Devon Bandison joined the conversation. Devon is an esteemed coach who also happens to be a close colleague, mentor, and friend of mine. Devon introduced a word into my world that stopped me dead in my tracks. The word was so confronting to me that in the middle of the conversation I was googling the definition of this word, frantically navigating between Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster, and Cambridge. I was almost irritated by this word.
The word was WEALTH. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this word? What do you associate this word with?
For me, wealth has always correlated to an abundance of money, period. It's a simple definition. Wealth is defined as lots of money, dollars, bling, dough, moola! Simple, right? And yet, here we were talking about this word.
Devon inspired me to LOOK HARDER! He started asking questions like: How do you value wealth? On a scale of 1-10 how concerned are you about wealth? And, what are 2-3 ways you can change your thinking about wealth, so that you can experience wealth?
Experience wealth? Isn't wealth something you either have or don't have? Doesn't it just correlate to what your salary is or what your bank account says?
I slowed way down and gave myself permission to explore - particularly the permission to explore the inconceivable. I spent the next couple of days in deep inquiry, identifying and experimenting with new ways to experience wealth.
Here's what I came up with....
Wealth comes in many currencies ... I discovered that I have a wealth of time, a wealth of choices, a wealth of peace, a wealth of acceptance, a wealth of JOY, fun and laughter, and a wealth of compassion. Turns out my wealth is in abundance and I didn't even know it.
By acknowledging and harnessing the value of all the currencies of wealth I am now becoming more present, more connected and more open to what is right in front of me. I am present to a deeper experience of JOY.
So, now I invite you to join me in this inquiry. In what ways do you experience wealth? How might a feeling of wealth be showing up in your life? How can you choose to take on your experience with wealth differently?
Courage always,
