There are many questions to ask ourselves as we tread the path of money mindfulness. These questions serve to bring more awareness to our relationship with money so it can be improved. Not only do we need to question our limiting beliefs about money and inquire about our real values, we also need to ask ourselves: how much is enough?
Especially when it comes to money, it is easy to get stuck in the mind-set that more is always needed and always better. Humans can get locked into a mentality of “lack” and begin to feel that nothing is ever enough. But imagine for a moment that money is water. For health, ease, and prosperity, you want to have a steady flow of water in your life. Something clean and moving, coming in and going out. As much as you will suffer from a drought, your life can be ravaged by a flood. The energy of money is similar.
Globally, the richest 1 percent of people control 39 percent of the world’s wealth, while the poorest 95 percent of people have 28 percent of the world’s wealth. Pause for a moment to take in these numbers. If we were looking at the world like a human body, we would immediately notice the places of excess and stagnation and the hardship this creates to the system as a whole.
Stepping back from the global view into our own lives, it becomes clear that creating a healthy relationship with money means we need to be strong enough to claim the financial resources we need to live healthy, happy lives while not losing ourselves to the delusion that more money will always be the solution to our challenges. We need to define what is enough.
A Starting Place
What do you want to have in your life? What do you want to experience? Who do you want to take care of? Take out a sheet of paper and begin to jot down all the ways money is needed in your life. How much do you need for basics like shelter, food, and health care? How much do you want for your car, entertainment, and travel? Be realistic and include money for savings, retirement, and education. Be abundant and include money for gifts for loved ones, charity, and yourself.
When you have reached a number, add the estimated taxes for that amount. You can find tax calculators online that will help you figure this out. The final number you come up with is how much money you will need to earn to have the life you desire. The next step is to take this number and divide it by how many hours you want to work. Make sure to include any time off you want to take in this number. And there you have it. Your hourly rate.
Does this number seem feasible? Or does it make your stomach turn? I remember the first time I did this exercise I came up with an hourly massage rate of almost $200 an hour. This is not because my total desired income is extremely high, but because my time is valuable to me, and massage therapy is a high-contact, high-value service I cannot physically do in a sustainable way for 40 hours a week. Working for myself also means I have to include in my rate all the business expenses I incur to offer my service.
I know that making $200 an hour is definitely possible. I know massage therapists and bodyworkers who already charge this, so I hold this number in mind as the goal I am reaching for, while I take small steps along the way toward that. In the meantime, I am in full recognition that having time to be well-rested and nourished by home-cooked food, time to meditate and practice yoga, and time to walk in the woods and drink tea with friends are all important parts of the lifestyle I envision for myself, and I can have them without making $200 an hour.
Calculating the Sweet Spot
By doing this exercise, I have discovered what I want to experience in my life. And while I don’t yet have everything I think I want, I am able to gear my life toward what is the most fulfilling for me. In my mind, I want my own chef’s kitchen and a hot tub on my back patio, but if sharing an eternally disorganized kitchen that is full of warmth and love, and getting my hot tub time at a friend’s house is how I get to live the life I want now, I am very grateful for that.
There is a sweet spot of financial resources for all of us that is “perfectly enough.” No one can tell you what that number is—you get to define it for yourself. We all need to tap into our inner warrior who will go out and get what we need, while at the same time balancing that warrior with the inner child who rests easy knowing we will always be provided for, and finds contentment in what we already have. Being in a place of enough is a sweet place to be.
Jennie Hastings, LMT, BCTMB, has studied money in the therapeutic process from every angle: as a client, patient, and practitioner. From the very beginning of her bodywork career, she received business training and coaching. Now she helps other massage therapists break through limiting beliefs about money with private and group coaching. She can be reached at jennie@massageblossom.com.