I’ve been working on my money mindset the last few months

My fake money experiment made me aware of how uncomfortable I am with money, how anxious and itchy it made me, and created a desire to have more freedom in my relationship with money.

It also helped me see how attached I was to my money. I want money to stay put.

When I work hard to earn it, I want to collect it and hold onto it. But that never happens, so I’m on an endless wheel to make more so I can pile it up and hold onto it; but it flows away!

Money wants to be in flow.

I came to realize that’s not the way money works. Money is constantly in flow.

Money is like water, it comes, and it goes. If you try to hold it in one place, there’s still leakage (fees and unexpected expenses) and evaporation (inflation).

If I stop trying to pile money up and focus on keeping it flowing, I can be less attached to my money. It makes it less painful when I have a hefty repair bill or need to invest in a new computer.

Thinking about money as always moving helps me understand when cash is scarce. It’s not that I didn’t pile enough money up; there’s not enough flowing in. How can I increase the cash flow?

And when there’s a lot of money, the idea isn’t to hang on to it. Instead, how can I use it to open up new spigots that will let more cash flow in the future?

Where are you trying to hold onto money that wants to be moving? What would you be able to accomplish with the time and energy you are spending holding onto that money?