Money as an Agent of Harmony & Blessings:
'The Portable Blessings Ledger' Path...

By Naomi Rose

Ah, money! Who can live without it? Who can live with it? From the dollars-and-cents aspect, you might think money was a cut-and-dried affair. Just look at the number of books on the subject, the articles on budgeting, money management, saving, investing that appear each month in magazines. But despite its high visibility in our culture, money has been called "the last taboo." People will talk about their sex lives more readily than their bank accounts or why, when it comes to money, they often feel alone, as if there's something under the surface that they can sense but not name, and certainly not discuss with others. Where money is concerned, despite all the how-tos that besiege the bookstores, on the deepest, most personal level, people are on their own.

On a spiritual level, though, this is backwards. Because, according to philosopher Jacob Needleman in his book, Money and the Meaning of Life, the very purpose of money—as originally devised by ancient wise people—was to make us aware, first, of our utter dependence on the divine, and then of our interdependence with one another. That this has not yet come to pass is pretty clear. Money is not yet an agent of unity and harmony. But what an inspiring thought! What if it could be?

About seven years ago, when I was going through a financial and personal crisis following a divorce, I needed a way to make money that simultaneously honored my inner life. I just was too emotionally sensitized to pack myself away like inconvenient baggage and "do what needed to be done" to make money. Inspired by Needleman's ideal and turned off by my previous relationship to money, I began—being a writer—to write about the subject in terms of what I did not know. But since I did know how to pay attention to my inner life, I brought this to the mix, added my spiritual practice of compassion and blessings, and thus my book, The Blessings Ledger, was born.

Earlier this year, I realized how much keeping a Blessings Ledger had given me: it brought me out of debt; won me a seat on the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union in Berkeley for two years; gave me well-paying work as a book developer with much-loved clients who pay me gratefully; enhanced my feeling of community; and convinced me that my own being, as well as my money, is a vehicle of blessings. And so, with my book still in progress, I distilled its ways and wisdom so that others, too, could have a relationship with money that revealed and fed their souls. And thus, The Portable Blessings Ledger: A Way to Keep Track of Your Finances and Bring Meaning and Heart to Your Dealings with Money was born.

This is a book that you can use profitably every time you spend money, make money, or even think (including worry) about money. Because it operates from a consciousness of blessings—that blessings (both to you and from you) can permeate any area of life, including financial—it brings you closer to yourself, even in the face of fear, uncertainty, scarcity, and overwhelm. It gives you a way to be present to yourself with exactly what's happening, from exactly where you are—and then, because you are present to your inner life, when you go out into the outer world, you are met by blessings—gifts from the universe that weren't available before. "God is in the details," it's been said; and through the dollar-by-dollar details of your blessings ledger and the stories they reveal about your soul's evolving flowering, you can (a) really keep track of your finances, (b) also track the story of your soul's journey, as it shows up in what you spend, make, and contemplate, and (c) enable you to know yourself as a truly wealthy person—both because of your expanded relationship with money and because you know yourself to be a blessing.

And as the stories rise up and shower your life with revelations and creativity, you'll have a language with which to speak about money with the people in your life. You'll have other beloveds to play with you in the harmonious prosperity that is our birthright here on earth.