“Do what you love, and the money will follow.”

For many people, this expression is true, with one important modification. I think the word “eventually” needs to be added to the end of that sentence.

But what do you do if “eventually” feels like “forever”?

I want to tell you about a little-known and little-discussed way to address the issue of earning less than you’d like, especially when you feel like you’ve tried everything. The suggestion I have is not a get-rich-quick scheme, nor is it a panacea. But it’s super practical, and I have seen it work.

I’ll start with Jillian’s story  (I’ve changed her name and a few of the details to protect her privacy).

Jillian said: “I really need help. I’ve been trying and trying to make money doing what I love. I really believed that I was offering something worthwhile by helping people manage the ups and downs of managing depression. I’m a therapist by training, but I don’t like sitting with one client after another. My real love is writing and teaching. I developed a website full of ideas to help people cope with this difficult challenge. I’ve taught a few teleclasses. I even wrote a few ebooks, based on my experience counseling people through the hardship of depression. I really care about being of service.

“I’ve invested at least four years working on this business. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on professional support (like a business coach, a web designer, a graphic designer, a virtual assistant, and so on) to make this a viable business, but I just have not been financially successful. I earn just enough money to scrape by. No extra money for vacations, for buying a cute piece of clothing, for having a little fun going to the movies with friends. This deprivation is starving me.

“It’s time for me to make a living ! I’ve been divorced for 9 years.  My previous background was as a marketing exeutive and I was never cut out for it.

“I have two adult kids now, ages 19 and 24, and am committed to getting the youngest through college with no debt and also to raising my two dogs, who do help make me happy. I live pretty far from any family and I’ve found it challenging to make close friends.

“I’ve read a ton of self help books, done loads of exercises to help me figure out the work I love and how to manage my finances. I’ve even meditated for many years.  I hope you’ll understand this:  I thought I was listening to God/The Universe (or some form of higher guidance) when I designed my work, thinking it fit me from the inside out.

“I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything I know to make money. I am feeling angry, upset, and disillusioned.

“I want to be of service and support my family and I just don’t know how.”

Wow, what do you do in a situation like this? Jillian tried all kinds of practical steps to make her business viable.

My insight: It sounds like the key issue Jillian was facing had to do with money, not business or therapy skills. My suspicion was that she was holding herself back with some attitudes and behaviors of underearning. In other words, not living up to her financial potential, which could be limitless.

My recommendation:  I asked Jillian to check out Underearners Anonymous.

Underearners Anonymous (UA) is a Twelve Step fellowship of men and women who have come together to help themselves and one another recover from underearning. Underearning is many things, not all of which are about money. While the most visible consequence is the inability to provide for one’s needs, including future needs, underearning is also about the inability to fully acknowledge and express our capabilities and competencies. It is about underachieving, or under-being, no matter how much money we make.

The tools of UA include, and reinforce, the tried and true tools of recovery provided by the Twelve Steps (like in Alcoholics Anonymous and other similar “Anonymous” programs). Members of UA also utilize additional tools – both individually and with partners – to support taking action that will create lives that are full, prosperous, and grounded in serenity.

Once Jillian started attending UA meetings, she began to realize that one of the biggest blocks to her success was the shame she carried about underearning.

Unfortunately, shaming ourselves does not create an incentive for us to improve our circumstances. Shame may make us work harder on the outside, rather than looking inside to enhance how we treat ourselves. Shame is paralyzing.

Once she began attending Underearners Anonymous meetings (they offer both in person meetings and telephone meetings), Jillian released the shame she had been feeling about her financial situation. She had the courage to see the difficult ways she treated herself. With the help of others in her meetings, she began to feel better about herself and found UA to be a supportive fellowship with a structure and practices to help her regain a sense of her own value. Slowly but surely, she’s been feeling better about herself. In tandem, her earning has been steadily increasing.

So if you’ve been doing the work you truly love, but the money is just not following, I encourage you to check out Underearners Anonymous. The people who are part of this totally volunteer organization may just be the way for you to make a positive change.

Committed to your abundance,

PS – If you’re not doing what you love, let’s change that, soon! Join me January 13-15, 2012, for the “Crafting Careers That Truly Fit” workshop, where you can plan your career future in a hot tub on the Pacific Ocean. And if you register by January 1, 2012, you’ll get $325 in bonus goodies from me! So check out the workshop, now!

How do you get out of your head? One of my favorite ways to “take the elevator down” from my cerebral cortex to my toes is to DANCE! I especially love freeform movement. In contrast to the systems and processes required to run my own business, I crave outlets that let me get out of my head and into my body.

So, in August, I boogied down to the Esalen Institute, a personal development retreat center on the rugged Big Sur coast for a workshop of Soul Motion with my gracious and graceful teachers, Zuza Engler and Scott Engler. I moved and grooved, sweated profusely, and got in touch with my heart in a big, juicy way. (By the way, I’m teaching a workshop there December 5-10! Check it out on their calendar )

And, as I always seem to do at Esalen, I connected with great people. One of them is Mary Pinozotto, who is a total original. One day, Mary asked our group to help her film a video. I was feeling emotionally tender that day, so I hid from the camera. But I was intrigued over dinner, as she edited the video to post the next day. I asked her what she was doing.

“Oh, I’m recording one dance video every day.”

What!?! That’s pretty amazing. Where does she get inspired? What keeps her going? I was intrigued. She told me about dancing at Wal-Mart. And with Hells’ Angels. And in nature. And in so many different ways. Short dance. Long dances. And then the artistry of editing all of these.

Well, of course I asked to interview her for this blog. Here’s a woman who’s following her heart and her art. As she says in the audio interview I had with her, she’s becoming the person she’s dreamed herself to be.

To me, when we move, we change. Mary is in the flow of change, and I hope you’ll listen to her wisdom if you are in a place of transition, and craving a more authentic, creative life.

Listen to my interview with Mary

I hope you’ll enjoy the interview, with some key highlights about:
- moving emotions out and through the body; the metaphors in movement (I know about that from the Get A Move On! cards)
- dealing with money, and cherishing what you have
- increasing your ability to learn notice new things
- dedication and staying with something with discipline; sinking your teeth in
- listening for the creative inspiration

I’ve also posted a few of Mary’s amazing dance videos. Do they make you want to get up and move your body? C’mon! It’s OK. Go ahead! Join the dance!

Video 1: About the Freebox Blog

Video 2: To Sheryl Crow’s I Shall Believe


Video 3: From a Hafiz poem

I hope this inspires you!  If you want to view Mary’s blog, The Freebox, visit http://thefreebox.wordpress.com/

Wishing you delicious rhythmic journeys,

Susan

It’s a pleasure to introduce you to one of the clients I worked with last year, Jody Florman, an incredibly talented artist and visionary. In our work together, Jody did her “work from within,” getting clear that within herself, she held a lot of resistance to the life that wanted to unfold for her. As with many people, she had a preconceived idea about how her life “should” be going. However, when she opened up and realized that the different way that her life was flowing was actually on purpose and good, more abundance came her way, in many forms.

I invite you to read my interview of Jody and then view Jody’s artwork and the faux finishing and trompe l’oiel she does in residences. I find her art has a magical, mystical, marvelous quality about it. A true reflection of her inner beauty! And, below, she shares great wisdom for anyone going through a career change and encountering unexpected situations.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am very fortunate to be living and working with my passion, every day. I am an artist who makes a living creating and doing hand painting, murals, trompe l’oeil, commission paintings and faux finishes inside beautiful, high end homes. I can also create and reinvigorate the sacred space of your home or business. I am simultaneously exploring fine art painting and photography as additions to my creative focus. I live my life under the premise that I create my own reality. I strive to bring the adventure of my journey into all aspects of my life.

What brings you most alive in your work?
Exploring new ideas and bringing them into reality. I have recently had an epiphany about where my photography is going and it has made me more conscious about my creative process. The more I explore, the more I see the journey as my work and the less I judge the perfection of the art/ photography I put out. I am excited so see where I go next and what the results will be!

What was happening before we started working together?
I had hit a wall with my work life. I had been adamant that by the time I turned 50, I would create an easier work environment for myself. What happened instead was that my world seemed to be dismantling: divorce, challenges with the economy, challenges with my new work environment in the new state I had moved to. I was unenthusiastic and conflicted. This caused everything to come to a screeching halt. I could not seem to get out of my own way. I also had some very fixed ideas on how I thought my life should be going, at my age, and my world was not cooperating. So that’s when I found Susan Bernstein and Work from Within.

What’s happened since?
Making changes did take awhile. I initially had a lot of resistance to going back into the decorative painting field. I was convinced there was something else for me and yet I could not seem to find my way. I put a lot of energy and time into my fine art and looked around for a job in a completely different field.  I found a part time job at a local winery. The point was to get myself into an affluent public eve and possibly generate new clients and give me a place to hang my art and place my art related products. What has come to light in the last year and a half has been all the ways I stop myself, all the ways I judge myself, all the misconceptions I operate my life under and how personally I take what life has to offer me. So, I have been consciously letting go of all of the above statements. I have relaxed into my life, created more fun and enjoyment in each moment, let go of the have-tos and supposed-tos. I have stopped feeling like I’m running out of time and that I am a failure because my life didn’t keep on the “successful” tract I was on. I have re-embraced decorative painting while redirecting my focus and how I physically work. I am letting go of my house and all the ideas I had what a 50 something abundant life style looks like. I am dismantling my box and creating a new flow. In spite of the economics around me, my life is turning around financially and I am expanding rapidly in my creative life. I still have a way to go and I can honestly say I am happy and patient while my life evolves.

What’s been most memorable or valuable from your experience working with Susan Bernstein of Work from Within?
I found myself looking at the resistance I had toward my chosen profession, all the expectations and disappointments. Working with Susan made me realize if I was going to continue in my then current track or look outside my box and do something completely different, I had to reinvent my attitude, and then make a decision. And, I had to overcome disappointment that this would not all happen in an instant. The great news is that my journey back to the more commercial aspects of my art is still unfolding and I am very pleased that I had my experience with Susan has put me on the road to expressing a bigger and more creative aspect of myself.

As an artist, what are the biggest aha’s you’ve had about how to share your talents and reap abundance?
I am still looking at my  avenues for revenue. As times have changed, the way of doing business is different and my focus has changed.  am looking at doing home shows, I am doing a product line for a non-profit. I am pursing shows in smaller venues and I am about to pursue designers on the East Coast.  In general, I’ve learned to try everything, see if it is working. If not, I get out and move on.

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Maddy Dychtwald, my guest blogger for this post. Maddy is a nationally recognized author, demographer, public speaker and entrepreneur.  She has spent nearly twenty-five years deeply involved in exploring and forecasting demographic, lifestyle and consumer marketing trends.

Maddy’s new book, Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better, is being released today, May 4. If you care about transforming the world through more feminine energies, I absolutely recommend this book! It’s a powerful argument, based on changes in our world, that shows the ways that women are making positive impacts. It includes stories of women who have big visions and big hearts. I was very fortunate to read an advance copy and was dazzled to find women I truly admire, such as Priya Haji of World of Good, and Deborah Szekely of The Golden Door and Rancho La Puerta, profiled for their visions and values.

So, here’s what Maddy’s shared with you:

It’s a curious thing, how a change so massive can still take us by surprise.

100 years ago, telephones were scarce, TVs not invented, and apples just a tasty fruit. Women couldn’t vote, and in many countries, couldn’t even own property, especially if they were married.

But for all the technological and political change the world has seen in the past century, the single most powerful economic change has not been caused by technology or the rise of developing nations. It’s been created by women.

Over the past two decades, “women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or…China or India,” wrote the Economist in 2006. Today, the average American family has two cars, many TVs and countless technological toys. We couldn’t afford half those luxuries without the power of the working women.

And yet, it still astonishes me how invisible this massive change seems. In the U.S, we take for granted that women work—but we don’t consider child care a tax-deductible business expense. We know that women work harder and longer than men, when you count all that cooking, cleaning and laundry—but most poor people in the U.S. (and globally) are women. We see a few women at the top of corporations and many in the middle, but most women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man does in a similar job, even when controlling for education and experience.

In short, although women’s economic power has grown enormously, we often don’t take notice. Why? Because, to date, little of that economic power has translated into social or political influence. We’re earning money, but it still feels like a man’s world. This is especially true in the United States, which lags far behind other nations on global indices of gender equality. Women are 20% of elected officials, 11% of business leaders, just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, and only minor figures in the media that covers them — “female bylines at major magazines are still outnumbered by seven to one”, write Newsweek’s Jessica Bennett, Jesse Ellison and Sarah Ball.

But all that’s finally starting to change. After decades of building up our earning power, hoarding our economic force, we’re about to spend our capital. Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, women are unleashing their influence on the world. Maybe it’s by having dad pick up the kids, maybe it’s by making a microloan to a woman half a world away, but gradually, small changes are accumulating, like a thousand water drops seeping, creeping, eroding a mighty mountain. Together, we’re reshaping our world from a man’s world to, eventually, a partnership society that, one day, will work as well for women as men.

My co-author, Christine Larson, and I started following those changes in our book INFLUENCE: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better, which Hyperion publishes this May. But things are changing far faster than any book can follow, especially given the long lead time of the publishing industry.

So, we’re going to track those changes here, minute by minute, showing how women are starting to use their influence to change the world.

Please help me. I want to know how you’re using your economic influence—to educate your daughter, to reinvent the division of labor in your house or at your company, to help other people around the world.

If you get a high-ranking job with a big, prestigious firm, and a salary that’s many times the national norm, will that make you happy?

I had a job like that. Right after completing my MBA at UC Berkeley, I felt so proud of myself to land a job in management consulting with Andersen Consulting, which is now Accenture (no, not Arthur Andersen, the former parent company who was ruined by the Enron scandal). My post-MBA salary was almost five times higher than my pre-MBA salary, so I was elated. Not that I’d planned to become a management consultant when I went to business school. I either thought I’d go into international trade (I’d started off in a dual-degree program with an MA in Asian Studies that I ultimately dropped) or human resources (I’d come from the world of corporate training and still wanted to develop shiny, happy employees).

So, here’s the thing: Despite Accenture’s big brand name, the name dropping I would do of Fortune 500 clients, being able to tell my friends that I knew the CEO of such-and-such a company, earning elite flyer status with all the miles I accumulated on multiple airlines, and my super-smart colleagues…I was MISERABLE.

I had to hide how much I hated the long hours, because we were supposed to brag about those, like a badge of courage. I never told anyone that I thought the work was boring, and I promptly stopped telling people that I was eager to teach my clients how to do the kind of analysis I was doing for them, because I discovered that we actually profited when clients hired us back for multiple engagements. I was interested in building personal relationships, so I was disappointed when I was placed on a new project every two to three months, and just started to feel like a cog in a wheel. Maybe it was an important wheel.

When I’d consider quitting, friends would say, “But you make so much money! How can you even think of leaving?” I kept telling myself, “You’re lucky to have a job like this! It was so competitive to get in! And you made it! Why would you leave? Keep up this work and you’re on track to make partner, and then you’ll be making MILLIONS!”

It wasn’t until after I collapsed, yes, literally fell backwards, right in front of clients during a meeting, totally spent from exhaustion and killer headaches, that I decided I really needed to leave that job. But oooh, that seductive money.

For me, I’ve discovered that living more simply has given me more freedom over how I manage my time. I love being a coach and setting my own hours. I only work Tuesday to Thursday, for example. In management consulting, I was always answering to the firm. If they wanted me in Detroit the next day, then I’d be packing my bags. (Luckily, I didn’t have to go to Detroit, but I did get a call on a Sunday night to be in Seattle the next day, and my raincoat was at the dry cleaners. How lucky — it didn’t rain that week!)

But that’s me. I’m wondering about you and others. So I started poking around, wondering…does money bring happiness?

Gretchen Rubin, who wrote the book The Happiness Project, says that a LACK of money CAN bring unhappiness. If you’re reading this, you’re probably doing well enough that you’re not living on the street. Rubin reminds us that if we’re not feeling good about money, we can count our blessings, get distracted doing something fun or interesting; find ways to assert control over your situation (even small things like cleaning out a closet); spending time with friends; or do something to help someone else.

In a recent blog post for the Huffington Post, she says that whether money will make you happen depends on a few things:

* What kind of person you are: What do you want to own? Do you have kids or dependent parents? Do you have expensive hobbies? Do you like to travel? These circumstances and choices will impact your feelings around money.

* How you spend your money: Consider which of your purchases over the last year has brought you the most happiness. What if you make choices bearing in mind your happiness? Would you prefer to have a big-screen TV that lets you sit around and watch movies with friends, or would you get more happiness out of a membership at a gym, where you can meet people, get fit, and feel great? The gym membership might actually cost less and give you greater long-term satisfaction.

* How much money you have relative to the people around you, and relative to your own experience: We’re social creatures, prone to compare ourselves with others. While that’s not ideal, perhaps it’s hard to shift that. But if you can, be grateful for what you do have, as that will at least put you in a good mood, instead of focusing on what you don’t have.

I’m also fascinated with this study that Rubin cites. Let me ask it to you as a question:

Which do you prefer?

Choice one: A job where you’re paid $30,000 in Year 1 $40,000 in Year 2, and $50,000 in Year 3

OR

Choice two: A job that pays $60,000 in Year 1, then $50,000 in Year 2 and then $40,000 in Year 3?

Most people prefer Choice 1, with its raises. But, at the end of the three years, you would have earned only $120,000 instead of $150,000, with Choice 2, which actually offers $30,000 more in compensation! Interesting how caught up most of us are in getting more, more, more, especially in money, which is measurable. But happiness? More elusive.

Another tidbit to consider, from Rob Baedeker, writing for SFGate:  If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the median income is $50,000 a year. Last year, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison made $84.5 million dollars. Larry Ellison’s compensation was 1690 times more than the average person in the Bay Area. Did he work that many times more than you? Obviously not! Is he that many times happier than you? Hmm…almost certainly not.

So what does income mean in terms of personal satisfaction?

Jean Chatzky, the financial editor for NBC’s “Today Show,” tells us that the amount of money required to “live comfortably” varies by region. She surveyed Americans’ attitudes about money and found that “once you’ve got enough to put food on the table, gas in the car, go out to movies occasionally and go on the occasional vacation, more money doesn’t make you happier.” The point of diminishing happiness returns she found was about $60,000 per household, annually.

Baedeker also cites research by called Justin Wolfers, associate professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, who says “If you look for evidence that there’s some level above which money is unrelated to happiness, you simply can’t find it. Using American data, [from sources such as Gallup polls], it’s true that people earning $50,000 are happier than those earning $25,000, people earning $100,000 are happier than those earning $50,000, and people earning $200,000 are happier than those earning $100,000.”

He explains what he and his Wharton colleague, Betsy Stevenson have found: “It’s what we call a linear log relationship,” What does this mean?  “At any point in the income scale, a 10 percent rise in income buys the same rise in happiness.”

And the Wharton professors have found this formula holds cross-nationally, too. “A 10 percent rise in income for someone in Burundi buys about the same change in happiness as a 10 percent rise for people in the U.S.,” says Wolfers. “That’s the sense in which we say there’s no evidence of satiation. There’s no evidence of it running out at income level whatsoever.”

So, maybe there’s no way to find long-term satisfaction with money. We’ll always want more. So, all the more reason to focus on maximizing your ROLE, your Return on Life Energy. Put your time and energy into what you love. Then, at least you control the interest you get back. You get to feel the appreciation, including self-appreciation.

Celebrating your infinite investments in yourself,

Susan

In response to a post by Marelisa on 35 Beliefs About Money: From Donald Trump to the Dalai Lama, I realized…”Hey, most of the people telling us about money, like Harv Eker and Jack Canfield and Warren Buffett…well, they’re not like me. They’re men.”

I know that women have a different relationship with money, perhaps because we’ve only had a few generations (at least in the United States) where women had the social freedoms to earn their own living. And we’re taught to be nice, and in many families, like mine, fathers managed the money, not mothers. Yes, Suze Orman has written extensively about money, as has Jane Bryant Quinn, so their books are notably missing.

Additionally, aside from the Dalai Lama, who’s not exactly a money expert, it’s harder to find a spiritual perspective on money. So, I decided to share my list of my favorite books on money, both by female authors and those authors with a spiritual perspective:

I want to suggest a few women authors who write from the heart, and the wallet, about money:

• Deborah Price, author of Money Magic, and founder of the Money Coaching Institute – this book looks at money archetypes and helps you understand where you may be stuck around money
• Victoria Castle, author of The Trance of Scarcity – Victoria helps us to see the ways we are brainwashed into believing in scarcity, and opens us up to abundance
• Drs. C Diane Ealy & Dr. Kay Lesh, authors of Our Money, Our Selves - masterfully examines where women get poor messages about money and suggests ways to transform these
• Annette Lieberman & Vicki Lindner, authors of The Money Mirror: How Money Reflects Women’s Dreams, Fears, and Desires wise insights into the emotional rollercoaster that women ride regarding money, and how to smooth out the ride

And here are some authors, besides the Dalai Lama, with a spiritual perspective on money:

• Eric Butterworth (now deceased), author of Spiritual Economics: The Principles and Process of True Prosperity – this book always puts me at ease when I have money anxieties; Butterworth was a Unity minister with a very healthy perspective on how money can take us off task or keep us aligned with our true callings
• Stuart Zimmerman & Jared Rosen, authors of Inner Security & Infinite Wealth: Merging Self Worth & Net Worth – I love how they talk about “appreciation” and how appreciating ourselves and what we’re doing in the world leads to an appreciation of our own value. Many other clever insights.
• Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of Our Inner Resources - Working with philanthropists, Lynne noticed the characteristics that allowed people to be generous, and offers ways to increase wealth in our own lives, in many forms

Enjoy!

If you feel held hostage by your job, it may because of the mortgage you are carrying.  I watched one client brave a 2-hour commute, each way, to work, just so she and her husband could afford their home in the San Francisco Bay area.  I'm sorry, but that's nuts.  Spending four hours a day, five days a week in your car, just so you have have the so-called American dream of owning a home?  Shoot, she had very little time with her husband and they were constantly stressed out.  They both felt fearful that they would lose their jobs, because they knew that meant they could lose their homes.  It's awful to be tied to your job just so you can keep a roof over your house that happens to have your name on the title.  What ever happened to renting?  What ever happened to reasonable living accomodations?

Do you want to unleash yourself from an employer or a job you hate?  Your ticket may be in downsizing your home.  I know.  I've done it.  When I was married, my then-husband and I owned a 4-bedroom, 4-bath 2400 square foot house in a chic San Francisco neighborhood.  Did we need that much space?  Well, we figured that we'd have kids, eventually.  Sadly, we split up instead.  But now, I rent a home with less than 900 square feet.  It's a 2-bedroom place where one bedroom is my office.  But I could live in much smaller quarters, and not just because I'm petite.

I'm always appalled when I go to visit my parents in the Phoenix area. 
The homes near them are monstrosities.  My parents home, at 3000 square feet, is the dwarf in the neighborhood.  I even saw one mega-mansion under construction
there during my last trip.  It was three stories high, with one
story built underground to circumvent the local restrictions on
building more than two stories.  I hate to imagine how much power it
takes to air condition such palaces in the midst of the desert, and how
much work it takes to keep the manicured lawns looking good.  Excuse
me, but this excess does not take into account the long-term impact on
our economy.

Fortunately, the financial craziness we're experiencing has lots of people getting creative and scaling back.  I especially love the movement to smaller homes.  It's good for the economy, it's good for our sanity, and it's good for the environment.

CNN ran a story on living in 100 square feet of bliss.  I invite you to consider this move to less — for giving you more.  I know I am.  And, I'm also looking into co-housing, a movement of bringing people together in communities.  They own their own homes, plus a common space, and they all spend time pitching in to cook and do other things for each other.  In our age of isolation, this is a solace, and one that can often be more affordable.

What other options are you considering to untether yourself from the ball and chain of a mortgage that's keeping you tied to work that you don't enjoy?

Pondering with you,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

I recently called a representative, Jonathan, at Charles Schwab, where I have whatever happens to be left of my investment account.  I was only half joking when I asked Jonathan if he was taking Tums and scarfing down aspirin.  The current market nuttiness is enough to upset any stomach and create significant headaches. 

But, it doesn't have to be that way.  At least not as I see…or feel it. 

While I've had my moments of wanting to bury myself under the covers and not come out until this market mess is over, I hold a lot of hope.  In this current unpredictability, I've discovered that my recent PhD in somatic psychology (aka mind-body psychology) is way more valuable in addressing our uncertain times than my MBA.  Why?  Because somatic psychology addresses how we respond to shock and trauma, and has proven tools to help people regain their inner compass. 

From the mind-body psychology perspective, most people have one of four responses to shock and trauma: fight, flight, freeze, or faint.

In terms of fighting, I see a lot of people wasting a lot of time pointing fingers and laying blame for the economic mess. That provides only temporary relief, and in terms of emotional contagion, fighting spreads insidious, unproductive anger. Some people catastrophize and want to take flight, and have the urge to pull totally out of the market. Especially if you have more than fifteen years until retirement, you'll want to think twice before gambling on a big sell off. Another response is to freeze, and just get paralyzed, unable to do anything, due to fear. That doesn't leave you much room to respond. Finally, fainting is to collapse and play dead. Hmm, being non-responsive seems unwise.

So, what to do. First, I'm not going to get on my b-school soapbox and advise you what to do with your money and investments. But I do think it's a good idea to inoculate yourself against the fear that the media generates by reducing your diet of stories about the current situation. Don't stay uninformed, but don't adopt one of the four shock and trauma responses. Instead, I want to advocate four healthy responses to the current tumultous market gyrations:

Get conscious.
Get connected.
Get courageous.
Get calm.

Get conscious about your money. Not just how you budget and spend it. But also about your habits around finances. We all have unconscious patterns in how we act around financial matters. We need to integrate our "shadow" selves, in Carl Jung's terms. Around money, those patterns tend to be: acting naively, not acting at all, becoming victims of circumstances, going to "war" with imagined "enemies" over economic situations, adopting a martyr stance, gambling, falling into pseudo-spiritual patterns of acting as if money doesn’t matter at all, or oppressing others with money. When you become aware of your tendencies, as uncomfortable as they may be, you're able to shift them. And instead of acting unconsciously, you can learn about money and investments. And you can discover how to use your skills and talents to transform and manifest your own financial reality.  I've written more about this in a posting about money coaching.

Get connected to community. We humans are wired for connection, and we especially need it in times of change. Actually, we're wired for connection, While connecting virtually is nice, there's nothing like the in-person handshake or hug to let someone know you care. Do something nice for someone. Take a genuine interest in the people around you. Not just for selfish reasons, so you can get a job if your company lays you off in the next few months. But for the long-run, so that you're not alone. This is a great time to go to industry events and mixers, and to join in social events that interest you. Find "your peeps" so you know you have places where you belong.

Get courageous. Look, if (and that's a very big if) everything is going to hell in a handbasket, why not take that risk you've always wanted to take? Especially if that risk still allows you to take care of your basic physiological and safety needs, ala Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. And, even if the world's not going to hell, this is a vital time to stand out. Make your mark. Be visible and show initiative. Start up a project or effort that really matters to the bottom line, where you’ll help improve profitability, productivity, or time to market. If you don’t know what that might be, ask your customers or your management about the biggest problems they face, and help them to find solutions. Do this using skills you enjoy using. And assert your boundaries so that you are not putting in tons of overtime. Manage your energy, not just your time.

And finally, get calm. Breathe. In and out. Slow and deep, instead of the fast and shallow way we usually do when we're stressed. Fortunately, breathing is one of the things that happens automatically. Thank goodness we don't have to put in on our "to do" list every day! But, we're seldom aware of our breath. And it's an amazing resource for getting calm. Set up a ritual to do nine slow, deep inhalations and exhalations every 30 minutes. When you're feeling fearful, your breathing capacity can drop 30% or more, which means you're cutting off oxygen supply to your brain, and your thinking gets fuzzier. You can clear your mind with meditation, too. It's a great way of helping you to release non-essential thoughts and get grounded and centered. No, you don't have to shave your head and wear flowing robes to practice. You can start by focusing on your in and out breath and compassionately noticing and naming your thoughts as they drift through your mind.

I've come to understand that despite my desire to control everything, uncertainty is a constant in life. These four principles have helped me to weather some pretty intense times in my own life.

I also want to offer you a FREE resource for helping you to weather the ups and downs of the market, and their impacts on the job market, your financial life, and your inner sense of well-being.  I invite you to sign up to receive access to a one-hour teleclass I recorded on creating inner security in times of uncertainty.  You'll also get a handout filled with more tips on staying sane in trying times. 

Hey, how about helping out our other readers?  I bet you have ways that you're coping with the current market mania.  What are YOU doing to cope with economic stress and uncertainty?

Wishing you consciousness, connection, courage and calm,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

While I usually write about creating and cultivating work that's in alignment with who you are, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about money as an element in that alignment.  Often, I find that when people want to make a career change, they say, "Yeah, I'd love to do something more creative…fulfilling…meaningful, but I can't afford to make a change."

Well, now that our financial markets are in turmoil, are these folks more apt to stay in place?  You know, not leave their jobs, even if they hate them?

Yep.

Many people will feel paralyzed and unable to move to a new company or industry or function.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  They can open up more freedom by really looking at what money means to them, and what creates security and prosperity for them.

I say this because I'm very influenced by a conversation I had last Wednesday night with Deborah Price, founder of the Money Coaching Institute.  We're both disturbed by current market conditions.  Deborah knows the big firms well, having worked at Merrill Lynch and AIG.  And she's appalled by the greed of their leadership.

And she reminds me that in times of crisis — as I'd argue we're in now — people's money archetypes arise.  And those archetypes lead to not-such-nice-behaviors, including greed, fear, ignorance, and digging your head in the sand.

Money archetypes?

In her book, Money Magic, Deborah discusses nine archetypes, derived from the work of psychologist Carl Jung.  These are not fixed in stone…they are energies that w
e tend to fall into, in an unconscious way.  They are generally patterns that we learn in early childhood.  These energies or patterns lurk in our "shadow," the parts of ourselves we don't like to see, and that we push away or repress. 

The good news is that when we bring awareness to these money archetypes, we have the opportunity to change them:

The Innocent: The Innocent takes the ostrich approach to money
matters.

The Victim:  Victims are prone to living in the past and
blaming their financial woes on external factors.

The Warrior

Warriors often have difficulty recognizing the difference
between what appears to be an adversary and a worthy opponent. .

The Martyr

Martyrs are so busy taking care of others' needs
that they often neglect their own.

The Fool

A gambler by nature, the Fool is always looking for a windfall of
money by taking financial shortcuts. 

Creator/Artist

Creator/Artists often find living in the material world difficult and frequently
have a conflicted love/hate relationship with money. 

The Tyrant

The Tyrant hoards money, using it to manipulate and control
others.

The Magician

The Magician is the ideal money type. Using a
new and ever-changing set of dynamics both in the material world and in the
world of the Spirit, Magicians know how to transform and manifest their own
financial reality.

These are just very simple descriptions of the archetypes, and you can get more details — and advice — in Money Magic.  Or in a webinar I'm hosting. 

Which archetypes (you can have more than one) are you most prone to?  What actions might you take, right now, to wake up to your unproductive archetypes, so you can become more like the magician?  

When you're aware of your money type, you can be more responsive and flexible with your money and your choices.  And that can open up new opportunities for your career, too.  You don't have to be stuck in place, feeling like your job is your security. 

Here's to being awake and aware around money,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

PS -I'll be leading a webinar on dealing with money issues on Wednesday, October 29.  I invite you to check it out.  

PPS – You can also join a FREE teleclass on Wednesday,
October 1, from 6-7 pm Pacific, Creating Inner Security in Uncertain
Times.  For details, go to: 
http://www.workfromwithin.com/innersecurity.php

It seems that wherever I go this week, the topic of conversation includes the economy.  People are talking about their portfolios and their losses.  And mostly, their fears.

Boy, have I ever heard some catastrophic fears.  In an effort not to scare you, Dear Reader, I won't rebroadcast the doom and gloom premonitions that people have shared with me. 

Suffice it to say that I'm literally feeling the impact of all these negative predictions.  My appetite is shot because my stomach has been in knots. My shoulders are tight.  My jaw aches.  I don't usually take even aspirin, but I've been popping it this week.

Ah, yes, the mind-body connection at work.  My body is taking the impact of the stress-fest surrounding me.  Are you feeling it, too?

Doctors, psychotherapists and massage therapists should be busier than ever, as we seek relief from the uncertainty, which has many of us tied up, on edge, and clutching for security.  It's kind of weird.  Your life is not in imminent danger, right?  No lions or tigers or bears are chasing after you, are they?  And yet your body may react as if that's the case. 

Why? 

Robert Sapolsky has done research on the way that our minds and bodies are inextricably linked.  And, Michael Gershon has studied the gut for over a decade, and shows how much it is like a brain to us.  Yet our that body-brain connection doesn't distinguish between events that are real and events that are imaginary.  So, when you go to the movies and you see a car chase, your adrenaline pumps, almost as though you were there in the car yourself.  Your heart and your gut don't get logical, like your neocortex and say, "Oh, gee, this is just a movie.  I can watch calmly and objectively."  Hah!  We just don't turn off like that.

And, likewise, even though we're not living out these fantastical scenes of imaginary Great Depressions and poverty and the like, when we imagine these, we get stressed out. 

So, how can we cure the stress that comes from looking at the economic news?

(1) Watch out for catastrophic thinking.  That's the propensity to imagine the worst.  Stop yourself when you notice that your thoughts make you feel stressed out.  They're just thoughts.  Stopping those automatic thoughts (the ones that stress you out) takes awareness. 

(2) Question your own thinking.  I LOVE Byron Katie's process, The Work, a series of four questions from her book Loving What Is, you can ask yourself about any of your thoughts:

Is it true?

Can you absolutely know that it's true?

How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

Who would you be without the thought? 

(3) Get present.  This is a good time to use all the tools you have for being present in this moment.  BEING, not worrying.  It's a good time for meditation of whatever type works for you.  Me?  I went to Spirit Rock on Monday night to find the power of meditating in community.  I feel at ease with their Vipassana teaching.  I'd also recommend books like Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now.  

All this is not to say that you can't do some planning and be smart, like sitting down with a financial advisor (I'm partial to fee-only advisors, who tend to be more objective) and rebalancing your portfolio.  Or cutting debt, as Suze Orman recommends. 

But there's only so much control you and I, or even Ben Bernanke, or Congress, has over the economy.  May as well count our blessings and enjoy what we have, rather than freaking out. 

What are YOU doing to stay sane in these tumultuous times?

Presently yours,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

PS – You're invited to join me for a FREE teleclass on Wednesday, October 1, from 6-7 pm Pacific, Creating Inner Security in Uncertain Times.  For details, go to:  http://www.workfromwithin.com/innersecurity.php