Hi friend,
Do you remember that scene in Lord of the Rings where Gandalf and Frodo and the whole fellowship of the ring crew were on a long, epic journey, and they were stuck at large stone doors, called The Doors of Durin, that had a riddle inscribed on it?
For hours and hours they sat before that stone door in the moonlight, trying to solve the riddle inscribed in stone in the elvish language. “Speak, friend, and enter,” was all the riddle said.
If they could solve it, the door would open and they’d be able to travel through the secret passageways that led through the mountain so they could finally destroy the ring of power once and for all.
In many ways, that scene is a perfect metaphor for the money riddles we all face from time to time.
We’re all trying to get somewhere on our epic journeys (a.k.a., our lives), and sometimes we end up blocked by an immovable stone door that has a seemingly unsolvable riddle about money etched on it.
The riddle might be something like “how can we afford to buy a house in this economic climate?,” or, “how can I bring in more money when I have a job where the salary is capped?,” or “how can we save enough money to send our kids to college with only a few years remaining?.”
Money riddles like this (which I also call “money koans,” like the koan questions you sit with in Zen Buddhist meditation practice), aren’t written in the elvish language on a big stone door, but they might as well be.
Just like Gandalf and Frodo and the whole crew sat there for hours trying to solve the riddle that would open the door, we often have to sit with our money riddles for days, or weeks, or months, or even sometimes years for the big ones.
Working with and solving these money riddles is the topic of today’s recording on the first volume of the Art of Money Mixtape I made for you.
These seemingly unsolvable (and often frustrating) riddles aren’t talked about much in the personal finance world, but we all face them at different times in our lives.
Not having any tools to solve them will just leave us sitting there forever at the stone Doors of Durin, unable to pass through the secret passageway through the mountain and off on the next adventure in our quest.
Have a listen to this short teaching on money riddles, and who knows, maybe it will help you arrive at an answer to one of your own riddles that will open the stone doors blocking your way.
Listen Here:
I hope these mini teachings I’ve shared with you so far on this Money Mixtape are helpful to you on their own. They’re also great examples of the kinds of things I cover in the 3-month, live Art of Money course.
I teach this course live on Zoom calls every week for the duration of the course, telling stories, sharing tools and techniques for working with all the facets of our money lives.
I cover how to work with everthing from our history with money, to hard emotions like shame or fear, to practical bookkeeping skills, building your financial professional team, and mapping out your future with a new kind of non-boring budget that I call “money maps,” just to name a few things in the course.
The next round of this financial therapy program begins in 5 days, when the first live class will happen.
Registration is open now and will close soon when that first class happens.
If you’re growing weary of sitting in front of your own Doors of Durin, trying to solve a money riddle, have a read about the program and join us right here.
I can’t make any guarantees except this one: I will give you every tool I have to help you solve whatever money riddle is inscribed on those stone doors in front of you.
The rest of your journey awaits you.
