Ugh! The handful of bills feels like an armload of bricks. My stomach
hurts and - darnn! Where did that calculator go, anyway? I scrounge
through my wallet for the latest ATM slip. The balance mirrors my desire
to perform this monthly ritual of Paying the Bills: virtually nil. Yet
there's a tiny voice in the back of my mind asking, "Will I always feel
this awful about Paying the Bills?"
I remember how I felt when my
dad performed the ritual of Paying the Bills. The tension would escalate
as he prepared the dining room table as his workspace. Out came the
ledger, the check-book, three sharpened pencils, a big rubber eraser, a
black-ink pen and a large calculator. I would run for my bedroom when
the confrontation began: "Why did you spend so much on this?" "You
didn't write down how much check number 222 was for!" It seemed safer to
hide in my room and blot out those sounds by listening to my radio.
When
I got married, my husband carried on the ritual of Paying the Bills. He
performed his duties with an even scarier tactic - icy silences,
followed by a verbal blast three days after Paying the Bills. I never
got used to this new, darker aspect of the ritual.
You might think
that after 50+ years of experiencing Paying the Bills this way that the
ritual MUST be acted out full of anxiety, fear, accusations and
threats. Not so. I'm living proof that even if you've performed the
ritual this way for as long as you can remember, you can change the
entire mood of Paying the Bills.
Understanding how the Law of
Attraction works to send me more of whatever I'm feeling, I decided that
I wanted to feel good about Paying the Bills. I asked myself this
question: When do I feel good about writing checks or spending money?
The answer: When I'm shopping for things that I enjoy and appreciate.
So, I decided to change the name of the ritual from Paying the Bills to
Spending Money! As soon as I did that, my mood shifted.
At first, I
had to remind myself that I'm Spending Money! and I LOVE Spending
Money! I had to consciously replace the phrase Paying the Bills with
Spending Money! Now it's natural to think of the ritual as Spending
Money!
Then I reminded myself of all the blessings I receive for
the services that I'm Spending Money! on. I LOVE the way I'm able to
speak with clients and friends, children and grandchildren who live far
from me, by phoning them. So I LOVE Spending Money! to pay for the use
of my telephone.
I LOVE the extra time I gain by the software
enhancements my programmer has developed for my business, so I LOVE
Spending Money! on programming.
I LOVE all the freedom I have to
order my day for work and play, so I LOVE Spending Money! on secretarial
and bookkeeping services.
I LOVE living in a beautiful luxurious harborside condo, so I LOVE Spending Money! to live here.
Now
I look forward to the privilege of Spending Money! Each week I perform
this ritual with such joy that by the time I've balanced four checking
accounts, written a dozen or so checks, photocopied statements, stapled
receipts, addressed and stamped all the envelopes, I am HIGH! I LOVE
Spending Money!
The next time you begin the ritual of Paying the
Bills, just try and NOT think of what you are doing as Spending Money!
Now that you know it's possible to have fun Spending Money! the old
ritual just won't be the same.
Paying the Bills Truly CAN Be Painless
Posted by CB Blogger
Blog, Updated at: 8:52 AM
