$2.00 - What's it really worth?

I witnessed something today that reminded me of what it was like when I used to struggle with money. John and I went out to enjoy breakfast at a local restaurant today. The place was jammed so we sat at the bar and ordered. Next to us sat a mom - she looked to be in her 40's and next to her was her teenage daughter, about 13 or 14, well dressed with braces. The woman sat with a scowl on her face, arms crossed, slouched over with her purse on her lap. Her daughter duplicated her mom's posture...quiet, scowled, hunched and arms crossed. It was a rather sad sight.

As breakfast progressed, neither the mom nor the daughter spoke more than a few casual words ot each other...they just sat, hunched over. The daughters breakfast arrived...bisquits and gravy and a side of hashbrowns. She ate while the mom watched and when she was done, the mom started eating the remaining food, including the hash browns. The waitress brought the check and immediately the mom questioned the bill. "That was $6.50? That's an aweful lot". Then she dug through the menu and stated that she only wanted the bisquits ala-cart, not the hashbrowns. (Even though she was happy to eat the hashbrowns!) The woman got up and went to speak with the manager. The manager stopped what she was doing, walked across the store and deducted $2.00 from the bill. So the woman paid her $4.50 cash and didn't leave a tip.

I watched the woman leave b/c I wanted to see what she was driving (or if she was driving) to see if the experience was simply one coming out of a struggle with severe poverty. She moved across the parking lot to a newer model Honda Accord. She obviously isn't struggling in life to the point where $2.00 is going to make or break her day...she was a well dressed woman with a well dressed daughter driving an average vehicle. So why give so much energy to $2.00?

Just the time alone was worth more than $2.00 to debate with the waitress, find the manager and have the manager take care of it. All while disrupting the breakfast experience of the other diners. For what...$2.00! It seemed so absurd to me in the moment, but I remember that is exactly how I used to be. I used to drive to the gas station with "cheap gas", bargain over everything, only buy stuff when it was on sale and give so much energy to lack of money. I was constantly consumed with the thought of how much stuff cost, how I could get it for cheaper and what a diservice people were doing to me if I felt they overcharged me for anything. I was completely caught in lack mentality and it took SOOOOOO much energy. Energy and time I could have been doing something far more productive with. But, the reality is, I was caught up in not having enough money. That was the reality I was choosing to focus on myself and it's no shocker that I just got more of the same again and again. Until, that is, I made a decision to stop.

Once I broke free of that way of thinking, abundance flowed freely to me. Now, instead of arguing over a bill, I'll pay extra (just for the fun of it). I leave ridiculous tips and enjoy the smiles it brings to the people who serve me. I buy what I want because I want it, not because of the "deal" or the sale. And all the energy I used to spend focusing on how to save $2.00, I know use to create thousands of dollars. It's called prosperity conciousness and it's a blast! How did I learn to be this way? I surrounded myself with prosperous people and followed what they did. I followed their example. I met successful entrepreneurs and home business professionals and duplicated their actions and soon found myself getting their results.

A few minutes after the woman and her daughter left the waitress brought us the check - $22.43 for John and I for breakfast. And we were happy to pay it and happy to leave a hefty tip.