A Series of Unfortunate Events

By Helen Huntsman

Seeing $1,450.72 withdrawn from my primary checking account could be a good or bad thing.

Seeing $1,450.72 withdrawn from my primary checking account after I realized I had lost my debit card? REALLY not great.

Do I have your attention? GOOD.

Let’s talk about how this moment in my financial timeline can help you better understand the “Law of Relativity.”

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Growing up in a military family with 8 children in a 900 sq ft home, you could say my relationship with money has been… scary.

Terrifying.

I remember watching my mom hide bills (who she was hiding them from? I have no idea).

In my own personal development and faith practice, I have done a lot to move into a different frequency with how I think about money.

In the 1990’s, I began to work on not having immediate and dramatic kneejerk reactions to anything I viewed as “negative” with money. I’ve had various mentors over the years help me with this, and slowly I began working on this.

Fast forward a few decades to seeing $1,450.72 removed from my bank account, I realized I had reached a new level.

By following the Law of Relativity, and practicing it over time, I had a simple slightly surprised response to seeing that withdrawal by an unknown source. “Oh! Look at that!”

I didn’t immediately begin sobbing or any number of things. No wailing and no gnashing of teeth.

“Oh, look at that! That’s interesting.”

I said this in the same way you’d note an interesting plant or kind of cool, but weird looking bug on the internet.

Law of Relativity

The Law of Relativity can be a bit of a confusing law, so I think of it this way.

“There is no good or bad situation. It just is.”

It’s not pretending or squashing an emotional response to a situation (that’s not very helpful), it’s looking at the facts of a situation and noting them.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie, Get Smart, but in it a police officer says, “It’s just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts!”

For me, the Law of Relativity helps me to take a pause before reacting. I used to be very reactive to situations throughout my day, which can be pretty exhausting.

The Law of Relativity doesn’t mean that we are robots or without feelings, it’s more about looking at a situation and realizing that your interpretation of the situation, by comparing it to other things, is what makes it good or bad.

It is rooted in the expectation of our situation.

And by striving to first feel neutral about a situation, instead of emotionally rolling around in negativity, we can slowly move our solution to a more positive outcome.

Okay, But What about the $1,450.72?

After being mildly surprised to see that money leave my checking account, I went to check with my husband to see if he had booked some sort of exceptional couples retreat in Park City. He hadn’t (but I think I gave him an idea for the future)!

From there, I was in a state of calm awareness, and I was able to act on a spiritual prompting for my husband to “call the girls.” (We have 3 kids, and our oldest two are girls).

John, my husband, called the oldest and then my middle child. Somehow, from way back when my second oldest was in college, the bank pulled up my account to make a payment on her credit card. She had been furniture shopping for her new home, and the bank had some sort of technical issue.

My daughter felt pretty bad for the run around, and she met my husband the next day at our bank to transfer money over. A rather bizarre series of events had resulted in this happening. IT wasn’t anyone’s fault, it had just happened!

And I was able to resolve it without having a massive emotional breakdown or outburst, thanks to applying the Law of Relativity.

Your Key Takeaway

I have used the Law of Relativity at other times in my life, but I chose this story to share with you, as many people can related to being emotionally reactive about money.

I want you to know that you don’t need to feel guilty or upset about your negative reactions around money – that also isn’t helpful. It’s like a double whammy.

Instead, think of yourself like a compass, working to move from very negative thoughts to less negative thoughts to neutral thoughts to slightly positive and then positive thoughts. I learned this from one of my teachers, Esther Hicks. You don’t need to “put on a happy face,” when you feel upset. Instead, try using gratitude, meditation, prayer, or other tools to move into a more neutral space.

I hope my experience helps you along your way!

Best,

Helen Huntsman

Connect with me on @PivotYourLIfe!