It’s been an interesting few weeks observing my own madness and being confronted with several situations to remind me how vulnerable I can be at times, even as a Confidence and Empowerment Coach! August is notoriously a quiet month for us. People put their lives on hold to enjoy the sun, their families, a little well-earned rest from the daily grind. It’s generally a time of peace when people remember what’s important and that life doesn’t need to be quite as difficult as we make it for ourselves. For some business owners however, like George and I, the summer can bring its own challenges. In this particular instance primarily in the form of …… CASH FLOW!
I quit watching TV news and reading the newspapers many years ago. Quite frankly it was just making me miserable and apart from the occasional hiccup, like the time I showed myself up when I didn’t know who David Cameron was, I don’t feel I’ve missed a thing. It’s hard however, even for me, to miss the constant reminders of the current economic climate and the fear associated with it. There is a general feel that its impossible to make money, that there’s a scarcity of it, not enough, less in circulation than there has been in previous years.
I’m fully aware that money issues and concerns aren’t limited to the business owner. All of us at some point have worried about bills, increasing debts and rising expenses. For some of us though, it’s an obsessional past-time…!
I’ve watched The Secret. I’m aware of the Law of Attraction. Of how everything is energy and we “vibrate” at a particular frequency based on what we’re thinking and feeling and we attract things on a similar frequency, i.e. negative attracts negative and positive attracts positive. I’m aware of the power of the mind and of positive thought and how we need to be clear on what we want and stop focusing on what we don’t want. I coach my clients on this all the time with alarmingly powerful results. Oh yes, I am well up on all this. Why then did I find myself worrying uncontrollably about money again?!!
Put plainly and simply: habit. Despite regularly learning, practising and teaching the techniques and implementing the tools, when the big challenge hits I, like almost everyone else, reach immediately for what’s familiar and that is often the old habit of worrying and focussing on exactly what we don’t want. The effects of this were dramatic. Before my very eyes the situation was worsening through a series of events that seemed way beyond my control. Whilst it was rather frightening, thanks to the work I do, I was able to observe what was happening and my reactions to it with a bit of detachment. This is the first step to creating any kind of change: getting awareness. Now it was time to take action.
The next thing I did was to stare the fear straight into its beady little eyes! What was it I was actually worried about? What was the worst that could happen? What would it mean? How would I handle it if the worse did actually happen? Once I understood what was fuelling the fear I was feeling and faced it head on, it immediately released its vice like hold. The relief…!! It was fascinating to watch the situation change, without a single outside factor changing at all. It was simply my perception of the situation that changed. This isn’t the first time I have experienced this but it never ceases to amaze me when I watch the clouds clear. (In our subconscious, often hidden away, are our core beliefs. These are about every aspect of our life. If there’s an area of your life that isn’t working for you, it will be interlinked to a core belief that isn’t serving you. Examples of this might be I don’t deserve success/money, the current economic climate makes it difficult to make money or money is the root of all evil.
George mentions in his blog this month that the Universe rewards persistent consistency. I wanted to find a daily practice that would keep me focused on where I wanted to go rather than the opposite. One of the key components of the Law of Attraction is visualisation. In general we totally underestimate the power of visualisation. It’s an extremely powerful tool in manifesting what we want and keeping us focused in our activities. I often hear people say they can’t visualise. If I asked you now to remember the colour of your bedroom, you would visualise it just before you remembered it. There are a few techniques however to create really powerful visualisations: 1. Make your visualisation and big, bright and bold as you can. The more detail, colour and vibrancy you can add the better. 2. Make your visualisation a movie. Fro example, if it’s a lifestyle you’re after, visualise driving in the drive in your new car, walking into the house and seeing it exactly as you want it in each room, seeing the people around you, checking you bank balance and seeing money continually coming in. You can be as creative here as you like. 3. Add some emotion. As you run your movie, feel the feelings associated with each step of it. Really let them run deep. 4. Feel gratitude for this lifestyle, as if it has already happened. (Just trust me on this.) 5. Practice this daily for a few minutes.
I have been practising this visualisation exercise for just 2 weeks now and the effects have been quite dramatic. Money is flowing again, in and out, and there is always enough just at the right time. The truth is there is no scarcity of money. There is no less money in circulation than there was before the “recession”. I bought a lottery ticket just a few weeks back with a chance of winning £150M. Does that sound like scarcity to you? There is an abundance of money in this world but our attitude towards it is what determines what proportion of it we attract. How much do you intend to attract?
