• Joan's Blog      Coaching      Teleclasses     Meet Joan     Contact       Home

In the last Prosperity Quick Tip, I mentioned the Identity Factor, which I believe is the main reason that most people find it difficult to significantly alter their financial position. And those who do move up the financial ladder often find themselves just as uncomfortable emotionally in their new positions as they were before.

Making significant life changes can be a triple threat:

• A threat to your personal identity (not a "treat" as I mistakenly wrote last issue)
• A threat to your position in your peer group
• A threat to your position in your family of origin.

Making major changes will stimulate new responses from the world around you. You know how to respond the what you usually create. You have to learn how to respond as conditions change.

For example, when I moved to Santa Fe, I had $200, a computer, and a few cartons of belongings. I fit right in with the locals here who struggle financially. As I moved up, people treated me differently. In order to feel like I was part of the group, I had to find new points of commonality so I could feel connected. Not only did my sense of myself change–and that was sometimes confusing–my position in my peer group also changed.

And years before as I worked to eliminate the rescue dramas I often went through with my family, I had to find new ways of interacting with them on a meaningful level. And they weren’t always ready to change along with me.

So in order to effectively institute long-range changes, you have to be willing to work through the resistance to change that is the natural result of the triple threat. It’s so much easier to go back to being who you were than to move forward into who you are becoming.

As you alter your financial position, your peer group WILL change, and so will many of your relationships, whether you want them to or not.

Are you ready for that? You can get ready by starting to reach out now to new people and participating in new activities. Ask yourself how your life will be different when your financial position changes. Institute some of those changes now.

This Identity Factor piece is probably the deepest and most important one you’ll deal with as you work to build a more prosperous identity.

For more information:
The audio: Creating a New Financial Identity

Exercises in Build Your Money Muscles all have references to the Identity Factor and how to overcome its limiting effects.

Last week’s Prosperity Quick Tips about disappointment evidently really hit home for a lot of people. I received an unusual amount of email about it. So today, let’s take another step forward.

If you have an emotional pattern that shows up in your life stories such as disappointment, betrayal, abandonment, or any other uncomfortable emotion, then on a deep-down level you harbor an expectation of that experience. Because of the way the Law of Attraction operations, that expectation will lead to a result.

The same thing happens if you have a pattern of having life stories end in satisfaction, success, or getting your needs met. You will have an expectation of a favorable result and that’s what you will manifest.

The "cure" is obvious–alter your expectations. But that’s easier said than done.

Long term emotional habits become part of your identity. If disappointment is your habit and expectation, you would actually feel some discomfort if suddenly a series of events ended with a favorable outcome because you don’t perceive yourself as a successful person who gets what he or she wants.

What has to change is your self-concept. You have to be willing to be a successful, fulfilled person and your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors need to be congruent with that self-concept. That’s the tough part.

Because so much positive change would be a threat to your identity, you’ll do everything you can on a subconscious level to protect who you’ve been and resist the change. You are apt to engage in what is commonly called self-sabotage. I call it self-protection.

I’m going to address this issue in the next few tips. Actually, this is what my book Build Your Money Muscles is all about. If you have the book, go back to it and pay close attention to the discussion of the Identity Factor that appears throughout the book.

If you’d like to learn more about what is in the book, go to
http://ProsperityPlace.com/bymm

The audio Creating a New Financial Identity is also helpful.

I discuss the Identity Factor in episode #3 of The Prosperity Show

On yesterday’s teleclass, Working Through Your Money Issues, one of the participants admitted to being habitually disappointed in the outcomes of her life stories, expecially those that involve finances. Her habit was certainly not unique.

Many people have a disappointment habit, experiencing series of dramas that end in disappointment. Turning this around so that your like stories end with feelings of success and accomplishment requires that you first release your NEED for disappointment.

A disappointment habit is the result of holding in feelings of disappointment over an extended period of time. Those feelings keep looking for an avenue of expression and if you don’t express the feeling they will find that avenue through new life stories that magnify the feeling.

In order to avoid future disappointments, you need to release the pent of feelings from your system. You can do this by:

1. Doing a disappointment inventory, writing a list of all the times you were disappointed. Start your sentences with I feel disappointed when . . . or I felt so disappointed when . . .
2. Admiting, when something turns out in a way that is not to your liking, that you are disappointed. Say aloud, "I am so disappointed."
3. When approaching a new project, see if you can recognize an expectation of being disappointed. If you find that you harbor such an expectation, spend time imaging a positive outcome.

 Use your power word with the following series of statements:

• I release my need for disappointment. Power word.
• I am willing to release my disappointment and find new ways to express myself. Power word.
• I give myself permission to let go of disappointment. Power word.
• I want to let go of disappointment and replace it with success and fulfillment. Power word.
• I have the ability to create successful, fulfillng life stories. Power word.

Click here to listen to the teleclass on ProsperityPlace.com

Browse Catalog of Prosperity Books and Audios

Moving to a new financial position, no matter what your starting point, is an ongoing process that happens over an extended period of time. Although people often dream of winning the lottery, inheriting a lot of money, or somehow being transported into a new economic reality, that happens only rarely.

The key: Do at least one thing every day that you haven’t done before. This can include activities such as:

• Reading a new financial publication or paying more attention to the stories in one you have read before.
• Learning something new about financial markets
• Paying more attention to your own finances by either keeping better records or, if you already keep good records, learning how to use the data strategically
• Improving the energy flow through your life by gradually eliminating clutter, toxic people, junk foods, complaining, and anything else that can negatively affect your energy.
• Replacing negative energy with positive people, food, exercise, and entertainment.
• Noticing your internal dialog and phasing out the critical parent in your head.
• Spending a few minutes each day either meditating or doing nothing

Your financial position can only change if you change it and you can insure your success by doing it one small step at a time.

Need more ideas for actions you can take to alter your finances? You’ll find plenty of helpful suggestions in Build Your Money Muscles. Read more about BYMM now.

Working Through Your Money Issues: A Fr ee Teleclass
July 31 at 2 PM EST, 11 AM Pacific, 7 PM GMT
I’ll be coaching at least one person and answering questions from our audience. Sign up and then ask your questions by clicking here

Join Me on Facebook!
If you are on Facebook, add me as a friend. I’d love to learn more about you. Include a message with your Friend Request that you are a subscriber. Also, check out our Build Your Money Muscles Prosperity Group on Facebook. It’s a great place to find a Prosperity Buddy. We’ve also been having some lively discussions that you are welcome to join.

Do you suffer from a just-enough or less-than-enough financial habit? If you do, there’s a good chance that you feel trapped, frustrated, deprived, ashamed, and angry, all major feelings that act themselves out through money.

Frustration often mounts when people move up the economic ladder only to find themselves still in a just-enough or less-than-enough position. They may have a lot more "stuff," but the same sense of there not being enough to fill their wants still exists.

Often, a fantasy persists that if there were more money, there would be enough. Not true. If you have a just-enough habit, more money won’t change that. A large infusion of cash might alter your emotional state for a while, but chances are that when the high subsides, you’ll feel the same. The feeling is a habit.

How do you break the habit? First of all, realize that it takes time. You have to create new neural pathways in your brain while breaking down the walls of your own resistance to change. Start small. Here’s how:

1. Look around your house and environment. About what can you say "I have enough _________" Underwear? Dishes? Towels? Food to eat?

Find something and allow yourself to feel the feeling of enough. Sit quietly with yourself and repeat, "I have enough _______." Then say your power word. Observe your mind as it tries to convince you that you don’t really have enough.

2. What is your concept of more than enough? If you think that a particular amount of money would be more than enough, what is that amount? (If you answer is miles away from where you are now, then you can be sure you are setting yourself up for not having enough.)

Whatever the number, imagine that you have it and decide what you would do with it. Notice the point at which you change the number because it isn’t enough.

3. On a daily basis, say to yourself at least 10 times, "I am enough." If you resist this, ask yourself why you are so willing to diminish your value.

4. Use this series of statements with your power word:

• I release my need for not enough. Power word.
• I release my longing for more. Power word.
• I am willing to perceive myself as having enough. Power word.
• I am willing to perceive myself as being enough. Power word.
• I give myself permission to see my value. Power word.
• I give myself permission to see my value separate and apart from anything I do or own. Power word.
• I want to be enough. Power word.
• I want to value myself. Power word.
• I am enough. Power word.

Click here for Power Word instructions.

Exercise 3 in Build Your Money Muscles is all about connecting financial patterns to emotional themes. Read more about Build Your Money Muscles.

 Working Through Your Money Issues: A Fr ee Teleclass
July 31 at 2 PM EST, 11 AM Pacific, 7 PM GMT
I’ll be coaching at least one person and answering questions from our audience. Sign up and then ask your questions by clicking here

When I first stepped onto the spiritual path in the early 1970s, a teacher said to me, "Worrying is a waste of time." He puctuated this idea with another statement, "Anything negative is a waste of time."

"What a concept!" I thought and spent many years learning how to replace worrying with a more producive mental activity. This one simple exercise led me in many different directions and allowed me to develop a way of perceiving life that has served me well.

If you are one of the many people worrying about finances at this time, I offer these thoughts:

• Worry requires making up a story about the future, which hasn’t happened yet. It’s just a fear-producing fantasy that exists only in your mind. Imagining a positive future requires the same amount of energy as imagining a negative one.
• When you replace worry with an expectation of a positve outcome, you can create a strategy to facilitate that outcome.
• Ask yourself, "How does worrying help me? Is it a good investment in my time? What can I do instead"
• When you find yourself worrying, take a few deep breaths and divert your attention to something you are grateful for.
• Worry and fear usually go together, so ask yourself, "What am I afraid of?" Examine that fear and dialog with yourself to discover if the fear is fact based or not. Are limiting beliefs about your possibilities perpetrating the fear?

What if you have put yourself in a vulerable position (debting, earning less than you need, making promises you can’t keep, etc). There’s a possiblity that you’ll lose somethng you value. If nothing can be done to change your immediate situation, you may have to face the loss and let it go.

As long as you are alive, you can always rebuild. Do what you can to limit your liability, then let go. People who succeed fail more than people who fail.

Life’s challenges can be the blessings that allow us to grow and thrive!

The teleclass I gave on June 26 was a big success. Along with the information I presented, people appreciated the coaching I did with two participants.

Let’s do it again! I love doing these mini-coaching sessions because I know that lots of people can relate to any issue that is being discussed. There’s tremendous healing power when you learn that you are not the only one having a particular experience.

The next teleclass is Thursday, July 31th at 2:00 PM Eastern, 11 AM Pacific, 7 PM GMT. You can either call in or listen to the streaming audio online. You can also choose to listen to the recording at a later date.

The title of this class is Working through Your Money Issues. Once again, I’ll be coaching at least one person. I’m also going to leave time to answer questions about your issues.

To register for this class, go to
http://ProsperityPlace.com/teleclass/mi2.html

Once you register, you’ll be led to the seminar page. If you’d like me to discuss YOUR issues, send a question via the form on that page.

I hope you’ll join me for this class

I had one of those AHAs the other day and want to share it with you.

By carrying the burden of debt, we do penance for our "sins" as we hope to assuage our feelings of guilt. Eliminating the need to debt as penance requires that you: 

•  Forgive yourself for anything you have done or think you have done that stimulates guilt.
• If necessary, make amends to those you have harmed and ask for their forgiveness
• Imagine that God, Source, The Universe, or whatever supernatural force you relate to loves and forgives you. For real.
• Start behaving as if you have a right to hold your head high and be proud of yourself. In this day and age, sometimes just getting through the day is deserving of praise.
• Praise yourself often.
• When the voice inside your head criticizes you, breathe and tell yourself something positive about you or your actions.

To help you work through your guilt and shame, try my CD Healing Your Financial Shame.

Join Me on Facebook!
If you are on Facebook, add me as a friend. I’d love to learn more about you. Include a message with your Friend Request that you are a subscriber. Also, check out our Build Your Money Muscles Prosperity Group on Facebook. It’s a great place to find a Prosperity Buddy. Facebook.com

Recently, I received a balance transfer offer from Bank of America for one of my cards that has a $0 balance. The offer is for 5.9% fixed for the life of the loan.

At first, the balance transfer small print looked like the usual–3% of the balance transfered with a minimum of $10. But it was called a Cash Advance Fee, not a balance transfer fee. Then I noticed some new fine print. Here’s what it says:

"This fee will post to your account as a cash advance fee and receive the Standard cash advance rate. "

I called BofA and asked what that rate is. The answer: 24%. And, of course, payments are applied to the lowest rate part of the loan first.

Let’s assume you transfer $5,000 with this offer. The fee will be $120 and the interest on that $120 will be $28.80 for a year. If you take a year to pay off the loan, you’ll pay that $28.80 plus the 5.9% interest,  plus the 3%. At the end of a year, you will have paid around 9% interest.

So would this be a good offer. Only if you are paying more than 9% now on the $5,000 you are transferring.

Yesteday, I saw a promo on TV for an upcoming program and the announcer said, "Find out how to make the Law of Attraction work for you!"

That statement doesn’t make sense because the Law of Attraction always works and is working for you at this very minute. Whatever you are experiencing in your life is what you are attracting. You are never in a position of non-attracting.

The promo really should have said, "Find out how you can use the Law of Attraction to draw in a more comfortable life." Or more money, a better relationship, a healthier body. When most people talk about the Law of Attraction, they are thinking about bringing in more money–as if money is going to solve their problems and make their life perfect.

For me, it’s not about focusing on money. It’s about drawing in love, acceptance, acknowledgement, and appreciation. I know if the world is mirroring those for me, I’ll get paid because the money in my life is a reflection of how I feel about myself.

So the key to attracting more of what you want starts with loving, accepting, acknowledging, and appreciating yourself. All the positive affirmations, treasure maps, and goal setting will be of fleeting value if deep inside you feel alone, ashamed, angry, and deprived and if you can’t honestly imagine yourself–fully and completely–experiencing a positive life.

In addition, attracting what you want requires totally accepting the idea that you are the creator of your reality. Whatever is going on in your life is congruent with your throughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. Adjust those, and you will attract new energy into your life.

Where to start? There are step-by-step instructions in Build Your Money Muscles. There is also lots of helpful information in my podcast archives at www.TheProsperityShow.com.