Do you need to see the bigger financial picture?

Last night, I had another one of my weird dreams.

In the dream I was an off-duty police officer walking through a building. As I was about to leave the building I saw a woman and a young man, who was apparently her son-in-law, coming towards each other whilst shouting at each other. And then, they started to fight.

At this point, I had a choice. I could have just carried on walking the other building and pretend I hadn't seen the fight, however, I didn't. I went over and intervened. I broke up the fight and told them both to come down before the situation escalated into something that they would regret.

Sometimes life is like my dream. Sometimes we need an intervention, possibly from an outsider,and hopefully before situations escalate out of control. Occasionally it does us all good to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

This is especially the case in our relationship with money. It is easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day struggle to pay bills, by the things that kids need to pay off our credit card debt. The truth is that our daily struggle with money, or the lack of it,is usually based on false beliefs. I call these false beliefs Money Pixies.

If you think that your finances could use an intervention, or if you are curious about how Money Pixies could be destroying your lifestyle head on over to helpme.gr8.com and sign up for my e-mail series on the topic.

What is the connection between your finances and a Lead Balloon? (hint: it's not what you think!)

One of my favourite things to do on a Saturday morning is to sit and watch Mythbusters whilst enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee. In one of the episodes that they were showing this Saturday two of the hosts, Adam and Jamie, were trying to disprove the adage'lead balloon' the premise that they were testing was that it was impossible to make a balloon out of lead that would actually float.
And for those of you who have never seen the show, Mythbusters is basically an excuse for mass destruction of inanimate objects whilst preferably forcing the hosts to face up to their phobias, and wherever possible using the largest guns they can find and copious amounts of C4. And all in the name of science.
Anyway, the thing that struck me about this particular episode is that an adage is a lot like a Money Pixie.The thing about adages is that they have been around so long that they are widely accepted to be true. Money Pixies are lies about money that we have been exposed to since before we were old enough to realize what was going on. They have now been repeated to us often enough and frequently enough that we accept them to be true without even considering whether that they are even our own beliefs and opinions.
Unlike an adage which is essentially harmless, Money Pixies are incredibly destructive and often can end up ruining lives.
To find out more about money pixies visit help1.gr8.com and sign up for my free e-mail series on the subject.
 As for the Mythbusters did they manage to make a lead balloon?You bet they did. Adage busted!

Life lessons from cats

I love animals, but my favourites have to be cats.  Cats, especially house cats have an easy life.  I have two at the moment and they're both snoozing their heads of as I type.

Their attitude towards life and it's simple pleasures can teach us humans a lot.

My field of study is the human mind and I'm fascinated by all aspects of human behavior especially the power of our subconscious. It is my firm belief cats (and animals in general) can teach us a lot about enjoying the simple pleasures in life again.

I've just created a membership website www.catahollics.info/join for kitty lovers everywhere to gather and share pictures, stories and information about our feline friends. If you're a kitty lover then head on over there and sign up. I'm adding more articles and forums to the site in the coming days so all suggestions are welcome via the contact link on the site.

Also in my new email series I'll be looking at some of the dumb-arsed antics of my two lunatics and will be considering what lessons we can learn from these adorable creatures to help us humans live happier and more fulfilled lives.  If you'd like to get this series of amusing and inspiring emails just sign up here!

Sometimes we all need a little help

I had another one of those weird dreams last night.

I dreamed that I was going into an important meeting which was taking place in a huge office building which apparently I owned and all the people in it worked for me apart from a few visitors.  I dreamed that I pressed the button to call the lift to take me to the floor where the meeting was to be held.

When the lift arrived and the doors opened there was an old woman lying on the floor holding her wrist which was evidently causing her a lot of pain.  I was aware of other people behind me were wanting to get her out of the lift so that they could get to where they were going and I was already running late for my own meeting. The old lady didn't know how she'd ended up there, but she thought someone had pushed her.  

I told the other people to 'go use one of the other lifts' and when they argued I pointed out that I owned the building and they worked for me and I was taking that lift out of service so they'd better do as I said. (bitch huh?) .  I then used a key to lock off the lift so that it wouldn't stop at any of the intermediate floors and went straight to the top floor which was apparently where the medical room was whilst placing a call to the medical staff to get them to come to the lift and tend to the old lady.  

In the dream I stayed with her just long enough for the medical staff to arrive and take over caring for her before heading off to my meeting.

Life is a lot like my dream.  Sometimes we all need a little help.  The situation that we have gotten ourselves into might not even be our fault.  It maybe that we are in a position where we use our skills and knowledge to help someone out (like me knowing how to lock the lift off) or it may be that we need to call in someone else (the medical team) and make use of their expertise in dealing with the situation.

This is the essence of what I teach in my new 'Money Pixie Tamer' course.  Your attitude to money may not be your fault, it might be as a result of Money Pixies who have been living in your subconscious since you were a toddler, but they are part of you so it is your responsibility to do something about them.

I could have carried on to my meeting ignoring the old woman, instead I decided to help her and called in additional expertise (the medical team) when it reached the point where I could do no more. 

Now you have a similar choice, you can carry on with your day and let your Money Pixies continue robbing you of the lifestyle that you deserve or you can hop on over to http://mpt.gr8.com and learn how to tame them. 

Avoidance is the key to productivity

It's amazing how productive I can be when I'm avoiding writing a University essay.  It's not that I don't like my course, I find the human mind fascinating to read and write about.  When I actually get round to starting it  I'll be able to knock it out in an hour or so.  That's not the problem.

The problem is that my brain just doesn't like being told that it 'has' to do something.  Or settle on the same thing for to the exclusion others for very long.  So far today I've done the chores, written another chapter for my new book 'Money Pixies: What they are and how to tame them' have reviewed my adwords campaigns and re-written  a couple of my landing page. All before 4pm phew!

This is fairly normal for me on uni work days.  So much so that I'm thinking of writing a book with the title of this post 'Avoidance is the key to productivity'.  Revision time is coming up soon and then I'll be even better at avoiding what I'm suposed to be doing.  Maybe that's when I'll write the book on avoidance.

In the meantime if you'd like a copy of the 'Money Pixies' book you can do so by filling in this:

Get my copy!

Now I really had better go and start writing that darned essay so, until next time.

Heather

Margaret Thatcher a personal connection

Not many people know this about me, but my paternal grandfather was a manager at the plastics factory where the late Baroness Thatcher worked whilst she was a chemistry graduate. We have a family story that he once said of her 'You want to watch that one'.  I've never been able ask him about this or whether he liked her or not as he died when I was still very young.  However, one thing is clear: my grandfather recognised something in Maggie that made her stand out from the crowd.  Whether it was something about her aura or the way she acted I'll never know, but whatever it was it got his attention.

Start noticing people around you and for the positive traits within them.  Remember that there is a saying that 'whatever you see in someone else is a reflection of some aspect of you'. If you see negativity in others, you are merely recognising a negative aspect of your own energy. Start recognising the positive in others and you'll be reflecting the positive energy within within yourself.  As you start projecting this positive energy, the universe will respond and bring more positive things into your life.

If you need a boost of positive energy sign up for Abundance Insights, my new e-zine which will bring you further insights into attracting abundance and creating the lifestyle of your dreams.  Sign up now for free at ai.gr8.com the first issue is due out on Thursday so, I'd better finish this blog post here and put the finishing touches to it.

Until next time.

Not just about money

I often talk about success or abundance when I am coaching my students, writing articles for the CREATOR Club website and, of course, in this blog. However, what most people don't realise is that success and abundance don't just mean more money.

In fact you can have an abundant lifestyle with virtually no money in the bank at all.  How? You feel abundant.  In the West nearly all of us have far more than we need to survive and yet we always seem to want something better a new car, a new ipad/console, a new [fill in the blank].

It is my belief that in order to have a truly abundant lifestyle we should seek inner peace and happiness.  If we do this then the material becomes immaterial. True abundance is being genuinely happy and grateful for the things and people that we have in our lives right now.  Going after external objects that we desire in order to make us feel temporarily happy is crazy.  Be happy for who you are and be grateful for the many blessings that you have in your life.   If you attempt to create abundance whilst focusing on the lack of what you want you will fail.  Instead be happy for your old, clapped out car that just about gets you from a to b without breaking down.  Be truly thankful for it and then set the attention of attracting a better one.

As Dr Michael Beckwith (featured in The Secret) says "What we think about and thank about is what will materialise" be thankful, be happy and more blessings will flow towards you.