In Search of the Master Key

“You have two ways to life your life – from memory or from inspiration.” – Dr. Hew Len

As you read the following areas of focus, ask yourself if you relate to each from memory or from inspiration?

Your Finances

Your Body

Your Career

As an adult, chances are you have spent some time playing out a recurring issue or thought regarding your finances, your body and/or your career in the last 24 hours. How much of your mental and emotional energy goes to solving a problem based in memory (translation: How it’s always been done) versus inspiration?

What might it be to live from inspiration rather than memory in the area that plagues you on a reoccurring basis? My personal reoccurring issue is with my finances. After growing up in a single-parent household fueled by a teacher’s salary (Thank you for all you did to make it work Mom!), I have plenty of memories of “not enough” to mess things up when it comes to cultivating a mindset of prosperity. I grew up in a very affluent town where most all of my friends lived in what were mansions compared to our tiny apartment. Many times the things my adolescent desires believed we “needed to have” came from credit rather than cash (and yes, I am fortunate they still came!) and vacations (yes, we took them!) consisted of driving to the nearby mountains to visit family. Now, I wouldn’t change a thing – all of my past made me what I am today.

However, recently I realized that I benefit from much ease and success in one of the areas that plague many. And it began a working hypothesis of how to apply the ease and success in one area to the other, more challenging aspects of our lives.

During one of my regular work-outs at the gym, I became aware that I was thinking about how to heal a certain financial challenge I was facing. I wondered to myself how much time I had spent over the years evaluating and re-evaluating my relationship with money and how much energy I have allowed it to sap from me as a result. And I rationalized that all hope is not lost. If other people can feel ease and joy in their relationship to earning and managing their finances, then surely I can too! And so, the quest continued in my mind.

Moments later, I noticed yet another ‘new and improved’ weight loss commercial making the promise to lose weight ‘easily and effortlessly’ on one of the silenced TV’s in front of the cardio machines. I looked around me with disbelief to see if there was really anyone present who might be interested in such hype. When I saw a woman transfixed to the words displayed on closed captioning, something clicked for me.

I immediately recounted an exercise from my recent leadership training which highlighted the potential proof that I might be in the minority about not wanting or caring about a new and improved way to lose weight. This powerful group exercise was given to our group of leaders to highlight both our uniqueness as well as our shared human experience with one another. We were instructed to stand along one side of an open room along the wall. The facilitators of the exercise stated a variety of scenarios, to which if you had experienced the stated scenario, you were to “take a walk” to the opposite side of the room. Whether you stood still or walked, the exercise was chock full of powerful lessons. Until this exercise, we had assumed some of our most memorable experiences were either completely unique to us (“I am alone”) or just the opposite, shared by all (“it happened to everybody”).

“If you have ever cheated on a test, take a walk.” More than half the room walked. Interesting.

“If you have ever been the victim of verbal abuse, take a walk.” Every single woman in the room walked. This was educational, to say the least.

“If you have ever felt fat, take a walk.” The entire room walked - almost. I stayed put, surprised to find myself alone, on the original side of the room.

Now, as I recount this, I have my doubts that as a developing adolescent or a teenager, I didn’t go through phases of wishing I was a different shape as a result of some of the messages that were relayed to me through magazines or my friends. I probably experienced some of my extra college weight as “fat” from time to time. But the reason I stood still when they named that situation, was because all I could recount was love and acceptance for the many phases my body has gone through.

When I graduated from college (a place and time where I gained an extra 15-20 pounds than usual), I simply added more activity to my schedule because it felt good to do so, and I became pleasantly surprised with the new shape my body took as a result. I realize now, more than ever, that this type of acceptance in relationship with my body is somewhat out of the shared experience of many of my friends, family and acquaintances.

As far as my overall memory of how it has felt to be in this body, it has been a very sweet experience. It has always responded with what I’ve asked it to do. Out of college, I became an avid runner. I moved to Boulder, CO and discovered my athletic self. I took up mountain biking, hiking, skiing, rock climbing, yoga and became an aerobics instructor (it was the early 90’s you know…) One time I even decided on a Wednesday to run a half-marathon that was going on that Saturday although I do not recommend that training approach!

As I considered the scope of this, I wondered what possible use my experiences of ease and trust in my physical self could have in the “problem areas” of my finances. Surely, I surmised, there has to be a correlation.

This realization began a hypothesis that I would like to share with you. Mainly, that it is possible to apply the ease-success cycles (inspiration) that one experiences in one realm of one’s life to the much more challenging realms where perhaps memory dictates our actions. I have always operated from inspiration in the physical realm. Perhaps there is a way to use that successful skill set to a place where memory seems to rule my decisions.

In the realm of the physical, here is what I've done to approach the issue from inspiration rather than from memory.

1. I orient around feeling good.
2. I stay in tune with my inner truth so I don’t get fooled by what “feels good” means.
3. I eat what feels good (really!) Sometimes ice cream feels good. Sometimes tofu and brown rice feels better.
4. I move in ways that inspire or uplift me. I run or dance to great music, I play with my family or friends, I do yoga because I like to see what my body is capable of doing, I cycle because I admire the efficiency of the movement.
5. When the results of the above do not produce a feel good state, I gently return to the intention or knowing of what feels good and let the rest go.
6. Throughout it all, I trust and know my body will always return to it’s healthy state. I believe with my whole heart that all is well.

If I were to apply this to my finances, what would it look like? If you were to apply the above six premises to your “problem area” what impact might it have? If I try it, will you?