It seems none of us are exempt from the impact of the changing economy. Falling home values, increased prices at the grocery store, and the stratospheric price of college…kind of makes you want to run into an open field and scream at the top of your lungs, doesn’t it? Or maybe that’s just me.

Most of us are looking for ways to scrape together a little more money, or are employing our best MacGyver skills to stretch the money we do have. To put it plainly, this is stressful and infinitely frustrating.

While there isn’t much we can do to rectify the national budget, we can control one thing: our perspective. I’m aware a perspective shift does not magically transform into dollars in your checking account, but it pays large dividends in your mental and emotional well-being – a vital element to staying on the road to recovery.

Deepak Chopra speaks to such a shift in his book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: “The word affluence comes from the root word ‘affluere’, which means ‘to flow to’. The word affluence means ‘to flow in abundance’. Money is really a symbol of the life energy we exchange and the life energy we use as a result of the service we provide to the universe. Another word for money is ‘currency,’ which also reflects the flowing nature of energy. The word currency comes from the Latin word ‘currere’ which means ‘to run’ or to flow.
Therefore, if we stop the circulation of money — if our only intention is to hold on to our money and hoard it — since it is life energy, we will stop its circulation back into our lives as well. In order to keep that energy coming to us, we have to keep the energy circulating. Like a river, money must keep flowing, otherwise it begins to stagnate, to clog, to suffocate and strangle its very own life force. Circulation keeps it alive and vital.”

As he points out later in this chapter, money is not the only thing we tend to hoard (and therefore allow to stagnate). We tend to hold on to our love, our friendship, our willingness to be kind to a perfect stranger. In doing so, we deny ourselves the experience of receiving back these intangible gifts.

Meredith Watkins, MFT, says “One positive step we can all take today is to adjust our attitude toward giving and receiving. Look for an opportunity to give to another freely, with no strings attached. Be it a kind word, a smile, an acknowledgment of another’s existence, or even a few dollars to a friend in more dire straits than you — these acts of generosity are the true measure of wealth and success.”

Sherry Gaba, LCSW and Life Coach, is the Psychotherapist and Life Coach in private practice on Celebrity Rehab, author of The Law of Sobriety: Attracting Positive Energy for a Powerful Recovery, and facilitates workshops, teleseminars, and speaking engagements.  Contact Sherry for your 30 minute consultation sherry@sgabatherapy.com.