Dealing with Current Events in a Healthy Way
There are those who say that it’s better to ignore the news. I disagree with this. Ignoring political and economic trends makes it difficult to strategize for the future.
For me, watching the news is a spiritual discipline because I learn how to detach from what I’m seeing. I can imagine that I’m climbing up a mountain and watching the drama from a much higher point of view – to be in the world but not of it.
From that elevated point of view, it’s easier to remove “good” or “bad” from what I’m seeing. Whatever is happening is just what’s happening, and how I deal with it on a physical, emotional, or spiritual level is my choice.
Years ago, I had a big AHA. I realized, it ALL depends on how you look at it. I can see current events as filled with pain and tragedy, or I can see a rapidly changing world where people have the opportunity to learn that when anger, fear, and selfishness are replaced with love, acceptance, and a social consciousness, everyone benefits. Continue reading
A Shift in Focus
I often ask myself how I can best offer value to the subscribers of my newsletter and visitors to ProsperityPlace.com, especially in these changing times. Until now, most of the information I have shared has been an extension of the material found in my book, Build Your Money Muscles.
Because so many people are concerned about maintaining a healthy cash flow, the time has come for me to be more proactive about sharing what I know regarding building multiple income streams and doing business online. I’m especially interested in helping people who consider themselves technologically challenged.
There is a lot of information available about how to build and maintain a website and how to sell product and services online. However, I find that a lot of the material makes unrealistic claims about what is really possible in this crowded marketplace. At the same time, information is often geared towards people who are computer savvy and have the time to do the work themselves. Continue reading
The Egyptian Crisis and Your Finances
There is no doubt that many factors such as income inequity between rich and poor, high unemployment, rising food prices, and suppression by autocratic governments are contributing to the growing unrest in the Middle East that is likely to spread from country to country.
Because the unrest may be far away from where you live, you may not think that it’s going to affect you, but it will. All countries are now connected, especially economically, and what happens in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and other countries will eventually affect the economies of seemingly stable countries.
I watched a program about the Middle East crisis on CNBC Sunday night and they talked a lot about the effect of the crisis on various currencies. What was really interesting, was the fact that at the time of the 2007 revolt in Myanmar, the value of their currency tanked and savvy investors put money into the country. With the return of some stability, these investors have now realized profits of about 400%. In other words revolutions are profitable.
Prosperity Tip: Age Matters
Most information products give general advice and do not take into account the age of the reader. I’ll admit that much of my material rarely mentions this important factor.
I’ve had the privilege of working with people and a wide range of age groups, from twentysomethings to so-called senior citizens like myself. And there really is a difference.
There’s no doubt that younger people accept change and are willing to alter their behaviors more readily than those who have lived longer. At the same time, the younger generation is less risk averse and more willing to take chances in life and in business. Because success in business often depends upon a person’s willingness to take risks, it makes sense that much innovation is instigated by the young.
Older people have the advantage of experience and often take longer to make decisions as they more carefully evaluate the potential downside of a project, investment, or partnership of any kind. Years of experience provide many learning opportunities for avoiding unpleasant consequences of unwise decisions. Continue reading
Prosperity Tip: 6 Ways to Simplify and Prosper
An increasing number of people are taking a major step and scaling back their lives in order to have more time for themselves and to discover activities and relationships that make their lives meaningful. Although it would appear that they are giving up material comforts, they are, in fact, letting go of the burdens and responsibilities that often accompany acquisitions.
People who opt for a simpler life, often experience feelings of freedom and satisfaction that they never had when owning more and more was their goal. They become conscious consumers who make carefully considered purchases that add value to their lives.
If you are feeling the urge to simplify, here are some steps you can take:
1. Take a look at your life and ask yourself how much of your time and effort is being spent in the pursuit of material success? How many hours do you have to work each week in order to pay for the basic upkeep of your lifestyle? Continue reading
Prosperity Tip: Using Money as a Spiritual Practice
Because money is a powerful force that you deal with on a daily basis, it can be the cornerstone of a deep spiritual practice.
I’m defining spiritual practice as an activity or state of being that allows you to travel into deeper dimensions of yourself and understand who or what you are, thus helping you gain a deeper understanding of the nature of reality and your place in the total scheme of things.
Meditation is a traditional spiritual practice, as are prayer, fasting, quiet retreats, silence, giving service to others, chanting, various forms of yoga, etc. Money and activities surrounding money, on the other hand, are usually considered an external force.
How to Use Money As a Spiritual Practice
Most people I talk to think about money often and have deep feelings that the thought of money generates. People plan, worry, fret, panic and scheme about money. They long for, pray for and wish for money. Money is often seen as the solution to a wide variety of problems and a ticket to freedom. Continue reading
3 Major Prosperity Myths Debunked
There are three myths that are popular among prosperity seekers that I would like to debunk.
1. God Wants You to Be Rich!
Wanting is a human state of being, so I seriously doubt that God wants anything. If God were to want something, it would seem to me that peace, love, cooperation, and compassion would top God’s list of wants. Along with this might be that people’s basic needs for food and housing would be fulfilled.
Since riches often cause many problems, conflicts, and corruption the only reason why a benevolent God might spend time wanting people to be rich would be so they would learn some serious life lessons.
I’m always amazed at how preachers will project human wants onto a supernatural being that no human can possibly fully understand. Continue reading
Prosperity Tip: No Excuses!
People often tell me why they aren’t able to make “enough” money. The most common include:
- I have a low self-image
- My needs weren’t met as a child
- What I did was never enough for my father
- I’m not very good with money (or numbers)
- I don’t know enough about marketing
- I feel pushy if I’m trying to sell someone my products or service
- Actually, the list could go on and on.
Here’s a fact: every one of the reasons given is an excuse for not moving forward. And everything listed above can be altered with conscious intention and effort — effort being the operative word. Continue reading
A New Definition of Prosperity
Not that long ago it seemed rational to have material wealth as a measure of prosperity. People who promoted methods for manifesting prosperity, such as the Law of Attraction, used images of material wealth as the goal. The ultimate was a large home filled with the latest gadgets touted as necessary for one’s comfort.
Lots of people bought into this dream, often making purchases far beyond their financial means. The economy seemed to flourish as consumers, on whom our economy depends, acted as if they were rich when they weren’t.
When the economy tanked, people were left with lots of stuff coupled with burdensome debt. Many lost their jobs and had no cushion to fall back on.
Now, there is an effort to pull us out of the recession by stimulating consumer spending, as if our acquisition of material goods is what we all need to bring our economy back to health. At the same time, there is lots of talk about creating jobs, even though the majority of the manufacturing jobs that might produce the goods used by consumers have been shipped to other countries. None of this makes sense to me.
What does make sense is the new push for frugality and savings that many people are buying into. It no longer seems like “scarcity thinking” to live below one’s means while creating a financial safety net.
The Time Has Come. . .
It’s time to create a new definition of prosperity, one based not on individual material wealth, but on the health and well-being of society and how all of us interact with each other. A definition of prosperity would include a measure of peace of mind, the kind that comes from living within your means and having a financial cushion. Continue reading
The Courage to Change
Last week as I was conducting the End Underearning teleclass, I realized how very difficult it is for most people to make the internal shifts and take the external actions necessary for permanently altering their financial position.
I can give people all the advice in the world with the most specific proven techniques, but they have to take that final step away from their past into a prosperous future.
I remember clearly, although it was way back in 1984, when an up-and-coming seminar leader who was rooming with a friend of mine invited me to his workshop. I had no idea that Tony Robbins’s workshop included a firewalk.
After a few hours of motivating the audience in his inimitable way, Tony had us all line up and get ready to walk over the coals, despite our fear of “bloody stumps” and other imagined horrors. I can still recall the dialogue in my head as I gradually moved myself to the end of the line and tried to talk myself out of walking over the coals.
There I was, next to last, when suddenly this voice boomed out from inside my being, “Joan, you can do it!” Continue reading
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