Special guest, Dave Smith, describes his personal money journey. He changed direction from going deeper and deeper into debt to discovering a sense of agency and power in his relationship with money and life, which brought financial abundance with it. And he shares a remarkable insight right at the end about the true nature of gold.
Sarah:
Welcome to the Spirit of Business, episode number 94, a Conversation About Money with Sarah McCrumb and no, Matt Murphy this week. Hi, I’m here on my own today. Matt’s not here this week. He’s on holiday. So I decided to take the opportunity while he’s away, to do something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and record a conversation with one of my clients. So today I’m with Dave Smith. He is a geologist, and I’ve known him for quite a few years now, and he’s going to share with us his story of money, how he has transformed his relationship with money. Would you like to start by just telling us a little bit about who you are, who you are, what you do, how you make money, and your, a little bit of orientation?
Dave:
Yeah. I’m a geologist. I work in the mining industry and I’m on the early end of looking for new deposits of precious metals, especially gold and silver, but also copper and zinc and so I’m, I’m in the field quite a bit. I’m, I work from home quite a bit. I’m fairly independent, work for, have worked for a number of different companies, and one of the things that I’m intent on is trying to make mining or trying to help mining be more sustainable. I’ve got a business degree in sustainability and that’s, that’s a bit of a difficult road, but it’s always in the background for me.
Sarah:
Yeah, it’s a very important road.
Dave:
Yeah, it is because, you know, earth is our home and she provides everything that we need. And I haven’t seen mining really give earth the respect that I think Earth deserves in terms of all that she provides.
Sarah:
So I think this is a particularly interesting conversation because your, because you work with gold, which traditionally in our culture has been really the underpinning of our currency as well. So I have a feeling that there’s something very interesting that will come out of this connection with gold as well as your story with money. But let’s go back a few years. When I first met you, can you remember what your money story was then?
Dave:
Oh, very clearly. It was, it was painful. I can still feel the pain. I had, when, when we met, I had just been fired from a job for various reasons. But it was, I, I was burned out and it coincided with a downturn in my industry. So there wasn’t much other work to be had, and I didn’t really want to do much other work anyway. I wanted to get completely out of my field and do something different. It was that, that discouraged and burned out. I had, I think I had been saving money, so I had $20,000 in the bank which was a little bit of nice padding, but as soon as I got fired and saw, and I saw no prospects or, or little prospect for other work. I immediately went into a new spending mode, which is put everything on credit cards. Yeah. And, you know, I’m really grateful for having had that credit because it kept food on the, on the table and it kept the mortgage paid. But ultimately over the next three years or so, I went deep into debt and you and I met right at the beginning of that cycle.
Sarah:
So can you talk a little bit about what happened to you that you know, what, what’s the psychology, what was the psychology for you of going into debt?
Dave:
The psychology was, well, it was a strange mixture of gratitude because I was, you know, I, I had, I was,
Sarah:
You were able to.
Dave:
I was able to pay things, right? I was able to buy things. But at the same time, it, and so there was great comfort in that. It was a great comfort in that. And at the same time, I knew that, you know, I was going to have to pay it back at some point, and I didn’t know how that was going to happen. I felt like I was, I was fairly confident that I could, I just didn’t know how or how long it was going to take. And so I, I’m, I really actually managed to stay fairly relaxed about it. But at the same time, there was this, there was this tension between gratitude and fear, and it was right. And, and so that, that tension was really difficult to, to just, to live with.
Sarah:
Yeah. That must really mess with your mind.
Dave:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was.
Sarah:
When I first met you, what I remember, I think I remember the very first session we did and we talked about opportunities and there were, there were a whole lot of opportunities. I guess it was that time when you, because you’d just been fired. You were looking for opportunities. So the memory that I have is that you had some real ups and downs, things got better for a while, and then they got worse, and then, and then you had a windfall or something. Can you tell us a little bit, you don’t need obviously to tell us any personal details you don’t want to, but I’m really curious about that. When you describe it as three years going deeper and deeper into debt, what I remember is there were probably lots of stories you were telling yourself along the way and experiences you were having that made it not feel like just three years kind of plunging down and down.
Dave:
Yeah, that’s true. That’s, that’s, that’s an accurate memory because there were, there were ups and downs and you know, the junior mining sector, which is what I work in, has lots of ups and downs because people are often independent. They team up to form a team to work on a project, and then they disband. And sometimes that project works and sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes the personalities mesh and sometimes they don’t. So there’s, there’s a lot of change in, in the, the way that I work. And there were a lot of changes in the prospects for me with people and projects and a lot of ups and downs with money as well. We had, right before I met you we had, we, my father and I and another partner were able to basically buy a project, a silver deposit in Nevada. And we ultimately, a couple of years later sold our interest in that. And that interest was a great windfall. And it was such a good lesson because I, I earned more than enough money to get me totally out of debt, but I didn’t do that, this is the, this is the difficult part. This, this is a really difficult lesson for me to learn. What I did was I kept it in the bank, number one, because I was afraid of not having any money. And, and, and yet I didn’t go out and look for new work. I invested in a, in a totally different project that, that my father and I were working on. And what I can see now looking back, is that, that fear of, of being afraid of not having any money led me to not having any money.
Sarah:
Yeah. Actually there are, there are so many stories in here that, that I see a lot. I’m seeing the, I, I think I, I’m not going to say yours is a typical journey. I’m not sure that there’s such a thing as a typical journey, because everyone has their own journey. But what I see is that the deeper underlying patterns that we have can really take some time to work out. And in the early stages, because we talked a lot about money in those early stages, we, there are all kinds of things that you can experience. You can experience improvement and you learn some principles of improvement, but often the underlying pattern is still there. And so that wins the day. And then you have this windfall and so it feels like, wow, I’ve got this amazing result, but the underlying pattern is still there. And I, I see this kind of thing a lot and I’ve seen it in myself where we almost play games with ourselves. Perhaps we don’t really know any better. We tell stories about the results that we are getting. And you, you told a story in a way, which is a true story that you, you were able to get credit and so you were able to pay the mortgage and all of those things. But what I see, I don’t know if you see the same thing, is in a way those stories get in the way of what’s really happening.
Dave:
Yeah. You know, looking back, what I can see was really happening was that I my relationship with money was one of fear. And it was, it was, it was fear of scarcity. And so when I, when I got money such as the windfall, I tried to hold onto it as best I could. Right. And now there, there is some wisdom in having some padding, but it, it wasn’t, it wasn’t the, the wisdom. It was a different, it was a different, it was a wisdom that I needed to learn. Because it was, you know, it, it was really based around fear.
Sarah:
You see, you didn’t really make a plan or do something sensible with it. Like you could have, you didn’t have to put it all into paying off the debt and then go back to zero and just growing your debt again. There are many different ways you could have dealt with it. To me, what I’m hearing is more that because of the fear, you didn’t really engage, you didn’t get really conscious about what to do with the money. You were driven more by the fear than by something more powerful than that.
Dave:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, I, it feels like in a way I was paralyzed. You know, I, I had this money and I didn’t want it to go away, and I didn’t make a plan for what to do with it constructively. I just, I just said, oh, whew. Like, it breathes a sigh of relief and then just sat there.
Sarah:
It’s really interesting. I’m sure a lot of people would be able to relate with that. Can you see the roots of that further back in your life? Can you see things that you’d learned about money or about wealth that led to this situation?
Dave:
Yeah, I think I, I was, you know, I never learned any deeper wisdom about money. You know, it, it was always as a you know, a something that you, you worked to earn. And, you know, my father had a really interesting relationship with money. He hasn’t ever saved very much, but it’s always showed up when he’s needed it. And so I had a, on the one hand I had a pretty relaxed attitude about money and, you know, didn’t ever have a lot of consciousness around how to use it or, or what it really meant, or the deeper meaning of it or, or any sense of energetics of, of money. And I think, you know, in many cultures we don’t talk about money, what it, what it is and, and how it can how it can help us.
Sarah:
That’s the reason why I wanted to record these conversations because I feel it’s so important that we actually talk about it, like openly without having to hide everything all the time.
Dave:
Yeah. And so I, I really had a great deal of ignorance about money about what I, you know, now see as the deeper, deeper energetics of money. And, so it just, I didn’t have a relationship that was conscious really, I think is what I, what I came out of my, my childhood with, is that it was money was a physical thing. And it, it, and I also always felt that there was something else going on because it always mystified me that money is paper. That alone has no inherent value. It only has value because we agree that it has value. And so there was a, you know, there was a twinkling there of something deeper about money, but it, it never really really showed up until I got in touch with you.
Sarah:
So you keep using the word wisdom in relation to money. What, what’s the wisdom? It sounds like you feel you have much more wisdom now. Can you, can you tell us a bit about what changed?
Dave:
Well, this might be a funny thing to say, but, but money, my relationship with money is actually one of the outcomes and one of the smaller things that’s happened for me in the, in the, in the last couple of years because what’s really occurred is that I, I’m, I now understand myself as an energetic being. And, you know, in addition to being physical and emotional and psychological I now understand myself as, as energy and I feel those energies moving through me. And so my relationship with money has become one of energy and understanding myself and feeling myself and living as an energetic being has had outcomes through money, because now I relate, relate to money as, as energy. But the, the big thing is that it’s been it and it, it’s, it’s helped me to see the wisdom in myself and the wisdom in connecting with, with guidance, which I consider, you know, money is on my panel, panel of guides.
Sarah:
Okay, let’s talk a bit about guidance. Like, there will be people who know exactly what you mean. There may be people listening who don’t really know even what you mean. So can you talk about your experience of connecting with guidance and how that works? I know that’s very, very important for you.
Dave:
Oh, it’s huge for me. Where do I start with guidance?
Sarah:
Where did it start for you? Where, where was the first time you started to connect with any form of guidance?
Dave:
I think it was when I was a kid, just being in nature, just, just feeling trees and plants and animals in the forest and rocks and, and feeling that sense of home earth is home. There, you know, I’ve always had a sense that there was something else going on other than, than just life on the ground, as one of my mentors would call it. And that’s, you know, that strengthened over the years. But working with you and some others during the, the last five or six years with a very direct intent to connect with, with guidance has really opened up that world for me. And by guidance, I just mean that I don’t feel like I’m ever alone. You know, I feel like I have angels and allies and energies and guides who are available to communicate with. And, you know, I don’t hear words or have images or anything, but I have a sense of, of connection with that, with that guidance and, and I use it.
Sarah:
And how do you use it?
Dave:
I check in, I, I make beautiful requests, which, you know are direct requests to the system, the delivery system of money and, and other guides. And I check in with Earth about various things in, in my technical work. And I have a naturopath who feels my rhythm. And as she is testing various supplements for me, I do the same. And so it’s, it’s a matter of having established a connection. I now consciously reach out and ask for guidance and ask specific questions and see what comes back. It might be a feeling, it might be an image, it might be a word, it might be just a sensation or, you know, an intuitive hit about one choice versus another.
Sarah:
So this really, I see is all part of you experiencing yourself as an energetic being. And so then that expands beyond you. That there are other energetic beings. Obviously all of us human beings are, but also there are unseen, energetic beings. And as an energetic being, you can feel the presence of those unseen, energetic beings, if you like. And you can communicate with them like you do with a human being really. Except it’s a little bit different that the experience is a bit different. And this is what Napoleon Hill talked about in Think and Grow Rich, actually. He talks about, it’s essentially the same thing. He talks about having a kind of counsel, doesn’t he of non-physical beings that guide you in your business? So what kinds of things do you ask for guidance for?
Dave:
There’s a whole range of things. I asked for some guidance in a relationship I have. I asked for guidance in my health and exercise routines. I asked for guidance on specific, on a specific money issue earlier this year that, that turned out far better than I expected. And, and yet it took far longer. And I could feel in that process of it taking longer. I, I, there were moments when I got really impatient and really angry about it taking so long. And then I realized, just take it easy. You’ve made the beautiful request. Let it play out, trust the wisdom and relax. And in the end, it turned out to be three or four times better than my request.
Sarah:
There’s a bit more of a story there, I think. I feel like we’re missing half the story. Can you tell us a bit more about what’s going, Because we still have the picture of you three years going deeper and deeper into debt. We haven’t actually got out of debt so far, so can you tell us a bit more?
Dave:
Yeah, some more on that part? Well in the journey of the last five or six years, I felt like I was successively being, partnering with better people, people who were and by better, I mean in a more skilled and more capable in their work but also more, a better energetic fit for me. And that, that just evolved into a permanent position with a company that offered me stock options. And you know, we all really appreciate each other and I really appreciate how they operate. I bring a high level of technical skill, that they really appreciate and that has guided the company really well. And so the, the stock options were, you know, at pennies and I was I exercised those options. So in other words, I paid money to buy the shares. And I was, I was hoping to sell at about a dollar that was my beautiful request or something better. And, and by the time, and this is where the gratitude comes in, because if I, if the shares had been available to, to sell when I wanted them, it would’ve been around a dollar.
Sarah:
Oh, so this is where the frustration came in as well, that they weren’t available when you wanted.
Dave:
Right. Because, well, you know, it had been under a dollar for the last year plus. And so being over a dollar was a big deal. So I thought, oh, now’s the time, you know, I really want to sell. Of course, it took another three or four months, maybe it wasn’t that long, but it was at least three months. And during those three months, the stock went up and kept going up, and I sold it above $4.
Sarah:
Wow.
Dave:
Yeah, so, you know that’s where I feel a direct guidance from money. Money said, I hear you, you’ll just need to relax and wait but message received, request received, and then delivered in, in a far better way than I imagined. So there, you know, there’s getting back to wisdom, that situation really showed me a lot of wisdom. Money has a wisdom that when you have a strong relationship with money, money will deliver that, that wisdom. I’ve really seen that and really felt that.
Sarah:
So it kind of delivers wiser outcomes than you might be able to ask for, for yourself. Is that what you mean?
Dave:
Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I mean. And, you know, wiser outcomes may, may not be what you actually want or ask for. But they will be wiser because here, right now, because to go back a few years with the big windfall, that, that I had, that delivered a, a tremendous amount, amount of wisdom to me. But I still was, I was still, I was still going deeper into debt.
Sarah:
So that was learning wisdom. Well, I guess you kind of got some wisdom because actually you call it a windfall, but I, but you planned for that. You bought this how, however it worked and you sold, so you, you know, you did it deliberately. There was a deliberate decision. It wasn’t really a windfall, it was just a large amount of money rather than monthly earnings.
Dave:
Yeah, that’s true.
Sarah:
It’s interesting that you see it as a windfall, because I think you treated it like a windfall.
Dave:
Yeah.
Sarah:
You didn’t treat it as a wise decision that you and your father made at that time.
Dave:
Yeah, that’s a good point, at that point, it was sort of a random event.
Sarah:
Yes. It’s very interesting, isn’t it? Because I get the sense that now when you sold these stock options this year, you are not treating that the same way as you did that so-called windfall.
Dave:
Yeah. And here’s the difference. I sense I, I’ve had a, an experience of, of powerful agency. Now I’m not saying that, that I created that, that rise in the stock price, but there’s an element of agency that I feel in my life and an ability to manifest and create on, on many scales. And I didn’t have that a few years ago. When I, when I had the first windfall, let’s continue to call it, it felt like an event. What, what’s been happening this year feels much more like I’m participating. It’s not just happening to me. I’m participating with money. I’m communicating with money and, and there’s a relationship and there’s a back and flow and there’s, there’s a back and forth and there’s a flow. And, and that participation, that sense of agency is the real difference.
Sarah:
And what you’re describing there is really significant it’s far more significant actually than an amount of money, isn’t it?
Dave:
Yeah. And that’s why I said a few minutes ago that the, you know, the, the numbers or the, you know, the events with money actually feel rather small because of that sense of being an energetic being and, and that sense of agency and participation, money is one of the outcomes. My health is another outcome. My relationship with my wife and my family or other outcomes. And so in, in some ways it’s much bigger than money and which is just, just wonderful.
Sarah:
So this sense of agency and the sense I get is of you really feeling knowing that you are participating in life. Of course, of course we’re all participating, but you really put your finger in it. I think a lot of people feel like life is happening to them. And I used to feel like that you used to feel like that it’s probably the norm is to feel like life is something that’s happening to you. Can you say a bit more about that, the shift from, because that’s a big one. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s been five years in the making. That’s not the kind of thing that happens overnight. Can you say a bit more about that shift? Do you know how it happened or can you describe anything about it?
Dave:
I’m very clear about how it happened and I, and I, and I sensed it and I could feel it happening and it began with beautiful requests.
Sarah:
So let’s just say a bit about that, because that’s a little bit of jargon. Not everybody knows what a beautiful request is.
Dave:
Would you like to introduce them?
Sarah:
Yes, I will. So, beautiful request is my jargon, Sarah jargon. It’s actually for, it’s really asking for what you want. And it’s beautiful because when you really ask for what you want, your face lights up. There’s, it’s very different from asking for what you think you want. Very often when somebody says, what do you want? You say, oh yes, well I really want to get a very good degree, or, you know, I want to get a PhD. And your head thinks that this is what, it’s, what it wants, but there’s no lighting up in it. But when somebody says what they want and their face just brightens and they smile, you know, immediately, it’s like, ah, that, that’s a beautiful request for me. And, and the thing that’s very special about it, if you understand about the energy of money is much easier to deliver beautiful requests. Like we, we receive the outcome of that request much more easily. If it’s a heady request, you tend to have to work really hard to do it, to get the outcome. But a beautiful request, there’s a grace that happens in the delivery, which we often call synchronicity. We use words, serendipity are the kind of words that come to it. So there’s tremendous value. There’s a very beautiful value in a beautiful request.
Dave:
Yeah. And, and I you know, I was introduced to them, you introduced me to them and I started making big grand very heady, beautiful requests.
Sarah:
Well, not very beautiful requests.
Dave:
Yeah. They weren’t that beautiful. They were very pragmatic because, you know, I, I wanted to earn a certain amount of money and that request was actually based in fear because I wasn’t working and I was living on credit cards. And, and so I didn’t, looking back on it I didn’t really feel the essence of those that that was like, oh, I, I know what I need in my life and want you know, to make life work. But they were, and I remember sort of feeling like I was going through mental gyrations to try to get the wording right. And it just all felt, it just all felt so complicated and, and heady that I just decided to just simplify. I said, okay, just, I’m going to stop with the big beautiful request. I’m going to get very simple. And the first one I remember was I was on a business trip in Montana, it was the wintertime. And I said, I’d love for my feet to be warm today. And you know, it’s moving for me because I have chronically cold feet. And that day my feet were warm and I realized, I thought, ah, okay. That was, that was delightful. Let’s, let’s try this again. Let’s, let’s try something else. The next day I was in meetings all day and I wanted to stay awake because you know, I tend to fall, get sleepy in those, in those situations. And I stayed awake and alert all day. And so I had to get to that very, very basic level of beautiful request and have those things delivered, had nothing to do with money. But it was the same sense of connection with, with guidance and, and you know, asking, consciously asking an energetic guide and having that thing delivered. That was the very beginning of that sense of agency and, and that, and that’s grown in, in scale since then. I just, I grew the, the beautiful requests over time and it’s, yeah, so I can, I, it, I’m very clear about how it started and how it’s grown.
Sarah:
That’s a beautiful story. It’s an amazing example. A lot of people, and I suspect you may have had this, they find it that they, they find they can start to ask for things like that. Things that are actually really unlikely. Like you didn’t put extra socks on. So it’s an awake crazy to us to have to ask for warm feet, but that was what started you and crazy to us to be awake. Like, if you’re a kind of person who falls asleep in the afternoon, why would you suddenly be awake? That, that in itself is really interesting. I think that you started to ask for simple things, but crazy things.
Dave:
Yeah.
Sarah:
Things that you couldn’t control or didn’t at least try to control a lot of people I notice when they start on that they then almost get scared to ask for financial results because they’re afraid that they won’t be delivered. It’s like, okay, well you know, you can, you can make my feet warm and you can keep me awake, but money’s, they put money in a different category. Did you go through that?
Dave:
Yeah, I think I did to some degree. Because I, I started to, to really get beautiful requests and, and have them be delivered. But there was a sense of how do I put it? A sense of foreboding about leveling up to money, right? Because what if, because there I still was living with a sense of fear about money and so what if I ask and it doesn’t work and it, and I, and it’s not delivered? And you know, there was, I could really feel that, that sense of fear coming through. Yeah.
Sarah:
And what happened?
Dave:
Well, I just kept working with them. I just kept varying the size and shape and scope and focus of, of beautiful requests. And it, over time it just became so clear that, that they work. That then I had I just got to a certain level of comfort and understanding that o o of how those work and, and how money delivers and delivers things that aren’t money. Right. I just got to a level of confidence in myself and in beautiful requests that then, then having beautiful requests around money weren’t a big deal.
Sarah:
So my curiosity is how this goes with financial responsibility, because it’s a very non-rational thing that you are describing. It’s very different from a kind of planning and being strategic about money. How have you brought those two together? Or like, how has it worked in terms of being financially responsible? You’ve got two children, you’ve got a family, you’ve got a home, all of those kinds of things. Can you do all of that on beautiful requests and is that a responsible way to live?
Dave:
Yeah, I can and I do, and it’s a very responsible way to live because in many ways it’s the most effective way to live because there, you know, when you’re dealing with reality, the true reality of a situation you know, that’s the most powerful way to live. And what I have discovered is that the true reality of, of humans is that we have guidance, we have, we have energies that are, that are supportive and that we can call on. And if we’re not doing that, you know, we maybe we’re missing part of the picture of, of being human. And, and so when I, when I live that way, I really feel more whole and more complete and a much, a much bigger sense of presence in my, in my own life. And that you know, availing ourselves of, of all the resources we have, how, you know, that’s, that’s very responsible. Even though it sounds, it, it may sound you know, it may sound weird, but it’s really, really very powerful. And, you know, we’re all energetic beings. It’s our birthright to experience energy and, and to experience support and it’s, it’s a really very powerful thing.
Sarah:
And you don’t look weird. This is the thing.
Dave:
Well, maybe weird isn’t the right word, but different, right? Because we as humans, there’s life on the ground and knowing that there are other levels of presence it’s just we don’t encounter that every day.
Sarah:
It’s ironic, isn’t it? Because I picture some of those very rational people and they will say, you’ve gotta deal with reality. And you are saying, really, you’ve got to deal with reality. But their perception of reality and your perception of reality is different, and that’s giving you radically different outcomes because it, allows you to live, well it allows you to live more likely. That’s what I’m seeing.
Dave:
Yeah. Yeah. There, there’s, there’s a lot of lightness in my life now. There’s a lot, a lot less pushing myself, a lot less feeling like I need to work hard working lighter has been a real boon. And, and, to me that that simply means connecting with guidance and following it. Yeah, there’s a great, the great relaxation there in, in understanding that reality is bigger than I thought it was.
Sarah:
There’s a practical question. I, I need to ask for the sake of the story. From what I, so, so you got a job that you are working now with people that suits you much better. So did that solve the income part? You’re not just living from windfall to windfall?
Dave:
No, that’s a regular salary now. We, you know, over the, over the years that we’ve worked together they liked my work well enough that it evolved from a contractor position part-time into them wanting me full-time. And so I’ve, I’ve got a regular salary now in addition to the other stock option compensation.
Sarah:
So, and the debt?
Dave:
All gone, paid off.
Sarah:
It was a lot, it was quite a lot as well, wasn’t it?
Dave:
It was a lot. Yeah.
Sarah:
Very happy to hear about that. I want to ask just a little bit about gold and earth and mining because I know that guidance is an important part in that and I, I, I feel that it’s, I know it’s a hard part of what you want to do because as you said, the mining industry isn’t particularly geared towards sustainability. But I would love to hear a little bit of your wisdom around gold and mining and earth, whatever you wanna share some of your experience over these years.
Dave:
Well, it’s been a really interesting transformation because I study geology as a scientist, and so I have that scientific view, which of course I employ every day in, in, in working. And over time has evolved a deeper connection with Earth. That’s a connection I had when I was, I mentioned when I was younger, being in nature before I studied geology. And so it’s in a way a record or resurrection of that, that deeper sense of connecting with earth as an energetic presence. And sensing, sensing that energy you know, communicating with it, with earth, with her, I think of her as, as a feminine being. And and, and being in touch has, with, with Earth, earth as a form of guidance and as an energetic presence is, is what has come out of, of the time. We’re working with you as one of my sources of guidance and energetic connection.
Sarah:
And I’m going to keep coming back to this gold thing, I’m just curious because people go crazy about gold as they also go crazy about money. Do you have any insight into the true nature of gold? What is gold really? There’s something about gold. I’m curious if there’s any insight you have around that.
Dave:
Well, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a very special and unique material and I haven’t, you know, I’ve had some conversations with Jeff Vander Klute about gold in the essence, the essence of gold. And I have to confess that I haven’t actually ever sat down and asked Earth directly about her sense of gold, her meaning of it.
Sarah:
Could we do that right now?
Dave:
Yeah. She’s providing earth as the most, the most exalted form of her presence.
Sarah:
Wow. What does that mean?
Dave:
It means that she’s creating so created something so beautiful and so compelling that it captures the essence of, of what it is to live here.
Sarah:
Like pure beauty.
Dave:
Yes, pure, pure beauty, deep usefulness. Pure joy and in beautiful, smooth lovingness.
Sarah:
I’m glad I asked the question. Thank you so much. That was really beautiful. Thank you. Thank you Dave, for, for sharing your story and for yeah, really telling us the, the insight of that experience because that, that’s a very big change that you’ve experienced in your life actually.
Dave:
Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s tremendously big. I’ve, I feel like a completely different person. Yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m not different, but I’m more me in ways that I never predicted.
Sarah:
I want to end it there, but I’m not going to, because there’s this question, like, I know that gratitude and appreciation, are very important for you. We started, before we started this conversation, we were talking about gratitude and appreciation, and my perception is that they’re very important in our relationship with money. What part of gratitude and appreciation played for you?
Dave:
You know, when we, when when you and I first started working together, I was in, in a pretty dark place, difficult place. And I’ve, I’ve just come so far that I can’t help but be, but be grateful. My life is so much better. And, and so, you know, the story of the last five or six years is one of tremendous improvement and, and growth in my life. And, and, and so I’m grateful, you know, I’m, I’m really, really grateful for that. And in terms of money directly you know, we all love gratitude. When somebody says thank you, a real heartfelt thank you, it just, it goes, you know, it, it goes in deep. And money is a being, right? Money is a consciousness and, and, and money really, really gets those messages of gratitude. And so it’s a feedback loop. And, for me it’s an important part of the process. It’s really, really saying thank you money, you know, offering that, that gratitude and, and really being grateful for the understanding and the presence and the bounty.
Sarah:
Thank you Dave.
Dave:
Thank you.
Sarah:
You’ve been listening to the Spirit of Business with Matt Murphy and Sarah McCrumb. If you’d like some insight into the spirit in which you do business, a great place to start is by looking at your relationship with money. Find out more by taking the Money scorecard@moneyscorecards.app and we’ll be back next week.
