But let’s be honest. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure makes life easier. Something in The Secret really hit home for me. She says that in order to attract money into your life, you have to change your attitude towards it. Interestingly enough, my hairdresser said the exact same thing the other day as she was cutting my hair. Completely unprompted, she started telling me how she and her husband were working to get out of debt, and that she realized she needed to change her attitude towards money.  She had a sister who had married into wealth, and for years she had resented her for it. But she was now realizing that if she wanted to experience abundance in her own life, she had to stop harboring negative feelings towards those who had more than she did.

It made me take another look at my own feelings toward money. Maybe I haven’t set financial gain as my ultimate goal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that my attitude towards money is positive.  If we can accept that the law of attraction brings us more of what we are thinking about and feeling in our lives, then if the subject of money creates feelings of stress and lack, then we are only going to attract more stress and lack into our lives whenever we think about money.

The author suggests playing games with yourself to generate feelings of abundance in relation to money. She explains how she started pretending all her bills were actually checks, and she would open them joyfully, thanking the universe for the abundance it was providing in her life.

Now, I’m pretty happy with my current financial situation. I’m making about what I was making in my former job, my husband and I just bought a house, and we live pretty comfortably. But I work a lot of hours to match my former salary, and we’ve given up some activities in order to put some money into fixing up the house. We don’t eat out or go to movies or spend money unnecessarily. But I would like to have more money. I would like to be able to take more vacations. And I have debt that I have been working on paying off for the past several years.

So I am focusing on changing my attitudes toward money. Just because I attempt to live an authentic, inwardly rich life does not mean I can’t admit that I want to earn more money.  You can’t attract something into your life if you have negative feelings about it.

Another interesting point in the book is that you have to let go of the belief that money comes only from your job, and that you are limited in how much you can receive. According to the law of attraction, whatever you believe continues to be your reality. The author tells of hundreds of letters she has received from people who have applied the law of attraction to their lives and starting receiving unexpected income in the form of unexpected checks in the mail.

I’ve had negative feelings about money my whole life. After getting into credit card debt in my twenties, I struggled for years just to make ends meet. Even once I quit using credit cards and was earning enough money to pay the bills, I was resentful that I had all this debt looming over me. I couldn’t take vacations or buy the things that my friends could, because I had too much debt. I would constantly tell myself things like, “I got into this debt, now it’s my responsibility to get out of it. It’s my own fault I can’t afford these things.” Or, “I made the decision to major in English and to pursue something I was interested in rather than a career that promised a lot of money. I’m never going to live like people who pursued more lucrative careers.”  But now I see that these beliefs have been holding me back. There is no reason I can’t earn as much as anyone else, no reason I can’t afford to take my family on wonderful vacations to beautiful parts of the world, no reason we can’t have whatever we want.

I have always said that I’m happy with just enough to get by, so that’s exactly what I have. But now I know that if I ask the Universe for more, I can have more. I can have financial security. I can do work that I love and still experience abundance. I can travel, and make sure that we have enough to secure our future. And it starts by changing my attitude towards money. By appreciating the abundance in my life.

Can you identify any ways that your feelings towards money have actually been holding you back financially?

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Believing is a little harder. Sure, I believe in this stuff, or else I wouldn’t be reading this book. But it’s one thing to say, sure, I believe in the law of attraction, and another to say “I’d like a new laptop, thanks!” and really have faith that it’s going to appear. Along with believing comes allowing yourself to really feel like you already have the thing you desire. This means allowing yourself to feel the emotions that you would feel if it were already yours. This is where I get tripped up. I start trying to feel like I already have something — the relief that the money is already in the bank, the peace of meeting all my work goals for the day — and I feel silly. But more than that, I start to feel the exact opposite of what I’m trying to imagine: I start to feel anxious. I start thinking defeating thoughts like, This is silly. I can’t think something into existence. This will never work.

Which is exactly why Byrne suggests starting small. For example, try manifesting a cup of coffee. There is a wonderful example in the book about a young man who simply envisioned a feather — a very distinctive feather with unusual markings. He pictured this feather clearly in his mind and focused on it for several days. And then one day as he was entering a building, he happened to look down, and on the ground in front of him was the exact feather he had envisioned. He knew then that the law of attraction worked, which gave him the conviction to move on to attracting bigger things into his life. As you experience the success of manifesting small things in your life, you will gain faith in the law of attraction, and with that faith comes the ability to manifest bigger and bigger things.

Finally, step three is to receive. Just as surely as you know your catalog order is going to arrive in the mail in a few days, you know that the Universe will deliver the things for which you have asked. All you have to do is continue believing, and wait for them to arrive.

I seem to get hung up between the first and second step. When I think of something I want, I keep asking for it again. I forget that I’ve already placed my order. I need to work on the belief part, work on allowing myself to feel the fulfillment of my requests, and work on pushing out the doubts and the anxiety that always seem to overpower my ability to believe. It is harder than it sounds, and it requires daily reminders. I need to remember to start small. Maybe the laptop is too ambitious right now. Maybe tomorrow, I should just focus on that cup of coffee. (Note to the Universe: I like Starbucks.)

In The Secret, Rhonda Byrne tells us that in order to attract something into your life, you have to allow yourself to feel as if you already have it. Whatever you think about, you attract. If you allow yourself to think and really feel that you already have something, then you will attract it into your life. Conversely, if you continue to think and feel that your life is lacking in some area, you will continue to attract more of that lacking. So, whenever you think that you don’t have enough money, or time, or whatever it is you need, that will continue to be your reality.

I never really realized before how much I focus on the things I am lacking. I consider myself a pretty positive person, even though Ryan says I worry too much. But I know I’m often stressed about work and feel that I don’t have enough hours in the day to get everything done. And right now, I’m waiting on a $500 check from a client and worrying that it won’t get here this week. It’s hard to shift my mindset and really allow myself to feel like the money is in the bank, like I have all the time I need to get my work done and still get a decent night’s sleep.

So I’ve been trying to start small. The other day I went to the used book store, and on the way there, I visualized the two books I wanted. Looking for a particular title at the used book store can be a gamble, so I really focused on the two books I was looking for: You, The Owner’s Manual by Drs. Michael Rozien and Mehmet Oz, and Eating Well for Optimum Health by Dr. Andrew Weil.  I wasn’t really sure where to look for them; I found a Nutrition and Healthy Living section near the cookbooks, but neither title was there. The absence of any books by these two authors seemed suspicious, since they are pretty well known and have written many books between them. They had to be there somewhere.

I circled the store a couple of times. The sale racks yielded nothing; nor did the audio book section. Was there a general health and medical section I was missing? Then, tucked in a back corner of the store, I finally spotted a sign reading “Alternative Health.” Bingo!  I spotted the You book instantly; two shelves down was a wide selection of books by Dr. Weil. I picked out hardback copies of each title and headed back up towards the cash register. On the way, I passed a cart of new acquisitions sitting near the buying counter. On the top of one of the stacks sat a paperback version of Eating Well for Optimum Health. Even though I’d already found my books, I stopped in my tracks. This was one of the books I’d been visualizing on my way to the store, and here it was right in front of me. I picked up the paperback and started flipping through it. The employee who was about to wheel the cart of to another part of the store gave me a dirty look, but I didn’t care. What if I had seen this book on the cart before I found the Alternative Health section in the back of the store? It would have been an undeniable — and somewhat freaky — manifestation of my visualization.

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store in search of pre-cooked frozen shrimp, which hasn’t been in stock since before Thanksgiving, when the frozen seafood was rearranged to make room for turkeys. I visualized seeing the bag of shrimp in the freezer and putting it into my basket. And though it was around the corner from the place I had visualized, the shrimp was there.

Today, I’ve tried visualizing a few different things — my $500 check in the mailbox, a free phone (mine fell into the toilet over the weekend and I didn’t want to have to spend money on a new one) — but for some reason, my usual feelings of stress are creeping back in and keeping me from fully experiencing the faith that the law of attraction requires. In fact, I think I demonstrated a definite lack of faith when I when ahead and bought a new phone off ebay.  Maybe I should try visualizing a $100 bill to pay for it.

My daily e-mail from tut.com:

Act with faith. Prepare the way for your inevitable success. To the degree you can, behave as if your dreams have already come true, as if you were already a full-time writer, as if later today you were going to be debt-free. And you shall see the power you wield as the floodgates begin to tremble, the elements begin to conspire, people in your life begin to change, insights are summoned, comprehensions soar, and clarity is born.

Not to mention fierce, wild animals laying down when you pass by -

The Universe

Pretending is so powerful, Karen. Look how far it’s already taken you.

Economic Crisis Survival Guide: Nourish Your Spirit

I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say when I first sat down to write, but then I realized how the subject relates to a book I am currently reading about near-death experiences (I just love when things work out like that!). I won’t go into detail here because I have explained it all the AltGlobe piece, so check it out if you get a chance.

Next week’s post will be on the importance of adopting sustainable habits during an economic downturn, making choices that are good for your wallet and good for the planet. I think it’s a really important subject and I’m looking forward to writing that as well.

Here is the page on AltGlobe that outlines all four posts:

Economic Crisis Survial Guide

Namaste.

The book contains some inspiring quotes and interesting ideas, though at time it became a little too down-home for my liking. Several of the entries focus on crafty activities — such as making scented sachets for your linen closet or canning your own jam — that I am not likely to engage in. Ever. But Ban Breathnach also proposes some interesting undertakings, such as sorting through your wardrobe and eliminating items that no longer appeal to your inner self, and keeping a gratitude journal.

The author asserts that cultivating a spirit of gratitude is an essential first step in living an authentic and inwardly rich life. To this end, she recommends keeping a gratitude journal, and writing down five things for which you are grateful at the end of every day. I kept it up fairly regularly throughout last year, but have since dropped it. My recent reflections on what is important to me, however, have led me to contemplate the subject of gratitude. Considering that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, it’s an opportune time to pause and reflect on how much I have to be thankful for.

My mother recently sent me an e-mail containing this food for thought:

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep … you are richer than seventy-five percent of the people in the world.
• If you have money in the bank and in your wallet and spare change in a dish … you are among the top eight percent of the world’s wealthy.

As much as I struggle to get my debt paid off and wish I could afford to travel more, I know that there are many people in the world — even in this country — who would look at my life and consider me wealthy. And I am. I have a comfortable home, I am in good health (aside from my injured foot …), and I have loving, supportive friends and family members. Last night, I dug out my gratitude journal and made my first entry in eight months. I intend to keep it up, so that I can remember to be thankful for all these things not just during the holidays, but all year round.