As I write this, the financial markets are in turmoil and there is the fear that we might be heading for another recession. The Middle East has been in an uprising since the beginning of the year, and there have been violent demonstrations in Greece, Europe and the UK. What’s going on?

On a global scale and also on a personal scale, some sort of shift seems to be happening. Talking with friends and colleagues I get the sense that lots of people are in states of fear and uncertainty about their work, their finances, and their relationships. I have felt it myself, so I have spent time contemplating it and working on processes and thought-changes we can put into effect to navigate troubling times.

1. Recognise the nature of the problem

When we look at the events in the world one observation we might make is that there seems to be a common theme – any lies, untruths, power imbalances and divisions are being brought to the surface and exposed. Many of our old ways of thinking, doing business and governing people are proving to be no longer sustainable and are simply falling down. To safely negotiate these changes we can begin with looking at our own fears and asking where we are out of alignment with our true nature.

Is any of your fear or discomfort based on thinking you will become a victim or that you won’t have enough? Notice the subconscious beliefs in lack that are being exposed. Expect any thought or belief that is based on duality and not aligned with unity, truth and natural abundance to be brought to the surface so that it can be re-evaluated.

2. Stop trying to fix everything

Some things can easily be resolved using our logic and problem-solving abilities, but sometimes we get into situations that resist our efforts to fix or change them. If your business is caught in a recession, for example, there are the necessary practical steps you need to take, but at some point you might find your energy sinking as you run out of ideas for how to remedy the situation. No matter how much you think about the situation and try to fix it, the problem stays a problem. At this point, the thinking mind has moved from being a helpful tool into part of the problem itself.

The conscious, critical mind is a wonderful aspect of ourselves that has resulted in all the marvels of modern civilisation. However, it has one drawback – it can only function by comparing and contrasting things that are different from one another. It needs to separate things into components that it can hold and examine. It only functions in the realm of duality and division. The mind simply can’t apprehend wholeness because there is nothing for it to hold onto. If everything in the world is green, there will be no concept of green or even of colour. To behold green, there must be red or blue or something different. The mind can’t go where division is not, but this is precisely where we need to go if we are to navigate this shift.

When we keep fretting at a problem we are trying to bring unity to an issue using a tool that can only work with duality. The alternative to this is unitive apprehension, but the thinking mind can’t go there. Essentially, what we have to do is move from thinking-mind to heart-mind.

3. Get into a state of flow

So, how to get out of mind and into heart?

If you’ve learned EFT from me or anyone else, then doing a few rounds of tapping on any issue is one of the quickest ways to stop opposing a problem and allowing it to resolve, returning one to a state of flow and appreciation.

Another way to get into heart-based flow is by using the breathing and visualisation exercises developed by the Institute of HeartMath. As people do these exercises, a factor called their heartbeat variability goes from a relatively disordered state to a highly ordered state known as coherence, and this can be measured very easily using a heartrate monitor.

The following simple technique can be used whenever you are feeling stressed to quickly bring you out of chaos into coherence and flow:

1. Sitting comfortably, bring your awareness to your heart centre and gently keep it focused there for a while. (The heart-centre is in the centre of your chest, in line with your heart).
2. Now begin breathing in to a count of 5 and out to a count of 5. (It doesn’t have to be 5 – it can be any number that’s comfortable). As you are breathing, keep your awareness on your heart centre.
3. When your breathing has stabilised in a deep, gentle rhythm, begin breathing in the quality of appreciation and breathing out the same appreciation. It can be appreciation for anything – a person, a beautiful scene in nature, or it can be simple appreciation for this moment. (After a while you can expand from appreciation to gratitude or any other positive emotion).

Continue cycling positive emotions while paying attention to the breath for as long as you choose. You will find that this quickly creates a deep sense of wellbeing in which things that seemed to be problems no longer have such a hold on you. You have moved from thinking mind into heart-mind and into divine flow. (Tip: If your negative thoughts are powerful and keep on intruding, try breathing in the negativity and breathing out any positive feeling. By breathing in the negative we end our opposition to it.)

Now, holding onto this state of flow, consider your challenges again. Are they still such a problem? Can you see new solutions, new options? Or if there are no immediate solutions, can you simply resolve to live with the discomfort and not to attach to it? This, ultimately, is what enlightenment is all about – being at peace with yourself, even if things around you are falling apart. Try it now and show yourself it really is possible.

Need some help with this? Simply contact me and let’s get out of worrying and into flow.

Recently a friend complained to me that he wasn’t happy with his sales job because the pay was low and nobody was making commissions. The problem was that the targets for earning commssions were set too high, so even the top performers were earning nothing more than their basic salary.

I asked my friend what his plan was and he said he was working hard in the hope that he would get a promotion, which would give him a little more money. But from our discussion so far it seemed that this company was already taking more from their staff than what they were giving and that this ‘hoping’ for a promotion was a very weak position.

I encouraged my friend to move into a stronger, more proactive position by asking him what someone who was really confident might do. There were several options:

• He could go and talk to management and explain how the salespeople were frustrated, and offer a solution (in this way he would get their attention and demonstrate his commitment to making the company a success)
• He could realise the company wasn’t going to change and he could then use the time to study and become a great salesperson, so that when the time was right he could leave for a better job
• He could simply decide to start looking for a new job right now

All of the above options are stronger than simply ‘hoping’ for things to improve. Hoping is really just a way of covering up a sense of our own inadequacy or fear. We are passing the buck, hoping God or the universe or the boss or whoever will reward us, when in fact the world is simply waiting for us to stand up and declare who we are. Standing up will involve facing our fears, but in this way we are growing rather than simply covering up the problem with wishful thinking.

Move from hope to intent

The key to solving my friend’s dilemma involved moving from hope to intention. What did he really want, and how did he intend expressing this intention? With this new attitude he felt empowered and back in control of his life. Control doesn’t mean gettting exactly what you want – after all, he might speak to management about the  problems and receive a cold response. But at least after taking this action he will be more clear on the next step – and with this clarity comes a sense of purpose and meaning.

Next time you find yourself hoping for something, catch yourself and see how you might change that weak stance into a stronger and more intentful position. When you have intention you can develop a plan, and with a plan you are able to turn any eventuality into a success.

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Just suppose for a moment that almost everything you believed about finding happiness turned out to be inaccurate, misleading or false. And suppose that those very beliefs were making you miserable.

Those are the provocative opening lines of the book The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris.  In this enjoyable and enlightening read, Harris describes how modern society has taken on a whole lot of beliefs about happiness that seem to make good sense but which are actually unrealistic and which set us up for disappointment.  The more we seek happiness, the more it eludes us.

Just test this on yourself before reading further. Which of these statements about happiness do you believe?

• Happiness is the natural state of all human beings
• If you’re not happy, you’re defective
• To create a better life, we must get rid of negative feelings
• You should be able to control what you think and feel

Most of us in modern society take these statements as common-sense truths, but they are actually just myths about happiness that keep us locked in the happiness trap.
There is a growing body of research that is showing just how little control we really have over what we think and how we feel. Essentially, our minds have evolved over thousands of years to be extremely cautious of anything that might lead us out of a comfort zone into new territory. This was an adaptation that served us well in the days when we had to be afraid of sabre-toothed tigers.

Now that we’ve got those tigers licked, however, we suddenly want to be happy and without fear. The trouble is, our brains are hard-wired to continually be comparing and evaluating the elements in our environment to detect opportunities or dangers. And once it’s picked up on even the slightest change or unknown element, it conjures up images of frightening outcomes to make sure we don’t do anything too hasty or foolish. The end result is that our minds are harshly self-critical and judgmental – a perfect recipe for psychological suffering.

And this is exactly where we fall into the happiness trap, because all the supposed experts – the well-meaning advisers, therapists, gurus and media stars – are telling us that we should be joyful and peaceful and fulfilled all of the time. They tell us that the object of our lives is to find happiness, and until we’ve achieved that we’re not really successful.  But here’s the point – happiness of this type is actually never going to be achieved. We’re just not set up for it.

The way out of the happiness trap is to make a place for psychological suffering and to redefine what we mean by happiness.  The common definition of happiness is “feeling good”. But Harris suggest a more realistic meaning of happiness involves “living a rich and meaningful life”. Happiness, by this definition, consists of acknowledging and accepting your inevitable psychological pain, and then making choices in support of things you truly value. This definition, with its emphasis on accepting pain and committing to value-inspired action, forms the basis of the new Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).  The Happiness Trap book is essentially a self-help book based on this approach to psychology.

Therapy in this context consists of becoming mindful  of our suffering and stepping into the observing self.  We need to break our personal identification with whatever is causing us pain so that the pain can still be there but we are no longer invested in it or ‘fused’ with it. Many people will recognize this as a very Buddhist approach, though ACT takes care not to align itself with any spiritual or religious practices.

I recommend this book as a very readable primer to ACT therapy and also as a revolutionary new way of overcoming stress, anxiety and depression. As therapists, we too often try to get rid of a client’s pain rather than showing them how to ‘be with’ their pain. But most of all, this approach can lead to a deep inner surrender and letting go of the need to be happy and to create a pain-free life. This is true acceptance and transcendence.

I have identified at least 5 common reasons why we procrastinate:

1. Fear of failure – We fear things when we get out of the present moment and start worrying about the future. So we can look at a big task and think it’s way too much for us and we’ll never succeed. The way to stop this is to focus just on the bit in front of you. Start with a manageable portion and complete that. Then move on to the next bit. Stay in the moment. If you proceed like this you will move through the task easily.
2. Focusing on short-term discomfort – this is probably the biggest reason for procrastination. We focus on how uncomfortable we’ll feel while at the gym, and we lose sight of that great feeling that we get once our workout is over. Or we focus on the unpleasantness of an afternoon spent cleaning the garage and forget about the months of pleasure we’ll have from enjoying a clean working space.
3. Making the task seem bigger than it is – We focus on how much junk there is in the garage and then get overwhelmed by how big the task is, and so we never begin. The secret is simply to walk in and begin somewhere. In other words, break the task into manageable chunks. For example, just walk into the garage and tell yourself you’re only going to clean the workbench. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have given yourself a little success, and you’ll want a bit more. So you’ll clean the next bit. And so on. Or decide to go to gym and just do the treadmill. Then once you’ve actually done the treadmill you’ll start feeling good, and you’ll want to move on to the next exercise. This is a way of being kind to yourself and still getting the job done.
4. Thinking you have to be in the mood to do the job – The fact is, for some jobs we’ll never be in the mood. However, if you make an early start on a job, and you stay focused in the moment, the sense of achievement you get will start to make you feel good.
5. Failure to begin – When you don’t begin on time, you create a small sense of failure, and then you associate this negative feeling with the whole task. The trick is just to make a start, even if it’s a very small one. This little victory will make you feel good, and suddenly you’ll begin to see that the task might actually be easier and more pleasant than you thought.

But wait …

Sometimes there is a valid reason why we are not doing whatever we’ve decided we need to do. In such cases, it’s the inner mind trying to warn us about some unexpected consequences of continuing with the planned action. For example, deciding to wake up an hour earlier each day to go to the gym will not be in your best interests if you’re already working too hard and resting too little. Your inner mind is always trying to achieve the best state of being for you, and sometimes that means doing less rather than doing more.

Getting the balance right between doing too little and doing too much can be a bit of a challenge. As a general guideline, though, if you have to force yourself to do something you’re probably going about it in the wrong way. Try to find a way of doing it that inspires you and that makes you feel truly motivated. If you’re feeling motivated and inspired, and things still aren’t happening, then maybe they’re not meant to happen just yet.

Troubled by procrastination?

Contact me and we’ll get to work to find out what’s blocking you.

Without knowing it we live by these magical beliefs and constantly try to make our spells work, despite overwhelming evidence that nothing is happening and we’re just feeling more and more miserable. I thought I was immune from such thinking until I discovered a very powerful belief that went like this: ‘When I find something of value to offer in the world, people will approve of me and I will be happy’.

I was going along chanting the mantra, ‘I have something of value to offer’, little knowing that this so-called affirmation was digging me a nice little hole of distress.
I couldn’t even see how absurd it was – that I was making my value depend on a thing, and that it all depended on other people approving of this thing. Talk about a recipe for unhappiness.

I discovered another magical belief backing this one up, and it went like this: ‘When I have money, I will be OK.’ Here’s the logic of it: When I have money, it means people approve of me and value me, which means that I really am valuable, and therefore worthy of happiness.

Incredible!

Common magical beliefs

See if any of these resonate with you:

• When I have money I’ll be free
• When I am thin I’ll be happy/confident/lovable
• When I am married I will be acceptable
• When I have a relationship I will know I’m lovable
• I’m not successful as a woman unless I have a secure relationship with a man

The cure

What these spells are trying to do is change reality in order to create a feeling or state of being. In other words, the formula is, When I have something I will do something and will feel good, or Having – Doing – Being.

What we’ve got to do is reverse the order so it goes Being – Doing – Having. In other words, first be happy or free or confident, and then see what actions flow from that and what physical things end up in your life.

The Buddha said that the cause of suffering is attachment to an outcome. We demand that things happen in a certain way so that we can feel happy. But the truth of the matter is that we will never be happy while attaching to outcomes and trying to magically change reality.

Let’s see how some of those magical beliefs above can be turned around so they begin with Being:

• When I know I am free regardless of the circumstances of my life, money will be free to move where it is most needed
• When I know I am confident, happy, and worthy of love just as I am, I will no longer need to eat for emotional reasons and my body will be the weight that is just right for it
• When I know that I am acceptable to myself just as I am, I will be in the best possible position to make good marriage when the time is right
• I love myself and am happy just as I am, even as I open myself to the possibility of a wonderful relationship
• I am successful regardless of anything I do or say or have, and this success has nothing to do with my being in a relationship or not

One may feel some discomfort in trying to turn one’s magical beliefs around, but the secret is to stick with it and go deeper to locate your value in yourself, regardless of any outside evidence. To live from this state of Being is to live in the Now, unattached to outcome, truly free.

Resources

Need some help identifying and reversing magical beliefs? Let’s start the work – Life coaching in Cape Town.

At a Passion Test workshop recently someone asked me that very question. Say, for example, you dream of becoming a renowned concert pianist. Is this a worthy goal or is it an ego-based delusion?

Well, here’s a test you can do to help you identify what’s behind your dreams and goals.

Step 1: Extracting the Value

Every goal you set for yourself will be inspired by a higher-level value or emotional state of being. We all do things because of how they make us feel, right? So this feeling is the true motivation of your actions – and it’s going to tell you a lot about whether your goals are worthy of pursuing. To access this value, you simply ask the following question repeatedly until the answers start repeating: ‘When you have what you’re looking for, what will that get you?’

You’ll end up with high-level Values like happiness, fulfillment, security, and inspiration.

Step 2: Testing the Value

Once you have the Value you’re trying to elicit, you need to test whether you can get the same Value without achieving success in your goal. In other words, are you dependent on a physical outcome in order to achieve the desired emotional state. Why do we need to do this? Because a dream is only worthy if it’s done for its own sake and is not an attempt to buy happiness or some other state of being (remember all that about staying in The Now).

The way to test this is simply to ask, ‘Suppose you never achieve goal, will you still be able to be Value?’ (Replace Value with the particular state of being that’s motivating your goal, for example ‘happy’).

Let’s look at some examples.

Example: “I want to write and publish successful novels”

Step 1: Extracting the Value

When you have written and published this novel, what will that get you?

‘An audience, fame.’

And when you have an audience and fame, what will that get you?

‘Money.’

And when you have money, what will that get you?

‘I’ll be able to do the things I love.’

And when you are doing the things you love, what will that get you?

‘I’ll be inspired, at ease.’

When you are inspired and at ease, what will that get you?

‘Happiness’

So the Value here is happiness, with the flavour of inspiration and ease.

Step 2: Testing the Value

Suppose you’re never able to write and publish those novels. Can you still be happy?

‘I don’t think so. It would be difficult.’

So this tells us that the person is wanting to buy happiness by writing novel. They are dependent on a physical outcome in order to achieve an emotional state. They don’t actually want to write novels because it’s their deep purpose and joy, so this goal is an ego fantasy.

Let’s try something else:

Example: “I want to be a renowned concert pianist”

Step 1: Extracting the Value

When you are a renowned concert pianist, what will that get you?

‘The joy of performing in front of large numbers of people, the excitement of performance, the knowledge that I’m creating a moving experience for people.’

When you are experiencing the excitement of performing in front of large numbers of people, and you’re creating a moving experience for them, what does this get you?

‘Joy and inspiration – I’ll be living my purpose.’

And when you’re joyful and inspired, living your purpose, what will that get you?

‘Pure joy and gratitude, pure inspiration. ‘

So the Values here are joy, gratitude and inspiration.

Step 2: Testing the Value

Just suppose you’re never, ever able to be a renowned concert pianist – will you still be able to feel joyful and inspired and grateful in your life?

‘Yes. I enjoy playing piano regardless of the size of the audience. I can still feel that joy and inspiration if I’m playing for one person or just for myself. It would be great, though, to play to thousands of people. That would really turn me on.’

In this example, the person is not dependent on a physical outcome to achieve their desired emotional state of feeling joyful, inspired, and grateful. They recognize that they have access to these feelings already, so their work as a musician is done for the joy of it. Of course, they will be paid for their work, but it’s not the primary motive, it’s simply the natural energy exchange for the work they love doing.

Conclusion

Many of us make the mistake of thinking that by having something or doing something we’ll achieve a lasting state of being. In fact, the creation process begins with being and flows to doing and having – when you are happy (a state of being), you will do things and have things that reflect this happiness.

So look carefully to see whether your desire is an attempt to reverse this order, in other words to try to achieve a state of being by having something or doing something. If you take away the having or the doing, can you still achieve that same state? If not, you need to check your motives.

Want to do The Passion Test and get clarity on your goals?

I present The Passion Test in workshops and individual sessions.  Let’s work together to find out what you really want and how to get it. It all begins with finding clarity on your true purpose.

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Inspired Coaching & Hypnosis – expert coaching and hypnotherapy in Cape Town.

So what can you do to get clear on what is most important to you?

Step 1: Identify your passions
Begin with the clues that are already in your life. Sit down and make a list of those things you would do if you won R30 million and didn’t need to work at all. Would you sleep all day, or would you get up and do something? Would you work at something rich in meaning but that gave little financial reward, or would you build a financial empire? Chances are good you are already doing some of the things that will form the basis of your ideal life. The only reason they haven’t manifested yet is because you haven’t got really clear on them.

“When you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent you are clear.” – The Passion Test, Chris and Janet Attwood.

Go deeply when you make your list and ignore, for a moment, the practicalities and all the ‘yes buts’ that your mind will probably offer. Your job right now is to get clear on what you love. When you are clear on what you want and are excited by it, the ‘how’ of things begins to take care of itself. Suddenly new possibilities open up, synchronicities happen, money appears.

Step2: Identify the top 5 passions
Go through the list, comparing one against the other, and ask yourself – if you could only have one, which would it be? Do this, comparing one item against the next, until you have your top 5. (The full process for doing this is described in The Passion Test book and is covered in my Passion Test workshops or individual coaching sessions.)
When you have your top 5 passions, write them down on a card and keep it somewhere in view. This will focus your attention on your ideal life and begin the process of manifesting it.

From passions to purpose
The Passion Test process outlined above gives you the important ‘whats’ of your life – the things you would love to be, do, or have. In my courses and individual sessions we take this further and discover the deeper reasons that motivate the passions – the ‘whys’ of your life. Once we know the motivations we can identify your Vision – your true purpose – and once we have the Vision and Purpose we can define an inspiring Mission Statement for your life. I call this process the Vision Spiral.

Here’s an example of a Mission Statement, written by an entrepreneur:

I declare that my primary purpose in life is to add value to the world by creating products and services that solve problems and bring people delight and happiness.
To do this I will create profitable and ethical businesses focused on filling voids and solving problems in the world around me.
In return I will receive handsome profits that I will use to build more businesses, to foster creative talent in less privileged people, and to build my dream home at the sea.

Inspiring? See the Workshops page for details on how you can discover your passions and write a powerful Mission Statement for your own life. Or if you’re in the Cape Town area, give me a call and we’ll schedule an appointment for some individual coaching. The Passion Test and Mission Statement can be covered in two or three sessions.

Heartland Success LLC» 3 Keys for Quitting your job and starting a business

For details on my own coaching processes for helping you discover your purpose, see the post Finding your true purpose.

I have spent a good few years sitting in jobs where I felt I was giving a lot more than I received and savouring the quiet despair of knowing I would just never get ahead, that I was truly stuck to a life of labour. While part of me suffered this way, another part got really curious about how money and income worked and I became determined to understand it and get it right, no matter if it killed me. And because I was a coach and therapist at heart, I knew that as soon as I had any breakthroughs I would have to pass them on to anybody who cared to listen. So here, they are … some of the insights and lessons that have come as revelations to me, and which I hope might be of some use to you.

i) Reach more people
One’s wealth is directly proportional to the number of people one impacts. Let me say that again in case you missed it – your wealth is directly proportional to the number of people you impact. It’s not about how hard you work or how clever you are, it’s about how many people you touch. This was perhaps the biggest revelation of all for me. When I got this one, I suddenly realised why I had been earning such an unsatisfactory salary all those years – it wasn’t about the lack of promotion or salary increases, it was that I was only ever impacting one or two or three people. I was making my boss happy, but that was it. If I got a promotion it would be only a slight improvement – it wasn’t going to get me to the point where I could work part time and write novels and do other things that interested me.
So, to earn more, ask yourself this question: “How can I reach more people with my message, product, or service?”

ii) Share your vision
Wealthy people all have a vision that they want to share with as many people as possible. People who are truly wealthy have an unshakeable belief that their service or product or message deserves to be shared with as many people as possible. It doesn’t matter if they are trying to save the world or to sell a widget, they know that their offering will make the world a better place, and so they give themselves fully to promoting it. It’s all about finding the value inside you and then offering it to the world. You don’t serve humanity by hiding away and pleasing your boss.
Ask yourself, “What special talents or insights or products do I have that will make other people’s lives easier or more fulfilled? How can I make the world a better place and be richly rewarded for it?” (If you don’t think you have any special talents or insights, read step iv)

iii) Solve somebody’s problem
One definition of an entrepreneur that I really like is that an entrepreneur is a person who solves other people’s problems. Entrepreneurs are fascinated by problems, they just love problems, because they know that where there’s a problem there’s a way to make money AND make people’s lives better. When you have a strong desire to improve people’s lives and lift humanity, even if it’s only by inventing some sort of kitchen widget that makes a busy mother’s life a little easier, you are adding value to the world, and that value will be reflected in your income. Sit down and think about the things you struggle with every day, or which you see other people struggling with. Can you find a way of ending the struggle? Is there a way of offering your solution to large numbers of people so their lives and yours can be improved?

iv) Discover your inner expert
Do you know what an expert is? An expert is someone who puts himself in the front of the room and tells everyone he has something interesting to share. It’s that simple. You don’t need to be anybody special or have a suitcase full of qualifications, you only need a subject that has personal meaning for you and the courage to stand up and share your angle on it. Is Al Gore an expert on climate change? No, he’s an expert at being a politician with a burning interest in climate change and a desire to explain the problem to millions of people. There are many climate change experts, but only one Al Gore. Do you get what I’m getting at here?
Nobody else in the world has your unique blend of interests and talents, so if you don’t share those interests and talents the world will be a lesser place. Be aware of all the little negative voices that tell you you’re too ordinary, too middle class, too normal, too whatever. When I was putting a lot of time into writing novels I would get these voices a lot, and I had to remind myself that they were all just my little excuses.
The bottom line is this – your special combination of loves and talents means you have special angles on subjects that nobody else has, and some of these angles could be developed into a product or service that could impact a large number of people and bring you great reward.
Ask yourself this question: “What do I love doing or talking about or researching that might benefit other people?”
And if you’re feeling brave: “If I die tomorrow, what message has been left unsaid?”

v) Step out of your comfort zone
It’s only recently that I really began to understand how company salaries work and why many people feel like they’re being cheated. I used to feel cheated and I was sure I wasn’t getting paid what I was worth, but now I know better. The difference between what you feel you should earn and what you do earn is something I call the Security Tax. The Security Tax is a tax your employer takes from you in return for job security and a regular paycheck.
Needless to say I learned this after leaving a permanent job and going out on my own. Some months were great and the money flowed, and others were terrible and I began to have sleepless nights. If you work for a big company you’re not going to have any sleepless nights, it’s the company owner who is going to be having them – so she’s the only one who doesn’t have to pay the Security Tax.
The moral of the story is this – if you don’t want to pay the Security Tax, give up the security and become your own boss. When the sleepless nights come around, console yourself with the knowledge that great reward comes with great risk, and you have chosen risk.

Okay, these are just five of the income-related lessons that I have learned in my own journey and about which I feel strongly. In the end they all boil down to a very simple formula – find your message and reach more people. That’s it.

My friend, because he was coming from a place of pure practicality, couldn’t get me past my practical objections – the fact that I had nothing left to cut – and so I rejected his theory of saving. It was only years later that I met someone who taught me the deeper meaning of saving and got me to see beyond my own objections.

Financial coach
I had seen an advert in the Linkup magazine for someone calling themselves a financial coach. I didn’t know there were such things as financial coaches, but whatever they did I was sure I was in need of it. I phoned the coach, Linda, and made an appointment, and she said she would send me some homework to do before the first session. The homework turned out to be a spreadsheet with a detailed listing of common monthly expenses. I was to fill in the form with the amounts I spent on these things each month. That was quite an uncomfortable exercise, and I left a number of the fields blank because I simply couldn’t afford them – I simply was not in a place where I could budget for yearly holidays and other “indulgences”.

When I arrived for the first session I was in a subtly antagonistic frame of mind. If she told me I would have to cut down on my already meagre expenses so that I could save I was going to let her have it! Well in the end it didn’t work out that way – instead of getting me to cut expenses she started adding to them! She made me put in a figure for that impossible yearly holiday, and she made me budget properly for the books and courses that I needed but could not afford. At the end of the exercise we arrived at a figure that was considerably larger than what I was earning. Instead of backing down and admitting she was loonytunes, she said, “Now let’s not forget that ten percent!” And then she went and added another dollop of cash to the impossible total. Part of me wanted to head right out of the door, but another part was fascinated. How was this all going to work?

The Law of Saving

Seeing I was a bit incredulous, she began telling me about the true Law of Saving. If you regularly and religiously put away a certain proportion of your income, your income will expand to cover it.

Income is not something that comes from outside us, it’s determined by our subconscious ideas of what we’re worth. Unconsciously, we all have an idea of how much money we should have available, even if consciously we desire a lot more. The idea is that if we take away 10 percent and put it where we can’t touch it, our subconscious “regulator” will increase the amount of money that comes our way to make up for the shortfall. When she explained it like this I felt a deep sense of excitement, of recognition. This was the truth, this was how it worked!

For the law of saving to really work, you need to commit to it – regardless of your current financial condition. Even if you find yourself for some months earning less than what you need to pay your obligations, you must still put away that ten percent (or 5% or 2% – just start somewhere). This teaches the subconscious mind that this saving is non-negotiable. Only when the mind has accepted this, will it begin showing you ways of increasing your income to an appropriate level. Even if you have debt – save first, and then pay your debt. This sounds counterintuitive but in the long run you will be way ahead of those who cave in and focus on the debt – for they are giving themselves the subtle message “I am debt”, and their subconscious minds are responding in the only way they can, by bringing more debt.

Focus on what you have, not what you owe
There is another important aspect of saving – the fact that you have shifted focus from the negative to the positive, from something you owe to something you are building. Suddenly, even if you have massive debt, you have planted something that is growing, and every month you can see that amount growing larger. Eventually you want to do whatever it takes to make that amount grow truly great. When this happens, paying off the rest of the debt will be easy.

Putting the Law of Saving into action:

• Start putting away 10% of gross income now (start smaller if you need to)
• Save that money even if it means borrowing from other accounts to get you through a bad month (it’s okay to loan yourself money)
• Focus on what you do have (your savings) rather than on what you don’t have (your debt)
• Get excited about new sources of income
• Increase the percentage when you’re ready for a new challenge

I have put this into effect and I can tell you it really works. And the magic really happens the first time you get tempted to quit – when that month comes when your expenses are greater than your income and you have to dip into other savings. Just loan yourself the money, put your 10 percent away, and write down what you owe that account you had to raid. Next month you’re going to pay it back, plus the 10 percent.

Resources

Financial coach (Cape Town): Linda Smith: www.financial-freedom.co.za.

Books: I recommend John Demartini’s “How to make one hell of a profit and still get to heaven.” This covers the spiritual laws of money as well as the down-to-earth practical steps of investing it.