a business and life you love, and this is Q&A freakin’ Tuesday. Isn’t that awesome?

Another Q&A Tuesday for you. It’s great. Today’s question comes from Elaina, and

Ms. Elaina writes,

“Hi Marie. I love your book and MarieTV is very inspiration. I’ve more of a spiritual

question for you. I really wanna be a great high end photographer, and to do that I need

lots of money to learn the craft and buy top of the line cameras. So I’ll take any opportunity

to work and earn money. But this focus on making money, even though I believe in what

I’m doing, is turning me into a machine. I feel like it’s bad to want to earn a lot

of money and that it’s not spiritual and I’ve become too materialistic. Can you give

me some advice on how to be cool with the idea of making money?”

Elaina, this is a great question because money and spirituality is a very hot button topic.

So I know you’re asking yourself, “Is it unspiritual to wanna make money? Am I shallow

if I wanna make more?” Let me tell you something, woman. I consider myself a very spiritual

person and I love making money. Now, not just for money’s sake, but more specifically

for what it can facilitate in terms of me being able to contribute to others, to create

experiences, and to enjoy my life, and I’ve always felt this way ever since I was a little

kid.

Now, when I was growing up my family didn’t have a lot of money. My parents worked their

buns off, so we always had what we needed, but we were never rolling in the dough. But

one thing I’m really appreciative for is I learned a healthy respect for money. In

fact, when I was a little girl, any time I would get my hands on some, I would go to

the sink, I would wash it, and then I would iron it so I could keep it all organized.

That is how much I love my money.

So here’s the thing, Elaina, money is awesome, but I sense from your question that you’re

afraid you’re too focused on it right now. And here’s the thing, you might be, especially

if you’ve lost sense of your ability to have fun while you’re making it and you’ve

lost touch with the deeper reason you’re trying to earn so much in the first place.

If you want the recipe to create a life you love, you need two key ingredients: achievement

and fulfillment.

Achievement is about accomplishing and reaching your goals and very often making money is

part of the achievement puzzle. Fulfillment, however, is about something deeper and richer.

It’s about feeling fulfilled and having creativity and passion and enjoyment and all

that good stuff in your life. And, here’s the thing, you need both if you wanna be happy.

I wanna tell you something, Elaina, and, yes, it’s a tweetable:

“When achievement is divorced from fulfillment, you lost custody of your happiness.”

Sounds to me like you may be a little too heavily focused on the achievement aspect

of your life and you need to consciously bring fulfillment into what you’re doing. So you

gotta ask yourself, how can you bring passion and fulfillment and contribution and meaning

and fun to everything that you’re doing? How can you reconnect to your heart and bring

that true sense of passion and meaning to every single thing that you’re doing to

earn this money?

My advice? Be passionate in every single moment you’re working.

Now, on the other hand, if you already love what you’re doing and you’re just feeling

guilty about wanting more money, then you are creating unnecessary drama where you don't

need to have it. My friend, Joe Polish, calls money fun tickets, and I love that definition

of money. Money is just there to help you experience things that you want to experience.

It’s meant to flow. There’s nothing evil or dirty about it.

So, think about it, if you go to your favorite restaurant for dinner, you’re supporting

that restaurant and all the people that work in it. If you buy a piece of jewelry, you

are supporting an artisan in her craft.

And if you want to give some away, you can help tackle an issue in the world that you

wanna see solved.

The more successful you are, the bigger difference you’ll make in the world and the more people

you’re gonna serve, and that is plenty spiritual if you ask me.

So, Elaina, that is my A to your Q. I know so many of us have conflicts between money

and spirituality, so thank you so much for asking it. Now, I wanna hear from you. Do

you have any limiting beliefs about money that either limit how much you make or how

much you enjoy what you do make?

In the comments below I wanna hear your specific limiting belief and, this is very important,

I wanna hear the new empowering belief that you can replace it with.

As always, the best stuff happens after the episode over at MarieForleo.com, so go there

and leave a comment now.

Did you like this video? If so, subscribe to my channel and, yes, share it with your

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Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams. The world needs that special gift

that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I will catch you next time

on MarieTV.