Let's Talk About Money

Secret Message 1/31/08

A special 'Thank you!' to my Colleague Beverly for this article!


"It's so hot, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk!"

One hot summer day, my young hands reached into the refrigerator and sneaked a few eggs into my pocket. With great expectations, I cracked the shells open over a sidewalk and waited for them to start cooking.



Through the sting of disappointment, expressions are not always meant to be taken literally. My neighbor saw me playing with the eggs and mentioned it to my father. Our neighbor thought my experiment was funny. My father did
not! Dad casually asked me, "how much do you think those eggs that you took from the refrigerator cost?" I replied that I didn't know. Together, we calculated how much money I had wasted by ruining perfectly good eggs. The small amount was deducted from my allowance and I learned that next time I should be more secretive with my experiments. Okay, the bigger lesson I took away was that money is hard to come by and should never be wasted. I guess this is just one of the episodes from my childhood that shaped me into a "saver."


Usually, there is a core limiting belief that gets in a person's way of

accumulating money.



Often, the core belief is something along the lines of:

Love of money is the root of all evil.

I'll get my rewards in heaven, not now.

Money is scarce and hard to come by.

These perspectives are core limiting beliefs which are very effective at keeping money away from your bank account. Here are examples of positive perspectives around money.

Money is freedom and I deserve freedom.

I love money and money loves me.

I am a money magnet. I have the Midas touch!

Since we choose our perspective around money, why not choose a belief that is positive and affirming? You can reinforce your money magnetism by creating a structure that reminds you of your positive perspective on money. I recently moved into a new office and the window shade that was hanging on the window broke and fell to the floor. Instead of buying a new shade, I hung my money boa across the top of my window to serve as my reminder that money is abundant and constantly flowing to me.


I love looking at it and being reminded that money is always within my reach. Also, my money boa sparkles with joyful memories and energy because it was a gift from friend.

With a crazy stock market and fears of a recession floating around, it is even more tempting to fall into a negative perspective around money. Why not reflect on your core beliefs about money and see how they are working for you? If you find you are operating out of a limiting belief, try updating your belief and see what happens. There's not much to lose and everything to gain!

The #1 Mistake People Make When Using the Law of Attraction

Secret Message 1/24/08

Whenever you form an intention, that intention has two primary components. The first component is the content of the intention. The content is the information part of your desire. It's whatever you decide you want, such as a new career, a better relationship, or an extra $10,000. That part is pretty straightforward.

The second component of an intention is the energy you bring to the intention. Some people describe this as a feeling, like passion or gratitude, but the feeling is actually the result of the energy, not the energy itself. However, you know there is energy in your intention when you connect strong feelings to it.

I'll explain the energy component in more detail in a moment, but first let's address:

Failure experiences with the Law of Attraction

I often hear people complain that they've dutifully and correctly applied the Law of Attraction, but their intentions just aren't manifesting. Some of the more stubborn believers will continue beating their heads against the wall, using the same ineffective approach even though it generates no results week after week. (Please don't do that to yourself.) Others give up within a matter of hours when their cappuccino grande fails to manifest, concluding that the whole Law of Attraction concept is bogus. (Please don't do that to yourself either.)

Content alone is not enough

Here's the #1 mistake people make: They mistake content for complete intentions. The problem is that content alone isn't enough because energy is an essential component of every intention.

Great content + no energy = an intention that won't manifest anything but frustration.

Consider all the content that's available to you on the Internet these days. Does that content just whiz around the world by itself? Of course not. Electricity is required to deliver it to you. Without electricity that content is dead in the water.

Suppose I write a new article for this web site, and before I can post it, my electricity goes out. Initially I'm frustrated that my content isn't getting delivered to my readers. How do I solve this problem? Is the problem with the content itself? Do I need to improve the quality of the content - to write more content - or to post it on my wall? Those would be pretty stupid solutions, wouldn't they? But that's exactly what many people do when trying to "fix" their intentions that don't seem to be working.

If you're nitpicking the verbiage of your intentions, you're like a writer nitpicking the wording of a private journal entry that no one else is going to read. It just doesn't matter.

What is the energy component of an intention?

The energy of an intention isn't the same thing as electricity, but it's a good metaphor for understanding the concept. Don't get hung up on the exact term - it's the concept that's important.

Many people refer to energy as the emotional juice you bring to an intention. That's part of it, but strong emotions are the result, not the cause, of that energy.

If you want to see some high-energy intentions, look no further than children. Kids are intention-manifestation masters. When they really want something, there's no mistaking it. They'll ask for it, they'll jump up and down, and they'll drive everyone crazy expressing their desires. And assuming they don't give up, kids are pretty darned good at manifesting what they want.

What kind of energy do you bring to your intentions? Do you speak of them like you're talking about a piece of burnt toast? Or are you so juiced that you're just dripping with enthusiasm?

I'm not suggesting you should behave like a kid throwing a sugar tantrum, but if you get more excited about the coming weekend than you do about your intention, well - the weekend will be the only thing you manifest.

Emotions measure intentional energy

As I mentioned earlier, strong emotions are actually the result of energy, not the cause of it. The value of emotions is that they let you know how much energy you've managed to pack into your intention. If you're so gushingly enthusiastic about your intention that people keep telling you to shut up about it, you clearly have plenty of energy behind it.

So what's the real source of this energy then?

The source of this energy is actually the universe itself. The energy is already there. You just need to connect some of it with your intention.

Consider how electricity works. The electrons are already sitting there in the wires of your home, and they start flowing when you flip a switch to complete the circuit, thereby creating a current and providing usable electrical power to your appliances. Although the electrons as particles move at a fairly slow pace, the electric field moves at the speed of light, so your appliances turn on right away.

Your intentions work much the same way. The energy is already there. You just need to get the current flowing in the right direction. And this has virtually nothing to do with the actual content of your intentions. Electricity doesn't care whether it's powering a computer or a coffee maker, nor does intentional energy care whether you're building a business or a bomb.

Polarity

So how do you get this energy current flowing? First you need to understand the concept of polarity.

Going back to the electricity example. Imagine a battery. It has two terminals which are polar opposites of each other, one positive and one negative. If you hook the battery up to a circuit, electrons will flow in one direction, thereby creating a current. If you flip the battery around and hook it up the other way, you'll reverse the flow of electrons through the wires, thereby creating an identical current in the opposite direction. (I'm trying to keep this analogy simple, so if you feel the need to out-nerd me by bringing up things like differential resistance, manifest a life.)

Now what if you wanted to increase the current flowing through your circuit? You could do that by adding more batteries, right? But in order for this to work, the batteries must be aligned to create a current in the same direction. If you put batteries into a device with some facing the correct way and some facing the wrong way, the device won't work because you'll screw up the current.

So what does this have to do with intention-manifestation? Well, the energy you apply to your intentions also has polarity, much like a battery. It can flow one way or the other way. You'll know you have a strong intentional current when you experience strong emotions. No emotions means you have no current.

Many people screw up their intentional energy flow by trying to use both polarities in the same circuit. You can't do that and expect to get good results with the Law of Attraction. It just won't work. You must use either one polarity or the other, and you must remain congruent in your usage.

What Blocks You From the Positive Law of Attraction Gifts?

Secret Message 1/17/08

Have you ever been in a true gridlock situation? Frustrating, isn't it? You see where you need to go, you feel you have what you need to get you there, however you just can't move in the right direction. To add torment to your trouble, what if you ran out of gas during the gridlock?! Now even when the gridlock clears up, you will be unable to reach your goal without some aid.

Many of us go through life as if we were in cars stuck in a perpetual gridlock. We really believe we know where we need to go, and we are certain we have what it takes to get there, however we just don't seem to be making any forward motion. Why is that? Well, often, even if we think our plan has been thought out, and we have acquired the skills and tools necessary to proceed with it, there really is something blocking our way.

Our own negative emotions and feelings, translated into energy that crosses time and space, is blocking any positive force waiting to come into our realm. May I suggest a simple tool for your positive thinking path to all the riches the universe can offer you through the Law of Attraction? Begin today keeping a Victory Journal. Of course you have heard countless times the value of journaling. This is different, though, in a vitally important way. Nothing, no hint, not a single word, nothing at all negative ever goes into this book! This is strictly a volume for you to keep track of and celebrate your daily victories.

For some, this may be foreign soil. Perhaps you have always given more credence to the disappointments and disasters in your life than the wonderful and marvelous events surrounding you. For you, I say, breathe deep, this is not going to hurt a bit! Letting go of your negative viewpoint will open doors to the greatness of the life awaiting you. Start small with a child's smile, a faithful dog's wag, a beautiful flower in an unexpected location. These, and a myriad of other delights have always been yours for the noticing.

Soon, as every day brings new peace, joy, and satisfaction to your realization, you will naturally begin to experience and truly notice with pleasant astonishment the bliss your life consists of. Get out of life's gridlock of melancholy and situational sorrow, and spend today and all of your tomorrows on a path way destined for delight. To sum this all up, here is a lovely quote from Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, younger sister of former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt and an aunt of former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt.

An accomplished poet and also the first woman to ever speak before a presidential nomination convention, Corinne reminds us to: `Stretch out our hand's and take the world's wide gift of Joy and Beauty.' May you experience true joy today and always.

Making Money with the Law of Attraction

Secret Message 1/9/08


There is a ton of information on the law of attraction but I wanted to talk specifically about making money with the law of attraction. The most important thing to remember about the law of attraction is, it is operating 24/7, meaning that you are creating your reality in every moment. For this reason it is crucial that you take stock of every though that enters your mind. Ok it might be a bit ambitious to assume you can be aware of every thought that enters your mind, especially when scientists believe the average human has around 50,000 thoughts per day, but what I'm trying to emphasis is that you need to at least start to take control of your wandering mind. The key to making money with the law of attraction is to raise your awareness.

Let me explain.
I read somewhere once that hatred doesn't cease by more hatred, it ceases by love. The same thing goes for making money with the law of attraction. If you don't have any money or not as much as you would like, thinking about not having enough money or trying to figure out how to get more money, is effectively going to keep you in the same financial position you are currently in. The law of attraction brings you exactly what you think. So if you habitually think about not having enough, that is exactly what you will attract, not having enough.

The law of attraction is a law that works on a principle, the same way the law of gravity works on this planet, it works on a principle. If you throw a ball up in the air, it is subject to the law of gravity principle and it will fall back down again. The law of gravity, like the law of attraction is working always and nobody can avoid them, ever. When I was trying to get my head around the concept of the law of attraction after first being introduced to the idea, I kept asking other people who knew about it "what if?" The reply was always the same "there are no what ifs, the law of attraction is always in effect and works on what ever you think about". It is not working for you or against you, it is just working. However, you can work it to your advantage if you can take control of your thoughts. By taking control of your thoughts this can help you make money with the law of attraction.

To make money using the law of attraction you need to focus on what it is you do want and the more emotion you put into your thoughts, visualizations or words will shorten the length of time it takes to see the new wealth appear in your life. If you want something in particular, the law of attraction works much quicker if your thoughts are more specific. For example, if you wanted a new car, you would attract this faster if you focused on the feeling of having it now, seeing yourself sitting in it, driving it along a street you normally use or see a friend commenting on what a beautiful car you have. If you want to go on a holiday, see your self there, smiling and having fun with your family or friends, sitting in the aero plane as it zooms down the runway, standing on the balcony of your hotel room admiring the view or just feeling the excitement of how happy you feel being on holidays. If you want to buy your own house, see yourself at the bank shaking the bank managers hand as he approves your home loan, hugging your partner or telling your best friend that you have just bought your own home and feel the emotion well up inside you when you do it, see yourself at the bank making your final payment on your house and imagine how wonderful it feels to own it. What ever it is you want, don't just think about it, you really need to feel deep down how good it feels when you have it.

If you don't want anything in particular but you do want more money, the idea is the same. In regards making money with the law of attraction you need to see your savings increase in your mind, see yourself looking at your bank statement at the end of each month and feeling overwhelmed with happiness, focus your attention on how much money you actually want and say that number over and over to yourself until you catch yourself saying it subconsciously without even being aware of it consciously. If you want more cash see yourself doing the things that you would only be doing if you already had that cash, if you can see it in your mind, your subconscious mind and the law of attraction will work together to make it appear in your reality. Make up simple affirmations and say them to yourself whenever you catch your thoughts drifting onto not having enough money. One very simple affirmation I like is "I'm a money magnet" because it's easy the say and the words are precise. You can choose what ever affirmation you like and the repetition of affirmations cannot be overstated. Even if you don't believe in the words at first, with repetition and especially repeating your affirmations before bed, you will impregnate your subconscious mind with the conviction to make it happen. Affirmations using only a mix of positive words work tremendously well with the law of attraction as they keep your thoughts focused on what you want, not on what you don't want.

It may be hard at first to implement and stay focused on this new way of thinking but when you catch yourself thinking about not having enough money, don't get upset about it as this negative emotion will only cause you to attract more negative emotion. Instead, when you realize your thoughts have wandered, have a pre planned or programmed response. By this I mean, go straight into your usual positive affirmation about having money or go immediately to your abundance visualization seeing yourself where you want to be, practicing these techniques will help with making money with the law of attraction. With practice this will become a good habit and in time you will think less and less about not having enough money. Another effective method is to imagine exactly how you felt the last time you received some money unexpectedly and try to recreate those feelings. The more time you spend thinking about what you want, the universe will respond with opportunities for you to capitalize on, and by taking these opportunities you will acquire the money you desire.

A few years ago I remember reading an interview with the comedian actor Jim Carrey. Jim was talking about his life before he became famous and said he was a struggling actor for years and this caused him a great deal of stress until one day he wrote himself a pretend check for ten million dollars on a piece of paper and put it in his wallet. He would look at this check regularly and imaged himself as a big time movie star, seeing himself walking the red carpet, seeing his name up in lights and hearing in his mind the screaming fans calling his name. Since Jim spent so much of his time thinking about it, the law of attraction simply attracted to him exactly what it was that he thought about. Jim said he would keep that check for the rest of his life as a reminder that you have the power to do what ever it is you put your mind. The reason this is so is due to the law of attraction.

So if things aren't going your way and you never seem to have enough money, don't get upset and think about your problem, this won't help towards making money with the law of attraction. Do the opposite and don't give it any thought at all.

Spend your time avoiding frustration and resentment about a lack of money and instead just think about what it is you want and this way you will see the powerful law of attraction working for you instead of against you. You have the power.

You Are What You Think About

Secret Message 1/3/08

You may have heard the saying "you are what you eat", meaning if you eat lean healthy foods you will be lean and healthy or if you eat fat laden foods you will be fat.
Well, the same principle applies to your thoughts. You are what you think about.

If you regularly think positive thoughts of happiness and abundance, you will experience a life filled with happiness and abundance.

The same thing goes for those who think negative thoughts of lack and despair. They will subsequently create an unhappy life for themselves. It sounds too simple to be true but it most definitely is.

This is not new information I have just recently discovered. We live in a thought based universe and civilizations have created their reality based on their thoughts since the beginning of time.
Albert Einstein knew this and wrote extensively on the topic. Everything in the universe travels in circles, from the electrons spinning around the nucleus of an atom to a human thought. Every thought you think, whether you are aware of it or not, is sent as a pulse or vibration out into the universe gaining energy and returning to you.

If you are a generally happy and positive person, your own personal vibration level will be relatively high and you will naturally emit positive thoughts or vibrations out into the universe and they will return to you more positive and happy experiences.

When you get caught in the rut of thinking negatively or spending a lot of time thinking about your problems, you are effectively creating more of the same.
Although it may seem necessary to think about your problems in order to solve them, this is not the case. The more you think about your problems, the more problems you create in your life.
Therefore, the best solution to overcoming your problems is to give them no thought at all.

In fact, to overcome your problems in the shortest possible time, your best plan of attack would be to focus your thoughts on exactly the life you do want.

This can be difficult for some people who have been caught up in a negative mindset for some time, so I suggest to you to write down on paper the things you would like in your life.
Some examples would be. If you currently have no partner and this makes you feel miserable, write down on paper the traits of your ideal partner, this doesn't need to be too specific, just some general traits you would prefer and then 2 or 3 times a day for about 10 minutes, spend some time thinking about being with that ideal partner. It's not necessary to have a clear picture in you mind of what they look like, it's more about concentrating on your happy feelings when you are with this ideal person, the more positive and happy your feelings are, the quicker you will see results.

The same goes for anyone who is bothered by a lack of money. As difficult as it may be to not think about your financial problems, understand that by the universals laws that govern the entire universe, it is not possible to solve your problems by worrying about them.

The law of attraction states that what you think about will be attracted to you and this goes for everything you think about whether it be good or bad.

If you are deep in debt you need to stop thinking about, thinking about how you can fix it will not solve the problem. You need to refocus your thoughts on exactly the opposite and really feel what it would be like to be prosperous and do this 2-3 times a day for about 10 minutes when you get a chance to relax. Perhaps before and after work and in your lunch break in a quiet place if possible. As you continue to do this you will realize you are what you think about.
When you spend some quiet time each day deliberately not thinking about your problems and instead focusing your thoughts with as much good feeling as possible, on what it is you want or will make you happy, you begin to break the constant cycle of sending negative thoughts out into the universe and returning with more negative experiences in your life. These short 10 minute bursts of positive energy bring back to you new positive ideas and opportunities at a later date for you to act on and help you improve the circumstances of your life.

So don't worry that these short periods of positive thinking will have no bearing on your life when you seem entrenched in worrying most of the time. I have been there, worrying about my problems seemingly all the time, but it was facing the problems that lead me to look for a way out and that put me on the spiritual path which lead me out of the darkness and into the light.

These short periods of positive thinking and creative visualization caused some positive energy to be sent back to me and as I noticed the opportunities arise I took action and in no time at all my life started to improve. At first it seemed like just a coincidence when I started to spend time feeling good and then I noticed some constructive opportunities come my way but there are no coincidences in life, there is only what you make yourself.

You create your own opportunities from your habitual thinking and those thoughts create your reality.

In essence, you can have the life you want, by just simply thinking about it. The key is to monitor your thoughts and catch yourself when you begin to think negatively and replace those thoughts with positive thoughts. Then you can confidently expect to see the rewards from your happy thinking as they manifest in your happy life.

Holiday Season Debrief - The Art of Allowing

The Secret Message 12/27/07


The holiday season is often referred to as "the season of giving." We're reminded of the importance of giving freely. There's just one slight problem with having all of the focus on giving: Without an equal amount of receiving, the process just doesn't work. Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. If they are out of balance, you've got a very strange looking coin!
And it's not just during this season that we focus on the giving side of that coin. One of our culture's most powerful beliefs about money and material goods is, "It's better to give than to receive."

Why? What makes giving better? After all, if there's no one to receive, there's not going to be a whole lot of giving going on!

It's interesting to note that the phrase "It's better to give than to receive," did not originate with the bible, as is most often suggested, but rather in ancient Greece. The correct translation of the Greek phrase was more along the lines of "It is better to be in a position where you are able to give, than to be in a position where you have to receive."

Now before you start flooding the comments with, well, comments, I'm not going to tell you to stop giving. Giving is wonderful. Giving is natural. Giving connects you with your sense of abundance and gratitude.

But giving is just one side of the coin. And to get the most value out of that coin, the sides need to be in balance.

I love T. Harv Ecker's declaration from the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind book and seminars. I'll paraphrase it here since I don't have the book in front of me: "Universe, if there is anything good that you are attempting to send to someone, and they are not ready or willing to receive it, please send it to me. I am open, ready and willing to receive all of your bountiful blessings."
In other words: "Bring it on!"

That is exactly why the Law of Attraction is so powerful: It's about receiving. After all, the title of the Abraham-Hicks book is Ask And It Is Given.

Here's the secret, though: The Law of Attraction is not about the "stuff." The Law of Attraction is about aligning yourself with the boundless abundance and infinite possibilities that exist in this Universe.

The stuff is just a way of measuring how aligned, or not, you are with Source! When you are receiving great "stuff" into your life - money, cars, great friends, unexpected gifts - it is a sure sign that you are aligned with Source.

The Art of Allowing is the master skill for aligning with Source. So as you look back on this holiday season, here are some questions you can ask yourself to determine how you well you did at aligning with Source and Allowing its blessing into your life.

Did you give more gifts or receive more?

Was it easier for you to give or to receive?

Was it more fun/comfortable/exciting for you to watch others open their gifts, or to open your own?

Did you feel any embarrassment about opening your presents?

Did you wish that you could open them up someone in private?

Did you want to open your gifts first to "get it over with" or last so that everyone else would be distracted by their gifts?

Did you catch yourself "comparing" gifts?

For instance, did you make calculations to see if the gift you gave someone was worth more or less than the gift they gave you?

There are no right or wrong answers. These questions are merely here to help you deepen your awareness about the Art of Allowing and point out possible opportunities for enhancing your ability to receive.

As we head into 2008, this is a wonderful time to set a clear intention to become a much better receiver. Perhaps we can come together and make 2008 the official Year of Allowing!