If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you do with the money? Would you spend it lavishly and wastefully? Or would you invest it in something that will protect it and help it to grow so you can enjoy it for a long time to come?
You have something like those lottery winnings; it is your own personal “gold”. This consists of your time, your energy, your money, your gifts, your talents, your efforts, your affections, your love. Each day you make a decision about where to “invest” your gold. Do you invest it in things that nourish you and help you to grow? Or do you give it away foolishly to risky endeavors?
If you look at your “gold” in the same way you would look at lottery winnings, would you invest differently? Consider these investment types . ..
A Negative Investment is one where you keep putting more and more of yourself into something with hopes of a payout, but in reality, it is sucking the life out of you. It drains your energy and saps your strength. Negative investments are things like an abusive relationship, abusing yourself with alcohol, drugs, or food, listening to your negative self-talk, or sleeping with someone you know only wants you for sex. These investments leave you feeling degraded, regretful, and depressed and actually rob you of your gold.
The Slot Machine Investment is one where you just keep re-investing in the same thing over and over but with little or no payout. Slot Machine investors keep spinning the wheel hoping for a big payout, but often feel exhausted, worn down, used, and unappreciated. These types of investments might involve numbing yourself sitting at the bar, watching TV, surfing the internet or playing video games. Maybe instead, you invest in a relationship where the other person doesn’t value your gold. Perhaps you neglect friendships so you can stay close to your spouse to keep them from straying. Or maybe you are in a never-ending pursuit of perfection while you are drowning in chaos. These types of investments are surviving, not thriving. These are not good investments for your gold!
A Positive Investment is one that renews your spirit and leaves you feeling refreshed and able to give more. This might be going to church, volunteering, gardening, exercise, listening to music, reading a book that challenges you, a walk in the woods, counseling, taking a class, fostering good friendships, watching a sunset, or visiting (healthy) extended family. These investments leave you feeling alive and whole and actually grow your gold so you are able to invest more.
If you had millions of dollars, you would pay attention to where you invested it. Your gold is no different. Know that your gold is the most important thing that you can invest in this world. At the end of each day, can you stand back and feel that you invested it all wisely?
Your gold is a wonderful, renewable resource. Invested wisely, your heart will overflow with more and more love to give. Invested poorly, your heart will darken and dim, bearing less and less gold.
If you’ve been investing poorly, there is good news! All you have to do is take a tiny amount of gold today and invest it wisely. Then do it again tomorrow. Very quickly you will find a wellspring flowing from your heart with nuggets of new gold beginning to appear.
Each day you get to choose, where will you invest your gold?
Our Blog