I seem to have a journal for each aspect of my life that I find interesting. I have one in which I record money that I’ve found over the years – what coin, heads/tails, where found and what I was in the process of doing/thinking at the time. I take the coins and toss them into a small cup, and when it starts getting to full, I unload them into a plastic baggie, insert a brief note that states “money found reminds us that prosperity abounds,” and put it into the collection basket at a Sunday service.
I started this back in March 2009, and have kept it up over the years. Certainly, it’s not for the wealth that it provides to me or those I give it to. But it is for the story, the capturing of that moment in time – and its potential future significance for meaning, correlation or perhaps, idle curiosity. 2009 – 15 occasions totaling $1.04; 2010 – 14 occasions totaling $1.48; 2011 – 7 times totaling $0.35 (see, we’re still in a recession!); and, 2012 – zilch, so far.
So why bother? Consciousness – being aware of environment, being aware of money are both good things. Circulation – putting money back into the system in a way (albeit a small way) that is for the greater good (it sure wasn’t helping out where it was). Story – I like nothing better to weave a small incident into the fabric of the day:
“Found $0.25 (quarter, tails) while meditation walking on the streets surrounding the Hinshaw Greenway. Found it after seeing eight crows in a yard and seven other crows flying up to the roof of a house; and, just before finding a dead dragonfly at the greenway’s trailhead with its wings fully spread out. The picture on the quarter was that of an oak tree (1999) with the words “the charter oak.” The tie into “money found” is huge on this first day of July (new month, new quarter, new half-year) after having been laid off from my job last month. This is a great sign for the path ahead.”
I’m still trying to figure out the meaning for 2012 –More of a recession? Or, less focus on my part?
Thanks to Norm Walsh (Flickr) for the coin photo
