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MONEY matters

Mark Zaifman's thoughts on money, global economic trends and politics

The Economic Meltdown and The Seven Stages of Grief

Mark Zaifman   |    Fri, Feb 20, 2009 @ 05:26 PM

Mark Zaifman KGO Radio

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to be on KGO radio in San Francisco for an hour with Joanne Greene, as part of the book tour for Your Money or Your Life, of which I was a contributor to. The topic du jour of course was money. We discussed money and spirituality as well as your relationship with money and then moved to discussing the current economic meltdown. That’s when things got interesting.

As soon as we started talking about the stimulus plan, specifically the mortgage proposal President Obama spoke about last week , that’s when I heard the anger so many people are feeling right now come roaring out of the gate. With right wing talk radio fanning the flames of anger and stoking the fear so many people feel, we’re going backwards, not forwards in solving the serious problems our country is facing. Joanne’s show is progressive and she is one smart cookie. Yet even with her listeners that I sense tend to be more moderate and left of center, the vibe of anger and blaming other people for getting us into this mess was present.

So driving home from San Francisco last night, I was thinking about the 7 stages of grief and wondering if this is what many people are going through emotionally. Are we collectively at stage 3 of the grieving process-anger and bargaining? As a county as well as individually, the financial loss so many people are experiencing is real and for many, emotionally devastating. Are we having a spiritual crisis as well as a financial crisis?

Blaming, venting, getting the anger out of your body is better than keeping it bottled up, but keep in mind, blame is a very disempowering emotion and very low energy. We need to feel empowered, perhaps now more than ever. Let’s move to a higher energy of gratitude. If you want more joy in your life, have more gratitude.

Be mindful of the law of attraction. What we think about and put our focus on expands. If we dwell in low energy thoughts like anger and blame, more of that will show up in our life. If we move to higher energy thoughts of abundance and gratitude, feeling the peace of mind of having enough, that’s what will manifest into our lives.

The 7th stage of grief is acceptance and hope. This is where you learn to accept and deal with the reality of your situation. Let’s get there as a country sooner rather than later. Growing up and watching my father, who survived Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps, I realized how important staying positive really is. It’s what kept him alive and because of him I remain and will always be an eternal optimist.  As he would say over and over and over again, a day above ground is a good day. It’s because of him, that I remain very hopeful that we’ll come out of this mess stronger and better than before. Keep the faith!