…responsibility is having the ability to respond to life.
Question: I recently found myself in an impossible financial situation. I sought alternatives to bankruptcy but filing was the only way out.
For years I’d dragged this debt behind me from a failed marriage, and it kept getting larger, due to the exorbitant interest, as I hopelessly whittled away at it.
I know there is a lot of stigma about this solution to money issues, and that bankruptcy is often misused, but I felt like it released a lot of negative energy from my past, and let me get on with my life in the present.
So many people go through hard financial times, and few people want to talk about it. What is your take on the ethics of bankruptcy and how to let go of self-judgment?
Answer: Hello, dear one. Thank you for this question. We could spend several days discussing the different complications that come along with the financial problems you described in your question, and the overall state a person enters when they consider bankruptcy. To illustrate my answer I would like to break down this subject into a few different topics. This way, I can provide a bit of insight overall.
The Nature of Accumulating Debt
Let’s start with the creation of the financial crisis. Generally, it takes a series of unfortunate events to lead up to the consideration of bankruptcy. Usually, the events that impact a person’s financial state to this extreme were not created solely from their actions, but from co-created circumstances. Essentially, the responsibility for financial hardship is created from the relationships we have with others.
We live in a collective environment, and as we commingle with others, we inherit their values, habits, and patterns. Therefore, the financial agreements that stem from involvement with others can ripple into our lives and interfere with our intended financial direction. This can create chaos, confusion, and sometimes serious financial hardships.
Some examples of how we are co-mingled include complicated divorces where a person is left with debt and little assets. Another is a failed business. Another is losses of money through unintentional or unexpected means.
When experiencing financial hardship we have an opportunity to grow and learn how to make different choices. We also have to consider how to move forward with greater levels of response-ability.
Learning From Financial Hardship
There are also those who do not understand how to work with debt or have not yet developed the ability to attract abundance. This problem can stem from a variety of limiting beliefs and misunderstandings. Again, here we are at a place to learn, grow, and make different types of choices that nurture self-empowerment.
In situations like the aforementioned, there are always opportunities to reflect and learn. Usually, a person begins by looking back on the situations that got them there. They wish they had done something differently or had been more aware. They may wish they were more conscious or made better choices. But when you are at this place…there you are! And from that place, you have to decide what choice to make to move forward in the most response-able way.
I choose the words response-able quite intentionally because that is really the essential point to the answer to this question. So, when analyzing the choices, keep in mind that responsibility is having the ability to respond to life. Sometimes filing bankruptcy is the most viable option for taking response-ability of one’s life.
Now, yes, there can be a stigma in the collective minds of some regarding the implied failure that creates a bankruptcy. If so, this is an opportunity to heal a lot of the shame vibration–the negative collective thoughts associated with financial complications that imply financial failure–since truly healing is taking place.
Creating a New Abundance Pattern
Money is energy, dear one. An action such as declaring bankruptcy represents an opportunity to declare a new, money-energy direction. With this action, you also accept the collective agreement upon which bankruptcy is structured.
You now have a new agreement with money and you enter into this collective relationship. For some, this can be a wonderful choice (if this direction gives you the greatest amount of response-ability). Sometimes a person can get to a place where bankruptcy is their very best consideration. At other times there are viable options that require some ingenuity and honesty, and will also enable a person to move through their financially chaotic state.
All options need to be weighed. Then the choice can be made on what provides response-ability, and provides the greatest amount of healing.
Bankruptcy can provide a dynamic structure for healing, reshaping, and clearing as one gets free from debt. Alana feels the most essential point is to determine what choice or action will provide the greatest amount of healing, and what gives the person the greatest amount of response-ability. From there the rest is the past, then letting go, so that the future can be created from new awareness, greater levels of empowerment, and in alignment with collective awareness.
Clearing Self-Judgement
When dealing with levels of shame that can arise, look at your judgments, attitudes, values, and collective beliefs. Then go within, align with spirit, and rekindle the sense of true self. We are not how much money we have within our pocketbook or our bank account. We are spirit in a physical body, and we are learning how to work with the rules that are implicit within the physical universe.
It is important to be compassionate with yourself. It is also important to be compassionate with others and recognize that we are all learning about our own self-worth. We are all learning how to be unique expressions of All-That-Is. We are all learning how to live together.
If absolution of debt is available as an option–like bankruptcy, for example–a person can embrace that means as a possible choice. Remember that the now, this moment where you are today, is where your future starts. Make whatever choice supplies the greatest amount of response-ability.
Thank you, dear one, for this wonderful question. Hopefully, my answer provided some useful insights into the issues that arise when encountering a crossroads such as this.
–Alana
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