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CAN MONEY BUY HAPPINESS?

For many years I have been devoted to my career, slaving away really, in order to achieve financial success. I thought money would give me freedom and happiness, but it hasn't. I make a lot of money, but I keep spending it and feel that I have little to show for it. What's wrong with me?

If you have been a slave to your work, how can you expect to feel free? Money does not buy happiness. Money can buy many things that can bring you joy, but money in itself will never be fulfilling or satisfying. In fact, the desire for material wealth can be a trap. Many people make the mistake of sacrificing their present happiness for the pursuit of money, believing that they can't make money doing what they love to do, so they do work that they don't love just for the money (which is a definition of prostitution). These people believe that if they work hard now, they can earn enough money to enjoy their retirement, but many people become too tired to enjoy being retired - all those years of being miserable for the majority of their days has taken its toll on their health, because joy is the key to longevity, wellness, and true success and fulfillment.

You cannot fully enjoy your life when you are living for the weekend, because you are not really living a full life. When this is the case, people often believe that if they just had more money, they could enjoy their life more, but it will never be enough, because they are running on a hamster wheel. Our present society supports this belief in this type of work ethic because it enslaves humanity, and keeps people droning on like good little worker bees, too tired to think for themselves or be truly creative. It takes creativity to create money; it takes joy, love and passion to attract money and create a true sense of wealth and wellbeing. You can only really live and enjoy your life now - not on the weekend or when you retire. You cannot really enjoy what you have created if you are utterly drained and exhausted.

If you do what you love, then it is no longer work, it becomes your passion. Passion is an attractive energy, and it attracts to it all that is of like frequency and vibration. If you enjoy your work, then you will draw to you all that brings you joy, including money. You have two choices: either you change your career to something you really love, enjoy and feel passionate about, which will give you a greater sense of joy and fulfillment on a daily basis (but many people are too frightened to do this and would rather sell their soul for security), or you find things to really enjoy about your present work so you don't feel like you are slaving away.

You can do a lot of things to give yourself more joy at work: bring some fresh flowers into the office every Monday; take the time to form relationships with your co-workers, clients and colleagues; ask yourself how you can put more creativity into your work and your office environment; spend as much time as possible doing the things that you enjoy about your work, and get help and support with those things that you don't enjoy. If there is nothing you can enjoy or feel creative about in your work, then it is time to move on because it is taking from you far more than it is giving to you, and no amount of money is worth that. Take a leap of faith, trusting that your joy will attract like energy to you and support you abundantly. This is the nature of the Universe.

If you are wanting to change your work or career, it can be helpful to make three lists on separate sheets of paper: 1) list all the things you love to do in life, all that you have ever wanted to do or try, and all that brings you joy; 2) list all that you are good at, talented or gifted in, all that you are trained in, educated in and qualified for, and all that other people tell you that you are good at; 3) write down the type of lifestyle you would like to have in your ideal world - what days and hours would you like to work, do you want to travel? How much, how and where? Do you want to work for yourself or for others, alone or with others? Do you want to work at home or at an office? Get really clear with yourself about what you really want, not just what you think you want in life. Write freely, without censoring yourself, and write down everything you can think of, whether or not you think it is relevant or important (for instance, you may not think it is important that you are great at making a bed, or that you love to make people happy, but these would be great qualities to have if you have always wanted to run a B & B, which could be very enjoyable and successful, even if it may be a lot of work). Then look at these three lists together and see what they have in common. Be creative and take your time getting to know yourself and what would really give you joy. You deserve it! (You might be interested in my recordings, living your purpose   which describes this process in more detail.)

Right now, you are spending your hard-earned money to try to compensate for your feelings of unhappiness and lack of fulfillment. You are trying to alter your state to get a sense of joy from spending or shopping because it gives you a momentary high, but then you crash back down into your reality, so you are tempted to spend more in order to feel the high of happiness again. This can develop into an addiction to try to fill the emptiness within you, but it will never satisfy you, no matter how much you love what you buy, because you are using this as a coping mechanism to make up for your lack of fulfillment on a daily basis, and you are creating a dangerous trap for yourself. If you are not careful, your spending can get out of hand, driving you into debt, and making you feel like you are stuck in your present situation. You are never stuck, you are always free to choose, but you must choose your happiness above money, because money cannot buy happiness, but true happiness can attract and create money.

There is nothing wrong with having money, and being wealthy can be a wonderful thing, but money itself does not provide fulfillment. Money may solve certain problems, but it can also create other concerns. A lot of people believe that having a lot of money would mean the end of their worries, but many wealthy people worry a great deal about their money. They worry about their valuable possessions, about who their real friends are, and about making more money to support their wealthy lifestyle. For some people, having more money can actually mean having more to worry about!

The key is not to focus on the money itself, but on the joy of living. The more you enjoy your life, the more you will enjoy whatever money you have, and then you will draw more money to you. You can enjoy your life right now, if you choose. It doesn't take any money to choose joy, and many of the greatest joys and riches in life are free: take a walk, talk to children, enjoy the sunshine, or play in the snow or the rain. Money does not determine your happiness, you do.

In order to really feel wealthy, you must really enjoy having money. That might seem like a simple statement, but many people don't really love money, they almost hate it. Many people blame money for all their problems. Many people have judgments on money that it is somehow bad or dirty, or that it is "the root of all evil". Money is simply energy, and it can be used creatively or destructively. Greed is the true root of "evil", which has less to do with money than with a desire for power, but people equate money with power, and in many ways, money does give a person greater power of choice. Greed is not a love of money - it comes from a belief in scarcity.

There is all the money in the world available right now, you just have to feel worthy of your share and allow yourself to receive it. You do this through love and joy. You must love and enjoy money, because money is an energy and an expression of divine love. Money is one of the few things that most cultures on Earth share in common at this time. Money is one of the few things that we readily give to each other and receive from each other on a daily basis, therefore, money is a way of spreading love and joy from one person to the next. Focus on all that you are receiving, and all that you have to give and share. Let yourself enjoy receiving money, enjoy what you do to receive it, and enjoy sharing it with love. If you allow yourself to love money, and to make money an expression of love, then that love and joy will attract infinite amounts of money and true wealth to you.

There are many people who are very wealthy who lead a poor existence, and there are many financially poor people whose lives are rich with love and joy. Money alone does not determine the quality of your life. Your attitudes toward your life determine how much you enjoy your experience.

Next week's column will be about Relationships in honor of Valentine's Day.  I  welcome your questions.

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