Posts Tagged ‘Money’

By Seamus Anthony

Are you pretty ambitious?

I am. And it’s okay – some of us are just wired up that way.

But the question struck me the other day – and not for the first time – why?

Is it because you want ‘more’ or because you want ‘less’?

I am willing to place a bet that you often just think about getting more. (It’s okay – so do I.)

If only you had a bit more money.

If only you had a slightly bigger house.

If only you had more time.

If only you had a more exciting career.

If only you enjoyed more health.

Yadda yadda yadda.

But here’s the rub. I was walking the dog other day, through the beautiful mountainous, forested region where I live and suddenly I realized that I was frowning, staring at the ground, going over and over the question: How I can get “more”.

What the fuck?

I should have been looking around! Enjoying a Zen-out walking session!

“Why do you always want more?” I berated myself.

Then Poof!

I realised that the paradoxical reason I always want more is …

Because I want less!

And I bet it’s the same for you.

You want more money so you can spend less time worrying about money, doing your boring job and putting up with nitpicking tossers.

You want a bigger house so you can spend less time feeling like everyone in your household is in your face.

You want more time so you can spend less time doing shit you hate.

You want an exciting career so you can spend less time doing shit you hate.

You want better health so that you can spend less time worrying about your health and perhaps, feeling embarrassed about your appearance.

And this is all well and good. It’s just the way it is.

BUT we must remember that when we get more – it usually doesn’t end up being less. More money brings more responsibility. A bigger house needs more maintenance and cleaning. More health means more exercise.

And so you see: Less actually is more,

…but more isn’t always less.

By Seamus Anthony

As you get a little bit older year-by-year you may find that your responsibilities seem to grow and grow, and so too does your desire to meet these responsibilities head on. Which is all very well, and probably for the best, but at what cost to your Inner Child and therefore your happiness and enjoyment of the moment?

When I was in my twenties I didn’t give a stuff about anything I was apparently “supposed” to do and happily left all practical matters to chance in order to give myself the time to enjoy doing the things I wanted to do (from the noble, like create fine music, to the less-noble, which we won’t go into now thank you very much).

Oh … ok, one story of my bad behaviour – but then straight to bed you hear kiddies?

The Other Extreme: Spoiling Your Inner-Child

My Dad went halves with me to buy my first car, nothing flash mind you, but we both put in $750 each which was a lot of money for both of us. I had an awesome time in my little run-around, flying all over town whooping it up, but after a year or so it started crying out for a bit of TLC. It needed oil and a tune-up, but that was far too bothersome for my 21 year old mind to focus on, so I just drove that baby right into the ground. I will never forget the noises it used to make as you turned a corner: some very disturbing, dry grinding sounds would emanate from the engine, along with a little black smoke and a worrying perfume.

Then the poor old thing just wouldn’t start one morning so I swore, shrugged and caught a bus, leaving the car in the driveway to sort its own problems out.

About six months later my folks came for a rare visit to our share-house (bomb-site more like it) and my dear old Pa just about had a heart attack when he saw what appeared to be the roof of a car poking out from amongst a particularly impressive weed patch.

Needless to say he never gave me money for a car again.

Inner Children Need Love Too

Well fast -forward fifteen years and while I am certainly no saint, I am far more responsible. And so I should be; I have a (real) child to bring up after all.

But while when I was younger I was far too obsessed with spending all my time engrossed in creative and fun activities, these days I have to watch that I don’t swing to the other extreme and just spend all day and most of the night grinding through “important” task after task at the expense of being creative for the hell of it. I need to remember that I actually have two children to look after; it’s just that the one inside my heart isn’t as persistently vocal about getting the attention it craves!

For sure, some of my tasks are inherently fun, and I am working very hard towards earning a full-time living doing stuff that I either enjoy or at least don’t despise, but nevertheless, I now find it very hard just to pick up my guitar and strum away for an hour or two for no immeditate purpose or gain other than creative enjoyment. I do it, but not as often as I used to, and not with as much guilt-free abandon as I used to.

And this is sad.

Why? Because if we don’t allow the Inner Child in us to have free reign over our time on a regular basis, then it will only lead to misery and premature aging. I am sure of it.

I am writing this now because as well as currently feeling a very strong need to set new stretch-challenges for myself (see this post, which I will be writing an update on soon) I am also feeling a strong calling to allow myself more time to enjoy doing creative things purely for the sake of it, just because it is what I most love to do.

Of course being creative is just my way of having fun; your Inner Child might prefer to take you skydiving or down to the water to catch a delicious Bass but I think that as the world constantly bombards us with messages of fear and worry about money and security, that it’s really important to leave it all in the office on a regular basis and just have some carefree fun.

It’s not a revolutionary concept, I know, but – damn – it’s an easy one to let slide ain’t it?
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By Seamus Anthony

Once a young man called Snoozer sat dozing in his favourite spot at the bottom of a great mountain.

All of a sudden he was rudely awakened by a foot poking him in the ribs.

“Hey man! What’s up?! Snoozer demanded. He looked up through sleepy eyes to see an older man grinning down at him as if he had just thought of an extremely funny joke.

“I’ll tell you what’s up – the answer to all of your prayers, that’s what!”, chuckled the old man.

“What are you talking about, Old Dude?” Snoozer asked, not really wanting to know. Just what he needed, some old crackpot getting in his face. Snoozer scrambled to his feet and started making moves to leave.

“Not so fast! First you listen to me.” Old Dude said “I live at the top of the mountain, and from up there I can see everything very clearly. Each day I look down to see you wasting away your youth sleeping all the time, so I thought I’d walk down and let you know that if you venture up to the top of the mountain with me, there you’ll find the answer to all your prayers!”

“Huh?” Snoozer hadn’t really woken up properly yet, and this old geezer was a bit much.

“The great secret of life! The way! Enlightenment! If you walk up to the top with me you’ll be able to see it all as clear as day!”

“Look mate…I don’t know what you’re on, but I am totally not into it. So, I’m just gonna go now, and you have a nice day, OK?” And with that, Snoozer began to back away from the old man, who was obviously nuts.

“I thought you might say that – so that’s why I brought this!” Old Dude then pulled out a large wad of cash. “If you walk up the mountain with me and answer my questions correctly, I will give you the money! If you won’t walk up the mountain, then no money for you!”

Suddenly Snoozer was much more interested! The bundle of cash Old Dude was holding out was really quite large, and being a very lazy young man, Snoozer had a lot of bills that were overdue and needed paying up.

“And don’t think you can just snatch the money off me, I’m faster than I look! You’ll have to keep up with me all the way!” Giggling to himself, Old Dude started running at a speed that belied his advancing years. Snoozer hated running with a passion, but he really needed that money. So he took off after Old Dude who was bounding up the mountain path.

The mountain was pretty big. And Snoozer was a bit fat from lots of eating and sleeping, and not much exercise. He ran as hard as he could, but soon he began to get puffed out, and eventually he slowed to a hurried walking pace. Old Dude was ahead out of sight now, but every now and then Snoozer could here him cackling away at the top of his lungs. It began to get dark, and very cold. Snoozer fell over, cutting his knee and grazing his hands on the rocks. His chest hurt and he kept getting dizzy with fatigue, but he really wanted that money. So he didn’t stop chasing after Old Dude.

Snoozer ran and walked and climbed all night. It was the longest, most miserable night of his life. He felt like he would never get to the top of the mountain, and doubts began to plague him. What if the old man was playing a trick? What if he came to no good up on the mountain? Snoozer’s mind raced. He felt like he was going crazy. Delirious tears rolled down his dirt-smeared cheeks, as he moaned and sobbed from his gut like a child.

Then, as morning finally broke, Snoozer stumbled into a flat clearing and saw the whole of his country spread out before him. He saw all the places he knew and loved, his hometown, and the houses of his family and friends. He saw his own house and he wished he were back there now, cosy and warm, asleep.

Then a voice spoke from behind, making Snoozer jump. It was Old Dude.

“Tell me, young man, does this world that you are from look like it has changed now you are at the top of the mountain?”

“No”, Snoozer replied, “It is still the same place”.

“So, are you telling me that it does not look any different to you from up here?”

“Oh, it looks different all right. I can see most of it all at once. The way things are set out is very clear from up here, and it looks somehow less real, more like a dream. But I don’t think it has changed, it’s just that I am seeing it all from a different perspective. It’s as if I am seeing the world the way God might see it.”

“Good.” Old Dude smiled and placed his hand on Snoozer’s shoulder. “Now you know the ‘great secret of life’.”

“I do?” Snoozer looked out at the incredible view. He didn’t really feel as if he knew any great secret. He looked up at Old Dude in bewilderment.

“I do?” He repeated.

“Yes you do. Now off you go. You’ll have plenty of time to think about it as you make your way back down the mountain.” And with that, Old Dude turned and began to walk away.

“Wait a minute!” Snoozer piped up. “Where’s that money then, eh?”

“Oh, of course, the money.” Old Dude stopped, but didn’t turn around. “I left the money at your favourite spot down the bottom of mountain. I guess you were so sleepy you didn’t see what was really going on!”

Snoozer suddenly felt a bit sick, and had to sit down on a rock.

“Well go on!” Old Dude said. “You’d better get a move on, or someone else will find the cash before you do!”

“Hugh…” Snoozer’s head felt like it was spinning on a stick. “What about you? What are you going to do now?” Snoozer called after Old Dude, who was shambling off towards a small wooden hut.

“Why, I’m going to bed, of course! All this mountain climbing has left me plumb tuckered out!”

If Snoozer knew about Curly’s Law, then he might have been a bit more motivated in the first place. You can read about it now by clicking here to get your Rebel Zen “Curly’s Law” Ebook – FREE!