These days, so many people are having hard times financially and just do not know where to turn for help. I am not a financial planner and cannot give you financial advice but I can share with you a few very simple things you can do on an energetic soul level that will improve your situation, and there is no limit to the good things you can attract to yourself. Think about your heart’s desire and go for it. I wish I could claim credit for the principles of prosperity and abundance I am going to share with you. I can tell you I have tried the principles over a period of about 12 years and all of these have worked miracles for me. And these will work for you, no matter where you are in your life right now. Also, you can use all of the techniques to manifest a happy romantic relationship, or both.
About 12 years ago, my world shattered on the day that I woke up and could not move. It took about an hour for me to get out of bed and then I had to hang on the walls for support. My life crumbled around me. There were days when I was in such physical pain that my hair actually hurt. And times that every muscle, every bone and every nerve was a center for unbearable pain. I had been a secondary school and college teacher and when I finally realized that I would never be able to do this work again, I had no idea who I was. Like many Americans, I identified with my profession to the extent that without it, I had no identity.
Before becoming ill, I had an income that met my needs and most of my desires. After this illness, there was a period of several years that I had no income at all. I knew how to give to other people but I did not know how to receive. In a space of a few years, I lost everything: my marriage, my home, my car, all of savings etc. And then my only son chose to end his life.
At the age of fifty, I had no money, could not work and I had to go live with my mother, and I cannot even begin to tell you how humiliating this was. A few years go by and my situation did not change, and I became angry, bitter, and frightened. If I could have pressed a button and ended my life in a painless way, I would have.
Today I know that before these series of losses occurred, I was spiritually bankrupt before I became financially bankrupt. Today I believe that work on the spiritual or soul level must change before the material and financial improvement will come into being. The thoughts we think, the things we say, and the things we do, manifest in the world. We get what we think about, whether we want it or not. Today I recognize that the negative and toxic I was thinking manifested a nightmare for me. The good news is as I changed my thoughts, my words and my deeds, my life became better than it had been, and it keeps getting better. This is as simple as that.
I will never forget the day, I turned a corner. I was sacked out on the couch, feeling sorry for myself, angry at the world, and hating the body I felt had betrayed me. I watching Oprah and she had the nerve, the gall to say that anyone could absolutely change his or her life and attract what you want in life if you take the simply step of keeping a gratitude for 30 days, and daily writing down 5 things you are grateful for today. Well, this enraged me. How dare she suggest that maybe I had some responsibility for all of the losses I had experienced. Was I not an innocent victim of an immune system gone haywire? I had always tried to do the right thing and look where it got me. Well, Miss Oprah I will show you.
I decided to take Oprah’s challenge, not because I thought it would work, but because I know that could never work and how dare she add insult to my already deep sounds by this foolish complaint. I started writing a journal that day. I was so angry that my hands shook as starting writing that journal, I imagined writing Oprah a nasty letter letting her know all the ways she was wrong, judgmental and just plain hateful. I never did get to write that letter.
My first gratitude list went something like this: well, those two squirrels chasing each other around the tree made me smile for a minute; I still have my cat; I am still breathing, etc.
About ten days into this process, I realized I felt a bit better and I had more energy. After 30 days, my life was better because as I developed an attitude of gratitude. I started to see my situation differently and I realized that I did have things to be grateful for. I did not want to live with my mother, but thank goodness she took me in and I had a roof over my head. I was grateful I was not homeless.
One day I had the thought that with a computer and a telephone line maybe I could work from home. I needed to work at odd hours when I had a window of several hours in a 24 hour period when I could get out of bed and the mental fog cleared. I prayed to find a job that I could do at home, at odd hours of the night and day, I could set my own hours, was not physically demanding and if I needed time off, that would be OK as well. Talk about asking for the impossible. Or was it?
Reading the Tarot was something I had done as a hobby for three decades. I started looking for a way to do this, and found sites for companies that were hiring psychics to give reading over the telephone. I applied for a job online and was hired. All of the conditions I had asked for in my prayers were granted. The day I received my first paycheck I cried, for I knew for the first time for several years that my life was not over, there were things I could do, and I could help other people. I was still useful; I was still needed in this world.
I knew that I did not have the life I once had and that I would never have that life again. I never expected to start my life over from scratch at 50. After a series of baby steps, learning what faith and grace feel like, coming to believe that I deserved to be happy and prosperous, my life started to change. The more I gave back to others, the more I came back to me. I finally got off the pity pot and tossed it out the door.
Someone gave me one of Catherine Ponder’s books, The Prospering Power of Love, and I devoured it. Here I discovered one of the most important principles of prosperity: in order to receive, you must first give back. The first prosperity principle is that you must give where you are spiritually fed.
At this point, I was still home bound. Where was I being spiritually fed? This book encouraged and gave me hope, and I realized that Rev. Ponder’s book was feeding me spiritually. The next paycheck I took a deep breath, and mailed this author, now a millionaire, a one dollar bill. I really did not think this would work. My next paycheck was a little larger, so I mailed Rev. Ponder a five dollar bill. And so on.
Eventually, my health started to improve and I recognized I had the energy to go to Mass once a week. I had no car and I lived out in the country with no bus service, so I told God if He wanted me to go to Mass, He had to find transportation for me. Within a very short time, the house next to my mother’s sold and the woman who bought it went to Mass every Sunday and once she learned that I wanted to go to Mass, she invited me. I was in awe. My prayer had been answered. “Where God inspires, He provides.”
As the amount of my paychecks continued to rise, I found I had the energy to do a little bit more each day. I continued tithing and over time. I finally I had the courage to tithe ten percent off the top of the paycheck. And the first check I wrote in this amount scared me to death but I mailed it in anyway. I leaned that the word “tithe” means the tenth portion.
Ask yourself the question: Where are you being spiritually fed? If an answer immediately comes to mind, then start the practice of tithing, even if you are comfortable with giving only one dollar. And if the answer is that you are not being spiritually fed anywhere –-wonderful. That is a powerful insight. Look into your heart and ask yourself what would feed me spiritually?
Your answer may be a book, or a person or an organization. It really does not matter what or who this is. It must be a person or place that makes you feel better and gives you hope of a better future. Don’t over think this, just do it. Think of the Tarot card, The Fool, numbered 0 (the number of infinite possibilities), suspend your disbelief, and jump off the cliff with him. Identify your source and buy the money order or write that check, no matter how small the amount.
I repeat: even a donation of one dollar given in gratitude will open the door to your prosperity. The key thing is that you must give happily, and so the amount you start with must be an amount that feels right to you and that you can cheerfully part with. If you resent giving the tithe, or if you give with the idea that this had better darn well come back to you, it would be better not to give at all.
If you really resent giving someone else a cent of your hard earned money, then don’t. There is another path. Give a few hours of your time as a volunteer to a cause you believe in. Volunteer to help serve meals at a soup kitchen for an hour or so a week. If you love going to the library, ask them what volunteer positions are open. If you love babies, volunteer at the pediatric hospital to hold and rock an infant for an hour. Find something you enjoy. You may find that you don’t like doing this, you love it. And if you are wondering, yes, I do volunteer. Right now I donate seven hours a week to an organization I believe does very good work for those in crisis and over the next year, I will be adding more volunteer time to my schedule.
When you give your time, what you are actually giving is a small portion of your life. Our life in this world is time. That hour a week represents a tithe of your time and therefore, a tithe of your life. You are giving a precious gift to someone else who desperately needs your attention and needs to know that someone cares. You will make a profound difference in someone’s life. You will be an angel to this person. This gift of time will also open the gateway to prosperity. And later on, as you grow and prosper, you will come to a point where you can cheerfully and lovingly write that check or send that money order or drop cash in the church collection box. We just have to start from where we are now, and wherever it is, these principles will work, no matter what your circumstances are today.
And what if you are not willing or cannot volunteer? Then give the people you pass on the street a smile. And if you are too grief-stricken to even smile (after my son’s death, it was months before I could smile and more than a year before I could laugh) and are too hurt and angry with God to pray for yourself, then look around and identify a person who is also having a hard time and once a day, say a prayer, blessing or affirmation for this person. Don’t tell anyone what you are doing.
This is between you and your higher power. Make it really simple. For example, “May Mary experience her highest and best good.” If that does not feel right to you, and you are open to using an extremely powerful Old Testament blessing, say this for some one. (Blessing: Old Testament, Book of Numbers, Chapter six, verses 22 to 27. Feel free to change the “Lord” to a term that resonates with you. “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He shine his light upon you, deal kindly with you, and grant you peace.” Again, The Prospering Power of Love by Catherine Ponder is packed with all kinds of affirmations and information that will help you in any life change you want to make.
As you use an affirmation or blessing, not only will the person feel better and experience positive change, you will as well. Keep in mind, that what we wish for someone else, we receive for ourselves. If neither of these suggestions feels right to you, then make up your own blessing or affirmation. Just remember to keep this in the present tense. Keep at it; say this several times a day and soon both you and Mary will experience the very highest and best good.
Most of us have to cultivate the concept of cheerful giving. We live in a time many people have a fear, if not a terror, of financial ruin. Please know that we all get what we think about, whether we want it or not. If you are afraid of something and think about it all the time, guess what, that is exactly what you will experience. If you are thinking about prosperity, tithing, volunteering an hour of your time privately praying for others, keeping a gratitude journal, etc. this positive energy will grow and will change the course of your life in wonderful ways that right now you cannot even image. Don’t believe me? Then try one or several of these suggestions for thirty days and if things are not better for you, you can write me a very nasty letter, and I promise to read every word.
One more thing: and this is a really hard one: The principle of forgiveness. Let’s say Ms. Suzie Q. ran off with your husband, or your boss unfairly fired you, or some one started a very nasty and false rumor about you. You have no interest in forgiving this person and you wish a lightening bolt will strike and cause all kinds of bodily harm. Remember: whatever we ask for someone else, we get ourselves. The task is to forgive the person or persons who have betrayed you. You do not forgive them because they deserve; instead, you forgive this person so that you are free of them, so they are not living in your head or consuming your time and energy. Of course you are angry and you are entitled to your feelings. If you are upset and angry, they win. If you have peace of mind, you win, and you are able to get go and experience your highest and best. Later on, you will realize that this hurtful thing turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Today I write in a journal every day, reflect on my blessings, cheerfully write out a tithe, volunteer a seven hours a week as a volunteer prayer practitioner, and spend private time alone with my prayers and meditation.
I know as I ask for good things for someone else, I receive good things as well. While I don’t ever want to be that poor and that ill and that heart-broken again, today I see these experiences, as painful and as hard as they were, as a blessing. I will always miss my son but I know he is in a better place and that he is happily exploring every nook and cranny of the universe. I will never have the life I had before; today my life is much better.
May you always have good health, long life, love, prosperity and success.
Love and light, Silver