What If You Could Create Financial Health and Spiritual Wealth?

Ask yourself what opens up as a possibility if you were to create Financial Health and Spiritual Wealth?
 Here are 4 steps to help get you on your way.

Q. What is the correlation between financial health and spiritual wealth? 
A. They both relate to values and worth.

When we are spiritually unhealthy, there is very little self-esteem, joy or reason to get up in the morning. Life around us is drab and grey and is it is difficult to see the good in anything around us. We exist but we are not active participants in life. We expect the worse to happen to us and it usually does. However, there are cycles of growth in life and with these cycles, there is always a time when we need to make a big change, and yet we cling to the known comfort of our now outgrown and uncomfortable discomfort, until such time that we are absolutely forced to make that change because we can no longer stay in that same place nor go backward. That type of change is always transformational. Kind of what is happening right now with all of our world leaders!

When we are unwilling to learn we may find ourselves left behind or stuck in an uncomfortable comfort zone, with zero flow in our lives. The misery deepens giving us the affirmation that life is not worth living for, because everything is falling apart and the world is against me...cue violins and black and white movie set, with dramatic thunderstorm! And Bang! The Universe comes along and give us a nice good kick up the behind to help get us on our way again.

A few years ago, that's exactly what happened when I crashed and totally burned out, physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually. There was nothing left since I no longer even had a bottom of a barrel to scrape, it was also gone! Thank goodness I still had family and friends though.

Starting from nothing is actually a good thing because as the cliches state, "There is nothing left to lose and therefore the the only way is up!" That being said, I had to get practical and get back on my feet again quickly since I was squatting with my son with 4 other people, including a teen in a 2-bedroom apartment.

I decided there and then that this would never happen again and set about exploring the root causes of my breakdown - being broke, or so I thought! I actually determined that the main cause of my total breakdown was the interruption of cash flow in my business, which then led to a chain of events, resulting in loss of both health and business. I reached the conclusion that if I had financial wealth I would be okay again but something wasn't right with me since I had had financial health.

I acknowledge that I could make money but I couldn't keep it flowing because there was always a scurry at the the end of the money, and if I hit an unexpected expense, it would set me off in a downward financial spiral and set off my anxiety levels to the point of sometimes erratic and reckless behaviours. Many years I had set the affirmation that I wanted to be financially comfortable. It was no longer working for. So what else would would I have to change in order to ensure that I would not find myself with gaps in my cash flow in the future? 

The answer was not so much about financial wealth but rather, I needed to ensure that that I had financial health!  What did that look like, I asked myself? The one and only marker that I needed to see was that my bank account was always in the black. I did not to see a mansion, a car, or an amount on a check. I just needed to see that whenever I looked at my bank accounts they were in the black and this is of course the one time when black is everyone's favourite colour (sorry, couldn't resist 😜).

I then thought to myself I am always uncomfortable when talking about money but not about most other subjects. In order for me to have a healthy relationship with money, I needed to feel worthy and have a clear set of values.

1) Remove Blockages - Create Continuous Cash Flow

Often people running small businesses  will agree to provide services to Clients based on the promise that they would get paid later and in the hopes that the "Client" will  be so happy they will either buy additional services or refer future clients to them. Alas, I know too many small business owners, including myself, who lost money based on those promises.

Are you accepting deferred payments for services rendered, payment that then never comes?

Understand that the cost of the deferred services not only creates an immediate gap in the cash flow, but the time spent providing goods and servicing the client also has direct costs, which are in turn creating additional gaps in your cash flow. I had to identify and close the gaps in the cash flow, but I also had to look at the hidden behaviours that were allowing the cash flow to occur in the first place.

Whilst I was very happy to sell my services, I would be the first one to offer to be paid later because I realised that I actually had a problem with receiving gifts and money from people.  I was thus creating my blockages to the flow of income.

Spiritual Wealth Check Out 1
I had two negative beliefs which were that "Money is the root of all evil, and rich people are always exploiting the poor!"

I realised the following:

  • Money is simply a form of energy used to pay for services rendered and has no potential for either good or bad.
  • People exploit people for many different reasons. 
  • Not all rich people exploit all rich people all of the time. 
  • I am neither rich nor poor!
Going With The flow
White River Rafting, White River, Mpumalanga



Going with the flow actually makes life so much easier than trying to swim upstream or against the current. We were not supposed to be on this side of the river, however rather than try to swim against the current, I steered us straight into the flow. We made it through easily it without capsizing, albeit amid high pitched screaming!


  1. What is the true cost of differing receipt of payment for services rendered? 
  2. What impact does it have on yourself, family, business and friends? 
  3. What limiting beliefs are getting in the way of keeping the cash-flowing in your life?

2) Stop Short Changing Yourself - You Are Absolutely Good Enough

The value of self-worth is directly related to how one perceives oneself to being good enough to be accepted, recognised and reward for the contributions that one makes in society each day.

Often those people who suffer from issues of self worth find themselves the victims of being walked over and financially ripped off. The possible reasons for this could be that they are selling themselves short.

Are you offering free services over and above those included in the cost of sales to try to attract more sales?

I was an ace at this and it doesn't work. I would offer free sessions and sell my services for much cheaper than the actual market value, which myself and my peers were all cautioned against during our coaching course. However, the time spent marketing, obtaining buy in, closing a deal and then coaching a client all have intrinsic values related to time, resources and skills divided by the number of years of training and experience. So even a novice coach has an immediate market value for the services provided to their very first client.

Often Clients wouldn't pitch at the free sessions anyway possibly because there is also often a subconscious belief that there is either a defect, hidden agenda or that inferior service will be rendered when things are offered for free. 


Spiritual Wealth Check Out 2
My own belief here was that I did not deserve even the baseline fee because I did not have as much experience or knowledge about the industry as my teachers and "other" professional coaches out there. 

All hogwash and excuses for keeping myself small! By the time I had the breakdown, I had had more than 300 hours of coach training and mentoring plus 30 months of running my own business solo. It was certainly more experience than my potential clients had in coaching 😆.

You may find that people take more from you, than what you felt you had offered. This would leave a deficit in your emotional bank account and possibly leave behind deposits of resentment. 

  1. Where are you selling yourself short?
  2. If you feel that people often take advantage of you, check to see where you may be the one giving away too much in exchange for perhaps in expectation of acceptance or affection
  3. Where might you be keeping yourself small due to a belief that "I don't have enough_______ fill in the blank?"

3 ) Don't Discount Your Worth - Stick To Your Boundaries

There are several ways in which we may discount (dis-count) the value of our self worth. At home we do it each time we set a clear boundary and allow it to be crossed. "I am telling you for the last time, you will not use your cell phone at the dinner table!" The construct of the phrase presupposes that there has been at least one or more previous occurrences when this rule has been broken. Each time it is broken, there is erosion of self-worth because the parents' desires are being dis-counted! The child is pushing the boundaries because they are not clearly and firmly established by the parent.

It is fine to offer discounts in order to promote your business and market your services, but it is not okay to offer it for every single service and to every single client. Each unplanned discount may be creating a lack for which, effort, time and energy will need to be used to try to compensate for any gaps created. If the original plan was to attract the client with a reasonable discount, there is no obligation to continue offering that discount to the client because you feel a connection to them or are afraid they may now go elsewhere.

In your financial model, there was a reason for setting your prices at the rate that you set them and you would have checked with yourself that you are comfortable with the model.  Know your true worth and ensure that you are both happy and comfortable with accepting payment for the full amount of your services as proposed. Do not allow the client to cheapen them either with remarks such as "Send me a framework that I can adjust, it seems easy enough to do!" If it's not part of the original services, it needs to be paid for and if it was that simple and easy, you would not be proposing services to the client.

Also beware of how much you are giving away to friends, who "just want to have a quick chat with you about this issue at work!" The very same friends who will dis-count you when you say, "Actually, I would have billed my clients $x00,00 for those last 3 hours I just spent "chatting consulting" with you."

In my experience, the only time there is Return On Investment for discounted services is when it is used to raise awareness right at the beginning of a campaign.

Spiritual Wealth Check Out 3
When we discount too much, we become drained because we are giving away far too much of ourselves in time, effort and money. There may be a sense of being taken advantage of... it's real! Don't blame the taker, though. This relates to the boundaries that we put in place since where boundaries are weak, leakage of energy takes place in the forms of emotional burnout and financial losses. My belief would be triggered here if the quality of my work was put into question. 

Wild Horse Live Here - Kaapeshoop
Signage at Kaapeshoop, Mpumalanga
 Where Wild Horses Rule The Town
"If you are going to do it, do it well." I would break my own boundaries and provide services over and above what was agreed to prove I was worthy and capable of delivering. This one is simple to fix - stick to the scope or agreement.
  1. Where may the discounts in your life be leaking emotional and or financial energy?
  2. How and where does the ROI for the discounts made show up in your life ? 
  3. Where may you be under overcompensating in order to make up for discounts in the workplace, the home  or in relationship?
  4. What are you losing or gaining when doing so?
4) The ROI of Self - Invest In Your Own Growth

How much time, money and effort do you invest directly in yourself? The payoff is often in peace of mind because there is an understanding of what is happening around you, allowing an ease of connection with those in your network at home and in the workplace. 

How much capital do you have in your personal bank of self-worth and knowledge? When was the last time you deposited new material and invested in new portfolios of information, in order to challenge your thinking and change your approach to attract new markets, positively engage stakeholders or enable and capacitate your peers or younger team members? 

This personal investment does not only apply to those in the workplace. How many mothers have never experienced the joy of a simple Mani-pedi because they do not want the money "wasted" on themselves, they do not feel they are deserving or worthy of such an extravagant treat! Whilst raising my 3 boys, these were absolute truths for me as a young mother! I tell my sons and daughter-in-laws the opposite today. It is vitally important to honour those who bare the children of the world, who are truly are the most worthy and deserving of all beings on this planet to be showered with blessings of abundance whenever possible - (oops! eum! did I just say all that out loud! Cough! Cough! Got a bit carried away there but I meant every word of it)!

As individuals, we tend to spend our money on anything but our own personal and spiritual growth because everything else has a higher priority. Also because it is sometimes frowned upon by family, friends and work colleagues, to go on these "woo woo", self-mastery, transformation and life coaching thingies because people come back all energised and ready to take on the world for 3 weeks - disrupting the status quo only for everything to return back to the same old, same old boring routines after the dust has settled!

Ponta Mamoli Beach, Mozambique
Ponta Mamoli Beach, Mozambique. 
Interestingly enough however, those who invest in emotional development are those who also show net improvements in productivity in the workplace and a more balanced life at home with friends and family. They are the ones that show you photos of their mountain climbing adventures, tranquil beaches with clear waters or picture of Machu Picchu that they have either just got back from or are planning to go to. So they must be doing something right. Right? 

Absolutely right - my own photos are mainly of diving and crystal clear waters gliding over clear white or golden sands. I often go to the beach to rid myself from the toxic deposits of the workplace and to replenish myself with the beauty of nature. And my bank account remains healthy to this day thank you very much!

Spiritual Wealth Check Out 4
My triggers for self-growth stem from childhood values and a belief that the day that I stop learning is the day that I die.

My triggers for self-growth stem from childhood values and a belief that the day that I stop learning is the day that I die. They have taught me the value of self investment and the ROI is continuous self-awareness, which reinforces the fact that I and I alone create my own reality.

Interest manifests when my life is in balance in the workplace, at home and with friends as well of course when my bank account is in the black. It is rare indeed that all is in such balance but there is enough balance to keep the cash flowing :D

  1. Where might the disinvestment from your growth have left you feeling depreciated or redundant?
  2. How much Return On Interest (ROI) have you gained from the investments you have made in your self over the past 5 years and how has that manifested for you?
  3. Whose permission do you need to fully invest in your self growth?


Conclusion
Self-worth is a value that cannot be given to another since it is based upon the values and the beliefs that each individual has for themselves at any given moment in time. The correlation between financial health and spiritual wealth is real, why else would so many expressions use monetary terms when express qualities and emotions?

Look for additional correlations such as they relate to your core beliefs and values and see where your core beliefs are providing abundance and enrichment in your life or where they may be holding you back due to accumulating debts and or favours owed not just to banks but also emotionally to loved ones.

Now, what opens up as a possibility if you were to would create Financial Health and Spiritual Wealth?

Change is the only constant! Embrace it!

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