Sharing a humble review of how to manage life
“So many people are living at the edge of their income”.
Our whole system seems to be built not on fulfilling our needs, but on creating wants, desires and
convincing us that they are needs.
Just look at the size of houses of 20 and 30 years ago and the
size they are today.
Marketing people know that humankind wants to be happy.
They try to tell us, that to be happy we need to buy into the
latest fashions, buy the sexiest car and so it continues.
This creates demand, but does all this bring happiness? Look at
the price we pay, our national, provincial and personal debt load and you get
an entirely different picture.
We mortgage away our freedom, our independence, we are in constant
fear of, the what if something goes wrong.
What if I lose my job, what if my wife gets pregnant and can’t work
what if my mortgage interest goes up by 2 or 3%.
Just talking about it creates anxiety. It certainly does not
provide a feeling of happiness as the marketing people claim
We need I to keep my financial house in order in order to have
peace. We should not buy what we cannot afford. It is better to do without. This
is not a popular view, but it gives us freedom from financial worries.
There are still people at an advanced age who have mortgages or
other outstanding debts. The average household debt in Canada excluding
mortgages is $20,759.
Money does not buy happiness but we can’t do without it. What we
need to do is to live our lives in a responsible manner.
We need to ask, do we live the way you want to live, do we have
the financial resources to fulfil your legitimate needs and have some money
left over for rainy days?
If yes, we have to count your blessings, if not, we have to examine
our thoughts, feelings, spending habits and dreams?
From a practical viewpoint, if we don’t have enough money there
are only two things we can do.
a)
We either earn more, or
b)
We spend less.
But is this the answer to financial well being? It is an answer,
but the real answer lies deeper.
Let’s explore Dreams and Vision.
Our Dreams and Visions create our future. If we want to create a
future with purpose, we need a vision, we need to be goal oriented, and we must
think and act right. We must nurture our creative process.
Here I like to take the example of a farmer.
Before the farmer plants his fields he sees in his mind’s eye a
plentiful harvest of a healthy, diversified crop. He sees the ripe, golden
grain sifting through his hands and is filled with great joy. He gives thanks.
(This is Vision).
He plans where he wants to plant, what he wants to plant, and estimates
the harvest he will have. (The goal).
He calculates how much seed he needs, which and how much
fertilizer to use, he does all the things that need to be done in the right
way.
When the soil dries and warms sufficiently, he prepares the soil,
he plants the seed and fertilizes at the appropriate time and cultivates where
and when necessary.( This is Nurturing).
After that he does very little in the field, he knows that the
rest is up to the universe. The saying is, let the work do the work. He waits
for the harvest.
He trusts that the harvest will be plentiful, he has done all he
could do.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart….In all thy ways
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Many people find it difficult to dream big dreams, to embrace a
great Vision. They are afraid to engage in the process of creation for it
requires skill, effort, perseverance and faith.
I am convinced that in most instances successful futures are not
the result of programmed, memory based thinking but are traced to the silence
within.
When we are quiet, still and calm, we know exactly what to do.
Being silent does not shut down our mind; it only activates a deeper type of
intelligence. What shuts down the mind is unresolved anger and frustration.
When we are in silence, it is as if we tap into Universal wisdom,
it is as if our thinking comes to us rather then for us activating our
thoughts.
We learn to trust in silence because through this process we
experience spectacular results.
If you aren’t already doing it, the next time you need an answer,
rather than racking your brain over it, sit in silence, let the problem go and
have faith that you will receive the answer. An answer which may come to you in
the least expected way. An answer that is so different from what you had
expected.
We must also pray correctly, we must pray for our spiritual
awakening in God.
This reminds me of Matthew 7:7-8
Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock and it shall be opened unto you.
The greatest Vision, the highest ideal, the most perfect state of
consciousness is expressed in Matthew 6:33
‘Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and all
things will be given unto you’.
We must express the ideal in all things we do, we must do the
right things at all times. This applies also to the way we earn and use our
money.
How important are our thoughts and feelings about money and its
use?
In order to have resources, to be affluent, to be in the flow of
things, to have money, we have to think right; we have to have the right consciousness.
Ask yourself:
Do you view money for what it is, a symbolic representation of
value to be used for specific purposes.
Do you feel comfortable about your money management skills?
For couples, do you pool your earnings and agree on how money is
used? Do you harmonize your resources?
Do you manage money effectively?
Who in your family is better able to handle the household
expenses, let him/her look after the money. When there ismoney disagreement
between the couple, there is problem.
Do you have meaningful goals?
Do you live with purpose (know why you do what you do)?
Or,
Are you afraid that thinking about money or attracting it, will
cause you to become materialistic and unspiritual?
Do you think that money is the cause of all evil?
Are you resisting financial prosperity?
Are you afraid about attracting money, or about using money
effectively?
Remember, our thoughts are like seeds. Seeds sprout and so do
thoughts. Be aware of what you want you may end up getting it.Monitor you thoughts
(seeds).
Take control of your situation;
do not let the situation control you.
After all this, how do you rate your outlook on money on a scale
of 1 to 5?
KNOWLEDGE - of how to earn sufficient money to accomplish your worthwhile
goals.
ATTITUDE - about the use of money, prosperity or poverty
consciousness,
SKILL - in the effective use of money, (budget, sales, bulk
purchase, thrift store, large purchases),
HABITS - of paying your bills on time to save on interest charges,
saving and investing some money regularly.
This can be a simple model for anyone to use.
By now, you already know that Money is an emotionally charged
subject.
Many of these emotions can often be traced back to our childhood
and the way our caregivers handled money. Were they wasteful, did they use
money selfishly, was there never enough?
I’m certain you all had your experiences in this regard.
We are not her to blame, but rather to point out that when we know
the source of a problem, we can alter our perception about it, altering our
perception helps us to think about issues in a different way.
Many of our money problems stem from our own consciousness. We
cannot attract things from the Universe if what we want it is not part of our
consciousness.
All people like money, but just to think about money, does not
create a continuous flow of it. We all heard about prosperity consciousness,
but what is it, what does it do?
Prosperity consciousness – aligns
our thoughts, feelings and attitudes with abundance, confidence and optimism.
If we don’t have already what we need, we first visualize it as
being already in our possession and make a plan and then act accordingly.
Poverty thinking – align our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes with
scarcity, fear, pessimism and doubt.
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubt of
today.
If the subject of money is important to you, please write down
your own reaction to Money:
Give yourself a 1 for a positive response, a minus 1 for a
negative response.
Example: power +1, control +1, security +1, concern – 1, problem
–1
Let’s review what we already said earlier about Vision, Purpose
and Goals.
The process of Self Exploration and the setting of personal goals are
vital to our success, no matter what our age.
Goal Setting: can be defined as the process of creating and
selecting viable ways to accomplish a worthwhile purpose.
Goals without purpose are shallow. Our purpose for doing things
must embrace our Vision.
To accomplish our goals, we need to focus on results, have commitment
discipline and perseverance.
Self exploration – is the process of examining and sorting out our
thoughts and feelings about what we want to accomplish. This leads to self understanding,
or the process of getting insight, or the “Aha” experience, when constructive
ideas fall into place. This is to be followed by: constructive Action - by
aligning our activities with our Vision.
What can be such a Vision for us?
It is the picture we have in mind about what our life should be
all about.
Dream a big dream. Include everyone in your environment, in your
dream with love.
See them successful. Above all, share your dream with your family
members so they too can buy into it.
This is what motivates us to think about our goals in a
constructive way, as to the resource we need to accomplish our dream and the
dream of our loved ones.
Real, authentic, genuine, sustained financial well being can be
experienced when our awareness is clarified, when our thoughts are rational and
goal oriented, when our emotions are grounded in love and our behaviors are
constructive and purposeful.
When we do what needs to be done, when we learn the necessary
skills that are in demand, when we see purpose in what we do. We will be
blessed with success.
A success picture could look something like this.
We earn money, we spend within our means, we look at how we spend
our money, we pay our bills on time and keep credit to a minimum.
If we finance large assets such as a house or a car arrange, we
arrange our payment schedule to reduce our obligations as best as we can.
Saving money, for some it is easy, for others tough. Even those
who have money today may not always have had it. Saving money provides us with
the opportunity to take chances which we normally could not take, for example,
changing a job that we don’t like.
When we have saved, we can invest in accordance to our tolerance
of risk.
Life Cycle planning
We are dependent on our family while we are growing up. We should
be taught to save part of the money we receive as gifts.
We start to work. We should be encouraged to pay ourselves 10
cents of every dollar we earn.
We get married and have a family. This is where we protect the
well being of our family with life insurance. Every responsible thinking person
must have life insurance.
Education of children, today more than ever parents need to
encourage male and female children alike to get a good education.
Retirement, the time where we depend on the money we have saved
during our earnings years. We are often so busy with raising our children that
we forget about our later years. There are many elderly people out there who
live only on CPP and OAS and still have a mortgage. What happens to them, if
when one of them dies?
I am convinced that we live
in a benevolent universe.
That God is source of all there is and that as children of God we
too have access to abundance.
Jesus reminded us of this fact in Matthew 6:25, 26
“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not; neither do they
reap; nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them”.
Yes, we are here on this plane of duality for a purpose. This
purpose includes for us to work for our needs and wants, to do what needs to be
done when it needs to be done, and whatever needs to be done, must be done the
right way. We must love (serve our brothers and sisters).
We must live righteously to fulfill our higher purpose. Above all
we must learn not just to love the gifts of God but to love the Giver of gifts
above all things. Live in Faith, embrace life to the fullest, and love God.
To love God is to know God, for we cannot love that which we do
not know and always remember:
All things will be given unto us when we first seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness.
Let there be peace and love in our hearts.
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