Make More Money: Does Your Desire For More Cash Make You Unspiritual?

No sweat right now. Never let them see you sweat, but I sweat a lot because I'm Italian. All right, that may not be a good idea.

Hey there, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching Marie TV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. And this is Q and A freaking Tuesday. Isn't that awesome? Another Q and A Tuesday for you. It's great. Today's question comes from Elena and Miss Elena writes.

"Hi, Marie. I love your book and Marie TV is very inspirational. I have more of a spiritual question for you. I really want to be a great high-end photographer and to do that, I need lots of money to learn the craft and buy top of the line cameras. So I'll take any opportunity to work and earn money. But this focus on making money, even though I believe in what I'm doing, is turning me into a machine. I feel like it's bad to want to earn a lot of money and that it's not spiritual, and I've become too materialistic. Can you give me some advice on how to be cool with the idea of making money?"

Elena, this is a great question because money and spirituality is a very hot button topic. So I know you're asking yourself, is it unspiritual to want to make money? Am I shallow if I want to make more? Let me tell you something, woman. I consider myself a very spiritual person and I love making money. Now not just for money's sake, but more specifically for what it can facilitate in terms of me being able to contribute to others, to create experiences and to enjoy my life. And I've always felt this way, ever since I was a little kid.

Now when I was growing up, my family didn't have a lot of money. My parents worked their buns off, so we always had what we needed, but we were never rolling in the dough. But one thing I'm really appreciative for is I learned a healthy respect for money. In fact, when I was a little girl, anytime I would get my hands on some, I would go to the sink. I would wash it and then I would iron it so I could keep it all organized. That is how much I love my money.

So here's the thing, Elena, money is awesome. But I sense from your question that you're afraid you're too focused on it right now. And here's the thing. You might be, especially if you've lost sense of your ability to have fun while you're making it and you've lost touch with the deeper reason you're trying to earn so much in the first place.

If you want the recipe to create a life you love, you need two key ingredients, achievement and fulfillment. Achievement is about accomplishing and reaching your goals. And very often making money is part of the achievement puzzle. Fulfillment, however, is about something deeper and richer. It's about feeling fulfilled and having creativity and passion and enjoyment and all that good stuff in your life. And here's the thing. You need both if you want to be happy. I want to tell you something, Elena, and yes, it's a tweetable.

When achievement is divorced from fulfillment, you lose custody of your happiness. Sounds to me like you may be a little too heavily focused on the achievement aspect of your life and you need to consciously bring fulfillment into what you're doing. So you got to ask yourself, how can you bring passion and fulfillment and contribution and meaning and fun to everything that you're doing? How can you reconnect to your heart and bring that true sense of passion and meaning to every single thing that you're doing to earn this money?

My advice, be passionate in every single moment you're working. Now on the other hand, if you already love what you're doing and you're just feeling guilty about wanting more money, then you are creating unnecessary drama where you don't need to have it. My friend, Joe Polish, calls money fun tickets, and I love that definition of money.

Money is just there to help you experience things that you want to experience. It's meant to flow. There's nothing evil or dirty about it. So think about it. If you go to your favorite restaurant for dinner, you are supporting that restaurant and all the people that work in it. If you buy a piece of jewelry, you are supporting an artisan in her craft. And if you want to give some away, you can help tackle an issue in the world that you want to see solved. The more successful you are, the bigger difference you'll make in the world and the more people you're going to serve. And that is plenty spiritual, if you ask me.

So Elena, that is my A to your Q. I know so many of us have conflicts between money and spirituality. So thank you so much for asking it.

Now, I want to hear from you. Do you have any limiting beliefs about money that either limit how much you make or how much you enjoy what you do make? In the comments below, I want to hear your specific limiting belief, and this is very important. I want to hear the new empowering belief that you can replace it with. As always the best stuff happens after the episode, over at marieforleo.com. So go there and leave a comment now.

Did you like this video? If so, subscribe to my channel and yes, share it with your friends. And if you want even more great resources to have a business and a life that you love, plus some personal insights from me that I only talk about in email, get your butt over to marieforleo.com and sign up for email updates. Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams. The world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I will catch you next time on Marie TV.

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