I got a text late on a Friday night. It was from my mom:

No one wants to come home from a fun night of psychoanalytic debate and find this text awaiting them.

Turns out, his appendix had ruptured! My dad is super tough, but for a kid who grew up in the 60’s during the height of the crack epidemic in a violent, urban housing project…the hospital is a terrifying place.

When my dad was a teenager, his dad died. His mother did the best she could, but she had been almost single-handedly raising her 8 (soon to be 11!) kids on her own long before my grandfather passed away, which left her with limited attention to the emotional and psychic wellbeing of her kiddos.

Despite the struggles in his own family, my dad has always been there for me in all the ways he knows how. It took a long time for me to understand just how hard he worked, how much he had to grow, in order to be there for me in ways his own parents couldn’t be there for him.

So, when I heard he had to spend a week in the hospital was sad that I couldn’t fly home to visit him, but I did the next best thing! I jumped online and poured over all of the same-day flower delivery services. I found the perfect thing:

A set of pink Dendrobium orchids wrapped with aspidistra leaves, along with a nice “Get Well” balloon.

Then I saw that it would cost 69.99!!

Guess what. I didn’t blink.

When we therapists think about making money, we are often quick to judge ourselves as “greedy” or “selfish.” We quickly imagine the excesses of wasted wealth – our minds jump to those “1%, corporate moguls, sadistically buying their 16th Jaguar.”

But, what if wealth meant something else?

For me, wealth meant the ability to send my father same-day flowers so that he could find some comfort in his 7-day hospital stay without the anxiety that I was breaking the bank.

Maybe for you, it is the ability to send your kid to summer camp without feeling despair about the cost.

Or maybe wealth means not having to choose between cross country trips to visit your loved ones and a romantic week away with your partner.

Or, wealth might be the thrill that comes with the ability to secretly pay for a family’s meal at a restaurant before quietly slipping away.

Then, there are those of you who would feel ultimately secure with the knowledge that, were your parents to get sick, you could afford to care for them without going broke.

Increasing our income isn’t about greedily taking from others. It’s about expanding our capacity to really give, to feel solid enough to share our time and our income and our selves with those we are are passionate about serving without fear that by doing so, we are sacrificing our basic sense of well-being.

So, what does wealth mean to you, {{ subscriber.first_name }}?

In this last video, I’ll talk about how you can move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset so that you can begin to create a practice that allows you to truly feel open, safe, grounded and free to really give openly – to your clients, your children, your partner, whomever you feel called to serve!

Maybe I’m all emotional because I just told you all about my dad. I don’t know. But I feel so happy to share this last video with you. I feel lucky to have learned these lessons and I am truly grateful to be able to share it with you.

Without any more ado: Click Here For Video #3

Pssst….want more? Check out: Top 10 Myths Therapists Believe About Setting Fees