Prosperity Tip: Acceptance
Years ago, when I was attending a number of 12-Step programs, I learned the Serenity Prayer and repeated it often. The Serenity Prayer states:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Let’s look at the phrase, “accept the things I cannot change.”
During these tumultuous times acceptance can be an antidote to fear. Acceptance allows you to find solutions to your problems and to experience peace of mind, no matter what is going on the world. Non-acceptance leads to dissatisfaction and many forms of emotional discomfort as well as poor financial decisions. 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
Financial Denial Blocks Prosperity
There’s an incredible disconnect between the movement of the stock market and the economic reality for much of the US population.
As I’m writing this, the headline on CNBC.com, just above the market chart, is “Stocks Gain 4% for Week Amid Earnings Optimism.” No doubt about it, the market has been going up, enabling those who are supposedly in the know to assure us that we are on the way to recovery.
At the same time, stories are dribbling out about the economic pressures faced by many people:
- There are over 1 million healthcare-related bankruptcies per year
- Over 47,000 people die each year in the US because they can’t afford health care
- 6.3 people are looking for every available job
- High level jobs are going unfilled because workers lack the necessary skills
- Foreclosure rates continue to rise in many areas
- Unregulated financial products are still in the pipeline
- States are cutting back on funding for education, safety, and other necessary services.
The Dangers of Financial Vagueness
In my book, Build Your Money Muscles, I talk about Financial Vagueness Syndrome (FVS) as a key stumbling block to financial comfort. If you don’t know what is going on with your money, it’s difficult to plan, strategize, and make rational financial decisions.
If you have been listening to the gloomy financial news, then you probably know that one of the main reasons the system is falling apart is that no one really understood the sophisticated financial instruments such as mortgage back securities and credit default swaps that were being traded in the markets.
Recently we learned that when billions of dollars of TARP funds were distributed, no one kept track of where the money went and what it was used for.
On top of that, no one was watching the store. When the SEC was warned about Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, for example, the warnings were ignored. No one really wanted to know what was going on.
You could easily conclude that Financial Vagueness Syndrome played a significant role in the global financial crisis. Has it played a role in yours? Continue reading
Grief, Loss, and Your Money
Do you remember, quite a few years ago, when Donald Trump was going through his divorce from Ivana, there were lots of headlines about his financial troubles. What he was going through was not unusual.
After a divorce or loss of a loved one, financial loss often follows. People unconsciously use money as the convenient pathway of expression for their emotions, and this is especially true for deep feelings of grief and loss. Feeling the pain of financial loss is more bearable than the pain of the real loss of a person or pet we love or has played an important role in our lives.
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