Activate:
 Activate is the word that continues to enter my mind as I think of movement in the intersections of money, meaning, and life seasons.  The power of activation is a word/concept that is rarely considered in the realms of financial forecasting, vision, and planning. My theory behind the absence of intentionally using activation is that the word feels too big, wild, and subjective to be linked up to a historically ‘objective’ financial industry that is steeped in morals, rules, and regulation.  Activation elicits the intangible realms of energy which is movement oriented, making the response or ‘outcome’ hard to quantify.

A large portion of historical, financial thought ignores the intangible, creative world in favor of the objective stance of calculation and observation. (I obviously disagree.)  I believe the intangible and the tangible realms must blend together like a fine, blended wine.

Activation is one of those words that invites the dance of supposed opposites.  Link together energy and strategy. Blend activation and implementation.  Combine calculation and risk. Forecast finances and cast a big dream. Quantify and catalyze.

Obviously, my continual thoughts and reflections are not satisfied that activation has been placed on the sideline of good financial work.  In biochemical spheres, activation is necessary to prepare for a subsequent reaction.  Therefore, it is necessary to activate (some may say brainstorm) so that a release of energy can fuel money motion and guidance.  What if questions were served up to activate peoples’ most creative thoughts.  Questions such as:

–          “Hey, what do you think about that advice?”

–          “How does that feel to you?”

–          “What do you see for your life, your vision, your dreams, and your hopes?

–          “Are you on a path/road that winds through the hills, valleys, and mountains you want to explore?”

–          “Does this or that investment of your time, money, and resources paint a picture you want to live with five, ten, fifteen years down the road?”

I offer the questions above to activate thought, because I intentionally want to open up peoples’ imaginations to possibilities and options, new ways to piece together their life, and an increased sense that they hold the powerful tool of innovation to craft a current and future life that might surprise them.

These last few days of September, as flower bulbs are being placed in the ground for a future season of growth and expansion, as gardens are put to bed to grow something for the future, and as leaves fall to the ground to replenish the earth with carbon, I invite activation to work some magic in money conversation. Activation can help all of us to lift our heads a few notches up from our screened-iPod-existence, to help us look around at the vast array of possibilities waiting to be used, energized, and activated!

…Seek creative spaces for financial activation.

From the brightly, lit circuitry of Hillary’s mind: Where nothing is linear, spontaneous calculations are vibrantly flowing, and implementation is possible!