Have Your Own Back

Financial columnist Jean Chatsky has a go-to set of guidance. Money rule #63? “If you can’t explain it, don’t buy it.”

In other words – No. Wait. Stop.

In the July series, The Land of No, we’ve talked about being intolerant of less than situations. “Divine dissatisfaction” is more than pushing back because we’re not getting our way. It is refusing to accept problem circumstances as permanent or all powerful. That kind of no requires showing courage, a key Soul Boss principle.

Let’s reprise Catherine Ponder’s comment about rejecting poor conditions:

“I will not put up with or tolerate this experience as necessary, lasting or right. I refuse to accept things as they are. I am God’s child and I will accept nothing but His complete goodness for me.”

Everything was looking great for yoga teacher Tommy Rosen and his wife. They were just about to sign on the dotted line for an incredible new home.

There was one roadblock: taking the financial leap was hard to explain. They might be able to make it happen, but the numbers showed that the mortgage didn’t pencil out for the foreseeable future.

But then the answer appeared! “The Universe has my back,” the angel whispered in his ear.

His better angel had a better answer. “Not today.”

You could say they lost the house. However, Rosen also lost the nagging feeling that he was carrying the weight of the world.

The story doesn’t end there. On a deeper level, the Recovery 2.0 founder realized that the “I’ll deal with the details later” outlook was a replay of the short-term thinking that plagued him as an addict. And that was the slip he really couldn’t afford.

“Not today” isn’t “we’ll never have our dream.” It’s basically affirming, “I respect myself too much to create financial stress.” That kind of affirmation is complete goodness.

This month we’ve met a lot of people facing a healthy no:

1. In “A Pushback in Your Spirit,” CC had rose-colored glasses on about the birth of her great-grandchild. What could have been a season of hard times has become a lifetime of poverty.
2. Clive faced adversity when his biggest distributor suddenly dropped him in “Up To the Task.” A huge setback wasn’t the sign to close his doors; it just meant he had to reinvent the way he did business.
3. “Never, Never, Never” told the story of Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley. They released being narrow minded and said yes to compromise. Together they created a single-minded vision for the future, unifying Ireland after decades of civil war.

Right now, trying to explain a major decision could make you break out in a cold sweat.

Relax – when you balance your intuition with the data, you have everything you need to make smart choices. You stop waiting for the Universe to pick up the slack. As Han Solo once said, “The Force doesn’t work that way!”

When you have your own back, you’re a great boss of you.