The Breathing Prosperity blog

How do you feel about this sentence:

Money will not make you a better person.

?

The Proof

Think about someone you dislike (come on, we all dislike someone…) and now picture them with a newly acquired 10 million dollars in their pocket. Picture them walking around sporting fabulous new clothes, and perhaps driving around town in a fancy new car. Now, while you may love the new ’stuff’ they have, and you may (or may not) feel jealous, you should easily be able to see that a) they are NOT any different than they were without the infusion of cash, and b) if anything, the money is exaggerating who they were. For instance, if this person has/had a tendency to be arrogant, then a lot of money will only exacerbate this trait.

Got it? Now that we have seen that the person in our theoretical exercise is NOT made any better - no nicer, no more gorgeous, no more likable - by their money, no matter what they may think, it’s obvious that money is empty, hollow and cold. It is a tool for exchange and nothing more. It doesn’t care who has it, and it doesn’t improve someone’s personality no matter how many beautiful clothes and trappings they surround themselves with. Sooo…see where I’m going with this? What makes you think money will improve your life?

Your Truth

Many of us hold certain sacred beliefs about money - especially when we don’t have any. We secretly believe that if we had ‘enough,’ we would live exciting, different lives. WE would be more exciting, better and different. We would be better-looking, more likable, maybe more outgoing and popular. Even though we have read and been told that money doesn’t do these things, many of us still somehow think it will.

The sooner you can clearly separate your emotions from the subject of money and see it as the tool it is - and nothing more - the sooner you will be able to take postitive action and create more for yourself. You will also be able to take a look at areas in your life which you wish to improve, and work on those as well. You know, those places where you have been waiting for money to fix things…your fitness level, your relationships, your communication skills. If you have been harboring fantasies forever about your ‘wealthy’ future self being fit, gorgeous, socially savvy and popular, but in reality you sit at home eating ice cream and watching TV, you are not facing the truth. Even if you won that theoretical $10 million tomorrow, you would not miraculously be any better at connecting with people, nor would you be fit, well-groomed and confident IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY.

Today could be the day you take a hard look at reality and begin making some changes. This is a good thing! Sometimes we hide behind our illusions our entire lives and then realize, too late, that we’ve messed it all up. Eye-openers are always good for us, even when they’re tough. If this post has done anything to make you think differently about money and your life in general, then I am indeed blessed.

Thanks for visiting. We hope you are inspired to get out there and create what you want!

Additional posts you may enjoy:

• Wealth: Mindset vs. Education
• Wealth: The Progression of Views
• Are You Looking Prosperous or BEING Prosperous?
• Wealth: Your Financial Education

Today we have a small task; an exercise, if you will.

We are going to take an everyday word…a word that many of use very often - daily, I suspect - and look at its underlying implications with respect to our beliefs and our lives.

The word is EXPENSIVE.

A seemingly innocuous, innocent little word, isn’t it? It comes in quite handy; we use it to label just about anything we can’t afford, or that we think is a ‘rip-off.’ And here we begin our exploration…

When we use the word expensive, the beliefs we are expressing are not objective; they demonstrate our perception not just of the item in question, but of the world around us and ‘how it works.’ Here are just a few of the common ways in which this word is meant:

• Too much money
• Decadent, or ‘over-the-top’ in a way that is frivolous
• Not worth it
• Someone is ripping you off
• It would take selfishness to get it
• There are better things to do with your money
• Dear, as in it costs too much life and heart - too much of your time went into earning your money to spend it on ‘just this one thing’
• It’s wrong to spend ‘that much’ on something
• It should be cheaper
• I can’t afford that
• Who am I to think I can/should have that?
• It will take all of my money, then I can’t have anything else

As you read to this list, you may even find yourself mentally adding to it. Hopefully you will also begin to notice all the underlying garbage that is insinuated in these common thoughts. This is just ONE example of ONE word that is used in everyday language…and look at how much it tells you that you can’t have and can’t do! By nonchalantly using the word expensive, you are inadvertantly reiterating to yourself that:

• Something can be out of your reach
• You lack: money, resources, hope for more of the same
• You are limited in what you can do and have

By uttering this simple little word, you are stating to the Universe that you live in lack and limitation. You are pinching off the flow of energy, love, life force, joy, happiness…both for yourself and for the person or company that created the ‘expensive’ thing. For if they are not deserving of the money that would flow to them from their creation, then no one is. Either we are all deserving, or no one is. When we judge, which we do by using words like expensive, we try and preclude someone else from experiencing abundance…and this never works.

Thanks to my friend Lexi Sundell at Energies of Creation for reminding me of this post, which I had written some time ago and never published. She sent me a link to Steve Pavlina’s great post about Money & The Law of Attraction which is bang-on and which re-iterates and fills out even further what I am trying to say here.

Enjoy, and prosper in every sense of the word!

TIP: Want to learn more about BREEEAAATHING PROSPERITY (insert deep, happy breath here)? … About how to expand your wealth mindset? Try the following resources:

• NEW! Money and the Law of Attraction by Abraham-Hicks - in book or CD form
• The updated Prosperity Thinking! E-Course here at Breathing Prosperity
• The 30 Days to Wealth instantly downloadable e-book at IncreasingVelocity.com

You do, that’s who. And so do I.

Money is so fundamental a tool in our modern society that we literally cannot live without it. We would die of thirst or hunger, or exposure, if we didn’t have at least the minimum amount of money required to trade for the meeting of our basic needs. We need money just to survive…and who wants to just survive?

Knowing this, an objective observer would assume that as a species we would teach our children basic money-making and -management skills. Since money is our form of currency, used worldwide, we as humans must all have basic skills in obtaining, growing and using it wisely … right?

Things could not be further from the truth, as you and I know. The subject of money is, instead, entangled hopelessly within a web of wide-ranging emotions, beliefs, taboos, rituals, denials and accusations. We’ve made a mess out of something that is entirely inert and should have nothing attached to it except for the values we give it.

Can we change this as a society? Perhaps - perhaps not. What we CAN do is to help ourselves individually, and in doing so set examples for our friends, colleagues and children.

We can begin by trying to extricate ourselves from the complex topic of money; to separate ourselves mentally from it and begin to observe our habits, patterns and beliefs with objectivity. We, as observers, can see that although our beliefs don’t affect money itself, they affect how we act around money, thus affecting whether we attract it or send it away; whether we thrive financially or suffer.

We all have our own unique set of beliefs and practices when it comes to money, based upon our upbringing, the myriad influences of a lifetime and any opinions - skewed or not - we have formed on our own. In separating ourselves to ask what is valid, what is working and, most importantly, what makes sense for us today, we can take the first step to a brighter, more abundant financial future. Here is some food for thought to help you begin.

• Ask yourself, ‘What do I believe about money?’ You may want to start a list, and you’ll notice that this list will get longer as you go about your daily life and realize how many beliefs and thoughts pop up - you may just surprise yourself. Armed with this knowledge, you can then begin to ask yourself;
• ‘Is that true?’ With each belief, for instance that rich people are corrupt, see if you cannot find one - or many - ways in which you have personally witnessed it NOT being true. If you’d like to follow the brilliant and simple work of Byron Katie, another question to ask would be ‘Who would I be without that thought?’ 
• When you catch yourself hearing a message or belief about money in your head, ask: ‘Whose voice said that?’ This small step can be very revealing, as we discover that what we thought was our own voice is actually - often - that of our mother or father, or another influential person in our early lives.
• Importantly, when we discover beliefs we have about money, it is crucial to decide if this belief serves us NOW. Given where you want to go in your life, does this belief help take you there, or does it lead you astray, blind you to possibilities or perhaps limit you from believing you can even get there?…If the thought doesn’t serve you, discard it, and if possible, replace it with something that does. Repeat your new belief - even if it seems somewhat foreign to you - as often as needed until it feels like a part of you. Using the example above, you could replace the thought ‘rich people are corrupt’ with ‘Magnificent wealth is possible for all of us, and I am going to do wonderful things with my abundance,’ or ‘Millions of people are doing wonderful things with money, and I can, too.’
• Now that you have begun exploring  -and hopefully purging - your limiting beliefs around money, you can begin to learn new ones. Be open to learning from any source which presents itself; a well-off potential mentor you know but had never thought of in that way; your local library; cd and tape sets from successful people; personal development websites and blogs…the list is limited only by your own ingenuity.
• Now for the very personal work of defining your own financial future. An abbreviated outline of this task goes something like this (see our E-Courses for more on this): Ask yourself the key question: What do I want my future to look like? … This, of course, is a big question. If you have never really sat down to define your ideal future, this may initiate a work in progress. That’s OK. It is the beginning of your new life - the way YOU design it. Do not allow what you think is possible to limit you, because you cannot really know what is possible in the larger picture. Simply state what you WANT. As you work to define your ideal future, and to listen to your own voice, hunches about what to do will come to you…you can then take inspired action such as starting a new business, taking some courses or other tasks which just seem ‘right’.

These few ideas may seem overly simple, but they are NOT easy. Self-discovery is one of the most difficult, and yet most rewarding, pursuits available to us as human beings. Few of us explore our true potential, and even just in the field of finances, there is much you can do to learn, grow and prosper. Enjoy!

If one of your main goals is wealth or financial independence, you may find yourself noticing more and more the money-related issues that surround you. Perhaps you now notice the quality of clothing people choose to wear, or their cars, or just general presentation. Perhaps as you overhear snippets of conversation each day you have begun to pick out lack-based comments vs. wealth- or abundance-mentality phrases, where before you would not have thought to make such distinctions. Have you noticed your own mentality changing and metamorphosing as you go?…If not, you have a long way to come… 

As you have read here and elsewhere many times, it is your thought processes and patterns that create your outer world, and in order to change your circumstances, you must change your thoughts. This is a noticeable occurence, as things around you will begin to be perceived differently and the meaning or significance you attach to events will change. Your values will shift and your your alignment and comfort with certain situations and people will undergo change as well.

If all this talk about change makes you uncomfortable, that is the first challenge to tackle. When you hear that you must change your thougts, it literally means you must undergo change - you cannot stay the same and expect different results. You can choose to view this as an exciting challenge or as a scary prospect. In all likelihood, the people around you will seem to change as well, as they interpret and react to the changes in you; in fact most of the time they will not have changed at all, but will be responding to the change in you, and not always in a happy way. Change threatens many people, and if you are one of those people you need to hop on over to the other side of the fence, where change is acknowledged as the only healthy and natural constant, and start rolling with it…relish every little change you notice, and be open to new views. Otherwise, how can you create your dreams? To repeat, unless YOU change, your life cannot change.

Aaron at Today is That Day points us to a great couple of posts by Steve Pavlina that follow his progression through some financial changes, and his story is well-articulated and worth reading for the lessons in it, pertaining to this subject.

Thanks to Aaron, as always, for pointing us to this fantastic content, and I hope you enjoy as many insights from Steve’s writing as I did.

Yesterday I recieved an email in my mailbox about a domain I owned - someone wanted to buy it from me (even though the purpose of this domain was to be re-sold; that was the reason I originally bought it). Anyway this person wanted to know how much I wanted for the domain. Instead of giving a price, not wanting to say too little I replied asking the person to tell me how much they would be willing to pay. A few hours passed and I got an email asking If I would accept $25K for this domain and if the domain is appraised for higher if I’d give a 10-15% discount (off the higher appraised price).

Now a $25K offer for a domain that I paid $7.00 for was far from what I thought the domain was worth - yes I knew the domain was rare, but never thought $25K rare! Now I know we preach the whole ‘If the Universe sends you stuff you should say YIPPEE thank you Universe’ but I found myself laughing at the offer. My exact words were ‘either I have a gem and don’t know it or this guy is stupid.’ Was it not me affirming that I had a surplus of money? Then Law of Attraction says hey you have a surplus let me give you more surplus and what do I do? I laugh - calling the guy stupid - then to add insult to injury, the guy asks for me to get the domain appraised which costs $69 and I decide not going to spend $69 to get this appraised. I don’t think it’s worth more than 250 bucks for this domain.  I was happy with the thought it was only worth 250 that I couldn’t accept that maybe it was worth $25K. It’s a huge gap from 250 bucks to $25K - more like the grand canyon gap - but you know what? If I sold it to him for 250 bucks and he turned around and sold it for $25K I’d be mad that I suckered myself out of 24,750 bucks.

Do we set limits on the amount of money we earn, and recieve? Using my example I realize that we do stand in the way of our financial abundance; we put limits based on what we think we can or will accept, based on how much we think it is worth. I was reading steve Aitchison’s 5 Ways to Conquer Your Fear of Financial Success where he talks about putting a mental block on his adsense earnings, he also talks about the fact that people don’t expect to make money, they don’t see how, they just think I don’t know how to make money, I don’t know where it’s going to come from, I don’t have any.

I did a post a few months ago called Do You Ask For Things and Then Tell the Universe No Thanks?! I know I keep bringing him up but it is a valid point - the cabbie couldn’t accept the fact that 31 diamonds were left in his car; it was way more than he had thought or hoped for, just like $25K was way more than I had thought or hoped for with this domain. So then this brings up the question - has the Universe already tried to answer you requests for money? Has the Universe already tried to send the millions that you’ve asked for? The fact that you don’t see that money sitting in your bank account doesn’t mean the Universe never tried and you stopped the transaction with some thought of the fact that it was just way too much for you to accept. 

Most limits on money are mental limits. Are you standing in the way of your financial abundance?

What is your financial IQ? Were you taught the rules that the wealthy play by when you were young? Were you even taught the rules that ‘normal’ people should know so that they can take care of the money they earn, watch it create more money and sail slowly and steadily towards financial freedom?

My guess is NO - not just because you are reading this blog, but because MOST of us were not. I was not. I don’t blame my parents or my teachers for this, because they were not taught.

The buck stops here. I have spent the recent years of my adult life gaining a financial education, and the more I learn the more I see there is plenty to learn. But it’s fun, and exciting, and empowering, and all of the things I love. I also feel more and more in control of my money, my time and my investments…and more and more can I see how by being ignorant about how money really works we are dooming ourselves to poverty and fear our entire lives. Knowledge - and knowledge applied - really is power, in this case. I will not live in fear and poverty ever again, because I am gaining knowledge - more knowledge than many ‘finanical advisors’ who are taught to sell me a portfolio of diversified investments and who will make their fees whether I make any money or not.

My child will not live in fear or poverty. She has a teacher at school who is always telling her to sit down and be quiet and stop being original - entirely missing her creativity, her amazing intelligence and in the process stamping out her eagerness and enthusiasm. She’s nine. He tells her when she uses a pen instead of a pencil that when she grows up her boss will FIRE her for being unwilling to comply with simple instructions. Well, sir, I have NEWS for you: my kid will never work in some cubicle with an overbearing boss that threatens her all the time. She’s going to respect herself and her abilities far more than that, and moreover, she’s got a Mom who is learning money lessons VERY well, and will teach them to her…thus she will be making more money than her teacher by the time she is out of high school and considering University or college.

We are often telling you that you need to work on your thinking patterns, and change your thoughts and actions to change your life. This is very true, but it also has to be backed up with a decent financial education. For this reason we include the basics of finance in our courses, along with the other aspects of developing a true prosperity mindset, although these basics are just the beginning of what can be a lifelong learning journey.

In Donald Trump’s latest book, co-authored with Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s Robert Kiyosaki - Why We Want You To Be Rich - he has a good point about time and money:

“If you saw time as money, would you be more careful with it? For example, if wasting 15 minutes of your time meant you would lose $500, would you be more aware of how those 15 minutes were spent?” He goes on to say “All the money in the world cannot replace time, so proceed accordingly.”

Of course we have all thought about this abstractedly, but that question puts it in a way, for me, that sharply focuses my intentions and reminds me to spend my time efficiently…right now that means learning how to make, use and invest my money even more wisely so that I have even MORE TIME to spend doing what I choose.

For those of us - that is most - who did not receive this education at school or home, it DOESN’T MATTER. You are all grown up now, and time is tickin’. Take control, and educate yourself. It’s your money, and it’s your life.

For almost all of us, one of the biggest struggles comes from not investing the time to set our own, personal priorities. Thus, we get caught up in the little, urgent issues of everyday life and place little or no emphasis on the daily steps it takes to achieve long-term objectives.

No matter how old you are, believe me when I say it is NO fun to Read more…

We spend a lot of time on here and in our Courses dealing with the mentality that surrounds wealth, lack, and money in general. From our own lives, we have found that the things we have learned ‘the hard way’ were not taught to us, and we wish they had been. Teaching others what we Read more…

As someone who likes to stay informed about what goes on in both the personal development and financial/wealth-building arenas, I am always reading…can’t read enough! In fact I was just remarking to a fellow personal development site owner that if I could just find a way to get paid for reading, I’d be set!

At any rate, I came across and wanted to share with you a blog and an article I thought you might enjoy, by Mark McManus. I like the way he writes, and he has Read more…

You know the 21 Day Mindset Series has changed my life and guess what - I wrote it! Now anyone that followed along realized there was no planned flow of the series. Whatever came up for me that particular day was what I wrote about in reference to money. Now I know a lot of people didn’t follow along because they got bored or tired of hearing the money talk or just plain had to make phone calls, take out the trash, clean the Read more…