Bookkeeping as a Spiritual Practice - How to Find Meaning in Financial Tasks
Photo by Jay Castor on Unsplash
Hello, Readers
I love the concept that everything done consistently with love is a spiritual practice, and it got me thinking about transforming a task you don’t like into something you can have reverence for, and by doing that, your relationship with the task transforms. You can do this with bookkeeping and other financial tasks. We'll get to that in a minute.
First, let me tell you a little story.
I always hated folding laundry. It would sit in wrinkled piles, trying to get my attention while I scowled at it and felt resentful for its existence. Then my mother-in-law demonstrated what it looked like to love her family with every fold. Watching the satisfaction she received by folding clothes helped me love and appreciate the meaning of this simple act.
This was all it took for me to change my attitude towards laundry, and at a time when there was distance from my daughter, I loved her by doing her laundry. I said I love you silently with every fold, caressed her clothing as I wanted to caress her, and knew that she received the demonstration of my love in neat piles of clean clothes that she would carry up to her bedroom.
Everything done consistently with love is a spiritual practice.
Folding her laundry became a spiritual practice of loving her because I made it so in my mind. I told myself it was special and sacred, and so it was. I am astounded by the power of our minds to transform our perception and experience of an act by deciding to think and feel differently about it.
This idea can translate to anything. Even bookkeeping and other financial tasks. Are these tasks something to be abhorred and viewed as punishments, or are they loving acts?
How can you reframe caring for your business finances as a spiritual practice?
Here are some ideas:
Set up the space for pleasure and comfort. A lot of people feel anxiety when they do their bookkeeping. Counteract the anxiety by adding pleasure and comfort. Here are some ideas – light candles, play soothing music, clean your space with essential oils, do some deep breathing, or say a blessing for your business finances. Here's one from Marianne Williamson's book, The Law of Divine Compensation, “Dear God, I dedicate to You my talents and abilities. May they be used in a way that serves Your purposes. I surrender to You my business and finances. May my work be lifted to its highest possibility. As a blessing on all the world. Amen.”
Follow a step-by-step plan to cut through the mind-chattering resistance that keeps us from simply getting started. The mind likes to know what’s next, so give it a written list. This often quiets the resistance right down. The list begins like this: Turn on the computer. Open accounting software or spreadsheet. Get out receipts. Get out your bank statement. Write down your steps as if writing instructions for someone else to do the job, and you’ll be moving down the list before your resistance can block you.
Make it a date! Plan a committed time on the calendar and imagine how good it will feel to complete the tasks. Focus on that feeling. Conjure it in your body. How good do you feel when the papers on your desk are cleared away, and your bookkeeping is up-to-date? Feel it for inspiration.
If you can’t get going, start writing. What is coming up for you? Don’t censor yourself. Just keep your pen moving for 15 minutes. This is stuck energy that you need to get unstuck. Writing about it can help you work through it. Talk to a friend or a coach if you need help working through whatever keeps you from doing your bookkeeping. Don’t stay stuck.
So, what do you think? Do you feel inspired to create a spiritual practice around your business finances?
In love,
Carol