The Breathing Prosperity blog

What if I’m are wrong and just I’m just an ordinary guy who should get a job? I heard that phrase on Night at the Museum -When Ben Stiller said those words it struck a cord with me, What if I’m wrong and I’m just an ordinary person seeking to be extraordinary? What if I’m wrong and there really is no greatness inside of me? What if I’m wrong and there is nothing special about me? What if I’m just ordinary…?

Are we really able to live up to the dreams we hold inside our heads? 

We all seem to have these great pictures of ourselves achieving great standards and reaching the heights of men/women we hold as our heroes. We all dream to be basketball stars like Michael Jordan, Composers like Mozart, Amazing chefs like Wolfgang, Have voices like Mariah, Money like Bill Gates and the looks of a supermodel but do we ever get up and wonder one day What If I’m wrong? What if none of these things apply to me? What if I’m just me and what if there is nothing special about that?

What if I live my life and die and I didn’t achieve any of these great things that I have filled in my head? 

Do We Need To Achieve World Recognition to Be Extraordinary?

My biggest goal to date is to be on the Forbes 400 Richest List which will give me tons of money and just slight recognition but do we really need that to be extraordinary? Do we really need that to be special? Do we really need that to be remembered?

Isn’t that all what it boils down to - Everyone wants to be remembered, Long after they are gone, they want to be remembered for something they did or achieved.  They want to know that they change someone lives years from now when there is nothing left but a gravestone and when everyone they ever knew has already passed.

 I got a phone call from a guy who I had spoken to a few months ago, he told me his name and where he lived and bits of our conversation and he got angry because I couldn’t remember who he was, he kept trying to give me hints but still I couldn’t remember him, frustrated he got off the phone as if he had just lost a huge battle, I know deep down he probably felt hurt that he was so unimportant to me that I’d forgotten him..

Does the need to be remembered fuel our lives?

We go thru life just like this guy, we go thru relationships both love relationships and regular relationships hoping to create some kind of lasting memory, or impression or feelings so that person won’t ever forget us. Sometimes we will even leave the person with a negative image just so we won’t be forgotten…

We want to be the girl or the guy that someone falls madly in love with that they tell their grandkids about when they are 70, or we want to be the one who made such a life changing impact on someone lives that they keep retelling the story over and over again…  As a matter a fact we will even take the role of the person who broke your heart and you cried for weeks if that means that you won’t forget us, We will take the role of being a crazy person because then you won’t forget us. That’s why no one wants to be ordinary because they feel no one will ever remember the ordinary guy, the one sitting in the corner at the party, the one who you pass every day on the street and never really notice anything about him, the one that passes on and no one shows up at their funeral…

Being remembered is even the reason why alot of people have kids- It isn’t a conscious thought but still a big reason as they want their bloodline to continue or their last name to continue- They want some part of them living even long after they are gone, they want someone to come to their gravesite and remember them and they want to live on in someone’s memories.

Is there any value in just being ordinary?

I believe Shauna said this a while ago that she would run from that thought of being just a regular person… I believe we all have that we fear being ordinary, we fear being one of the masses; we fear what it means to us… What does it mean if you are ordinary? What negative connotations does it bring if we are just ordinary? Can we be ordinary and still change someone’s lives? Can we be ordinary and still be remembered throughout the centuries? Can we be ordinary and have someone talk about the relationship they had with you when they are 70? Can we be ordinary and have a huge gathering at our grave?

The vast majority of us work for money, and the fact is, we need money to live. If it weren’t for this, many of us would choose not to work. True? True. (Of course there is pure value in physical labor for its’ own sake, but that is another story.)

So what is the difference between working for someone else ie. being an employee, vs. working for yourself, ie. being self-employed? Do you think there is someone else in charge with the former and not with the latter? While it’s true that you are responsible to others when you work in an employee environment, the bottom line is it always comes down to YOU.

The fact is that your performance affects your outcome no matter where and when you are working. Whether your boss is another person or yourself, you are still the one in charge of putting money in the bank. When you don’t provide quality work, your bottom line suffers. You may suffer such a dramatic consequence as being fired, or endure more subtle effects on your paycheck such as being passed over for raises or a promotion, or only being hire-able at a fast-food restaurant.

Take Control

When it comes to finances, you must be the one who takes responsibility; the one who makes the decisions and demonstrates the work ethic required to get the job done. Be proactive and you will feel a sense of control and confidence because you know you can handle anything, and handle it well. Take the courses that help you develop your skills and expand your perspective. Think in bigger pictures and plan for possibilities such as job loss or a change in management. Use your spare time wisely so that you are never caught in a financial predicament you can’t get out of. NO ONE can do this for you - not your parents, your co-workers, nor your boss. Bosses come and go, but you are always in the driver seat of your paycheck/s. In fact, a new boss can be seen as an ooportunity to have someone with fresh eyes appreciate your (growing) skillset.

Do You Love Your Work?

I would venture to say that unless you are working at something you love, you will have difficulty staying on task, no matter who the ‘boss’ is. While you may not be able - or even want - to leave your current job, making it more pleasant and enjoyable is always a plus. There has been much written, here and elsewhere, about how to improve both your place of work and how you feel in it. Even if it’s a tiny step you can take, go ahead and take it. Try reading this post about The Little Things for some inspiration in this regard.

Remember, no matter who you work for, you are the ultimate boss. How would you rate the job you are doing?…

Just a quick post today to point you to a fabulous and growing list of personal development blogs.

Initiated by Priscilla Palmer, the idea was to put together a comprehensive list of people who inspire and empower us with their words, and I know many people will appreciate having the links all in one place. You can find the entire list at Priscilla’s blog by CLICKING HERE. Enjoy!

When you first begin learning about the Law of Attraction and the principles surrounding it, the very exciting prospect of being able to create your life any way you want it is usually where the motivation comes from.

As a little time goes by, perhaps you begin hitting a wall or noticing situations or places where you don’t always get ‘what you want’, and you feel some frustration. You begin to learn that you have hidden limiting beliefs that are keeping you within certain patterns. There are many effective ways to go about exploring and changing your limiting beliefs (quite a few of which you will see in our article archives).

One way in which we limit ourselves without realizing it is by fighting what is, or what has been. If you ever catch yourself saying ‘If only ‘x’ hadn’t happened, then my life would be so much different,’ or ‘If so-and-so would just wake up and appreciate me then life would be so great,’ then you are fighting instead of allowing.

Going against the stream of well-being, as Abraham-Hicks tells us, is fighting an uphill battle. Resentment, holding grudges, or being upset about a circumstance rather than concentrating on what we really want for ourselves (not others), causes us to be stuck and impedes our progress. It’s not the Law of Attraction that isn’t working - it’s us who are holding ourselves in a pattern of resentment.

While on the ultimate plane I believe we can affect reality completely, at this level we must work within the existing framework of our lives. We have a lot more power and freedom than we sometimes grant ourselves, and it is by letting go of limiting beliefs that we can be free to create in the moment, as we are meant to. For example, if you have identified yourself as a female who was abused when you were a child, you can release this identity while still being that person. Does that make sense? You are a woman. Period. The fact that you are abused does not go away if you cease resenting it. It simply loses its’ power over you, and is not part of your identity TODAY. Today, you can look forward and make conscious choices about your life and create the dreams you hold dear, without holding on to a limiting past resentment, however deep it may be.

The irony is that the things you are resenting are holding you back - YOU are the only one suffering by not letting go of grudges. As someone wise once said, resenting someone else is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die. The same applies when we resent or hate situations - jobs, relationships, circumstances - the poison is yours; you are swallowing it. 

With all the LOA information available these days and most of saying the same things, it’s easy to think that limiting beliefs are generic and easily dealt with. This misperception is what keeps many people stuck and frustrated. As you will discover and as this article illustrates, your own limiting beliefs are very personal to you. The more specific to your life you get when exploring your subconscious beliefs and triggers, ther more effective you will be. For some further resources, try the following:

EFT is a powerful releasing method that doesn’t even require knowledge of the beliefs so much as the reactions you have when affected by them. Our associate Rick Wilkes is a pro, and his website is full of good information. You can find him at Thriving Now.

As many of you know, I am a big fan of Bob Doyle and his Wealth Beyond Reason program, as it contains so many valuable resources, including ebooks, guided and brainwave meditations, interviews with many and varied experts, and much more. Visit his site at Wealth Beyond Reason.

Enjoy and prosper!

Have you ever become so caught up in pursuing your goals that you don’t even realize you are getting closer until someone mentions it?

Change is often so slow and gradual that it goes unnoticed. We can see this phenomenon with our children or others; much of their growth seems almost nonexistent until someone comments on how big they are getting or how much they have changed. Conversely, the same thing happens as we age and neglect to exercise, or as we slowly settle into a job we dislike and give up; the downward slide is so gradual that it is difficult to detect. [Just writing that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable.]

When it comes to ourselves, we must ensure we pay attention all along the road to our goals, lest we get discouraged by thinking we have not made any progress. Positive reinforcement for little benchmarks may be necessary and vital to continuing motivation. It also feels great to get little jolts of gratitude and energy by recognizing small achievements. It doesn’t matter how small they are. Be sure and stop every day - every hour if you can - and say to yourself, ‘Wow! That’s great, I just went a day without being drawn into conflict,’…or exercised each day this week, or made healthy food choices, or whatever the small things are which you are doing but perhaps not acknowledging. Remember that although your tendency may be to beat yourself up about what you are NOT doing right, this is only a habit, and you can change it.

If we can balance keeping our eyes on the big prize with acknowledging small victories and turning points, we stand a great chance of achieving what we set out to do. For instance, lately I have been thinking I have no goals, or more specifically that I have not  yet achieved the numbers I set regarding my financial independence goal. However, as a perfectly timed gift from the Universe, I found a goals sheet that I wrote only two years ago, and was shocked to see all the things I have accomplished from that list. It’s incredible…and because I am now living many of those things eg. own my own businesses, work from home, active every day, healthy relationships, travel regulalry, etc., it now seems so familiar that I forget how far I have come.

Another reminder, and the point of this post, was provided by a lovely reader named Suzanne on her own blog, who linked to us and put me in some fantastic company. She said that my posts ’shine with positive energy’, and this gave me such a huge smile and burst of gratitude because it has been my goal all along to shine with positive energy. THIS IS IT! I have reached my goal if that is how I come across. How wonderful!

When it comes to our goals, we need to reinforce our pictures of who we think we are - who we choose to be. Sometimes, as above, it takes another to remind us of this. For me, this means I have either been slipping in my goal- and self-defining work lately, or it means that I am living it so much that I didn’t even realize it. I suspect it is the former and will go write out and clarify my current goals when I am finished with this post.

NOTE: You  can never work on or look at your goals list too often. This is how we transform our lives; by becoming the person we choose to be on paper, and by constantly visiting this and amending as we go, we make it really workable. This is how we reinforce ourselves - the selves we are in our ideals. We can clearly see as we reach small milestones. We can look at that goal that said ‘I am active every day’ and remember that when we wrote it, we weren’t…we wanted to be, but it was a future goal. Now it’s so true that it doesn’t need to be a goal anymore. Don’t deny yourself of this pleasure!

For more on being your own motivator, you may enjoy the post Motivation and the Expectations of Others. Have a great day!

For those who are attracted to Law of Attraction learning because they want to become wealthy, I understand there is a lot of frustration building up. If you feel you have been doing a lot of ‘work’ but not making any progress, read on…

First, let me say that personal development of any kind is like a spiral, and even when it feels like nothing is happening, there really is change occuring under the surface. However, there may be something missing in your toolbox when it comes to building wealth (or health, or great relationships, etc.).

For myself, I had the first inkling that I could change my mindset and increase my prosperity when I came across the term ‘wealth consciousness’ in the late 1990’s. The term intrugued me and felt like a missing puzzle piece, and I began to voraciously search for and consume everything I could find regarding wealth consciousness. All the information I read seemed to reinforce the same idea: change your inner thoughts and beliefs and your outer world will change accordingly.

After a lot of personal development work and purging of beliefs, I realized that I was not getting significantly wealthier, although the quality of my relationships and my own self-esteem grew by leaps and bounds as I grew. I reasoned there still must be a missing step, and have now come to see it is proper financial education.

For women in particular, there is a deplorable lack of education in the financial arena. It was not until I faced some of my internal beliefs and looked to see where they came from that I realized that a) I had been not been taught about money and how to make it, and b) I was not alone. Almost everyone I meet through Breathing Prosperity and Follow Your Path tells me that they don’t know enough about money to feel confident about their financial futures, let alone their present. This situation is, in my mind, pathetic, and we need to correct this on a massive scale. The fact that children are not taught basic financial matters in school frightens me, because I can see the devastating results of that ignorance in my own earlier adult life, and the lives of those around me. The strongest impetus for creating Breathing Prosperity was to help people - women especially at the outset - become financially independent, both by learning how to change their lack mentality and by getting a basic financial education. Financial education is one of the most important things we can receive in our lives, and if you haven’t been one of the few lucky ones, give YOURSELF the gift.

The two issues - financial education and the mindset of the wealthy - go hand in hand. If you feel like you are missing any pieces, try looking at it this way. You cannot develop true, lasting wealth (financial health) without addressing both sides of the coin. Being financially free is so empowering and changes EVERYTHING about your life. Without worries about money, you are free to be who you really want to be and offer your unique gifts to the world. Everyone can do this, and it is not just for a chosen few.

The first step is, start reading and learning. I have read countless books about the financial markets and the wealthy mindest in my quest for a financial education, and you can see just a few of these in the recommended reading section of Follow Your Path.

A couple of resources that helped me make turning points in my understanding and progress include:

Wealth Beyond Reason: Bob Doyle, who you may recognize from the movie The Secret, was a pioneer in Law of Attraction education, with his WBR Program. His laid-back mannerism comes through in everything he does, and it instills both confidence and patience in the student. The Program is extremely thorough and includes books, interviews with various experts, amazing meditations exclusive to the Program (I still use these meditations all the time…I have never found anything that even comes close) as well as an interactive forum and much more.

Rich Woman: Written by Kim Kiyosaki, wife of the famed author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series (also highly recommended), this book is a real eye-opener for women and is recommended for EVERY woman you know, and men as well. The stats Kim quotes are truly frightening, and this important book is a must-read. It is inspiring and empowering, and even though I have come a great distance with my own financial situation, it still had a huge impact on me when I read it recently.

Choosing Prosperity: This site and the resources were created by the lovely Elyse Hope-Killoran, and the best part is the Prosperity Game, which is a mindset transformation game. It never ceases to amaze me when I go back to play and see all of the things I have accomplished that I wrote on my ‘want it’ list. Very expanding and enlightening.

This is in no way an exhaustive list; it just outlines some of my key influences and if they can help you as well, then it is my pleasure to share them with you. Enjoy, and prosper!

‘I wanna be rich!’

Shout it…

‘I wanna be RICH!!!!!!!!!!!’

Yell it out!….How does that make you feel?…

For many people, words like selfish, corrupt, heartless, slimy, user, I can’t, impossible, not for me; yeah right, don’t we all?…come to mind. How about you?

When we use words such as prosperity, wealth, and abundance, we are of course referring to far more than just money, and include in these definitions such things as health, love, passion, happiness and life balance. However, financial abundance - riches - are definitely a part of this, at least for us.

Until you can hear the words money or rich and all you think is ‘yahoo!!!!!!’, you still have some work to do in the area of allowing wealth for yourself.

If you have been trying to ‘get wealthy’ or ‘experience prosperity’ but the word rich brings up some deep negative connotations, you have been fooling yourself. Your subconsious cannot be tricked in this way, and it knows that you are talking about money. Your underlying beliefs always come into play in what you produce in your life, so if this all rings a bell for you, working on neutralizing the concepts of money and riches may be a good place to start.

The rewards are well worth the work, and if you make it all fun, it’s even better! Life is supposed to be a rewarding, exciting journey, and if you see it that way, you will enjoy each moment and each discovery more. Where you are at this moment is absolutely perfect. Enjoy!

When was the last time you got excited like a little kid?

Somehow we have it in our minds that being excited is silly or immature, when in fact that feeling - that positive surge of energy - is what life is all about. That excited feeling that made you jump up and down and clap spontaneously when you were a kid is what you need to cultivate in order to attract - to create - the life of your dreams. Think about it…if you have a vision of the things and circumstances you wish to create for your future, how do you FEEL when those visions are swimming in your head? Aren’t you excited, and vibrant, and happy?

You know from the Law of Attraction reading you’ve likely been doing that you need to be vibrationally in alignment with what you want, so if you aren’t acting excited, vibrant and happy, then how can you attract all that great ‘future’ stuff and circumstances?…

We don’t always express our positive emotions for fear of being seen as silly or unstable, and of course we are not advocating jumping up and down and clapping in the middle of a business meeting. Isn’t it true, however, that the people who are the most positive are the most fun to be around, the most uplifting and the most successful? I’m not talking about Pollyanna-type, ‘everything is always rosy’ positivity; this is deeper than that. Rather, what we are after is a deep, belief-based positivity that says you can always affect the way you perceive and deal with things and that there is always a solution if you ask the right questions. These deep beliefs are those which give you true confidence, such as ‘I am strong and resilient,‘ ‘Everything that happens is part of my perfect path,‘ ‘I can handle anything,‘ and ‘I always focus on what I want in any situation,‘ etc..

In the end, what does it matter what anyone else thinks? It’s your life to enjoy, and if you aren’t enjoying it, who will?…Your attitude and how enthusiastic and excited you get about your life affect how your life goes. It’s the Law of Attraction in action. Knowing this, why not use your emotions to create more of what you want? If you want joy, happiness, excitement and satisfaction, start allowing yourself to feel and express those very things!

If you’re a little stuck on the ‘how’ involved, try partaking in some simple things. Go to a fair and ride the ferris wheel, find a meadow and run through it or lie down in it and look up at the clouds. Quite simply, go to your nearest playground and just sit on the bench and watch the kids play. Kids are the best demonstrators of how to be excited and happy and live in the moment. Let your current fears and concerns go for a few minutes and just enjoy being alive. You may be surprised to find ‘negative’ feelings surging through you as you realize just how much pressure you have been putting on yourself. Pressure to be adult, to be successful, to be making the right decisions. Let these flow - they will dissipate quickly because you allow them to be felt. Relax…and allow yourself to get excited like a little kid. It’s a far healthier - and more effective - place to be. Enjoy!