It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving 2020 is right around the corner! What a year this has been. This is my last biweekly blog post before the holiday and I want to talk about gratitude. Yes, gratitude in 2020. It’s been a tough year in so many ways but we still can choose gratitude even in the midst of it all. Why? Because gratitude is your internal wealth. It does not cost any money to be grateful. I am not saying this as a Pollyanna. Yes, I am optimistic but not blindly optimistic. I am saying this because we each have the power within us to choose our attitude and our gratitude. I believe that feeling and expressing gratitude is healthy for our bodies, minds, souls, and our wallets too.

Gratitude Creates Opportunity

Gratitude opens up the flow of abundance in our lives, including the flow of money. When we are grateful for what we do have, it creates possibility. We do not obsess about what we do not have or what we want but are simply grateful for what we have now. Being grateful helps us create equanimity in our lives and this calmness, even in difficult situations, ultimately opens doors. Think about it- a person who can express gratitude and remain positive will have more opportunity. Being negative and a doom and gloom person is not likely to help you in the work world, the family world, the friendship world, or if you are single- the dating world.

So it’s free, it’s yours to choose, and the supply doesn’t run out- gratitude is a gift we give ourselves. This gift of self-love then touches someone else and on and on it goes. That is flow and abundance in action. You never know how you kind word or expression of gratitude to someone can positively change their day, week, or maybe even their (and your) life.

Reframing and Choosing Your Life

Gratitude and reframing of the current 2020 circumstances has made a big difference in my life in this unprecedented year. Yes, I have spent a lot of time alone but my attitude has been one of discovery and exploration. I knew the pandemic was not going away over night so I had to figure a way to make the most of it.

One of the best things that came out of it for me was launching MoneyMaestra. The pandemic quickly taught us that not having our money situation straight was not a good thing. My money situation was straight and therefore Covid was not a financial stressor for me- and that was huge. I definitely had to make adjustments and hustle some of my side gigs- but overall, financially I was good.

One of the key reasons I created MoneyMaestra is to help people get on the path to financial freedom. To understand money, to take out the fear and worry and put in the freedom and fun. I have a deep gratitude for the space I have to live the life I choose because I have my finances in order.

During a Storm…Transformation

When I walked through my (chemical free) pollinator garden this morning I witnessed the newly emerged Monarch butterfly pictured in the photo above. That butterfly began its transformation process in the middle of a tropical storm 10 days ago. The little caterpillar had started to go into the “J formation” during the storm- which is the beginning of the transformation stage. It was hanging on by a thin but oh so strong thread. That little caterpillar instinctively knew there were new beginnings on the other side. Let’s take flight too and make 2021 a Financial Fresh Start!

With gratitude,

Susan, The MoneyMaestra