The Value of Money

Yesterday I gave my son 8 Israeli coins to go buy himself a snack. Not being familiar with the coins here in Israel, they seemed to me like 8 canadian nickels. After giving him the coins, I began to figure out in my head the value of what I had just given him. I realized then that I had not given him 40 cents but had just given him $8!!!!!.

It was really interesting to me to see that when I didn't realize the value of the coins, I had no emotional reaction to giving him the money. But when I made money 'mean' something, I right away felt a tension inside of me that reflected the thought: "That wasn't 40 cents he's going to spend, but rather $8....and that's a lot of money!!!"

This further validates what Ekhart Tolle said in his book "The New Earth", on the Oprah show, about the impact of labelling things in our lives. When I didn't label the value of the coins, I felt relaxed and peaceful, yet once I labeled the value of the coins I felt tense. The coins never changed nor did it's value....only my perception of the coins changed.