Thriving in Times of Economic Crisis

By Megan Woolever

Last October I spent the month traveling and studying both in Europe and the U.S. I happened to be in France during those first few weeks in October when the stock market fell and the U.S. banks went into crisis.

I was informed of the situation at dinner one night by a German businessman who was sharing our table. He told me that he used to think it didn't matter what happened to the U.S. economy, it didn't affect him. However with the recent events in the U.S. market and the subsequent panic unleashed on an international scale, he had realized he was wrong. What happens to the U.S. happens to the rest of the world. Because of this crisis, he had come to realize that our financial systems, like our ecological systems, are all interconnected, we are all one.

As I turned on the French news, I watched the truth of what he was saying first hand. Analysts all over the world were panicked and afraid because of the panic and fear in the U.S. I began to wonder, how much of this market instability is based on fact and how much on feelings? Consider this: if economics are largely based on the behavior of the market, and the market is greatly determined by consumer action, and consumer action is based upon an individual's attitudes and behaviors, then how much power do we the people potentially have to shape our economy? Quite a lot, I'd say.

Just because someone tells us we are in a recession, that there is no work out there, that everything is falling apart, do we actually have to live into that statement by becoming fearful and worried? The true power of our global economy lies in the fact that WE THE PEOPLE can greatly determine its health and well-being. Although we are experiencing the pain right now of the shifting financial climate, what is in fact happening is an opportunity for old paradigm ways of thinking about and using money to fall away so that something new and healthy can be born. We are experiencing the birth of a new way of valuing our time, our energy and our lives. This is a critical time of necessary upheaval and renewal.

Yes, we must scrutinize our financial habits and spending patterns, and ensure we are being good stewards of our money. Yes, we need to make adjustments to our lifestyle and reprioritize what is most important. Yes, we need to do away with unnecessary consumption that leads to over production and waste, thus diminishing our natural resources. But we do not have to live each day in fear of what the market is going to do, as if we are powerless to control anything. I am advocating an approach to communicating about and experiencing money that starts with the awareness of the individual. Businesses base many of their decisions about things like hiring, investment and new development on where they believe the market is going. So who gets to determine the market? WE DO!

Instead of talking about all the horrible things that are happening, focus your attention on the potentials that are opening up right now. In every downturn there are subsequent opportunities if you look for them. From the perspective of Conscious Evolution, we are experiencing a "birth crisis," something new is being born, a new money paradigm aligned with spirit, centered in the heart and founded upon integrity. As such, something old must die; a system of debt and spending beyond ones means that is no longer sustainable or healthy for our future. Recognize it as such. Realize that with any birth a little pain happens, but that pain is in the interest of new life.

Take a deep breath. Breathe into the new potentials that are opening up as old ones die away. Look for those opportunities, even as you are being asked to reevaluate where you spend your life force (work) and your energy (money).

And educate yourself! An excellent place to begin is by reading The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of our Inner Resources by Lynne Twist. Learn how your thoughts, feelings and behaviors around money can either help or harm our economy. You are a powerful factor in the health of our world. Together, we can write a new story and transform the way we value our lives, our planet and our money.

May your lives be filled with the true Abundance of your Soul!

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