As I'm packing my bags for our upcoming voyage aboard Mein Schiff 2, sailing from Hamburg to New York, my eyes land on an envelope filled with U.S. dollar bills. The first thing I notice is how remarkably similar they all look. The one-dollar bill is exactly the same size as the ten, the fifty, and the hundred-dollar bill. The same paper. And the same color. Even the same weight. At first glance, the only real difference is the number printed on them. And suddenly a question pops into my mind: Who actually decided that $100 is worth more than $1?
How did I come upt with this question? Well, look at them. It's the same paper. The same ink. The same dimensions. Why do we somehow find George Washington on the one-dollar bill less "valuable" than Benjamin Franklin on the hundred-dollar bill? Why do we believe it's much easier to stumble across a one-dollar bill somewhere than a hundred-dollar bill? Does that really make sense? Maybe you're thinking, "Norman, of course it does. One bill is worth one dollar, and the other is worth a hundred."
Says who?
"Well... the government. The banks. Everybody knows that." Exactly. Everybody says it. But if you simply look at the bills themselves, the hundred-dollar bill isn't a gram heavier, a millimeter larger, or made from better paper than the one-dollar bill. The difference exists somewhere else. It exists in the meaning we've attached to it. Or, more precisely... in the meaning we once accepted from someone else.
Many years ago, someone entered your life and said, "A hundred dollars is much harder to earn than one dollar." Since then, we've walked through life as though that were a law of nature. Not because we ever proved it ourselves. But because we believed it.
As I close the envelope again, I'm reminded of the conversations we've been having over the past few weeks in the Caribbean Rebels community. Again and again, we came back to the very same question: What picture do you carry of yourself? And if you're thinking this newsletter is really about money...it isn't. Money is simply today's example. You could just as easily replace it with health. Relationships. Your career. Success. Self-confidence.
The real question is always the same: What image of yourself do you carry inside?
Perhaps you've heard sayings like these: "Money changes people." "Rich people are arrogant." "Money is the root of all evil." When beliefs like these become deeply rooted within you, while at the same time you want to be a kind, humble and loving person, something inside begins to conflict. Suddenly, prosperity no longer fits the picture you have of yourself. And that's something we experience in almost every area of life.
As long as someone secretly believes they're not worthy of being loved, they'll keep attracting experiences and people who reinforce that belief. Not because it's true.
But because our inner world constantly tries to bring our outer world into alignment with the image we hold of ourselves. Or, as I like to put it: The shape always matches the cookie cutter. The cookie always takes the shape of the mold.
What if prosperity doesn't actually begin in your bank account? What if joy doesn't begin in a relationship? Maybe everything begins with one simple decision: What meaning do I choose to give things from this day forward? What meaning do I give money? Health? Love? Success?
And perhaps the most important question of all: What meaning do I give to myself? Imagine looking at a hundred-dollar bill with exactly the same ease and calmness as you would a one-dollar bill. Without awe. Without fear. Instead of thinking, "I'll probably never have one of those," you simply see...another dollar bill. How would that change the way you feel?
What would happen if you approached your dreams with that same sense of ease? Of course, real change rarely happens overnight. First, we need new knowledge. Then we allow ourselves to reflect on it. And eventually those new thoughts become new actions. Deep down, I believe you already know who you'd like to become and the life you'd like to create.
The real challenge is holding on to that vision in the middle of everyday life. That's exactly why we meet every Monday evening in our German Caribbean Rebels group. Not because we teach each other how life works. But because, week after week, we remind one another who we truly are.
One of our Rebels recently said it beautifully: "Without our Monday evenings, I'd probably get completely caught up in everyday life again. My focus would drift back to all the things that don't really matter. Monday reminds me every single week how I truly want to live."
You know...perhaps that's the real question this week. Not: Why is a hundred-dollar bill worth more than a one-dollar bill? But rather: Who decided that you're worth less simply because someone else looks a little different on the outside?
And that's the question I'd like to leave you with as you step into this new week: Do you still want to believe that story about yourself tomorrow?
If not...you have permission to change it.
