My girlfriend and I awoke on a Sunday morning, excited to hit the ski slopes after a hearty breakfast. As we went through our morning routines before leaving, I noticed something was wrong with one of my dogs.
I have two dogs, a male and a female and they currently cohabitate with my brother’s two dogs — both females. Everyone gets along well and at this time, one of my brother’s dogs, a beautiful yellow lab named Lucy was in heat. And though my Shephard/Lab mix Thai had been neutered as a pup, he seemed quite aware of this fact and tried to engage Lucy several times over the past few days.
I consider consensual sex to be one of the more natural acts that occurs on this planet, and so none of this concerned me too much. That was until I saw Thai’s penis. It was red. It was huge. It was causing him pain. Looking at it caused me pain. I called my girlfriend in for a second opinion. And we were on the way to the emergency room for doggies.
I decided to lean on Kerri on this one. Could she please handle this for me? My energy was not good around this situation; I was stressed. As I waited in the truck, she came out with the good news. “Thai’s going to be fine”, she said. “You just need to sign this estimate.”
I had gone from a relaxing day on the slopes to an unexpected bill for $500-800. Still in shock, my girlfriend tried to comfort me, telling me it wasn’t so unreasonable. I told her I appreciated support while also requesting a moment just to feel sorry for myself. To be really pissed off. Just for a minute.
One overnight, a couple stitches, and $600 later, my dog’s penis was back inside his body (the vet said that a dog’s penis getting stuck outside its sheath was not uncommon. Who knew?). But I hadn’t fully recovered. This incident, coupled with various expenses I had incurred from moving cross country, had re-sown some fearful seeds within me around money.
The old feelings “Am I going to have enough”? “Am I going to lose what I have?” with a “Why is this happening to me?” for good measure.
Two days later, I was still feeling the stress of this incident. And thus I would attract more of the same. I was doing my best to relax, I was walking around the house, playing some guitar. Before I knew what was happening, the guitar strap inexplicably gave way, my beautiful Martin guitar free fell to the hardwood floor, landing with a resonating thud.
Splinters of wood flew. I swore. I swore loud. I swore repeatedly. The F-Bomb, as the kids say, echoed throughout the house.
Another $600 of damage from nowhere. Anger, resentment (this is not fair!), and more fear. Like Fonzie during a particularly tough stretch of his life (when he’d hit the jukebox and no music would come on), I had lost my cool.
Turns out my $400 digital camera was next. Toast. The camera went from working fine one day to shitting the bed the next. A day later, a $300 ski boot bit the dust.
Enough!
I finally got the message. Being fearful around money was not good. As is always the way, I was attracting exactly what I was putting out to the universe. The more I put out fearful energy around money, the more I was getting exactly what I feared. Money was no longer my friend. Money was causing me stress, causing me to worry. How to change this?
I decided that I needed to associate money with happiness again. Money has the power to make us feel good, but lately, all of my associations were negative. I was going to put the fear aside and spend money on something that would make me feel great.
I would throw “good” money after “bad.”
I spent $1100 on new skis, boots, bindings, and a cool helmet, paid in cash, of course.* As soon as I snapped on those skis, I was a new man. The skis looked great. They made me feel great. They made me feel like I had money again. I could not stop smiling during my first run down the mountain as my new equipment revolutionized my skiing. Money was my friend again.
To confirm that I had made the right decision, when I got home that night there were two checks waiting for me totaling $250. I had expected neither. Within two weeks, I had attracted enough money to cover all my previous expenses with some left over for savings.
How you feel about money will determine how you experience money. Fear money, and the universe will give you more to fear. Associate feelings of love with money, and well, I’ll see you on the mountain. I’ll know you because you’re the one who’ll be smiling.