Have I told you lately how much I love the three women who meet with me for one hour every week (for the past 10 years) on the phone to coach/mentor and explore our worlds mentally, spiritually and emotionally? Today was no exception for my love and gratitude to them although our Florida sister was missing in action today! Nevertheless, three of us managed to carry on and ended up in a really interesting discussion about money.

One of us is really experiencing what it feels like to be on her own for the first time in a long while and heading into her 60th birthday. There are a lot of women who are heading into their 60’s and 70’s who don’t have too much of a cushion, if any cushion, to keep a roof over their head, food in their bellies and clothes on their bodies. Many of these women are educated, have lived a nice comfortable middle class life and whether through death, divorce or choice find they are now on their own.

The group’s discussion evolved into talking about our own personal journeys with money and our relationship with it. For at two out of the four of us, has been one of pushing it away and seemingly going to great lengths to avoid it rather than to graciously receive money with some semblance of humility. We talked about how it is much easier to volunteer and do things for other people without asking for anything in return (which is a good thing if not taken too far) but then, of course, we go above and beyond the call of duty (for free) and it get’s more difficult to receive money if and when somebody offers it.

For the longest time I have felt like I must be putting out the kind of energy to the universe when it comes to money that is the exact opposite of a magnet. And yet I have many friends who have money and seem to have a good relationship with it when it comes to spending it, giving it away or asking for it. In my past, there has been a lot of guilt, shame and embarrassment when it came to asking for money (even when I had clearly earned it). I would have to become really resourceful if I ever found myself living off the streets because I don’t think I would have the humility it would take to ask for money and to receive it. I don’t like that feeling of anyone having power over me because of money.

But that’s me. What about you? Do you have the humility it takes to give and receive money? What are some of your own money stories where you have been able to see the pattern of your behavior? Curious minds definitely want to know?!