Finances are a challenge to most marriages. Finding ways of tightening the belt is rarely enjoyable. Families gather around the kitchen table while going through the paper looking for Coupon Deals and trying to Find Great Deals that could save a few dollars in the budget. Others stop spending money on dinning out, or going to the movies. For almost everyone, the process of reallocating funds results in the feeling of lack and sacrifice. Not many people see this as an opportunity for reevaluating the fundamentals of their lives. Difficult times call for challenging thinking and creative solutions. These solutions are sometimes simple, occasionally difficult, but always a revelation. Taken in the right light, a financial crisis, or a call to cut back can be the beginning of a new and better life.
If someone is laid off and their source of income is suddenly uncertain, then the whole foundation of their life has been rocked. Working without a net is not the end of the world. It is just a thing. The income is diminished, so what the income provided is no longer certain to be there. Decisions have to be made. For many people a crisis is an awakening. The important things are brought to a razor sharp awareness. Homes are foreclosed on, cars are being repossessed, jobs are disappearing and yet many people are grateful to be brought back to the experience of living. When a building is burning people get off the couch. Getting off the couch is when the experience of living is heightened.
Risk is one of the most basic necessities of a full life experience. If there is no risk there is no change. The first person to bite into a mushroom took a risk. Entering the road is a risk. Asking out the cute girl or handsome guy is a risk. Renting a house is a risk. Standing up for personal beliefs is a risk. The entire economic system is depends on risk. This has led to an environment where people want to reduce the risks they are taking, making sure their money is safe, their investments secure and their family is provided for. A full life experience depends on risk, yet most people spend their energy avoiding it. While restraint and prudence is a wise fiscal choice, it dampens the experience of living if it governs every minute. A crisis shakes us up and brings risk to the door. For many people there is an epiphany; if you can’t protect against risk, why not start doing the things deemed too risky to do before?
A crisis is a time think differently and begin again. This could lead to selling property, houses, books or pictures. Maybe the career was supposed to provide stability. If it didn’t maybe there is a career more rewarding that should be pursued. Is the McMansion what was desired or simply what was expected? When outer circumstances shift, it is a great time to create personal change on the inside.
Life is meant to be experienced, not watched from the couch. When difficulties appear they should be embraced with open arms for they bring with them the the wakening call for a conscious life. The challenge is how to embrace a crisis and let it inspire positive change.



