Open Up Your Mind to Receive

“Today I am receptive to higher thoughts and I demonstrate greater good.” ~ http://www.ourabundantlife.com (Dr. Lloyd Tupper and Francine Huss)

I am so thankful for my friends at Our Abundant Life for this beautiful affirmation. Everyday they offer the most amazing quotes that create abundant living. Often, I will visit my inbox each morning to discover a “Daily Affirmation” that inspires or touches me deeply.

I appreciate your support of my blog, “A Poem A Day Brings Money My Way!” And, I thank you for telling your network of friends about it. Today, I am going to ask that you tell your friends about http://www.ourabundantlife.com. Their message is consistently uplifting and encouraging and I think the “Daily Affirmation” they offer is simply wonderful.

Prosperously yours,
Denise Allen

Overcoming Financial Challenges & Personal Setbacks

Perhaps you have been given a financial diagnosis that paints a grim picture for your future. Or, maybe you’ve suffered a major setback in your career and now it appears nothing will pull you out of this abyss. The Truth you must remember regardless of the condition you face is: There are no impossibilities; there are no incurables; there are no unattainables. Right now, you have the inner strength to handle whatever has appeared.

Inner strength is your inheritance as a human being. None of us is gifted with more or less strength than another person. Each of us has just what he/she needs to meet the challenges that sit before him/her.

So, calm yourself. Relax. Breathe deeply. Relax again. Close your eyes. Still your emotions. Worry, fear and self-doubt scatter your inner strength. Quieting your emotions conserves your inner strength and allows it to build up quickly. Remind yourself that there are no impossibilities; there are no incurables; there are no unattainables. You can handle whatever lies before you.

 

Suggested Spiritual Treatment for Wealth: There are no impossibilities; there are no incurables; there are no unattainables. I can handle whatever challenges I currently face!

Wealth Without Health is No Wealth At All

Everyone loves a wonderful gift. We excitedly open the package, anticipating the goodie that lies within. Let us take this approach to each day we wake up without some sickness or malady. Our health is truly our greatest gift. It allows us to move about without restriction. It is worth more than any amount of financial wealth. In fact, financial wealth in the absence of physical health is not really wealth at all. Do not take for granted the health you enjoy today. Take a moment to quietly give thanks for the fact that your body works properly.

Suggested Spiritual Treatment for Health: I am so grateful for this wonderful body. I make a conscious choice to cherish and appreciate my health. Perfect life now moves through me. With every breath I breathe, my body is renewed, my heart is uplifted and my soul is restored.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. ~ Buddha

Passion vs. Aggression

Passion and aggression are not the same. People who blaze trails in a particular field are called “rainmakers” – the idea being that they have some special dispensation to deliver extraordinary results upon command and especially under pressure. We assume it is their aggression that produces the consistent results we see. But, the discerning eye reveals that what appears to be aggression is actually passion – or a deep, abiding love for their craft. Aggression seeks to force a thing into being; that type of creation cannot last. But, passion loves a thing into being; that type of creation stands forever.

Take a moment to reflect on your dreams. What is your approach toward your deepest desires? Are you attempting to force them into being? Or, are you loving them into existence? There is a difference. That which you love into existence has unshakable staying power.

Spiritual Treatment: I inject everything I do with a spirit of passion and love.

Spiritual Treatment: Works Like an Antibiotic

The word treatment is a perfect word because spiritual treatments work like an antibiotic. Just as you have medicine for the physical body, there is medicine for the mental body (or the mind). And, that medicine is the spiritual treatment.

You use spiritual treatment in the same way that you use antibiotics. When an infection first occurs, you begin taking an antibiotic. As the infection retreats, you continue taking the antibiotic. Any doctor will tell you that you should continue taking the antibiotic even after the physical symptoms of an infection have disappeared. In other words, you must finish your course of antibiotics even if the physical symptoms have disappeared. And the reasoning: you want to prevent a recurrence. 

The same principle applies to the use of a spiritual treatment. If you are treating for financial lack, you do not stop the treatment once the outward signs of financial lack have disappeared. Instead, you continue the spiritual treatment until it roots itself in your mind. The time it takes for a spiritual treatment to root itself within your mind varies from person to person. In general, your spiritual treatment has run its course when it ceases to evoke an emotional response from you.

Most doctors will give you a set of conditions or rules for taking your antibiotic: three times a day with food or drink a full glass of water after taking the pill or do not take after 9:00pm. You want to be just as regimented when applying your spiritual treatment. 1) Choose a time and space that you can commit to on a daily basis, and during which you will not be interrupted. I prefer to apply my spiritual treatment when I first wake up and before I go to sleep. 2) Be disciplined in your approach. If you are likely to forget to apply your mental medicine, develop reminders for yourself that you will adhere to. 3) Make no excuses. Only you can apply this mental medicine to your mind. No one else can do it for.

A colleague once taught me the valuable lesson of creating non-negotiables in my life. One morning, I was hiking down a hill when I bumped into her running up the same hill. She was many years older than I am. So, I was amazed that she was running uphill, while I was huffing and puffing walking downhill. I asked her how she did it. She told me that running for her was a non-negotiable. Before she did anything in her day, she put on her running shoes and workout clothes and she headed for the mountain that we were on that day. Exercising for her was just like brushing her teeth – it was a non-negotiable. She’d never think of leaving the house without brushing her teeth and she’d never think of starting her day without doing her run uphill.

I walked away from that experience changed. Now, when I want to do a thing in my life, I turn it into a non-negotiable. I encourage you to make spiritual treatments a non-negotiable in your life. You have virtual treasure in your mind. Spiritual treatments can unlock that treasure for you.

Go ahead. Give it shot and hit me back to let me know how it worked for you.

Spiritual Treatment: What Is It?

A spiritual treatment is a prayer of faith and understanding for healing, harmony, wisdom, prosperity, or any other good that you desire. The object of any treatment is to lift the thinking and feeling of the person being treated to a high spiritual consciousness through which healing is accomplished.

You can treat yourself. Spiritual treatments do not require a third party. You can take a set of affirmations (short, pithy statements of power) and verbally or silently repeat them over and over again to yourself, allowing this new thought to penetrate your consciousness.

There are countless spiritual treatments available. You may select a passage from some sacred Scripture or you may write out a few affirmations of your own. You know that you have a good spiritual treatment because it evokes an emotional response from you. The words make you feel something. If you find a particularly clever or well written spiritual treatment but it fails to make you feel something, then you would do well to discard it and find another one that is more potent.

A simple treatment for prosperity that I use often is:

Money is God’s Idea of circulation.

This idea I accept.

This idea I now accept.

This idea I now accept as the basis of all my financial affairs.

I like money.

I believe that it is God’s Activity; that it is good.

I use it with wisdom.

I release it with joy.

I send it forth without fear.

For I know that under a Divine Law, it comes back to me increased and multiplied.

Have you used spiritual treatments before? I’d like to hear from you about your experience with them. In the next entry, I’ll share some techniques for using them effectively. 

Prosperously yours,

Denise Allen

Denise’s 10 Rules for Managing Money

I shared ten rules for managing money in a recent interview, which I adapted from Dr. Schuler’s Ten Rules for Living and Working.

Rule #1 The financial lives we live are the financial lives we create.

In this financial climate, it can be tempting to throw up our hands as if we do not have control over what happens to us. Many people are frustrated and have given up looking for employment. But, we are not helpless. We can still make responsible financial decisions. Regardless of what happens with our economy, every financial decision we make has an impact. Make a conscious decision to stay in control (or, if you’ve thrown up your hands in frustration, resume control) of your finances. Set achievable goals to help you create the life you want.

Rule #2 Health and productivity go hand in hand.

Worrying about our finances, decreases our productivity and increases our stress. It may be emotionally tough to look at your finances when you do not see enough money to cover your expenses. Do it anyway. Carve out time, put on an upbeat tune and sit down with your bills and put them in order.

Rule #3 Don’t wait for solutions; create them.

Instead of waiting for the right solution to come along, seek it out. Dr. Schuler says it well: Identify your problem, assess the situation, research options and implement a solution. We are not the first people to experience an economic downturn, and we will not be the last. Now is not the time to withdraw. Reach out to your neighbors. Brainstorm creative ways to create additional income. Most of all, do not give up.

Rule #4 Negativity kills.

We all know about the law of attraction. I addressed this law in the article set, “Affirmations 101” and I published a great book of powerful wealth affirmations that you can use everyday. Thoughts act like magnets. Think any thought – positive or negative – and it will draw like thoughts to itself.

Rule #5 In the end, we are all more or less human.

None of us enjoys making mistakes. But the moment you learn the lesson, it is no longer a mistake. We are all works in progress. Use financial missteps and setbacks as opportunities to learn more about yourself and your finances.

Affirmations 101: Focus On Thinking

Affirmations and denials DO NOT change conditions; they change your thoughts about conditions.

Focus on Your Thinking

If you have a new product to launch, but your product has not yet found its audience. What you say – good or bad – about your lack of sales does not change the fact that you do not have sales. You may affirm, “I have plenty of sales! I have more sales than I can imagine possible! Everyone wants to purchase my product now!” Or you may openly express your frustration: “No one is paying attention to my efforts. I will never get this product adopted by a big enough market to earn me any money.”

Neither of these statements changes the fact that you do not have sales. But, these statements DO influence what you think about your lack of sales. And what you think about your lack of sales determines the ultimate outcome. Your words – positive or negative – DO NOT change your experience; rather, they change what you think about your experience.

This distinction in the application of affirmations and denials may seem nitpicky but understanding the mechanics of how change happens is key to living and creating deliberately.

Our lives unfold from the inside out. The words you speak change your life only to the degree that those words influence your thinking. Positive words spoken to a negative condition only work when there is a corresponding change in your mind.

No change in mind = No change in experience

Nearly everyone can site one experience wherein they made an affirmation and immediately saw a result. But the permanency of that result depended upon whether the underlying thinking was adjusted. Our affirmations and denials produce temporary results when we merely work it on the outside, rather than where it really counts on the inside.

A change in mind = A change in thinking

Thoughts are things and they occupy “space” in the mind. When properly applied, affirmations and denials remove old, weak, inefficient thoughts and replace them with new and better thoughts. A mental house cleaning is even more necessary than a physical one, for the outer is always a reflection of the inner.

The most important element to grasp about affirmations and denials is that, first and foremost, they are mental processes. Because our lives are so outwardly oriented, our first instinct is to focus upon outer behavior. We develop rules – “if you speak your affirmations for 21 days, you create a new habit.” When that does not work, we say, “well, what you really needed to do was speak it 21 times per day for 21 days.” Someone else will come along and say, “No, you have to write and speak them 21 times per day for 21 days.” Yet another will say, “21 is not enough, you need 40 days because 40 is the number of spiritual completion.” And, so it goes.

It matters not whether you speak them, hum them, sing them or dance them. Words spoken without the corresponding mental attitude produce no results. Outward behavior is always secondary to inner thinking. Adjust your mental attitude first.

A change in thinking = A change in experience

Now, it is your turn. Can you see a usefulness to focusing your affirmations and denials on your thinking rather than on your outward experience? Do you think this adjustment will make the difference in how you are using affirmations and denials? What other distinctions have you observed that make the difference between affirmations and denials that work and those that do not work?

To Forgive = To Forget

“I’ll forgive him (or her), but I will never forget.” How many times have you heard a statement like this spoken by someone who has been wronged? Or, maybe you have said these words.

Until you forget, you have NOT forgiven.

Forgiveness is a letting go process that is entirely for YOUR benefit. There is no forgiveness without forgetting.

Many people believe that forgiveness means reconciliation. It does not. The choice is yours whether or not to reconcile. Forgiveness does not let the other person off the hook. Rather, it lets you off the hook.

You do not have to fear repeating the same mistake. When you truly forgive, you advance in consciousness and it is impossible for you to make the same mistake.

Forgiveness carries its own protection.

It both dissolves the thought in you that created the unwanted experience and erects an impenetrable mental shield that prevents its return. With the offending thought gone, there is nothing in you to attract that which you do not want.

So forgive UNTIL you forget.

Don't be an elephant about forgiveness!

Forgiveness is one of those topics that gets everyone riled up. Few want to let go, fearing that they are condoning the wrong someone has done or that they are setting themselves up to be hurt or harmed again. Not so. True forgiveness protects you.

Now it is your turn. What has been your experience with forgiveness? Is there something you have been carrying around that finally needs to be laid to rest? Where have you resisted practicing forgiveness? Post your comments below.

Affirmations 101: The Four Basic Denials

In her seminal book, “Lessons in Truth,” H. Emilie Cady teaches, “all systems for spiritualizing the mind include denial. By denial, we mean declaring not to be true a thing that seems true.” Denials are the way that we speak Truth to false beliefs that limit us.

What are the beliefs that have limited us? Any reason we give to explain why we do not have some desire is a belief that has limited us. The universe is an instantaneous deliverer of dreams. The buffer of time between our desire and its arrival is our mind’s ability to receive it. In the moment that we desire a thing, it is available to us.

“Denial is the first practical step toward wiping out of our minds the mistaken beliefs of a lifetime.” (Cady)

Denials uproot entrenched family beliefs and attitudes:

• When our personal goals stretch beyond the dreams our family or community can imagine for us, we need denials. In the absence of role models and encouragement from others, denials dissolve our own self-doubt.

• When we are breaking through to a new level and no one around us believes we can, we need denials. Family and friends can be our biggest cheerleaders and they can be our greatest dream-busters. Their lack of faith in our ability can be a very powerful stopper in our lives. Denials will neutralize the effects of their lack of faith.

Denials counteract longstanding cultural beliefs:

• In every culture, we maintain prejudices about men, women, people in certain ethnic groups, people from other countries, etc. Many of these beliefs have no basis in reality but we have carried them for so long – sometimes centuries – that few question their validity. We may have a personal dream that forces us to confront a longstanding cultural belief. Our first job will be to overcome that belief in ourselves.  Last night Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award® for directing. Just as Kathryn Bigelow had to overcome her beliefs about what women directors could accomplish, we must do the same for our dream. Denials help us speak Truth to longstanding beliefs that run counter to our dreams.

The only beliefs that limit you are the ones you refuse to deny!

Cady identifies four common error thoughts that nearly everyone grants great power.