When you think of “greed” or a “greedy person,” you think of someone that is evil or selfish. They’re materialistic, or they’re miserly. We don’t like them, and we definitely don’t want to be like them.
But seldom do we stop and think that the “greedy person” doesn’t exist. “Greed” is something you can experience, but it’s not something that you are. An experience is “temporary,” not a permanent label to identify with, and a greedy experience comes from feeling unsafe. We’ve all felt unsafe, and we’ve all felt greed.
“Greed” means that we felt like we had to hold onto something no matter how much it hurt us or others because we were so afraid of what would happen to us if we’d lose it.
Safety is a core basic need that we as human beings have, and when we are operating from a place of greed, we’re really operating from a space of lack. We feel like we don’t have enough, we feel like someone is going to take it away, and we feel afraid. This fearfulness is offering us an invitation to dig deeper into why we’re thinking we aren’t or don’t have enough. It’s not something to be ashamed of.
What does Greed do to a Person?
Our body does this really loving thing, just like it keeps our heart beating and our blood pumping and oxygen flowing; it loves us enough to alert us when something is wrong or untrue. Our body, through our e-motions, our energy in motion, is allowing us to have the sacred experience of greed as biofeedback, so we can remember, “Hey, I do not lack anything, and I never have. I am safe to be who I am.”
When we judge this experience of our own or others, it increases the feeling of insecurity and vulnerability. From this place of danger, the fight or flight mode kicks in on the brain, and all of our cognitive function turns off, and we go into survival mode. A person experiencing greed is a person living in that moment in survival mode.
Survival Guide From Stop Being Greedy
Survival mode is not the place that anyone wants to take up space in. We want to shift from survival to service. We want to first be in service to our own hearts so that way we can be in service to others and the planet.
To do this, we don’t have to- we get to- look at greed as a signal. As feedback. As a love not from our body, that’s saying, “Hey, remember? We lack nothing.” “This feeling feels bad because we’re trying to get your attention and tell you that it’s not true!”
If we don’t practice this awareness and have an appreciation for the biofeedback our body and our energy is giving us, the signal gets louder.
Think of a microphone. When someone speaks into a microphone, and they’re too loud or too close to the speaker, the microphone sends out a frequency; it gives off feedback. That feedback hurts our ears. The more we ignore it, the louder the feedback gets, and then it hurts everybody in the room’s ears.
Your body is speaking through you through your inner microphone, through your energy. When you ignore the feedback long enough, it gets louder and louder and hurts more and more people around you.
You experience greed in levels that are much more painful, in much sharper frequencies, in experiences that hurt everyone around you.
When you look at someone who is experiencing greed, look at them through curiosity, not judgment. Let compassion be your compass and through your acknowledging of where they are in that moment in their experience.
You’re able to invite them through your energy and biofeedback to be aware and choose differently.
We can experience greed in money, in love, in experiences, in basic human needs like clothing. This is a signal that we feel like something will be taken away, or there’s not enough to go around. When greed enters into your experience, ask her what she wants.
Does she want to be validated? Reassured? Is she looking for you to let her know that there is more where that comes from?
Instead of listening to the voice inside your head that says there’s not enough, unplug that microphone. Turn down the volume. Instead, talk to the voice inside your head and consciously replace those thoughts of lack with thoughts of abundance. “There is always enough for me. I am safe.”
Greed is a temporary emotion. Safety doesn’t have to be. Ground into your safety and security in your own body, so emotions like this don’t have to offer you feedback that hurts, but instead feedback that helps create a beautiful sound life.
