How to win the game of life

If you are reading this article soon after it is published you may well be following the World Cup of football (which is soccer, for my American friends, not the adaptation of rugby that a Yale rugby player turned into what is now called American Football).  Personally I am not the slightest bit interested in football, but I accept I am in a distinct minority in that regard.

I believe the aim in football is to score as many goals as possible (although perhaps in the case of my team, England, it is to try to avoid as many penalty kicks as possible!)  Achieve lots of goals and you win the game.

It is the same in life.  Winning the game of life is all about achieving as many goals as you can.  Or, rather, as many "right" goals as you can.  Just as in football you can have a wrong goal (please refer to the "offside rule"), so you can in life too.  Although unlike the case in football there is a wide gradation of "right" and "wrong" goals.  You cannot win the game of football by scoring lots of "wrong" goals, and nor can you win the game of life this way either.

Achieving lots of the right goals should not be regarded as putting on lots of pressure and creating lots of stress - which is the way probably most people see it.

Perhaps one good way of looking at this is by comparing it with what you might do on holiday.  What, for you, is the purpose of a holiday, and what constitutes a really good holiday?  Think about this carefully for a few minutes and answer both of those questions as honestly as you can.  Do this before reading any further if possible, as it is best if you complete this exercise before seeing what I say next.

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Many people will have answered that the purpose of a holiday is to rest, to recover so you have lots of energy to carry on with your daily life on your return.  Certainly that would be my answer to the first question.

Many of those same people will then anwer that a really good holiday allows them to see lots of new things and take part in lots of exciting activities.  If you go on a package holiday you will find that the resort is usually designed in such a way as to achieve this.  Typically on the morning after your arrival you will meet with someone whose role is to convince you to go on lots of trips, some of which will probably involve waking up really early in the morning, perhaps earlier than you would normally get up in order to go to work!  Even if you don't book many, or any, of these "exciting" tours, you will probably find the resort will organize lots of sporting and other activities and encourage you to join in them rather than laze by the pool or on the beach.

Or perhaps your idea of a good holiday is the same as the American tourists in the 1969 film "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium".  Get to see as many countries as possible, without spending enough time to "see" any of them at all!

Now for some people perhaps having a frantically active holiday really does give them rest and recovery.  If so, they are making the right decision by signing up for all those activities that appeal.  But for many others, including me, indulging in so many activities means I don't get the rest and recovery I need.  So I try to ensure I budget plenty of time for just lying back on the beach or beside the pool, and reading some nice (and not particularly sophisticated) novels.

My main goals on holiday are to relax and rest.  If I do plenty of relaxing and resting I have achieved those goals.  As I am married, my goals are also to ensure my wife has a really good time.  Her aims are very different from mine.  She really enjoys lots of activity, seeing new things, having new experiences.  So we DO book a number of the activities the resort tries to sell us.  If we get to see lots of new and interesting things, and have lots of new and interesting experiences, she is happy - and I have then achieved the other goals of the holiday.

This can apply to daily life too.  Perhaps you suffer a lot of stress in your life.  Maybe, if so, a goal could be identifying what causes stress and eliminating as much of this as possible.  It could be removing stress-creating clutter from your life.  It could be simply taking more time out to rest and "smell the roses".  These goals are just as valid as, and perhaps more so than, the goals of people you see zipping around achieving lots of concrete, tangible goals.

Or it may be that you feel you need to earn more money so that you can plan for a future which allows you to do what you want and have less stress.  If so, perhaps starting your own business, and then achieving targets you have set yourself for that business will be the right goals.  But never lose sight of the fact that it is not the money or the business itself that is the goal, but what it will allow you to achieve once you have it.  Be aware that sometimes you can find ways of achieving those "end goals" without having to get more money.  And also be aware that none of us knows how many more years, months, weeks, days, hours of life remain for us.  If you spend your remaining years, months, weeks, days and hours just trying to get the money you need in order to achieve your end goals, then you really haven't achieved any of your goals at all!  Keep under review at all times what your goals are, whether they are real goals, and whether there might be better ways of achieving them than the ways you are currently pursuing.

Please do not take this as a diatribe against acquiring more money.  If you have read many of my articles you will know I am very much in favour of taking actions (the right actions, of course) to acquire more money.  But I am also aware that too many of us, myself included, are in danger of confusing "means" and "ends".  Acquiring more money is always only a means to an end.  If you don't achieve that end, then you haven't really achieved anything at all.

Finally, for anyone reading this who views what I am saying as coming from a very selfish position, achieving goals is not simply about achieving pleasure, gaining things and experiences for yourself without any concern for the happiness or well-being of others.  A good, rounded life plan should have both "self-centred" and "other-centred" goals.  What exactly is meant by "other-centred" is very individual.  In fact, I would go so far as to say it is completely unique to you.  It may include making your family and friends happy in various ways.  In fact it should.  It may also go beyond just making friends and family happy, but making others, including complete strangers, happy as well.  Again, in fact it should.  You may achieve those "non-centred" goals by spending more of your time, more of your money, or perhaps both.

So, to win the game of life you need to score the right goals.  And to score those goals you need to find our where the goal posts are.  Get going now by checking you have the right goals and finding the right ways to achieve them!

Money is the root of all evil

Money is the root of all evil.  Isn't it?

Actually, no, it is not!  Most certainly not!

What actually is money?  What it should be is a measure of the value that you have given to society.  Sometimes that measure doesn't work very well, with society giving greater value to some things and lesser value to others than perhaps should be the case.  But, for all its faults and limitations, that is what money is supposed to be and what in principle it is.

If money is a measure of the value you have given, how can this be evil?  It may be faulty; it may not be as good a measure as we want it to be; but clearly it is not evil.  Not unless you believe giving value to others is evil!

So where does this idea that money is the root of all evil come from?

It actually comes from a misquote of something St Paul wrote to his young disciple Timothy.  What Paul wrote was "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."  That is quite different.   Paul was certainly not saying there was anything wrong with money itself, just with the way some people respond to it.  Money itself is not evil, nor is the possession of money evil.  What is evil is simply greed.

Unfortunately, the misconception that money is the root of evil is buried deep in almost all of us.  Consciously most of us know that money is neutral - it is how you view it and how you use it that can either be good or evil.  But unconsciously we have this deep-seated belief that money itself and the possession of wealth are both evil.

It is very important to try to unearth this deep-seated and quite wrong belief about money.  Until you do you will find you have two big problems.

Firstly, you will feel uncomfortable about any wealth you have now, be it very small or very large.  You may not recognize that this is the way you feel, so it will probably just express itself as a general feeling of dissatisfaction.  Don't allow this to happen.  Why feel uncomfortable for no reason whatsoever?

Secondly, your subconscious mind will "know" that as money makes you uncomfortable it is best not to let you have any.  That is a disastrous situation!  Your subconscious is extremely powerful, and if it has decided you should not have money, or at least should not increase your wealth, you will find it extremely difficult to become any wealthier than you already are.  And that is exactly the situation most people are in!

One way to begin countering this unwarranted prejudice is to start thinking about what I have said money is - a measure of the value you give.  Think about it very positively in this way.  Think about the value you give to your employer if you are an employee, and to your clients if you are in business for yourself.  If you feel you do not give much value, then maybe it is time to think more carefully about what you are doing and whether, in fact, you should be doing something different.

Think about other ways you can give value to society and to those around you.  As you do this, gradually you should find opportunities begin to arise for you to give that value and to receive money in return.  The more you focus on this the more such opportunities will arise.

The other way to counter it is to think about all the good you can do with any increase in your wealth you might achieve.  Good you can do for your family and friends.  Good you can do for others around you.  There is so much good you can achieve if only you have enough wealth to fund those plans.

Perform both these exercises regularly and you should find that your money "blocks" will gradually disappear.  As they disappear, opportunities to increase your wealth will arise.  Many of these opportunities have actually been there all the time, but you did not recognize them because you were restrained by your wrong inner belief that money is evil.  Other opportunties will also arise, gravitating to you by the Law of Attraction, which is another subject for another day.

Greylag Geese and Why You are Not Successful

Has your past influenced the way you are now?  Of course it has!  We all have free will, but the decisions we make when we use that free will are highly conditioned by things that happened to us in the past.

In many cases that is a good thing.  You have a bad experience because of something you did, and that teaches you not to do the same thing again.  If this were just a memory, from which you could then make a logical decision, this would in many cases not give you enough time to modify your behaviour before it caused the same problems.  So we are all equipped with a way to make the "right" response instantly, before we even have time to think about the response.  This is called "imprinting".

The 19th century biologist, Douglas Spalding, discovered the phenomenon of imprinting and published his results in "Nature" in 1872.  Konrad Lorenz popularised the concept, particularly in his books on the studies he did on the behaviour of greylag geese.  Lorenz found the geese bond with the first object they see after they had hatched.  Normally this is a good thing, as it will be older geese who will show the younger geese what they should and shouldn't do.  But sometimes the process goes wrong, and the geese are inappropriately imprinted.  When this happens, the badly imprinted geese behave inappropriately, even when that behaviour causes them problems and maybe is even very dangerous for them.

The same thing applies to all of us.  Except our imprinting is certainly not limited to the first thing we see after we are born.  Many things influence us in this way throughout our childhood and on into our adult life as well.

For example, imagine as a child you hear your parents having a big argument.  This makes you very unhappy.  You notice the argument is about money - which is one of the commonest reasons for a couple to argue.  This imprints on you the idea that money is bad because it causes arguments and makes people unhappy.  And that imprinting creates within you a block that will always try to stop you making money.  Unless you find a way of dealing with this block it will be almost impossible for you to make much money.  Even if you do manage to make some, the block will act to make sure you lose it quickly!

Very many people have at least one "money block" that was imprinted on them from early childhood.  I would go as far as to say the majority of people have "money blocks".  They also have many other blocks, which stop them from achieving anything they have set their heart on - success, a fabulous life partner, etc.  Which means the majority of people will find the manifestation techniques they learn simply don't seem to work for them.  They study all the books they can find on the Law of Attraction, try to put it into practice, and eventually give up in disgust.  They decide all this talk about affirmations and how you can attract all you wish for through the power of thought is nonsense.

Does this sound at all familiar?  Perhaps you have reached this phase and are ready to give up trying.  Or maybe you are not as far down that road, but are still getting frustrated that nothing seems to work for you.  It could even be that you have only just started, are full of enthusiasm, and have not yet realized how difficult the journey is going to be.

Whereever you are on your journey to your definition of success, you need to find and eliminate the many blocks you have which will either make it impossible or very difficult to reach your goal.

Thought Form Blocks

Have you ever tried to achieve something but found no matter what you did there was always something in the way completely blocking your progress?

Frankly, I will be amazed if you say this has never happened to you.  If you do feel you are an exception to the rule I would even suggest it has still happened to you but you were simply not aware of it at the time.

If you feel there is something blocking you, almost certainly there is.  It is unlikely to be pure coincidence.

Usually these blocks are internal, not external.  It is important to recognize this.  Do not start to think the universe is conspiring against you, or there is some evil spirit out there preventing you from achieving what you wish to achieve.

I can guarantee the universe is NOT conspiring against you.  The universe simply does not do this.  It may, though, be responding to unintended messages you are giving it.  For example, maybe you are studying to become a lawyer, but you fail every exam you sit even though you are studying really hard and you know you are intelligent enough to make it.  Why, then, do you keep failing?  I would suggest in a case like this it is because deep within you do not actually want to be a lawyer!  Perhaps you think you want to be a lawyer because your parents encouraged you from an early age to choose this career path.  Deep inside you don't really want to be a lawyer, but this resistance is hidden so deeply within you that even you cannot see it.  You cannot see it, but the universe can.  Your soul sends out messages telling the universe this is not what you want for your life, and the universe hears and responds.  This is not a conspiracy by the universe to stop you, but rather a co-operation by the universe with your inner self.

It is also quite unlikely there is an evil spirit blocking you.  I say this not because I don't believe in evil spirits.  Actually I DO believe in them.  But I also believe they do not normally interfere in this way unless you invite them in or a powerful magician evokes them specifically to act against you.  If you have undertaken an invocation ritual, in which you invite a spirit to take you over for a while, this could have got out of control and that spirit might now be blocking you in some way.  But if that has happened you will already know it!  Likewise, if you have upset a powerful magician enough to make them wish to cause you harm you will probably already know this too.  In both cases you will need deeper help than I can give you in a short blog article.

Most blocks are what I would call "thought forms" rather than evil spirits.  At some point in the past, maybe in your early childhood (and, if you believe in reincarnation, perhaps long before you were born into this existence), you created the block yourself.  You created an intention, for example an intention not to acquire wealth, and then you breathed life into that intention so it became a "thought form".  These thought forms are extremely powerful, especially if they have been around for some time and you have reinforced their power many times over.

Why would anybody do such a thing?  Is it very rare, or is it commonplace?

Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurence at all.  I would go as far as to say that almost certainly you have a number of such self-created, negative thought forms surrounding with you. They travel with you, always there ready to block you in your endeavours which are contrary to what you originally told them you wanted.

There can be many different reasons for creating a thought form block.  More often than not, the reason is quite illogical.  Say, for example, as a young child you heard your parents arguing.  You didn't really understand what the argument was about, but you kept hearing the word money.  You therefore associated "money" with "arguments" and created a thought form block to prevent you acquiring money so that you wouldn't have to suffer the pain of arguments.  Every time there was an argument about money, the strength of this thought form increased.  It may also have been increased in other ways.  Perhaps an adult told you that money is the root of evil, or that it is wrong to want money.  Your thought form block has absorbed all such comments and increased its strength through them.  Anything that is said or that happens which contradicts the "world view" of your thought form block is just ignored, but everything that supports it is absorbed and strengthens it.  Over all the years since it was first created, this thought form has become extremely powerful, able to negate all the efforts you put in to becoming wealthy.

Thought form blocks can cover many areas.  A block on becoming wealthy is extremely common.  In fact, I would go as far as to say that most of us have such a block.  Another very common block is a relationship block.  This may have very similar roots.  Most couples have arguments from time to time, no matter how loving their relationship.  A small child may witness such an argument and then believe that if you enter into a relationship you will have arguments (which is almost certainly true, but is most certainly not the whole truth).  To a simplistic, childish logic the answer to avoid the pain of arguments is to avoid entering into a relationship.

How can you reduce the power of your thought form blocks, and eventually destroy those blocks altogether?

The first step you must take is to identify the blocks.  Sit quietly by yourself and begin meditating.  Focus on one of your objectives during that meditation.  See what thoughts and feelings arise as you meditate on it.  Try to become particularly sensitive to any negative thoughts and feelings that may arise.  As such thought forms appear, start to dissolve the block by using positive affirmation.  Feel the power of the block gradually disappearing as you focus on the positives.

In order to do this properly you will, of course, need a number of very good positive affirmations.  You will need to know why it is you want wealth, a good career, happy relationships, or whatever else it is you are gtrying to achieve.  Really feel the good, positive power of your objective.  It is this power you will use to confront the block that appears.

This is only one way of countering Thought Form Blocks.  There are many other ways of doing this, with perhaps the most effective being with the aid of a good coach specializing in this kind of exercise.  But the mere fact that you have now recognized the existence of the block is a major step forwards.  Once you have done this, keep up that forward momentum and you will start to see a big improvement in your ability to use affirmation properly and achieve your goals.

If you want to try out a coach specializing in this, you may be interested in a free program offered by Carol Tuttle.  You can find out more about this free program here.

The Ethics of Money

A few weeks ago I wrote about money.  This is a subject many "spiritual" people find challenging.  But it is also something we must all address unless we decide to go and live on a desert island.  We each have our own slightly different take on the subject.  You may find you disagree completely with mine, but hopefully not.

What are the ethics of having and using money?

My belief is that correct stewardship of money is highly ethical.  It is something that is required of all of us.  Notice my choice of word here - "stewardship".  One definition of stewardship is "responsibility to shepherd and safeguard the valuable of others".  So do I mean that our money belongs to someone else, not to us?  Yes, I do!

Money is not something you keep forever.  For a start, you will not be taking it with you when you leave this life.  Ancient Greeks and Romans believed it was necessary to pay a bribe to Charon, the ferryman whose job was to take you over the river between life and death.  But "Charon's obol" was just a single coin, not all the wealth the deceased had acquired during life.

Money belongs to society, not to you.  Some of your money is taken directly by society in the form of taxes which pay for all the services you enjoy.  But even the money that is not taken in taxes still really belongs to society.  If you are looking after it properly it is not hoarded by you and kept locked away - it flows through you.  As it flows, you can enjoy the benefits which come to you.  Be grateful for those benefits, and at the same time make sure the flow is not interrupted.  Some people do not allow it to flow properly, trying to keep it and all its benefits just for themselves.  Those same people also usually do not feel or express any gratitude for the benefits their money brings.  This is a very short-sighted attitude.  It is not only unethical, but also self-defeating.  Those of my readers who are Christian probably know the following quote very well:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19)

Many people interpret that verse as saying it is unethical to acquire money.  But this is not what it says.  In my interpretation this verse tells me not to dam the flow of money, trying to keep it for myself, but instead to allow it to flow through me, bringing benefits not only to me but to those around me.

If you truly allow money to flow through you then you will find more and more comes to you.  Especially if you feel and show gratitude for it.  But if you have a very selfish attitude, feeling that only you should benefit from it and trying to stop the outward flow, you will find the inward flow also slows and less and less comes to you.  This is almost a law of nature.

Think about it for a moment.  When you use money it passes from you to someone else.  Presumably you receive something in exchange for the money, so you now have a benefit you did not have before the transaction.  This may be a very tangible, immediate benefit such as a nice meal at a restaurant.  Or it may be something less tangible and providing a benefit at some time in the future - for example a deposit on a holiday.  But whatever it is, you now have a benefit (or a right to a benefit) for which you should be grateful.  This is only one side of the transaction though.  The person to whom you paid the money now has more money.  If they are in business they may use some of that money to pay wages to their employees.  If enough money flows through them they may employ more staff.  So by allowing that money to flow through you, not only are you benefiting from whatever it is you are buying, but so are other people.  The business owner who may now be able to expand his or her business benefits.  So do the employees of that business who are employed only because you and others like you have allowed that money to flow.

As long as the people to whom you pay the money allow that money to flow through them as well, that flow continues on and on.  Just a small amount of money has a ripple effect that benefits so many people in so many different ways

This is why I think of the "ownership" of money as "stewardship".  You will not keep it.  It is your job to use it responsibly, allowing it to flow to others, bringing both you and them (and many others you have never even met) many different benefits.

Do not misunderstand me though.  I am not saying that you must go out and spend all your money, not saving or investing any of it!  That is not what I mean at all when I say you must allow it to flow through you.  It would most certainly not be ethical to spend it all and then rely on others to provide for your needs later.  Again, the word "stewardship" comes into play here.  Certainly invest your money so that you will have more to use in the future and will not have to rely on the charity of others or the safety net provided by the state.  Allowing money to flow is a state of mind, accepting that money belongs to the Universe, and that you are simply its custodian for a short period of time.  During that short time (your lifetime) it is your responsibility to see that it flows properly, providing the right benefits to you and to others.

Some of your money will (or at least should) be used mainly to bring benefits to others rather than to you.  For example any payments you may make to charities.  I say "mainly", though, as in reality this also brings you a benefit - the benefit of knowing you have done the right thing, of knowing you have helped others and that their lives are now better as a result of the gift you have made.

Think about how you are using your money, and make sure this is fully aligned with your core inner beliefs.  This is the true ethics of money - the ethics of right use, whether that is direct spending or investment.  You cannot be responsible for how others may end up using the money you have allowed to flow through you to them, but there are certainly some very obvious distinctions you can make when deciding how to use and invest your money.

From now on, never allow yourself to feel that money is evil, a burden, or something you have to grasp and hold on to.  Allow it to flow through you.  Channel it in ways that bring good into the world around you.  And feel and express gratitude all the time for the benefits that flow of money is bringing to you and all those in contact with you.

Money

Money is the root of all evil.  Right?  Wrong!

It is surprising how many people seem to believe this though.  Where does this belief come from?

Well, first it comes from a misquote from the Bible.  Yes, I did say "misquote".  Nowhere in the Bible does it say that money is the root of all evil.  What it does say is "For the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).  Note the difference.  It is not money that the Bible says is evil, but the love of money.  Note also that it does not say something like "the love of things that money can buy".  Just "the love of money".

These days, though, there is perhaps another reason so many people believe money is evil.  If you are a banker please forgive what I am about to say.  There are now very many people in the world who blame all our economic problems on bankers and the money systems we have.

Finally, there is the myth of King Midas, who asked the god Dionyssus for the gift of turning everything he touched into gold.  Dionyssus told Midas to think very carefully about this request, but Midas insisted and Dionyssus granted his wish.  The gift, of course, was a curse.  It was not gold that could bring Midas happiness but rather the things that gold could bring him.  He found that he did not want everything he touched to turn into gold.  Especially not when he found he could not eat, as the food he touched turned into gold.  And very especially not when he hugged his beloved daughter and she turned into a golden statue.  There is a happy ending to the story of King Midas though.  He very quickly realised how foolish he had been and begged Dionyssus to take away this "gift".  Dionyssus told King Midas to wash his hands in the river.  This he did, and then he found that everything he had turned into gold had become normal again, including his lovely daughter.  For the rest of his life King Midas remembered that it was not wealth that was important but what wealth could bring, and so he distributed much of his wealth to the people in his country, who loved their generous king.

As with most myths and fables, the story of King Midas contains universal truths which we ignore to our peril.

The truth is that it is foolish simply to have money as a goal.  Why would you want money itself?  What is the point?  When searching for the goals that are most meaningful to you find those things that you really want, the things that you would buy if you had enough money.  It may well be that the way to get those things is to get more money, but not necessarily.  You could find, for example, that somebody simply gifts them to you.  A shortcut to obtaining your desire, rather than going the longer route of getting the money and then using that to buy what you want.

Also, if you look carefully at the story of King Midas you will see that he didn't give away all his money and live as a pauper when he saw the error of his ways.  He shared what he had, very generously, and made everyone around him wealthier, but he still had enough money to continue living his dreams.  Hopefully that is what you want to do too.

I love the story of King Midas, as it epitomises for me how I should be using the Law of Attraction.  I do have a certain amount of money as one of my goals on my vision board and in my "mind movies".  But it is not the money that I really focus on.  It is the other things.  The lifestyle I want.  The ability to help others.  The sense of security.  These are things that improve as my money base improves, but it is them that I focus on, not the money itself.

Do you want more money?  Good!  You can get it if you apply the Law of Attraction properly.  But one of the first steps you should take, an essential step which will lead to more money, is to clarify exactly what you want that money for.  Your desire should not be for the money, but for what it can give you.  Work on that and you can become very wealthy indeed!

3 Lies You Tell Yourself About Money

by

Andrew A. Block

Did you know that your attitude toward money affects many different aspects of your life. How you feel about money and wealth affects not only the amount of money a person tends to accumulate but also how happy they are in life. Changing the way you look at income, investing and wealth can literally change your life as well as make you a happier person, in general.

We are all brought up in a society where we are taught many different things concerning money and wealth. Your parents, teachers and society didn't mean to warp your mind or harm you but there are several thoughts that most of us feel are true without even thinking about it. These teachings might be somewhat true but they are taken a bit out of context.

First, the belief that you need money to make money is sometimes taken a gospel truth. If you feel that you are doomed to the social class or tax bracket that you currently inhabit, this might be a belief that you hold to be true. You see wealthy people who are able to invest large sums in stock and business ventures. They reap big rewards and a loss is only a small sum of what they own so it barely phases them.

While it might be true that it's easier to invest large sums of money and lose large sums and still survive for the world's wealthiest individuals, everybody had to start somewhere. Most of the world's most successful people started with nothing or lost everything and had to rebuild their empire a time or two. Belief, desire and a dream were their leverage and it can be the same for you if. It is often their thoughts or vision that make them their wealth and not simply investing in the right stocks or businesses.

Next, many of us believe that in order for us to make large sums of money, it must come from someone else. We believe that wealth is a zero sum game. This means that in order for us to have something it must be taken away from someone else. We become rich while someone else becomes poor. If we have any sort of heart or soul, this can be troubling and it can cause you to subconsciously resist wealth and money.

The truth is that wealth comes more often when you help other people. The world will gladly fill your pockets if you can solve some of their biggest problems. If you can build a better mouse trap or find a way to provide value or save people time and effort then the world will beat a path to your door. Greed demands that we take from others. Wealth is about helping others and providing value and making lives easier and happier.

The last lie that we have all been told is that money is the root of all evil. Most of us have heard this and been taught it since we were children. You might even despise wealthy people and their apparent greediness. In your mind you might even worry that you will lose your friends and family if you were to become rich. You worry that you'd change and become arrogant or that people will become jealous and despise you because of how much money you have.

Here's the truth. You don't have to change a thing after you become rich. Money doesn't have to change you. It is your choice how you live your life and how you treat people. Other people's jealousy is their own problem. You have a life to live and probably people that you wish to take care of. Do you really want to sacrifice their happiness because of what other people will think? Greed and being willing to do anything for money is evil. Providing value to the world and solving some of the world's problems should be a goal that we strive towards. The money or wealth is only a byproduct of wanting to help others.

Your thoughts about money and your fears about how it might change your life are just a few aspects of investing and wealth building that all of us struggle with. Being able to wrestle these misguided thoughts into submission and replace them with more positive thoughts can change how wealth comes to you in your life. Often our subconscious holds us back and keeps us from becoming wealthy. We are done before we have even begun all thanks to our own mind. Conquer your mind and you can conquer the world. You have grand thoughts and big things that you wish to do in this life and the world is willing to pay you handsomely for helping.

Go to http://regal-assets.positive-and-optimistic.org/ to learn more about investing and creating wealth. Learn how to change your thoughts and change your life.

Why Be Wealthy

Three Things to Do with Your Money

Author: Dave Ramsey

 Why build wealth? If you think wealth will answer all life’s questions and make you trouble-free, you are delusional. I have had wealth twice in my life, and I don’t find it to be trouble-free; as a matter of fact, most of the troubles have zeros attached to them. Wealth is not an escape mechanism. It is, instead, a tremendous responsibility. After years of studying, teaching and even preaching on this subject across America, I can find only three good uses for money. Money is good for fun. Money is good to invest. And money is good to give. Most anything else you find to do with it doesn’t represent good mental and spiritual health on your part.

Having Fun

The kid in us likes the fun part of this equation. If you’ve reached the point of wealth building, you have made the kid inside you behave for a long time with promises of ice cream. So if you’ve made it to this point, the kid should get some ice cream. Should anyone wear a $30,000 watch? Should anyone drive a brand-new $50,000 car? Should anyone live in a $700,000 home? Absolutely, they should. The problem with people is they buy those things when they can’t afford them.

Taking your family, even the extended ones, on a seven day cruise, buying large diamonds or even buying a new car are things you can afford to do when you have millions of dollars. You can afford to do these things because, when you do them, your money position is hardly even affected. If you like travel, travel. If you like clothes, buy some. I am releasing you to have some fun with your money, because money is to be enjoyed.

Investing

The grown-up inside us likes investing money because that is part of what makes you wealthy. In the movie Two Weeks Notice, Hugh Grant plays George Ward. The character of George is a very wealthy and spoiled corporate figure. His character isn’t one we want to imitate, but he has a great line in the movie about his wealth. He is telling Sandra Bullock’s character that he lives in this luxury hotel, when he says nonchalantly, “Actually, I own the hotel; my life is a little bit like Monopoly.”

Investing can feel like that after a while—“a little bit like Monopoly.” When you play Monopoly, you can be up, or you can get behind. Sometimes the market fluctuates, but as mature investors we ride out the waves and stay in for the long term. Sometimes I meet people who arrive at this step and are scared because just as they reach retirement age, their investments are heading down. Never fear; if you have quality investments with long-term track records, they will come back. Besides, you don’t need all the nest egg at once to retire on; you just need some of the income from it. So since you don’t need it all right then, it would be silly to cash everything out while the market is at the bottom. “Buy high; sell low” is not the formula to wealth. Be patient with the market while living off the income the nest egg produces.

You can choose to be a little more sophisticated, but until you have more than $10 million, I would keep investing very simple. You can clutter your life with a bunch of unnecessary stress by getting into extremely complex investments. I use simple mutual funds and debt-free real estate as my investment mix—very clean, simple investments with some basic tax advantages. As you arrive at this step, if you want to own some paid-for real estate, it can be fun.

Always manage your own money. You should surround yourself with a team of people smarter than you, but you make the decisions. You can tell if they are smarter than you if they can explain complex issues in ways you can understand. If a member of your team wants you to do something “because I say so,” get a new team member. You are not hiring a daddy; you are gathering counsel. God did not give them the responsibility over this money. He gave that to you. Celebrities and pro athletes often lose their entire fortunes because they give up the responsibility of managing their own money. The money manager who loses your hard-earned investments won’t live with the regret and pain that you will. A good estate-planning attorney, a CPA or tax expert, an insurance pro, an investment pro and a good Realtor are a few of the essential team members you should gather around you. I endorse the use of financial planners if they are team members and not the sole captains of their teams.

When selecting and working with your wealth team, it is vital to bring on members who have the heart of a teacher—not the heart of a salesman or the heart of an “expert.” The salesman is always chasing a commission and thinking short-term, and the “expert” can’t help being condescending, which is humorous because they likely have less money than you. Also, when taking advice, evaluate whether the person giving the advice will profit from it. If your insurance pro is coming up with more great insurance ideas every week, you may have a problem. That is not to say everyone who makes a commission off you is out to get you. There are plenty of commission-only financial people who have extreme levels of integrity. Just be aware of possible conflicts of interest.

When your money makes more than you do, you are officially wealthy. When you can comfortably live on your investment income, you are financially secure. Money is a hard worker—harder than you. Money never gets sick, never gets pregnant and is never disabled. Money works 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Money gets its job done, and it asks only for directions and a firm master.

Giving

The most mature part of who you are will meet the kid inside as you learn to involve yourself in the last use of money, which is to give it away. Giving is possibly the most fun you will ever have with money. Fun is good, but you will tire of golf and travel. Investing is good, but going around and around that Monopoly board eventually loses its appeal. Every mentally and spiritually healthy person I’ve met has been turned on by giving as long as it didn’t mean his own lights got cut off. I can promise you from meeting with literally thousands of millionaires that the thing the healthy ones share in common is a love of giving.

Summary

Someone who never has fun with money misses the point. Someone who never invests money will never have any. Someone who never gives is a monkey with his hand in a bottle. Do some of each.