Elevate Your Consciousness To Improve Your Finances

There is no shortage of blog posts, articles, and resources to help you get a better handle on your finances through budgeting, saving, investing, and other foundational financial principles. These principles are undoubtedly important to understand and master, yet many are in great financial shape from a net worth or asset standpoint, but still struggle with their finances and, even worse, happiness. This struggle shows how, for many, there is something more profound than financial literacy that is impacting their relationship with money and their financial life.

After over twenty years as a financial advisor, I think I've identified an important but overlooked influence on your life and financial plans: Consciousness.

One definition of consciousness I found states that it is "the quality or state of being aware, especially of something within oneself."

A more spiritual definition I found states that it is "a fundamental awareness that transcends the physical body and mind, connecting individuals to a universal, divine reality. It's a state of being where one experiences a profound sense of unity, interconnectedness, and deeper understanding of self and existence."

If you're new to the concept of consciousness, those definitions might not make a lot of sense. I think it might be easier to look at an image I created that shows the different levels of consciousness according to Dr. David Hawkins; Dr. Hawkins is the author of one of the best books I've read on consciousness called The Map Of Consciousness Explained. A critical understanding that the definitions above don't do a good job of highlighting, which you will see in the image I created, is that there are different levels of consciousness ranging from low (shame) to high (enlightenment).

You'll notice that this image also has George Kinder's Seven Stages of Money Maturity, an instrumental book in my career, plotted along the different levels of consciousness. It's important to note that the plotting of Kinder's Seven Stages is entirely my interpretation—I haven't yet had a chance to discuss with him where he would place his stages. Nonetheless, if we take Kinder's work and how it can be applied to different levels of consciousness, it becomes easier to see how the higher our consciousness, the better our relationship with money becomes, and the easier it is to navigate our financial lives.

I don't think you have even to read Hawkins' book to understand and see how your view and experience of your life changes as you elevate your consciousness.

Recently, I discovered another view on consciousness from Tara Springett in her book The Stairway To Heaven: Nine Steps of Consciousness from Unawareness to Full Enlightenment.

I haven't yet added these levels to the Map of Consciousness and Seven Stages of Money Maturity, but Springett's steps to higher consciousness (towards heaven) still highlight how elevating your consciousness will change how you see, view, and use money—the names alone give you an idea of how someone at that step would feel about money.

So, yes, the foundational principles of personal finance are fundamental—I'm not suggesting you ignore or skip over them. But, mastering those may not help your relationship with money, life and financial plans, or finding fulfillment and contentment in life if you are stuck in a lower level of consciousness.

If you're still here with me, you might be wondering HOW you can elevate your level of consciousness to improve your financial life, and I will share what I've found to work in an upcoming post.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the books I've mentioned earlier:

1.) The Map of Consciousness Explained by Dr. David Hawkins (also check out Power & Force and Letting Go).

2.) The Seven Stages of Money Maturity by George Kinder

3.) The Stairway To Heaven: Nine Steps of Consciousness from Unawareness to Full Enlightenment by Tara Springett

Keep pursuing,

Justin