I have searched and searched for both enlightenment and how to become independently wealthy. I was never greedy, nor do I have materialistic needs besides the necessities like food, roof, and gas. After reading, listening, and practicing the advice of countless of books and teachers, ranging from self-help to abiding in non-dual awareness on how to make money without compromising yourself or working too hard, I learned that there are three keys to happiness: 1. Learn how money works 2. Find freedom from suffering by seeing through emotionally charged wrong-knowing. 3. Align your desires with your authentic self.

We want to be happy, and we want to be free. None of us want to be victims of our circumstances. But even with all the money in the world, we can’t escape ourselves. We can’t escape our thought demons. They are there haunting us wherever we go, even if we go into our better homes, into our better jobs, and into our million-dollar lives. First, I will show you how to free yourself from the burden of your circumstances, then I will show you how to free yourself from the burden of your mind so you can pursue your authentic desires.

PART I: Learn how money works and Become Financially Independent or FI 

What does it mean to be financially independent?

You are financially independent when your passive income pays for your expenses. There is an easy way to calculate how much you’d need to make that happen. Figure out what your yearly expenses are by tracking what you spend on daily, weekly, monthly basis and then times the yearly amount by 25. Once you reach that number, you’re officially Independently Wealthy. This formula has been tested and proven by research from Trinity Studies. 

25 X Yearly Expenses = FI

Money is very simple. We make it complicated. We try to keep up with the Joneses. We don’t want to disappoint our friends and family. However, if we stick to a few basic steps, we can become work optional in less than 15 years. Here are the steps:

STEP 1: Find a job you can stand that pays livable wage. 

Pick a job, any job that you can stand. It doesn’t have to be your dream job (although, it can be), it just must be something you can do relatively well and that you somewhat enjoy. We get bogged down by trying to find the perfect job (I was one of these people) and miss the forest for the trees. The forest being to become Financially Independent so we can become work/career optional and then create our dream jobs without the burden of having to make a living. It doesn’t even have to be the best paying job, just enough to keep up with your expenses and save 50% or more. 

STEP 2: Work for about 15 years while saving half or more of your income.

These calculations were borrowed from Mr. Money Mustache. As you can see, if you’re starting from 0 savings, you can become work optional in 15 years or less, depending on your savings rate. If you’re in your early twenties, you can be done by 35 or 40, not the traditional 65. If you already have something saved, you’re even closer. 

STEP 4: Invest your savings in low-fee index funds between total stock market and bond market/your preferred cash equivalent. Allocate your investments based on your risk-tolerance and your age. The younger and riskier you are, the more you should have in your stock portfolio. The older and more conservative you are, the more you can hold in your safer bond/cash portfolio. The rule of thumb is that you should be between 60 to 80 percent stocks and 40 to 20 percent bonds/cash. Any less than that and you won’t be able to take full advantage of the market. 

STEP 5:  Become work optional. Once you reach your FI number, you can decide whether you want to keep working or not and on what. This is where you can pursue any dream job you want, regardless of what it can or cannot pay you. Or you can continue working at a job you already have or do nothing at all. 

PART II: See through emotionally-charged wrong-knowing

What are emotionally-charged beliefs?

This is everything that causes us to react, fight, flight, or overall feel crappy. Beliefs in themselves are just passing thoughts, plain vanilla mind activity that we hardly notice. What gives our beliefs any power at all is the charge of emotion. Emotion is the glue that holds wrong-knowing together because it feels so heavy, so real, so intense. We then act and react in the world based on these emotionally-charged beliefs that don’t actually relate to reality. 

These beliefs can apply to any area of life. In fact, they have nothing to do with anything in your life, but we create a life based on emotionally-charged wrong-knowing that we think is based on real things. Because we do this, we tend to suffer unnecessarily. Once you see this is what’s happening, the noticing itself will start to work its magic and release you from the grip of emotionally-charged beliefs and wrong-knowing.

So, how do we see and notice. The following way has worked for me. Feel free to see if it can work for you:

STEP 1: Get quiet & relax into your body. You can scan your body with mindfulness and breath. Pay attention to body sensations instead of what your mind is telling you.

STEP 2: Start writing down everything that irks you to the smallest of detail. If nothing is irking you right now, just start writing anything. You can do it in a journal fashion, describing your day or you can write in story form or song form. Just write. Anything. At some point, things that irk you will start to come up. (You can also do voice notes if you prefer). 

STEP 3: Don’t turn away. The initial urge might be to turn away from what’s coming up because it feels uncomfortable. I encourage you to instead turn toward what is coming up. Don’t’ judge it, don’t analyze it, just see it and feel it. You might experience emotions so strong that you may want to throw up, run, or distract yourself. I will again urge you to stay with it. If it gets too intense, stop and go for a walk or do something else that’s soothing. Come back when you feel ready. 

STEP 4: Forgive and let go. As things come up, the noticing itself will automatically lend itself to forgiveness of yourself and your trespassers. Write letters if you need. (No, you don’t have to send them). The letting go also happens on its own. You don’t have to try and let go. Just allow whatever arises without thinking about it, compensating for it, or doing something about it. 

STEP 5: Repeat until you have cleared your system. 

Note: These steps are deceptively simple, but could give rise to PTSD, unseen before emotions and realizations. Feel free to consult a professional if things get too intense. Once you have worked through trauma, etc, come back to this exercise. 

PART III: Align your desires with your authentic self

Many of us don’t really know what we want. But it’s easy to see what we’re telling the world that we want because it’s all those things that we’re doing. If we’re spending most of our time with family and friends, we want to spend time with friends and family. If we’re spending all our time working, we want to work. If we’re spending all our time on the beach, we want to be on the beach. If we don’t want those things, then that’s when we should get clear about what it is we want and actually do that. 

Unfortunately, many things that we do or think we want end up being compensatory behaviors for unseen beliefs that we don’t want to think about or feel. Hence, it’s important to do Part 2 first. You can’t get to your true desires without seeing through all those false ones.

Why is it important to do what it is we think we want?

By doing and acting on things we think we want, will show us what we truly want. It doesn’t take long after trying that climbing gym or traveling non-stop to know if this is what you truly want. But you won’t know it unless you do it. Keeping things at fantasy level will always make the thing sound more appealing than they might be in real life. And if fantasizing is your thing, then keep doing that until that gets old. 

Align with your natural desires…

Aligning just means that it’s more optimal to work with yourself than against. If you’re the kind of person who can’t sit still, then work with that. Don’t do activities that will force you to sit still unless you’re doing it as a challenge and you’re the kind of a person who enjoys challenging yourself in that way. Put yourself in situations, jobs, and opportunities that utilize your already-natural tendencies. Don’t fight your natural rhythms. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try new things; it just means go with the flow of yourself and your circumstances as they come to you versus swimming upstream.  

Understanding how to align with your natural desires will help you co-create with life rather than against it. When we live life absent-mindedly, those unseen and ingrained beliefs will run your life, causing you to compensate and eventually burnout.  

In summary, the recipe for inner and outer freedom = automate your finances, work on emotionally-driven wrong-knowing, and do what you truly desire. 

Feel free to share in comments if you have tried any of the steps described above and what were the results…