Charlie Hugh-Jones survived a suicide attempt and psychotic breakdown that forced him to confront his unconscious need for money, possessions, and status to feel worthy. He explores how this attachment drains creativity and presence, and describes practices that helped him loosen its grip. Paradoxically, letting go increased his resources and freed money to become a tool for service instead of self-validation.
Chapters
Hello. Well, the soundtrack's very New York with those sirens going off, isn't it? Hi, I'm Charlie Hugh-Jones, and welcome back. Hello again if you've seen any of my other videos or we've connected already. But if you're watching this for the first time, then perhaps you haven't heard the story, or my story, of the dynamic, driven individual whose attempt to do more, to make more of a difference in the world, drove me to despair and ultimately to the decision to take my own life. But as tragic as that sounds, that day was the beginning of an awakening to learning how to be more. I came to the realization that I was a human being, not a human doing, which sounds profound and yet ultimately obvious, doesn't it? But The day I decided to take my own life, I ended up in a catatonic state in a physician's office. And when I came round from that a couple of hours later, I'd had both a psychotic breakdown. So physiologically, psychologically, all the symptoms were explainable. But I also came round knowing that I was enough, feeling deeply connected to everything and everyone with the most incredible sense of peace that I'd ever experienced. And it turned out as I began to investigate this, that I'd also had an ecstatic experience. And through those 2 experiences, it set me on a journey to trying to understand how do we as conscious, high-performing individuals show up more? How do we be more? And that day taught me 6 things. And one of the things that I want to talk about today is that The first thing that I began to learn over the year or 2 or 3 that followed that particular episode was that chasing stuff and status is a fool's errand. Now, maybe that seems obvious to you. And to me, intellectually, I kind of already knew this. But what I hadn't realized is just how subconsciously I was still attached to to stuff and status that for many years, and still every now and again now, I still use money, getting money, more things to answer the question that's deep down in my spirit, am I enough? And I sometimes seek approval from other people. I try and find my status in some kind of relative hierarchy. And that day set me on a journey to learning how do I begin to unravel, unweave that sort of entangled clinging, holding attachment to chasing stuff and status. Because I still had a whole ton of unconscious beliefs around what money, what things could do, how they could make me feel, how they could answer that unremitting question of whether I was enough or not. And I think there's a whole wealth of studies and information around how do we get caught up in chasing stuff and status? How do we want more things? How do we seek more status? when actually they're just totems to tell ourselves that we're enough. It's not the real thing. And so I began to explore the tools and techniques and disciplines and practices to help me loosen my grip just a little on my attachment to things. Now, please don't get me wrong. What I'm not saying is that money is evil or that beautiful artworks or— No. Collection of books or having an amazing home or a wonderful car are bad in and of themselves. No, I'm just saying that unwittingly, when we become attached to them, when we hold onto them tightly, or when we strive to bring more of them into our world, and we do that from an unconscious place, an unconscious belief that it will make things all right, then they're actually taking energy away from us. They are limiting our ability to be creative. They're limiting our capacity for compassion, and they're limiting our capacity to bring more of us into the present moment, to be more. Now there's a ton of stuff I learned growing up around greed and I learned a little bit about gratitude as well. And so I began to explore these areas from philosophy right the way back from, to Aristotle and some of the great thinkers through the, to the Enlightenment and then the 18th century philosophers and then right the way through modern day. And then looked at a whole bunch, whole raft of religions and yeah, it's really obvious in one sense. And I thought that as a conscious, intelligent, high-performing individual, I'd be immune to all this, but actually I'm not, and neither are you. And so I had to very proactively, deliberately, and intentionally learn to unravel and unweave that attachment, to let go of my clinging and figure out how to enter into a more balanced relationship with money and with status. So that's what I mean when I'm talking about and saying that chasing stuff and status is a fool's errand. It's never gonna be enough. And the moment we put it in a place where it's gonna try and tell us we're enough, it ain't gonna work. But there's also things we can do as we begin to release our attachment to it that actually, and this is brilliantly paradoxical, more of it begins to flow into our world. And our ability to use money as a tool to make a difference in the world, rather than as an answer to a question as to whether we're enough, the more we can make the world tilt on its axis and participate in that amazing, amazing opportunity to serve others from a place of strength. So that's a little bit more of why learning that chasing stuff and status is a fool's errand has allowed me to begin to show up more in the world, to be more. And that's what I'd love for you too. So if you want to continue this conversation or start an in-person conversation with me, I'd love for you to get in touch. I'd love for you to shoot me a message or book in a time to have a conversation because, well, because I'd really enjoy that. And also I'd probably learn a lot about your journey too and how that's impacted you. Because when we learn things that change us, they're called insights and we can never be the same. As we grow and we increase our capacity for creativity, for compassion, and to show up more fully, to be more. Look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now.
