I’ve spent countless hours listening to women and men talk about their money lives. Though I’m a good listener, what I hear is always filtered through my own experiences. This is true for all of us. Though we may like to think we see the truth, we perceive only a slice of it.

But we can get glimpses of others’ realities. The place to begin is to figure out who we are in relationship with money. What pivotal experiences have you had with money? Who has influenced your beliefs and attitudes with money? What have you inherited emotionally? What have you witnessed? What about money has been painful? In what ways has money been nourishing?

Add to your experiences your subterranean psychology, for even twins growing up in the same financial environment have different relationships with money. How did you respond emotionally to the experiences with money? What traumas do you hold around money? What keeps you up at night? What do you avoid dealing with? What do you like about money?

Once grounded in our own relationship with money we can begin to grasp slices of other people’s realities. Money’s no different than other emotional areas in our lives. It’s through going more deeply within that we are able to expand our connection to others.

Published 11/18/16