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The Results of Re-Interpreting Beliefs on Work & Money

by Meghan McChesney Gilroy

This is a true story about the results of a young woman examining and re-interpreting her beliefs about work and money. It begins like this:

Once, there was a little girl who lived in a very nice house, in a very nice neighborhood, with very nice cars. Most anything the little girl desired, her parents did their very best to give to her. They wanted her to have everything that they did not have when they were children – because both the mother and father had grown up in a not-so-nice house in a not-so-nice neighborhood, with a not-so-nice car, let alone not-so-many clothes and not-so much food.

The mother and father much preferred their nice life full of nice things so they would often tell the little girl stories in hopes that she would learn from the lessons in their life. Her father told her about working many, many jobs to ensure that he would no longer be very, very poor. The little girl listened carefully and concluded that you had to work very, very hard if you did not want to be poor.

Her mother told her stories too, stories about walking to work no matter what - through the snow, up and down many hills, when she was sick, and on holidays… all because she needed a steady paycheck to support the family. So the little girl nodded solemnly and mentally noted that it was important that you go to work and get a steady paycheck no matter what.

As this little girl grew older, she naturally worked very, very hard since she had taken her parents’ lessons to heart. She knew the rules. Hard work = Good Life = Being Rich, or at least Being-Not-Poor. As the little girl turned into a young woman, she noticed something strange. She was working very, very hard and receiving a paycheck every week, yet this paycheck didn’t allow the young woman to have all the pretty things she desired, or go on all the adventures she craved. So she wondered and pondered and wondered some more, “How will I ever make more money?”

Then one day, this young woman met a wise elder who lived a quite comfortable and pleasing life. Yet the peculiar thing was this wise elder did not seem to be working so very hard nor was she earning a regular paycheck. How could this be? The young woman decided to inquire. The wise elder told her, “There are many ways for money to come into your life, and not all of them require you to work so very, very hard or to have a regular job. These ways may not even look like what you call making money.”

The young woman was shocked! For the life of her, she didn’t know how this could happen. After much thought, she told the elder, “I know that you are said to be very wise, but I know that this just can’t be true.” The wise elder smiled and simply said, “Perhaps. Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

With that comment, a glimmer of another possibility entered the young woman’s mind. Within several weeks, money started appearing in her life in strange ways. Sometimes people gifted her with money or a present. Sometimes people offered to trade services. Somehow she even got a raise. The young woman ran to the wise elder to share the good news. Without saying anything, the wise elder smiled again and saw that the seed she had planted was starting to sprout. More and more abundance came into the young woman’s life. Even so, she would not give up her regular job with the steady paycheck. There was a certain amount of truth in the wise elder’s wisdom, but really it was much safer to continue on the way she had always known.

Many years later, the young woman realized that she was tired. Not just a little tired, but bone tired of working and trying so hard. Finally, the young woman couldn’t take it anymore, “That’s enough, I quit! I am going to live my life and make money in a brand new way.” Now it was everyone else’s turn to be shocked. This young woman was not a quitter. She was a good, hard worker! How could she just quit her job? How would she survive? How would she make money?

The young woman knew that she had to find another way. So she followed heart’s desire. She did all the things that she never had time to do when she was working so hard. She slept, and slept and slept. She read. She played. She took long walks. She learned to accept help and support from other people. She began creating and expressing in surprising ways. Her mind (and her parents) would often badger her with questions about how she could make this new way of being work. Still, she trusted herself and what she knew what she had to do. And she trusted that the wise elder really was wise and really was right.

So how does the story end, you ask? Well, just the other day, years after the young woman quit her job, quit working so hard, and quit taking home a regular paycheck, I saw her in the most particular and far away place. Surprised I asked, “What are you doing here?”

She replied, “I’m living!”

Still, I was puzzled, “So how’s living without working so hard?”

She paused and replied, “This certainly isn’t how I imagined it would be.”

“Well,” I said. “How’s it going for you?”

She laughed and smiled and simply said, “I am happy. Isn’t life great?”

Many thanks to my wise elder, Rita Rivera.

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