Dan and I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies yesterday. It’s the 1951 black & white classic, Scrooge, starring Alistair Sim. After watching it, I let out a deep sigh. Turning to Dan, I said (not for the first time), “I WANT to be Scrooge!”
I realize this might surprise you. After all, Scrooge lived most of his life in scarcity, loneliness, misery and fear. This, despite all the money he had made and accumulated.
The opening scenes paint a picture of a lonely, cold-hearted, stubborn and pitiable old man. Ebeneezer Scrooge is the original Grinch – a miser alone in his misery.
He HATES everything having to do with Christmas, evidenced by his famous words…
“BAH HUMBUG!”
Then, on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by four ghosts. First, the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley. Jacob warns him of the miserable fate that awaits him unless he changes.
Scrooge doesn’t believe him – or in ghosts. He attributes it to “a bit of undigested beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato.” And, of course, says “Bah Humbug!” to it all.
But then he is visited by three other ghosts – the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. Those three visits transform Scrooge.
Why? Because they help him to see things DIFFERENTLY – with new eyes.
And let me be clear – this is a COMPLETE transformation.
Scrooge becomes a completely different person overnight. His “Bah Humbugs” change to laughter, giggles, dancing and gift-giving.
Which is exactly why I want to be like Scrooge – and you might too.
Oh, how I WISH I could eat dinner, go to sleep, have three bad dreams and wake up permanently changed. Just one really long night of painful awarenesses and I’m a new person.
Done. Handled.
No ongoing process. No growth over time. No “one step forward and two steps back”. No need to practice and practice and practice.
Just eat some bad food, go to bed, have three bad dreams and “I’m fixed”. Life is great after that. I AM great after that. No more scarcity. No more fear. No more stress, anxiety or pressure. No more loneliness or feeling unloved.
Just joy and peace, love and fulfillment. Living in abundance.
Easy. Instantaneous. Magical.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Except it doesn’t work that way – at least, not in my experience.
Sure, I may have three bad dreams – aka three important, even painful, realizations. And they may be the catalyst for me to WANT to change. But awareness is only the BEGINNING – not the end – of the transformational process.
For transformation to occur, the new awareness must be acted upon. New choices must be made. New steps must be taken. New beliefs must be reinforced.
In the process, we might feel vulnerable, stupid, resistant and afraid. People may not like it – or us. Which brings MORE new awareness that invites MORE new choices, actions, habits and beliefs.
Transformation is an ongoing process – not an overnight one. As much as I sometimes wish it wasn’t.
And this is especially true when the transformation has to do with money – and the fears we have around it. When we shift from living life on a premise of scarcity to a premise (and promise) of abundance. Especially when so much of our world is built upon and still operates in scarcity.
That process takes time. It requires awareness, practice, patience, compassion and support. After all, we’ve had our scarcity beliefs for a long time. Beliefs that have us think we are not enough, not important, we don’t matter, we’re not worthy.
It’s an incremental a process of embracing the truth of who we are – both light and shadow. And realizing that we are much more LIGHT than shadow.
It is, ultimately, a process of embracing a new understanding of ourselves, of God, of Life AND of money.
Transformation may not happen overnight, but the story of Scrooge still empowers us.
It reminds us that our past does not have to be our future. That who we have always been does not have to be who we continue to be. That transformation is possible – and exciting. Even if it doesn’t happen overnight.
And it always begins with awareness. With SEEING things through eyes of abundance, not scarcity – IN you and AROUND you.
Seeing things differently – through eyes of abundance – is what I most want to support you to do, my friend. It’s what I think I do BIG TIME in the TED-like talk I recently gave as part of The Courageous Messenger Collective event.
If you haven’t yet watched it, I encourage you to watch it now.
As you begin this New Year, my friend, my hope is that my talk will support you to see with new eyes. That it offers you a new way of seeing yourself, money, your life and our world. And that it opens you to the transformation that is possible for you in this New Year.
Here’s to a new and BETTER 2021, my friend!
And a transformed and more abundant YOU!
All my love~
xoxo
T.