Owen and I were at our bottle Return It depot on Saturday for 3 different trips. 3 truckloads full of aluminum cans and various glass bottles. People that contributed these bottles to Owen gave them with happy energy. Circulating good energy by passing these on to support his new hockey endeavour. We turned these bottles in with equally good energy to the bottle depot and received Happy Money for this work.

My boy Owen is 10 and is now playing for this hockey team that will travel on the ferry to Vancouver once a month for games. It costs more than playing with our community minor hockey association, which he has played with for the last 5 years.

Have you heard of Happy Money? “It is not how much you make or have, that makes you have Happy Money or Unhappy Money, it is the energy with which your money is given and received.” I have just finished reading Ken Honda’s book, titled ‘Happy Money.’ And I can tell you, that having worked in bookkeeping, and various banking roles over the last 20 years, this has been the most helpful, and enlightening advice about money. It would make me happy if everyone would read this book. It talks about money in terms of energy. Plain and simple. You circulate energy, you circulate Money. You never ‘spend’ money, you circulate it.

It really puts in perspective when he asks, “if money were a person, who would it be?” Such as a friend, or someone you are always upset with? Do you look at your cards in your wallet with disappointment? Ken Honda is known as the Japanese Zen Millionaire and has spent his careers interviewing all ‘classes’ of people and their relationship with money. He has found that poor or wealthy, Everyone worries about money, and that it is all relative.

I love his approach that everyone needs to build their Money EQ ~ Emotional Quotient, “How we react to money emotionally. Looking at how you receive, enjoy, feel confident about and share your money,” is how he describes it.

He advises to say Thank You, or as he says, of course, Arigato. “When money comes in, say Thank You, when money leaves you, say Thank You, grateful for how the money served you, or providing to you now.”

Having read about the human brain with Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book and how people can repeat patterns and cycles, it seems like Money EQ is equally important as Money IQ. You could understand a lot about the fundamentals of finances, but if you have emotional blocks or fears it could hurt you.

I saw a post from a local radio station recently that asked people to chime in on what they wished they had learned in school. Lessons that weren’t offered at school but should have been. Finance and Money was the number 1 request. A majority of people responding all said they were clueless on the topic. I have volunteered with Junior Achievement before ~ a lesson a week for a few weeks about money and credit basics to grade 6 and 7 students, but there just isn’t enough reach with the program. The program relies on volunteer availability, so not every class in every school ever experiences it.

With reading Happy Money, it has made me think completely differently about money than I had ever learned before. If only everyone could learn this too ❤️

Owen and I just dedicated that day to sorting bottles, returning them with good energy, receiving the subsequent cash with good energy, which will be used with very good energy towards his hockey. While I was oozing happy Money thoughts, a gentleman who had already been in with his returns and had seen Owen and I unload everything from the truck, approached us at the counter and contributed another 3 trays of bottles to Owen. He contributed Happy Money to the cause that day, likely without having heard the term Happy Money before ~ he contributed and circulated his own good energy. The speed at which the circulation of Happy Money compounded was not lost on me, and for that I sent more gratitude.

Sending Love,

Devon