Wealth Law #3: It’s All About the Meaning

Wealth Law number three is all about the meaning - The meaning of EVERYTHING.

At its core, this might be my favorite wealth law and one that truly forms the foundation of how we get to experience our amazing lives.

There are always choices, and life changes the minute we decide to make a different choice. But how do we make those choices?

I love the poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. It begins with a road diverging in a yellow wood, and the narrator, unable to travel both paths, must choose one. He takes the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. How we choose which path to take, moment by moment, is how we create our destiny. Decision is the ultimate power.

Click here to watch the video where you will learn truth about the meaning we give to everything and how we can use this to empower ourselves and our lives.

The Power of Decisions

We’ve all been at crossroads where we needed to make a choice, but the truth is that every minute of every day, we’re making micro-decisions that shape our destiny. 

These decisions are determined by where we focus our attention. 

Energy flows where focus goes, so notice what you’re focusing on. 

The decision is determined by the meaning we give to a situation. 

Does this piece of information mean the end or the beginning?

 Is it a disaster or an opportunity? 

A punishment or a reward?

 Is it good or bad? 

Who knows?

Then, there’s the decision of what we’re going to do when faced with a choice. 

Will we give up? Blame someone else? Stay frozen in place? Or will we fight, move forward in adventure, take action, get more information, or even do nothing at all?

Doing nothing is also a decision. 

Will we be paralyzed and stay where we are, retreat and move backward, or choose to do something new and, as a result, get a new outcome or at least a new set of data to work with?

The quality of our decisions changes our lives, and the quality of our lives is based on the meaning we choose to create. Meaning produces emotion, and emotion is the very force of life. This is the fuel of life that drives us. 

Emotion is energy in motion.

Meaning: The Engine of Emotion

Let’s really discover the cycles of meaning. 

Meaning is like a train. 

The quality of your life is determined by the meaning you give to a situation. The action you take is the track that ultimately leads you to a certain destination and gets you a certain result. Different decisions lead to different lives.

If you want a specific quality of life, you need to make quality decisions that align with experiencing that specific life. 

There is so much power in decisions, but most of us have never been taught how decisions are formed and how to make decisions that really serve us.

At any moment, you can change your whole life—the life of your family, your community, your team—by making new decisions. 

So, if decision-making is the force that shapes destiny, what shapes decisions? In any moment, it’s your state that governs what we can call your triad. 

Your state is driven by your own unique model of the world and the meaning you give to things.

How Meaning Shapes Decisions

In our model of the world, we’re constantly receiving data from the outside, and this data gets deleted, distorted, and generalized based on our beliefs, value systems, meta-programs, and past experiences. 

All of this data is sorted by our amazing brains, which create a representation of an event outside of ourselves. The problem isn’t that we delete, distort, or generalize data; that’s just an efficient way of being human. 

The problem is how we delete, distort, and generalize it because that process determines the information, we have available to us and, therefore, the meaning we give to it.

This meaning, in turn, usually gives us pain or pleasure. 

The deletion, distortion, and generalization create what we call our own unique model of the world—our picture of the event outside of us. It’s never the event itself; it’s your unique worldview, and everybody’s worldview is completely different. Through that worldview, we perceive everything back out, and again, we delete, distort, and generalize based on this model.

If we want to have less pain and more pleasure, less scarcity and more abundance, more joy and wealth and peace of mind, we have to take control of the meaning we give to things—what things mean to us. 

Are they scary or an opportunity?

Is someone attacking you, or are you safe? 

Given that the quality of our lives is based on the meaning we create, how do we create that meaning in the first place?

Physiology, Focus, and Language

There are three core things that mold the meaning we give to things, and this comes back to the triad that creates our state. How we are in any moment changes how we feel about something, so we can get a certain experience, and depending on our state, we can create a different emotion, which will then create a different set of actions from us. These three things impact how we receive information:

Physiology

Our physical being is the bedrock of our state. We experience life through our bodies. It’s so easy to think that all of life happens in our heads, but it’s impacted by the quality of our lived experience. This isn’t about whether you believe you have a sexy body or a great body—it’s about the quality of your breath, whether you’re hydrated, balanced, or free of pain. If we’re off balance physically, if our shoulders are slumped, if we’re looking down, not breathing properly, or dehydrated, we’ll create a very different meaning and make different decisions than if we’re stable and balanced, well-rested, nourished, and hydrated, with plenty of oxygen in our brains. Physiology is the foundation of our ecosystem of wealth.

Focus

What bits of data are you choosing to see?

Are you focusing on the opportunity or the slip-up? 

Are you noticing what you’re grateful for or what’s lacking? What’s already in your life, or what’s missing? 

By shifting our focus, we can make a massive difference in how we filter the data we receive. Gratitude journals, noting our wins, and consciously focusing on what’s available rather than what isn’t can all help shift our focus.

Language

The language we use, both externally and internally, has immense power. 

This is how we anchor in meaning and create stories. 

Our linguistic ability is a key part of our consciousness. 

Notice the language you use about yourself, your identity, and your experiences. 

Are you using extreme language like “this is terrifying,” or are you saying, “I notice I’m a little agitated”? The words we choose have a significant impact.

The Path of Meaning

With this state, we process the data that comes in through our triad, and through that state, we create an emotion. Emotions are chemical cocktails that our bodies trigger, influenced by our physiology, focus, and language. 

These emotions then impact the actions we take, the behaviors we engage in, and ultimately, the results we achieve.

We literally create our world, not because we have a magic wand, but because we create our world through the internal meaning we give to things and the actions we take as a result.

Now, once we understand how we create meaning, we can begin to observe the paths that meaning creates in our lives. Some people’s paths of meaning lead to pain and suffering, while others lead to pleasure, joy, and wealth. 

The problem is that most people are unaware of what shapes and directs their paths of meaning. 

By consciously adjusting our physiology, focus, and language, we can start changing the filters through which experiences are received and, therefore, the choices and decisions we make.

The Forces of Destiny

There are three forces that impact our destiny:

• Driving Force

Your driving force is the set of goals you choose to set. What are you focusing on? What are you driving towards? What is the station you’re getting on, and where are you headed? Your driving force includes your goals and your big why. Why do you want these things? What are you believing? What is your motive? Motive matters deeply. Everything we do, we do for a reason. We believe that as a result of achieving something, we will get to experience a certain emotion or way of being.

• Guiding Force

Your guiding force is your model of the world, which filters and gives meaning to your experiences. It determines whether you achieve your goals or not. Your guiding force tells you if you’re on track or not, and it influences how quickly you get there.

• Fuel of Choice

Your fuel of choice is the emotions you habitually use. These emotions propel you forward or stop you in your tracks. Notice where you habitually go—do you feel empowered or disempowered, energized or stuck? The emotions you select are the fuel that drives your life forward.

The Cycle of Agency and Action

Understanding the model of the world helps us see why we think, behave, and act the way we do and, therefore, the results we get. 

It’s possible to have an empowering model of the world but still have moments where everything seems to fall apart. 

The meaning we give to a situation is filtered through our model of the world, but it’s also filtered through our physiology, focus, and language.

If we’re exhausted, overwhelmed, or off-balance, the meaning we give to a situation will be different from when we’re well-rested, energized, and balanced. Our state impacts the meaning we give to experiences and, therefore, the decisions and actions we take. 

So, be aware of your model of meaning—the meaning you give to every experience, moment by moment—because this is how you determine your destiny.

A head full of fears has no space for dreams. A head full of doubt, a body full of pain, and a lack of energy make it hard to move forward. Our money stories—the stories we make up about what we believe to be true about ourselves and the world—define our financial destinies. But as you’ve learned through these laws of wealth, you get to create a new story, a new meaning, and a new destiny.

Remember, you are not your circumstances. 

You are not your past. 

You are not what’s going on around you right now. 

You are separate from your circumstances. 

Your circumstances are just something that is happening in your life at this moment—they are not you. 

If you’re struggling financially or with something in your relationships or business, remember that these challenges are not who you are. Create separation between your identity and your circumstances. 

Now, with perspective, you can go back to that fantastic tool: WTF—Wow, That’s Fascinating. 

What can I learn from here? What can I choose to do differently?

Ask yourself in that moment…

Is it possible that what I’m experiencing, or what I believe I’m experiencing, isn’t real? 

What else could it be? 

What’s the story I’m making up? 

What’s the meaning I’m giving to this situation?

 Is it possible that what you’re believing isn’t true? 

Sometimes, all we need is the smallest crack to create an opportunity for a different reality. Shine a light on a belief that might not be true, and you can create a whole new destiny.

Explore and have fun playing with the meaning of things.

Huge “meaningful” love, 

Ann

P.S The journey of discovering the Laws of Wealth has only just begun, as we continue exploring, don’t miss out on the next step in this journey.

Click here to read about the 4th Law of Wealth: The Law of Vacuums