So, I am reading You Are A Badass at Making Money...

Thursdays are the days that we talk all things personal finance around these parts.

And I am starting to realize that more spaces are needed to talk about money. Because while we are socialized to think of the topic of money as taboo, all of us need money to survive and thrive. We all feel a ways about money. Personally, I have found myself literally both proclaiming home much I hate money and praying that God would open doors for me to make more money.

The duplicity of it all.

Last week, in an effort to try to sort out my feelings I picked up the book You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero. If the name sounds familiar, you're probably thinking about Jen's other book, You Are A Badass, a book now filling the shelves of people from politicians to preschool teachers. You Are A Badass at Making Money is a little different from its yellow cover predecessor and focuses more on the "mindset of wealth".

Now, before you think I am going to go all prosperity gospel ( also known as trash) on you, hear me out. As I said above, we do have some weird ways of thinking about our money, especially those of faith. We tithe. We give in the offering basket. We pray for money. But then we hear a sermon on why money is evil (which is completely not true, in the same way a hammer is not evil but the usage of it could be).

From Creflo Dollar (yes, there is a pastor with that name and yes, I feel that it fits his often money mongering ways) and Jesse Duplantis asking their churches to help fund their own personal jets (cringe), to my own pastor leading quarterly church meetings and providing financial accountability down to the last mina (just kidding guys, it was down to the last penny), money is an interesting topic in the faith to say the least.

But back to the book, Sincero shares a lot of candid stories that informed her development with money. From her first experience with calamari to tales of her loading up the free crackers, ketchup packets and other complementary food stuffs because she was so broke. She unabashedly shares the sky scraping highs and the basement busting lows of her financial journey. And in all of that transparency, I found myself feeling so free (and to be honest, a little more in control) in my financial journey.

There are parts I cannot get down with. For example, chanting the mantra "I love money and loves me." 1 Timothy 6:10 New International Version (NIV) tells me "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." So walking around, chanting to myself how much I love money is counter to the faith I profess.

Also, Jen talks a lot about "Universal Intelligence" and "the Universe" as a creation factor. I think it is to be more inclusive of other faiths which she does discuss, but as a believer, I still very much rely upon God for every single cent that comes to me, not some swirling dark place full of gasses, orbits, and floating minerals.


I digress.

What I can get down with is how Jen directly challenges our own internalized views of money. She poses directions towards the formation of our financial views, asked about our first money memories, asks about the first things our parents told us about money. She dissects why we both need and hate to need money, and how those conflicting thoughts lead to conflicting feelings on money. Those conflicting views lead us to conflicted feelings toward our money, and that keeps us stuck right where we are.

By directly challenging our thoughts, we challenge the root cause of the contradictory messages we are sending to our feelings, that thus affect our actions. I cannot live an abundant life if I am constantly in fear of lack or loathing where I am now. Those mixed up messages will not light the fire under me that I need to make the big, even crazy steps to living a more fulfilling life.

And that is all true. James 1: 6-8 says whatever we ask for, we must ask for in faith. "But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

All and all, You Are A Badass at Making Money is really helping me demolish the contradictory views I have on my own finances. For me, it's one of those "take the mean and spit out the bones" situations, where I omit or augment the spiritual references but take stock of my own thoughts, feelings and actions toward money. I recommend it as a read.

So grab it and go on with your Badass....
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