I Thought Money Was Unnatural. Then I Realized This
What economics, psychology, and nature reveal about the way money works
For most of my life, money felt unnatural for me. I grew up rurally and had a deep respect for my green surroundings. I enjoyed the fresh water, air, and occasional sunlight that I had access to. I figured out pretty early that if I chose to work for nature, nature would work for me.
Money, on the other hand, seemed like a constant battle. There was never enough. When my father brought some home from his freelancing work, it seemed to evaporate quickly.
It was not even a question of whether the glass was half full or half empty. Our glass had holes in the bottom. Whatever you put in it would somehow disappear very quickly.
In other words, scarcity was my lived reality. Money, it seemed to me, was a broken human construct.
Nature is abundant. There is always more fresh air, water, and sunlight coming from where you find a little.
Animals don’t use money. Trees don’t charge for their fruits. So why did humans invent money when it (evidently for me) caused so much trouble?
I knew deep down that, if I wanted to live a life in harmony not only with nature but also with the human economic system, I would need to start befriending money. Many of us don’t have the best relationship with money—we think it’s limited, unfairly distributed, that it corrupts people, and so on.
But I badly wanted to end my financial misery. I was scraping by and counting every penny, just like I’d seen my parents do for so many years. To get to the other side of this, I would need to reframe my relationship with money, and make money come to me. Just like I befriended nature as a kid, without consciously realizing it, I would need to befriend money, too.
But how could I befriend something that seemed as evil, as unfair, and as artificial as money?
Nature is everywhere, it is where we come from and where everything will go back to when human civilisation (and perhaps humans themselves) have long left the universe. But money? To me it seemed like an artificial construct invented by humans because they’re stupid. They try to defy nature, take from scarce resources, and barter with money just because some of them like the headache. That’s what I thought.
Maybe parts of all this resonate with you. Maybe you already recognize how wrong my thinking was.
I gladly lapped up any knowledge around saving, investing, tax incentives, and so on. I had figured out where to put my cash and how to make it work for me sustainably fifteen years before I finally earned it. But I was unable to earn and keep it because my belief system was distorted.
That doesn’t mean that the structural inequalities that I experienced weren’t real. They were. The scarcity was real, and me and my family were truly financially disadvantaged. To emerge from this struggle, however, I needed to rewire my brain from scarcity to abundance, long before any significant sums hit my bank account. This required unlearning a lot of old beliefs and making some key realizations.
We’ll unpack some of my limiting beliefs before resolving the paradox of money. It is an economic tool, but it also has a psychological and—yes—deeply natural side. I’ll finally show you how I released my old beliefs and applied my new beliefs to my life.
These Lies About Money Are Holding You Back
I’d love to say that I had this one distorted idea about money, and that, as soon as I realized that it was wrong, everything changed. Sadly though, reality was a tad more complicated.
There were many distorted beliefs.
Perhaps you recognize some of them to be in your own repertoire.
If you still hold some of these beliefs, this doesn’t mean that you’re bad or wrong. It just means that you’ve probably been through a lot, or that you’ve been influenced by people who themselves have been through a lot.
What people don’t tell you is that you’ll need a strong belief system to create a new financial reality. And that your old belief system, however real and valid it is for you right now, needs to go if you want to create something new for yourself.
Belief #1: If It’s Not From Nature, It’s Not Good
We can see this all the time in grocery stores: On what feels like one packet out of three, there’s some slogan like “Nature’s Best,” “100% Natural,” “Healthy and Natural.”
You know what else is natural? Storms. Wildfires. Hurricanes. Hunt and Prey. Murder.
Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s good. And just because it’s unnatural doesn’t mean it’s not good.
The heating that is keeping my place warm this winter is not natural. But it feels really nice. I find a heating system really good.
So, if we assume that money is unnatural—the reality is a bit more complicated, but we’ll get to that later—is it not good?
Nope. Think of other human constructs that feel just as 'real': love, music, storytelling, and even science. They may not exist in nature as raw materials, but they channel something deep and meaningful.
Belief #2: Money is Corrupt
Some rich people are corrupt. Some poor people are ethical.
But guess what? Some rich people are deeply ethical. Some poor people are corrupt.
Corrupt people give money a bad name.
Money itself is neutral. It’s a tool, just like fire or technology—it can be used for good or harm, depending on who wields it.
We need more money in the hands of good people, that’s all. If you think of yourself as a good person, then you probably deserve a lot more money. It will help you do more good things, and contribute to shaping the world according to your good values.
Belief #3: Wanting Money is Greedy
This is all too rooted in guilt. If, like me, you’ve been raised with values that equate wealth with selfishness, you might have caught yourself thinking this.
But this is not true.
Jesus had an accountant. Mother Theresa flew around the world in a private jet.
If you want to do good things, having more money will amplify your good impact.
The wealthiest philanthropists in history were also financially successful. Whatever you want to do on Earth, money will make it easier for you.
You’re entitled to a life of ease, joy, and positive impact. You’re entitled to be the best version of yourself, and to let this uplift everyone else around you. This is something you should want!
Belief #4: If I Make Money, I’m Taking It Away From Someone Else
Oh, the scarcity mindset. The belief that all resources are somehow finite, and that, if you take too much, they will all run dry. The glass of water with the holes in the bottom.
Resources, when managed well, replenish themselves.
Look to the sun. Are you scared that it will run out if you sunbathe too much? Nope. There’s more where that came from.
Some resources, like fossil fuels, might be finite. But if you look at the bigger picture, the underlying resource—energy—is not finite at all. Air, water, and wind just keep circulating and keep providing us with the energy that we need for our economies.
Money is like that, too. If you’re receiving money, trust that there’s more coming to replenish where that came from. If you’re releasing money, trust that it is only making space for fresh money to arrive in even larger quantities in due time.
Money is not limited unless you believe that it is.
Belief #5: If I Don’t Work Hard, I Do Not Deserve Money
Here’s the thing: Nobody except for your closest circle truly cares how you feel.
Nobody cares whether you’re happy today, or exhausted, or troubled. Nobody will pay you more because you’re more tired from hard work.
What matters is not how hard you worked, but how much value you’ve created. You can create with ease or with effort. Or some combination of both.
But if you want ease, you deserve a life of ease. You are allowed to earn money in your sleep if that’s what you want!
Money is a human construct, and we can create as much of it as human creativity allows us. So be creative. The humans around you will thank you. They’ll pay you with joy because they want you to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Humans pay you because they want to see you thrive.
As a caveat, I should add that if you are working hard right now, and especially if you’re not being paid well at the moment, this does not mean that you are not creating a lot of value. Your job is not to work even harder and burn yourself out in the quest of money.
Getting money is a bit like dating. Your job is to show up as the best version of yourself so that what you want gets attracted into your life. The most attractive people are not the exhausted ones but those who seem to manage everything with grace.
Give yourself permission to rest. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself and cater to your deepest desires.
Don’t focus on where the money might come from, but whose pocket it might be coming to. Focus on becoming that person that money can’t resist coming to.
The Psychology of Money – Energy, Trust, and Flow
At its core, money is about trust. It’s a universal agreement that allows us to trade efficiently.
Becoming a person worth trusting, because you reliably provide goods and services (and look good while doing so) is the road towards making more money.
Money is like energy. It is unlimited and it replenishes itself. But it only does so if it’s managed wisely.
Energy flows where attention goes: If you focus only on lack, you experience scarcity. People who believe money flows freely tend to make different decisions than those stuck in scarcity thinking.
If you feel guilty about earning, you subconsciously block opportunities. If you view wealth as corrupt, you avoid financial success (even when you work hard).
I want to be very clear that this does not mean that structural inequalities don’t exist. People who have nothing have been treated unfairly by the world, and their struggles are very real. I’ve been there myself.
If you view wealth as corrupt, you avoid financial success (even when you work hard). You stay in your place.
In my case, I worked myself to utter exhaustion for years while receiving close to nothing, simply because I didn’t feel that I deserved any better. This was unconscious. I didn’t want to suffer. I just didn’t feel that I was worthy of any better because I’d rarely experienced anything better before.
Some people—including myself in the past—don’t emerge from financial misery even when they’re given the chance a hundred times. Other people seize the first opportunity and prosper ever after.
The difference is your mindset. In order to see opportunities once the universe finally tosses one your way, you’ll need to start believing that change is possible. You’ll need to believe that opportunities are out there waiting for you, and that you’re worthy of and entitled to these opportunities. If you don’t truly believe in this, you’ll not be ready once an opportunity arises, large or small.
What made the difference for me was believing that there are unlimited opportunities and that I’m worthy of attracting them and all their benefits. Once that happened, my bank account literally swelled by a factor of 1000 in the span of a few months.
Nature’s Financial System
Money is a human construct.
But nature, much the same, operates on constant exchange.
Trees don’t hoard sunlight, but they set themselves up to receive as much of it as they can. This allows them to create sugar that they need, while sharing the overflow generously with other life forms. They set themselves up to thrive, and as a result everything else around them thrives, too.
Be like a tree. Set yourself up to receive, and share your excess bounty with everything around you.
Water circulates through sources to rivers to oceans, evaporates to clouds, and rains back down to the ground. It nourishes everything along its way and allows it to thrive. Money in human economies is like water in nature. It must circulate, and by doing so, it nourishes.
Bees pollinate flowers, and receive nectar in exchange. Whether you’re a flower or a bee—you’ll benefit if you exchange something you don’t need for something you need. Money makes this easier to do.
Scarcity is a human idea. Nature goes through tough spots, sure—but on the whole it thrives because it creates flow and balance. Excess resources are shared. Nothing is valuable beyond immediate needs is hoarded, and nothing good is rejected.
Releasing Scarcity
Truth to be told, it took me years to get into the position where I could even write this piece. A couple of years ago, I would have thought it was way to woo-woo and spiritual. I would have told you that only hard work and sacrifice would ever pay off for people like myself. Rich people existed, sure, but secretly I despised them.
The transformation came when I ran out of energy to run. I’d worked myself sick—literally, physically sick—in my previous minimum-wage job and I just couldn’t go any further like this. It was then that I stopped seeing money as something I had to ‘chase’ and started thinking of it as something that moves toward me when I align with its flow.
This didn’t come from myself either—I consulted plenty of books and had plenty of discussions with loved ones who were wiser about money than myself. Reprogramming my mind to receive money took me several months. I count it among the best work I’ve ever done for myself.
When I started treating money as a natural force—something that flows, expands, and nourishes—it became easier to welcome it into my life.
Money is human, but it is also natural. Like love, art, or science, money is a human expression of something universal.
Love is the expression of human compassion. Art is the expression of human creativity. Science is the expression of human curiosity. Money is the expression of the human contribution to nature’s circulation of energy and resources.
Living in abundance—including, but not limited to, monetary terms—is natural. Money is a human construct which helps create natural abundance. The only unnatural thing about this is living in scarcity and being at war with money.
One Smart Question
The correct answer will be shared in next Tuesday’s edition.
Answer of last week’s One Smart Question: John Stuart Mill was the philosopher who argued for a “steady state economy” with low growth. We at Wangari do not agree with this thesis; nevertheless his body of work contains many insights worth contemplating.
Wangari’s Curated Reads
- wrote a very compelling piece on project finance. If you want to learn the nuts and bolts of how large projects get financed, this is your place to go. If you don’t know anything about finance, you’ll enjoy it—and there are plenty of insights for experienced practitioners there, too.
Expanding on our theme of abundance,
quite pointedly writes in his piece on paper towel theory that we tend to overconsume when plenty is there, and only become mindful on our resources when they get scarce. Not worrying about resources running dry feels great, but what if it leads us to overconsume?There is a hack to feeling abundance while also keeping mindful of boundaries: gratitude. The Irish language seems to be onto something in this respect, as
writes in Debt or Abundance? The Irish le do thoil, essentially “please” in Irish, literally translates to “with your will/ingness.” It really shows how, while requesting things and showing gratitude for receiving them, one can also embrace the possibility of the counterparty saying no.