Kay:

Hey Questers and welcome back. It is Monday, April 5th, and this is episode 326. We have such a cool OG mentor for you today. One of our classical favorites, Mr. Henry David Thoreau and he says, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

Shi:

That makes me want to pound the table. Such a good quote and its thought-provoking. It’s got so much truth and weight to it, and I’m both mad at it and profoundly moved by it.

Kay:

Well, I think time’s the great equalizer. If you were to strip every human being down to no possessions, no nothing, we’re all just naked in a field that the only thing everyone in that present moment has in common is time and we’re not even guaranteed any given moment of it. We really only have the time that we’ve got really right now and the time that we have spent in the past.

Shi:

We’ve all got the same 24 hours in the day and to use it as we choose which, it can be a big burden but it’s also that great equalizer as Kay said and I know for me, it’s one of those things that can help bring me back down or help lift me up when I’m in a moment of feeling just frustrated or annoyed. But the essence of this quote here, being that on the quest of life, we are all equipped with one tool equally as it funnels through that hourglass and that is time. Now, how much sand do you have on one side or the other is personal and subjective for each of us and none of us know for sure when our last sand will drop. But the fact is all of us move our sand one grain at a time through the middle of that hourglass and then that means that we all process in the same way and we all have that equal chance to use each second in the way that’s best fit for us.

Kay:

I think that this quote is where the originators of the quote, “Time is money.” I think this is where they were going, and I think a lot of people have acquainted the idea that time is money to the idea that you have to be quick because I’m paying money for that time and so I’m trying to get it as cheap as possible. So, there’s this idea around that age-old saying of time is money. But really when we think about it, if you are using your time to gain money, like working in a traditional job environment, you might start asking yourself the question of, “what’s the quality of the life that I’m exchanging for that money?” Because at the end of the day, if you hate your job, the only thing that you are exchanging that time for is that money. So, if the quality of your existence in the meantime is no bueno, you might need to take a look at your workplace.

Shi:

So, if the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for the price of gum, how long did it take you to earn that $1.85 or the price of the house? How long did it take you to earn it? That’s, that, “time is money,” piece because most people in the world, including us, still, (though hopefully not forever) trade their money for time and earn their living that way. So, you’ve got that very literal sense of it as well, but I can’t help, but think of, you know, we’ve often laughed, my husband and I, about, you know, the restaurant industry took years off of his life and how it ages you and you age sometimes faster through stressful moments. So, there’s this great equalizer of time, but there’s also that, “what kind of life did you exchange for it?” If you were in intense emotional pain or scrutiny, then you’re trading a lot of life for maybe even just a moment or for a memory that you play over and over again. You’re trading your current time for reliving past trauma and that’s a price that you continue to pay as your own choice, even though sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s your choice. So, just kind of interesting to think of it from that angle as well.

Kay:

Well, the compressed pain that many of us experience in those hours of life where we age a little faster. That compressed pain oftentimes ends in compressed results either good or bad on the other end depending on how the person in the middle funnels their sand from one side to the other. If a compressed pain can equal repeating that same pain in your life over and over again for the next 20 years or that compressed pain could be the catalyzed fuel that you needed to grow beyond your circumstances, and maybe get out of the time money loop cycle, where you’re exchanging that life force energy for the force energy of money. So, thinking maybe into the lines of how do I work more on purpose? How do I work more for my purpose? You know, if you pay the gift of time for purpose, then hopefully money will be a result on the backend. But no matter how you slice it, Henry David Thoreau’s quote rings true.

Shi:

And that quote is, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

Kay:

Which means today is a Money Monday Quest.

Shi:

Cha-ching!

Kay:

Today we want you to view every transaction, you engage in through the eyes of Thoreau. Today examine what you’re really exchanging your time and maybe even your money for and reflect on whether your transactions do in fact, align with your goals, priorities, and values. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!