The Meaning of Money- Using Emotional Literacy to Develop Financial Literacy

Many years ago there was no money. instead, people used to rely on barter trade, exchanging something for something. So money is simply a medium of exchange. You use money to get what is necessary or important to you. As human behavior specialist Dr Demartini says, we use money to exchange our values. We utilize money to buy our values or what is important to us,even though some people are not consciously aware of their values or have not evaluated their authenticity, as in whether or not these values are really their own. We are not born with values, we learn or form them through socialization. These values may continue to shift as we get bombarded with societal values, media values, consumerist values and capitalist values,or else through self-discovery. If we do not make a conscious effort to evaluate these individual values and the beliefs around them, we end up with a skewed relationship with money. The meaning we give to money is therefore not the same as we all have different values, or else similar values with different beliefs. Your meaning of money is attached to your values and beliefs and this in turn influences the relationship you have with money. Therefore, to understand your money habits and results,you have to start with yourself by developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is not a destination but is a continuous journey; you keep digging and exploring yourself, hence the need for ongoing self-reflection and self-discovery. The meaning we give to money is affected by our level of awareness and the ability to identify and manage our emotions and those of others. Many people have never consciously given money meaning, defining what it means for you not what others said.

Here is a video with more:

To get a copy of the book: Managing Emotions for Financial Freedom: The Invisible Forces Driving your Money Habits