Financial uncertainty can create some real challenges in relationships. Unpaid bills stacking up on the kitchen counter, an almost-empty gas tank in your automobile, looming medical expenses, kids in college, rising insurance premiums, maxed-out credit cards, all paralleled with shrinking paychecks or maybe even the threat of losing a job are situations that many, many couples are up against and struggling with. These issues, demanding center-stage attention for couples finding themselves at the end of their financial ropes, are often significant contributing factors leading to the demise of even the most loving relationships.
Modern conveniences, tantalizing advertising campaigns, and overly commercialized holidays cater to and feed our fragile ego’s desire to have more, do more, have it faster, do it faster. Attempts to keep up with the seductive and frenzied pace of “more, more, more” draw us further away from the essence of our own innate abundance, misleading us into believing that the true measurement of “wealth” in our relationships, or lack thereof, is directly correlated to the way in which we measure financial wealth.
Contrary to what we are being asked to embrace by society, could a shoestring budget and a dwindling bank account be just the thing that reconnects us with an experience of inner wealth, unconditional love, and deeply fulfilling partnerships? Could the experience of having nothing remind us that we already have everything?
A partnership is much more than the physical cohabitation of two individuals. It is more than the wedding and the house and the kids and the careers, and is most certainly more than the unpaid bills. A partnership is a Union of Souls on a Spiritual Journey. Refocusing our attention on the larger purpose of our relationships and the ultimate outcome for All of Life helps us to measure how tightly we hold the day-to-day happenings in our life and how meaningful they are to us.
When waves of panic, worry, and obsession dominate our thoughts, we lose sight of the experience for which our Souls yearn. Sure, we still experience something. We are in a constant state of experiencing ourselves in relation to every encounter in life. But when the question becomes “Why is this experience creating conflict and tension, rather than joy and happiness, in my relationship?” we may want to ask the next important question: “How can I CHANGE that?”
Everything we experience in life — the perceived lows, the perceived highs, what we label “good,” what we label “bad,” those events that appear to propel us forward, and those events that appear to hold us back — are simply touchstones for us to choose in relation to. Each experience weighs in somewhere on the “scale of life,” teetering in one direction or another, depending upon what we choose. Perhaps today we will choose a long walk in nature, holding hands with our Loved One, engaging in heartfelt conversation. Perhaps tonight, instead of eating at a restaurant, we will prepare a wonderful homemade meal together. Perhaps this evening we will dance underneath the moonlight to our favorite soulful music. Perhaps we will gift each other with a sensual massage and surrender to a lingering night of making love. Perhaps in the evenings, after a long day at work, we will greet our Beloved at the door with a warm and loving embrace and each morning awaken them with a tender kiss.
If we choose to experience this level of Soul connection, in spite of the unpaid bills stacking up on the kitchen counter, an almost-empty gas tank in the automobile, looming medical expenses, kids in college, rising insurance premiums, maxed-out credit cards, all paralleled with shrinking paychecks or maybe even the threat of losing a job, then we will have truly experienced what it means to be rich beyond our wildest dreams.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)