DAY SIX

I NOW OPEN MY MIND TO RECEIVE MY GOOD.

One of the important keys to balancing your finances is to keep an open mind.  Many of us are givers in life and we block our financial flow by refusing to accept the gifts that come to us.  This could be on a subtle level and until a spiritiual teacher pointed it out to me, I just didn't see it.  I was the person who always played down my accomplishments and felt unworthy of praise.  So when someone would say that they
liked what I was wearing I would say something demeaning about my clothing..."oh this thing, I've had it for years".  Or I would go into a "too much information" mode. better known as "TMI", i.e. " I bought this dress in the Salvation Army discount store. It was on sale for $3 Dollars", or I took this dress out of my daughter's closet", or I would point out a flaw in the dress, "the stitching is coming out of the hem".  One spiritual teacher advised me to just accept the compliment with a sincere "thank you" and move on.  Jack Miller, one of my early astrology teachers sat me down and told me, "Ayesha even if a small child offers you a dirty lollipop, take it."  That seemed a little extreme to me, but Jack went on to explain that even a dirty lollipop was a gift, and if it came from a child, it came from the heart.  One habit that i developed when I was younger was to say "Oh you shouldn't have ", when opening a birthday or xmas gift.  This was code for saying " I really don't deserve this".  But thanks to my teachers I've learned to accept compliments and gifts with ease, no matter who gives them. 

WE'RE NOT HORSE TRADERS

Tony Robbins, the great motivational teacher saId that we should give and receive gifts without thinking "now I owe this person a gift" or "now he owes me something".  In his loud booming voice he said "we're not horse traders".  What I got from his message was to just give or receive without thinking of motivation.  "I NOW OPEN MY MIND TO RECEIVE MY GOOD".  Now there are cynical people in the world and there are people who are giving a compliment or a gift because they want something in return.  But you don't have to make that your problem or to spend too much time trying to figure out their motivation.  Try to keep an open mind, let go of the

negative chatter and receive what comes to you with grace. 

SAY THE PRAYER DAILY

We're living at a time when it's a good idea to pray without ceasing.  Some of us are saying the financial prayer at 8:00pm every night, while others tell me that they say the prayer whenever they think about money.  When you keep the prayer in mind, it's easy to remember a line whenever you spend money.  For one thing it will keep you in a calm state of mind, regardless of what's going on in the outer world.  I got through the last gas crisis using this prayer.  While others were standing near the gas pumps, complaining about the prices, I would turn my back to the figures as they moved higher and higher.  I would say to myself " God works in myriad ways to bless me" or "I now open my mind to receive my good." Or I would just say a silent "thank you" as I was tightening the gas cap on my car.  That way a simple thing like filling up my gas tank became an opportunity to reset, focus and open my mind to receive my good. 

WORRY IS A USELESS ACTIVITY

Actually, worry is a prayer for what you don't want.  When we worry, our thoughts recycle and we end up thinking the same negative thoughts numerous times.  Worry always takes us to visions of the worst case scenario as our rational minds and egos race to infect us with negative thoughts of doom and gloom.  When I talk to the people in my life who are always worrying, they usually tell me that they are just concerned about the outcome.  Others tell me they can't control their thoughts, that they just magically appear.  But a sure way to stop the worry about money is to change the thoughts when they try to take over.  people who worry are actually trying to control the outcome of a situation.  They are always thinking about the future and hardly ever appreciating what's happening in the present. 

BE HERE NOW

The past is dead.  The future is imaginary and the gift is in the present.  We can change our minds, we can change our thinking, we can change our emotions when we stay in the present.  In fact the present is all there is.  So don't worry about your finances.  Worry is a prayer for what you don't want.  Stay positive, say the prayer daily and open your mind to receive your good.  When your bills come in the mail (or on line), say a silent "thank you".  Be grateful for the services you received from the companies that provided your electric, your water, your telephone and computer services.  If you do these things, stop the worrying habit, giving thanks for your blessings, memorizing the prayer, saying it every day, you'll slowly become a money magnet, attracting good people, things and situations into your life.  You have nothing to lose and plenty to gain by focusing on the positive lines in this prayer.  You'll find that life becomes easier, you'll be more joyful and fun to be with.  It's all good! 







DAY FIVE

GOD WORKS IN MYRIAD WAYS TO BLESS ME.

Now we're getting to the space where gratitude and thankfulness is important.  In order to stay in an attitude of gratitude its important to count your blessings.  Some of the language in this prayer is old.  When I was learning the prayer the word "myriad" seemed to jump off the page.  What is "myriad?"  According to Webster's Dictionary "myriad" means "a large indefinite number".  So the prayer is saying we have an indefinite number of blessings.  And I might add that most of our blessings we take for granted.  Like waking up this morning.  Some people didn't wake up this morning.  We were taught to notice the little things that we often take for granted and to write them down in a "gratitude journal".  Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote a book entitled "Simple Abundance" where she encourages the reader to single out the small things, like the fact that the water turned on when we took a shower, or the toilet flushed after using it, or the food we ate that day, or the fact that someone smiled at us when we passed them in the supermarket.  I promise you that when you  begin to single out your "simple" blessings each day, you'll begin to automaticlaly notice the blessings as they occur.  If you want to develop an attitude of gratitude try writing down at least 5 blessings you received during the day.  You should do this right before turning in for the night.  I look back in my life and witness the times when I took my blessings for granted.  And worse I would grumble and complain when I had to go grocery shopping.  It started with writing down the list of things I needed to buy.  My attitude of ingratitude started with writing the list "go check and see if we have enough paper towels" I would yell to my children.  " do we need cereal?"  I had read in one of those self help articles that I should make out a menu for the week and then write out my grocery list.  Hmmm!  What were we going to eat each day?  By the time the list was complete my emotions were in the toilet.  Even the kids singing and talking as we drove to the supermarket got on my nerves "would you please tone it down a little...I'm trying to drive".  When you start off any chore with a negative attitude it becomes a slippery slope as you find more negative things to complain about.  When we entered the store I would automatically look at the lines at the check out counters.  Long lines made me feel worse "oh geez we'll be in here for days".  Instead of being thankful that I had the money to buy what I needed,  I made what could have been a good time, into a bad time.  The cereal isle was one of my worse places to be, as the children would always argue about which cereral to buy.  Having been brainwashed by the cereal commercials they always wanted the newest and most non nutritious cereal, like the ones that had marshmellows or candy inside.  "no we can't buy that...look at the label there's too much junk in it".  By the time we left the cereal isle, I had a headache.  There was always one child who felt I was being mean because I wouldn't by the cereal with chocolae chips in it. 

WE ATTRACT TO US WHAT WE CONSISTENTLY THINK ABOUT

By the time we reached the check out line my mood was worse.  I had attracted every negative situation you could imagine, including someone bumping into me in the produce department or having to accompany one of my children to the bathroom, or having someone trying to get ahead of me in the check out line.  At the beginning of the trip when I was making out my list I consistently thought this was going to be a negative experience.  My negative mood and thinking became a self fulfilling prophency. 

SUPERMARKETS CAN BE DANGEROUS PLACES

If you're working on increasing your finances any kind of shopping can be dangerous and especially the supermarket.  That's because you're always looking at prices and for most people, we're saying "what? that's entirely too much to pay for (fill in the blank).  My attitude of ingratitude started to change the day I saw a woman outiside the supermarket begging for change.  Here I was with three grocery carts filled with food, looking at the receipt and thinking about how much money I spent which seemed to be much more than the last time, and I hear this woman's voice "sister can you spare some change?"  I looked up to see a woman with a bunch of children and all of them seemed to have on clothing that was not warm enough for the season.  This woman was looking at the dollars I hadn't put back in my wallet.  I gave her the money and she was immediately grateful, "thank you and God Bless you>"  On the drive home, after stopping at our favorite restaurant for lunch, thoughts of this woman came to mind.  i remembered something my grandmother used to say when I was growing up "there but for the grace of God, go I."  What if the only way to get money enough to buy the things I needed to feed my family was through begging for change?   I decided that day to stop bellyaching about food shopping.  I was blessed to have a car and enough money to buy the things I needed. 

WHAT YOU BLESS EXPANDS AND GROWS

When I came in contact with the books and worrkbooks written by Sarah Ban Breathnach I "got it" that I needed to change my mind about money and especially when going grocery shopping.  I started giving thanks as I was writing down my grocery list, i.e. "we need dishwashing detergent...thank you God".  My husband was a manager of a car dealership so I was always driving a new car, which was part of the deal when he was promoted to manager.  The car always started up at the turn of the ignition key, "thank you God".  Even though I didn't like going to the grocery store or supermarket, I did heve enough money to buy what I needed, plus extras.  Thank you God.  When I started approaching this chore with an attitude of gratitude, my creativity kicked in.  I found a way to get through the cereal isle without getting a headache or fussing at the kids.  The decisions about cereal were made before we left the house.  Then each child wss given the opportunity to choose the cereal for the week, while the rest of us did the other shopping.  I taught them how to read labels and they competed to find the best and most nutritious cereal.  I separated the list and gave each child a section..."you get the produce" "you get the paper products".  Our time in the supermarket went much faster as they would race to bring back the things on their section of the list.  They would also take great pride in finding a sale or bargain.  What was a dreaded chore (for me) became a family experience that was fun and enjoyable.  We began to save money, as the children would look at the store flyers (that I usually passed over) to find the bargains for the week.  As my attitude improved their attitude improved.  Just a smile and a hug influenced my children to be full participants in this weekly activity. (notice I changed the word from "chore" to "activity").  Thankfully I was able to change one area of my life from a downer to an upper.  I "got it" that I was sending off negative energy once a week, when it was totally unnecessary.  Negative energy is contagious and positive energy is also contagious.  And we get to choose which energy we're going to embrace. 

Thought for the day:  I will count my blessings all day long.  Join us in a group meditation at 8:00pm every night. 

Day FOUR

GOOD COMES TO ME THROUGH UNEXPECTED AVENUES


When I first read this line in the prayer, I was thinking to myself "what good could come to me through unexpected avenues?   In other words I wasn't a believer.  But that negative mind set changed when I won a hundred dollar certificate from my health food store.  The first week of saying the prayer every day and memorizing it line by line, I received a letter from one of my daughters saying she was broke and couldn't afford her vitamin supplements.  I decided to send her the supplements and have faith that I could afford to pay for them.  I thought the whole thing over and decided that sending her the vitamins was a form of tithing.  Armed with a list of vitamins for my daughter, I rushed into the health food store and ended up buying about $60 worth of B's C's D's Omega Oils.  Then I packed them in a neat box and mailed them to her with a note about trusting the universe and a copy of the prayer.  The next day I realized that I only had $10 dollars to spend and I also realized that I had forgotten that I needed Vitamin E.  As I approached the health food store, the negative rational mind said "you're always taking care of other people and forgetting to take care of you".  "Now because you want to be considered a good person, you're going to suffer".  Yes, me and the rational mind aren't always good friends (smile).  I shut her up by saying "good comes to me through unexpected avenues".  When I walked into the health food store it seemed everyone was smiling at me.  I loved that store. It was owned by Jamaican people who really knew all about vitamins and herbs and who always gave good customer service.  Holding on to my "last" ten dollars I said to the clerk "do you have a cheap Vitamin E?"  "all I have is ten dollars".  The young woman laughed and said "did you see your name on the front door?"  No, I hadn't seen my name on the front door.  Then the owner came up to me and said "you won the contest, so I guess you'll have enough money to buy your Vitamin E".  What?  I never won anything in my entire life.  It seemed that the day before, as I was rushing to buy the vitamins for my daughter, someone pushed a post it sized note to me and asked for my address and telephone number.  I thought it was just their  way of updating their mailing list and didn't realize it was a contest.  The owner smiled at me and said you won $100 that can be used in the store and you don't have to spend it all at one time.  Wowee!!!  Was this prayer working or what?

I thought to share that story because just yesterday a friend from Queens called and left a message telling me that somehow good came to him through unexpected avenues.  He said he only had ten dollars to last through the weekend, but suddenly found out that a class he had paid for was cancelled, thus the school was refunding him $280 dollars and he needed it.  He also said he was going to tell all his friends about this prayer and this blog because it worked for him last time and its working for him again.  He ended with a message that he believes in picking up pennies as they are little hints that money is on the way.  We're suggesting that you join us in a group meditation at 8:00pm tonight.  Just repeat the prayer and know that there is no time or space on the Higher levels of existence.  We are all one.  And it is all good.
Thought for the day:  All the money that ever was or ever will be is here now.