Finances are a challenge to most relationships. Finding ways of cutting back is seldom fun. Some people spend Sundays going through the paper looking for coupon deals and trying to find great deals that could save a few dollars in the budget. Some people stop spending money on dinning out, or going to the movies. For almost everyone, the experience of revising a budget results in the feeling of lack and sacrifice. Few people see this as an opportunity for reevaluating the fundamentals of their lives. Challenging times call for challenging thinking and creative solutions. These solutions are sometimes simple, sometimes radical, but always a revelation. Taken in the right light, a financial crisis, or a call to cut back can be an opening to a new and better life.

If someone is laid off and their source of income is suddenly uncertain, then the whole foundation of their life has been rocked. It's not a bad thing. It is just a thing. The money is uncertain, so all the things the money bought are no longer certain to be there. Choices have to be made. For many people a crisis is an awakening. What is necessary is simplified to a razor sharp awareness. Houses are being lost, cars are being repossessed, jobs are disappearing and yet in many corners there is an excitement building about the experience of living. When a building is burning people get off the couch. Getting off the couch is when the experience of living is intensified.

Risk is one of the most basic necessities of a full life experience. Without risk nothing happens. The first person to eat a tomato took a risk. Crossing the street is a risk. Asking out the cute girl or handsome guy is a risk. Buying a house is a risk. Standing up for personal beliefs is a risk. The whole economy is based on risk. This has created a world where people want to mitigate the risks they are taking, making sure their money is safe, their investments secure and their family is provided for. A full life experience depends on risk, yet most people spend their energy avoiding it. While temperance and caution is a wise fiscal choice, it is not a great way to live day to day. A crisis knocks us off the couch and brings risk to the door. For many people there is an epiphany; if there is no safe place, why not start doing the things deemed too risky to do before?

A crisis is a time to let go of old ways of thinking and start fresh. This could lead to actually letting go of property, houses, books or pictures. Maybe the career was supposed to provide stability. If it didn't maybe there is a career more rewarding that should be pursued. Is the big house what was wanted or what was expected? When the world changes on the outside, it is a great time to create personal change on the inside.

Life is meant to be experienced. When challenges arise they should be embraced with open arms for they bring with them the winds of change. The question is how to take advantage of a crisis and let it work its magic.