Pro$perity Is an
Inside Job
by Joan Sotkin
Prosperity Place®
Santa Fe, New Mexico
888-779-5626
© Copyright 1996 by Joan Sotkin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form, except for brief review,
without the written permission of the publisher.
Joan Sotkin
2581 Camino San Patricio
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-471-8221
888-779-5626
On the Internet:
http://prosperityplace.com
joan@prosperityplace.com
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Section 1
Chapter 1. It’s More Than Money ............................................................................................................... 9
Prosperity Is an Inside Job .............................................................................................. 9
What is Prosperity? ....................................................................................................... 10
So Where’s the Money? ................................................................................................ 10
Money and Feelings ...................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2. Choices ...................................................................................................................................... 13
I Had to Make Changes ................................................................................................ 13
Exploring Belief Systems ............................................................................................. 14
My Life Takes a Turn ................................................................................................... 14
It Wasn’t So Easy .......................................................................................................... 15
How We Make Our Choices ......................................................................................... 16
It Takes a Commitment ................................................................................................ 16
Meaningful Change ...................................................................................................... 17
The “C” Word ............................................................................................................... 17
Chapter 3. Making the Connection ........................................................................................................... 19
The Time Has Come ..................................................................................................... 19
The Communication System ......................................................................................... 20
Altered States ................................................................................................................ 20
The Role of Serotonin ................................................................................................... 21
It’s Lighter Than it Seems ............................................................................................ 21
Chapter 4. It’s All Energy .......................................................................................................................... 23
Yin and Yang ................................................................................................................ 23
Some People Prefer Discomfort .................................................................................... 24
Chapter 5. The Energy of The Body/Mind ............................................................................................... 26
The Physical Body ........................................................................................................ 26
The Body’s Energy Flow ............................................................................................... 27
Use the External to See the Internal ............................................................................. 28
Chapter 6. Creating Our Lives .................................................................................................................. 32
The Search for Answers ................................................................................................ 32
An Alternative .............................................................................................................. 32
It’s All Connected ......................................................................................................... 33
Magnetic Attraction ...................................................................................................... 33
A Purpose is Served ...................................................................................................... 35
Thoughts and Beliefs .................................................................................................... 35
Our Beliefs .................................................................................................................... 36
Emotions ....................................................................................................................... 37
Repressed Emotions ...................................................................................................... 37
How You Create With Your TBEs ................................................................................ 38
We’re Uneasy with Our Feelings .................................................................................. 38
Emotions and Your Life Stories ................................................................................... 40
Abandonment and Alienation ...................................................................................... 41
Chapter 7. Money ........................................................................................................................................ 43
What is a Money Consciousness? ................................................................................. 43
What is Money? ............................................................................................................ 44
Money Equals Love ...................................................................................................... 44
Rescue Dramas .............................................................................................................. 45
Banking Relationships .................................................................................................. 46
Business Relationships ................................................................................................. 47
Money Feelings ............................................................................................................. 47
Seeing the Connections ................................................................................................ 49
Self-Abandonment ........................................................................................................ 49
Money is Always Attached to People ........................................................................... 50
What is Your Money Telling You ................................................................................. 51
Money Flow .................................................................................................................. 52
Step into the Money Flow ............................................................................................. 53
The Reality of Money ................................................................................................... 53
Section 2
Chapter 8. Connecting ................................................................................................................................ 55
What You Need For The Journey ................................................................................. 55
Don’t Forget to Call Home ........................................................................................... 56
The Call is Toll-Free ..................................................................................................... 56
Create a Meditation Space ............................................................................................ 57
Getting Started .............................................................................................................. 57
A Basic Meditation ....................................................................................................... 58
If You Resist .................................................................................................................. 58
Breathing ....................................................................................................................... 59
Belly Breathing ............................................................................................... 59
Candle Gazing ................................................................................................ 60
Some Guidelines ........................................................................................................... 60
Chapter 9. Take a Look at Your Life ........................................................................................................ 61
Keep a Journal .............................................................................................................. 61
Start With The External ............................................................................................... 62
I’m Not One to Judge .................................................................................................... 62
First, Let’s Look at the External ................................................................................... 63
Your Living Situation ..................................................................................... 63
Your Food ....................................................................................................... 63
Your Body ....................................................................................................... 63
Your Clothes ................................................................................................... 64
Your Money .................................................................................................... 64
Relationships ................................................................................................................. 64
Your Relationships with Others ..................................................................... 65
Your Relationship with Yourself .................................................................... 65
Your Relationship with Your Environment ................................................... 65
Summary ......................................................................................................... 65
Time .............................................................................................................................. 65
What Do You Want? ..................................................................................................... 66
A Discovery Process ..................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 10. Look at the Internal ............................................................................................................... 67
Going Inside Meditation ............................................................................................... 67
Your Relationship with Your Higher Power ................................................................. 68
Examine Your Beliefs ................................................................................................... 68
Money Beliefs ............................................................................................................... 69
Examine Your Money Beliefs ....................................................................................... 71
Examining Your Thoughts ........................................................................................... 72
Thinking Patterns ......................................................................................................... 72
Relationship Thoughts .................................................................................................. 73
Money Thoughts ........................................................................................................... 74
What Would You Change ............................................................................................. 74
Chapter 11. Change Your Thoughts and Beliefs ...................................................................................... 75
It All Depends on How You Look At It ........................................................................ 75
Play a Happy Tune ........................................................................................................ 75
Affirmations .................................................................................................................. 76
Conversations with Yourself ......................................................................................... 77
Visualizations ................................................................................................................ 79
Chapter 12. Examine Your Feelings .......................................................................................................... 80
Avoiding the Pain ......................................................................................................... 80
Defeated by Feelings ..................................................................................................... 80
Losing Money ............................................................................................................... 81
Get Rid of the Baggage ................................................................................................. 82
Finding Your Feelings .................................................................................................. 82
Identifying Your Feelings ............................................................................................. 82
The Feelings List ............................................................................................ 83
Balancing the Yin & Yang ........................................................................................... 84
Releasing the Pain is Essential ..................................................................................... 84
Examining Your Money Feelings ................................................................................. 85
What Are You Afraid Of? ............................................................................................. 87
Five Magic Words ......................................................................................................... 88
Seek Help If You Need It .............................................................................................. 89
Chapter 13. Changing Your Emotions ...................................................................................................... 91
Release Your Inner Child ............................................................................................. 91
Getting to Know Your Inner Child ............................................................................... 92
The Emotion Clearing Technique ................................................................................ 93
Why Bother? ................................................................................................................. 94
Using Your Journal ....................................................................................................... 95
Making the Sounds of Your Feelings ........................................................................... 95
Therapeutic Screaming ................................................................................................. 96
Letting Go of Your Anger ............................................................................................. 96
Fear ................................................................................................................................ 97
Letting Go of Fear ......................................................................................................... 98
Releasing Through the Physical Body .......................................................................... 99
Self-Massage ................................................................................................................. 99
Develop New Feelings ................................................................................................ 100
Using the Movie Screen in Your Mind ........................................................ 100
I Am Peace Meditation ................................................................................. 101
I Am Love Meditation .................................................................................. 101
I Am Joy Meditation ..................................................................................... 101
Practice Positive Feelings ........................................................................................... 101
Trust Yourself .............................................................................................................. 102
Set Boundaries ............................................................................................................ 102
Chapter 14. The Seven-Step Process ....................................................................................................... 104
The Seven Steps .......................................................................................................... 104
Step 1. . ......................................................................................................... 104
Step 2. ........................................................................................................... 104
Step 3. . ......................................................................................................... 105
Step 4. ........................................................................................................... 105
Step 5. ........................................................................................................... 105
Step 6 ............................................................................................................ 106
Step 7 ............................................................................................................ 106
Chapter 15. Love Is The Healer .............................................................................................................. 107
Unconditional Love .................................................................................................... 107
Forgiveness ................................................................................................................. 108
Love Your Body .......................................................................................................... 109
Surround Yourself with Symbols of Love ................................................................... 110
Give Love and Service ................................................................................................ 110
Chapter 16. Changing the External ........................................................................................................ 111
The Journey Begines With the First Step ................................................................... 111
Act As If ...................................................................................................................... 112
The Three-Month Factor ............................................................................................ 113
The Commitment ........................................................................................................ 114
The Commitment Certificate ....................................................................... 115
Start Small .................................................................................................................. 115
Make Way for the New ............................................................................................... 116
Play a New Part in the Drama .................................................................................... 117
Chapter 17. Building Your Money Muscles ............................................................................................ 118
Left Brain/Right Brain ................................................................................................ 119
Exercise Your Left Brain ............................................................................................ 119
How Much Do You Want? .......................................................................................... 120
Clean Up Your Money Mess ....................................................................................... 121
Get to Know Money .................................................................................................... 122
Learn About Money and Commerce .......................................................................... 123
Set a Series of Realistic Goals .................................................................................... 124
Build Up Your Karmic Bank Account ....................................................................... 125
Believe in Yourself! .................................................................................................... 125
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 7
Introduction
This is a book about prosperity, not money. It’s about using your inner resources to create an
abundant life, which includes having as much money as you want.
With the information you’ll find here, you can become an aware, creative and loving human
being with a clear purpose and a desire to live a productive and satisfying life. You’ll have the
knowledge that you need to create whatever you want for yourself.
Perhaps you’re hoping that you’ll solve your problems by winning the lottery. Or maybe
you’re waiting for an inheritance or a generous gift from someone. You could win the lottery. But
let’s face it, the chances of winning are pretty small. So while you’re waiting for your numbers to
come in, you might as well examine, and perhaps follow, the program that I’m going to outline for
you in this book.
In this book, I’m going to share what I learned as I transformed myself from a needy,
dependent, virtually nonfunctional human being into a healthy, prosperous business woman.
Because, on some level, I enjoyed the attention I got from being sick and needy, the transformation
was not an easy task. Those who have heard the story have told me that it is inspiring and offers
hope to many people who suffer physically and emotionally.
The world seems ready for the point of view that I present in this book. I believe it is time to go
beyond what we can see with our physical eyes to a deeper place within ourselves to find meaning
and success.
According to a recent study, 91% of the population believes in some kind of higher power.
From this I can assume that almost all of you who are reading this book believe that there’s a force
of some kind that works in unseen dimensions. Definitions of this force vary. Some people feel the
necessity to follow particular religious beliefs and call the force God. Others choose a more
formless concept of higher power and speak in general terms. They use words such as “The
Force,” “Universal Consciousness,” “The Light,” and “Benevolent Intelligence.”
The words are insignificant. What matters is that most of us feel the presence of something
beyond our rational understanding. We instinctively know that we are spiritual beings. A problem
only arises when we ask others to call this spiritual force by the name that we call it, or when we
ask others to accept our particular religious belief.
Words are linear. Reality is not. Trying to define reality with linear words can create
misunderstandings. What I hope to accomplish here is to stimulate you to use your inner resources
more actively in your life process. I can only use the words that are familiar to me because those
are the tools that I have to work with. If my words don’t work for you, substitute those that do.
The concepts are what matter.
In 1975 I saw that a time of great chaos was going to unfold around the world. That time is
now. Despite the chaos, there’s a movement toward a more spiritual society. I see it every day.
People are looking for something more than making money. Young people, especially, are no longer
motivated by the hope of huge financial rewards. They want to know that life has purpose and
meaning.
This indicates that we’re unfolding spiritually. But we don’t have to call it spiritual for it to be
that because spirituality shows through our actions. This spiritual movement is what’s behind the
craving people now have for more meaningful and purposeful lives.
Spiritual doesn’t mean religious. It’s the feeling of being connected to the “more” of life
and understanding the nature of reality. Knowing, on a deep level, that we’re all part of the
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 8
same “being” comes as a result of developing a spiritual consciousness. So is the desire for
peace and love.
But does becoming a more spiritual society mean that we have to give up the luxuries of
life? Not at all. To deny ourselves abundance is to deny our own nature. When we become our
true, loving and powerful selves abundance is as natural as a profusion of flowers in spring.
Because prosperity alluded me for many years, I had to go through a major transformation in
order to reach my present life position. In the process, I read piles of books, meditated for
countless hours, listened to many who were wiser than I and spoke to hundreds of people who were
trying, in one way or another, to improve their lives. I’ve questioned individuals from many walks
of life in order to learn about them and how they live their lives.
For the past thirty years I’ve been fascinated with the mind and its powers and have traveled
into other dimensions of consciousness. I’ve learned to look at life from a different point of view,
one from which everything makes more sense. This knowledge has allowed me to rise above the
destructive thinking that prevails at this time and to create a peaceful, loving and prosperous life.
I’ve become convinced that anyone who is willing to put in the effort can do whatever they
want. Dreams can come true!
When I first came to California twenty-seven years ago, I sat on the beach one day and
watched what seemed like dozens of beautiful blonde women coming out of the ocean. At that
point I said, “God, if you can’t make me gorgeous, at least make me interesting.”
We always get what we ask for, so I got interesting. My story might seem a bit strange, but I
promise you it’s interesting.
Many years ago I was told, “Don’t try to force information on anyone, just live by example. If
anyone wants to know how you do it, share the information.” That’s what I’m doing here.
Millions of people have already taken transformational journeys. I’m assuming those of you
who are reading this book are at various points along the way. Some of you are just starting and
this is your first stop. For those of you who have been traveling this path for many years, this may
be just one more point of interest. I hope you’ll savor the view for a few moments before you move
on.
Since I’m happy, healthy and prosperous now, I’m hoping that what I’ve learned can inspire
you to attain the same level of enjoyment from life – if that’s what you seek.
I hope your journey is filled with many exciting, satisfying, entertaining and interesting
experiences.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 9
Section 1
Chapter 1. It’s More Than Money
Year after year television’s Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous titillates viewers with visual
descriptions of splendiferous homes and vacation spots that belong to smiling celebrities and
successful business moguls. Implied is the theory that opulence equals happiness. This myth is also
perpetuated by advertisements that send the message that high-priced possessions are an essential
ingredient for enjoying life.
During the consumer binge of the 1980s, people purchased everything money could buy. But
no matter how much they consumed, they wanted more. Satisfaction eluded them. Some, like
Michael Milken, became mesmerized by the thrill of creating huge piles of money – far more than
any one person can use in a lifetime. Many lived on the edge, always seeking more, but never
feeling satisfied.
Finally, like a body stressed beyond its limits, everything slowly collapsed. Out of necessity,
people have begun to look at their lives and their values. As a result of this self-examination, many
people have been setting goals with a new focus. Their quest for financial comfort no longer takes
precedence over their search for inner peace.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job
Real and lasting prosperity has nothing to do with how much spendable money we have
because prosperity doesn’t come from external things. Prosperity is an inside job.
Prosperity goes much deeper than our bank accounts. Prosperity is more about who we are and
how we express ourselves than what we have. Prosperity, like success, is a feeling – a state of
mind. People with large bank accounts aren’t necessarily prosperous, but prosperous people enjoy
financial security no matter how much they own or have invested.
Stories proliferate about enormously wealthy celebrities who have relationship problems,
wealthy business people who are defeated because of their greed, and politicians who, despite
personal fortunes, defraud the taxpayers. It’s hard to forget the Watergate drama and the downfall
of Richard Nixon or the savings and loan scandals that cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of
dollars. Obviously, money doesn’t buy peace or happiness. Large sums of money are not
prosperity.
Recently I was speaking to Lorrie Deams, the wife of a successful, well-respected lawyer. For
many years, they had a free flow of money in their lives. In 1992, Lorrie’s husband Sam and two
of the other lawyers in the firm in which he was a partner had a falling out with the firm’s founder.
They decided to start their own law firm, rented enormous offices and hired a full staff. None of
the three had ever had their own business before and they were unaccustomed to the ups and downs
of entrepreneurship.
Shortly after the law firm opened, the recession hit and the money flow slowed to a trickle.
Because of the high overhead to which the lawyers committed when they opened their firm, Sam
and Lorrie began to worry about money. I asked her if they had enough money to carry them
through the difficult period. “I think so, but I’m concerned,“ she said. “We only have a million
dollars put aside.”
In spite of a sum of money that would be enough for many people to live on for a lifetime, for
Lorrie and Sam, it wasn’t. Sam began working long hours and driving himself very hard. Lorrie
worried about his health and was unhappy because he was unavailable to her and their children.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 10
At the time Lorrie told me about the million dollars, I was still struggling to get my business
going. Despite my lack of available cash, I didn’t feel needy because I chose to do what I was
doing in order to create something I passionately believed in and wanted. Because of this, I knew I
was safe and could trust that I would manifest everything I needed.
I had lived long enough by the principles that you will find in this book to know that I had
nothing to worry about. I had learned how to feel secure even when my bank account was down to
a few dollars. I felt prosperous and free because I was doing everything I wanted to do and was
totally satisfied with my life and myself. I had everything I desired at that moment.
Lorrie and Sam had a million dollar safety net and I had none, yet my life was filled with love
and joy and a feeling of freedom. Theirs was filled with worry, conflict and burden. It certainly
wasn’t Lorrie and Sam’s money or my lack of it that determined our prosperity levels.
During the past ten years I have observed the lives of many wealthy people with whom I
consult. A number of my friends were brought up in wealthy homes and seemed to have everything
they wanted. Yet more often than not, my friends and clients weren’t happy. Their financial
condition did nothing to ensure their happiness. Obviously their money didn’t automatically make
them prosperous.
What is Prosperity?
Prosperity is not your financial condition. It is your state of consciousness – a combination of
your thoughts, beliefs and emotions. It’s your self-image, self-expression, sense of purpose and
direction. Prosperity is a physical, emotional and spiritual condition.
You can recognize prosperity by the feeling. It’s a combination of feeling loved, acknowledged,
accepted, appreciated, free, in control, peaceful, and secure.
Prosperous people feel satisfied with life and comfortable with their environment. Healthy,
both physically and emotionally, they express self-love and love for others. They are also trusting
and optimistic.
Aware of their own personal power, prosperous people feel in control of their lives. They never
take the victim position, don’t blame others for their life experiences, and don’t expect others to
satisfy their needs. Proactive rather than reactive, they see challenges as opportunities for growth.
Prosperous people can decide for themselves how much money they wish to generate and how
they wish to spend it. They can conceive a limitless supply of everything, including money, and
know that the ups and downs of income cycles are like high and low tides. They fish while the tide
is high and prepare their nets during low tide.
Prosperous people recognize the abundance in nature that’s as ordinary as sunshine. Look
around you and you’ll see abundance everywhere. It’s only the limited human perception of reality
that focuses on scarcity and lack. Only humans say “This isn’t enough,” or “If I only had more I
could be happy.”
Humans are the only species that knows dissatisfaction. Other species accept their lives and
don’t discriminate between or identify different qualities of life experience. Can you imagine a lion
saying, “This sure is a bad day for hunting,” or a swallow whining, “I wish I didn’t have to go to
Capistrano again this year.” My little poodle, Shanti, never complains, “I’m having a bad hair
day.”
Prosperous people are able to see beyond the physical to the “more” of life. They’re able to
explore the greater, unseen reality and connect to the Source of Life.
So Where’s the Money?
“That all sounds nice,” I hear some of you saying. “But what about money? Will I have a lot
of money if I’m really prosperous?”
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 11
Yes, you’ll have whatever you want. When you’re prosperous on the inside, you’ll reflect that
prosperity in the way you live your life. When you experience love, acceptance and
acknowledgment, you’ll have all the money you choose to generate. You’ll decide how much
money you want to deal with and when you want it to come.
When I started my first business, Joan’s Crystals, in 1983, I only had $1,200 which I
borrowed from a friend. Within four years I was generating $30,000 a month. I had never dealt
with that much money and had no idea how to handle it. Just at the point where the money started
overwhelming me, my father died, which put me in a tailspin. My feelings of abandonment were so
tremendous that I expressed them by doing everything I could to sabotage myself. Within two
months I was $30,000 behind.
I went to the bank and said, “Help! I’ve reached my level of incompetence.” They
recommended a financial manager who, after crunching numbers on his computer for about a
week, handed me his conclusion: “Borrow $100,000 from family and friends.“ Another financial
person to whom I went for a second opinion gave me the same advice. I knew that wasn’t my
answer and closed the business.
After I expressed my grief and worked through a lot of other old feelings, I knew it was time to
stand up and try again. But I discovered that I was reluctant to deal with a large money flow. It
took a few years before I felt emotionally ready to handle large sums of money again; but when I
was, I turned on the spigot and let it flow.
Money and Feelings
In 1984, shortly after I started Joan’s Crystals, the relationship between money and feelings
became clear to me. At that time, I was in a very needy position. The year before, my earnings
totaled a meager $6,000. I was living in a converted garage in a very rough section of Venice,
California. My brother was paying my rent, and my mother was paying for my food. I felt isolated
and alone. For many years I’d been physically and emotionally ill. Although I’d already made great
progress, I had a long way to go.
Finally, tired of rescuing me, my brother insisted that I go to a support group and therapy. I
found myself at a 12-Step meeting and eventually discovered another program, Debtors
Anonymous (DA), which is patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous. At DA I learned that I acted
out through money – I began to understand how I was expressing my feelings through my
finances.
After my father died, I was compelled to examine my dependency issues. I came to see that the
inability to create money is related, among other things, to a fear of taking responsibility for one’s
life and a low self-image, which can show themselves in many ways.
I’m convinced now that in order to experience prosperity it’s necessary to understand
two things:
(1) How we create our lives; and
(2) How our physical, spiritual and financial condition is an expression of our thoughts,
beliefs and emotions.
We’re going to carefully examine both of these areas in this book. Once you understand how
you use your feelings to create your life, you’ll discover why you’re where you are financially.
You’ll also see how your feelings help you create comfort or discomfort in every area of your life,
including your physical health. You’ll comprehend what it is inside of you that keeps you from
experiencing the physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial abundance you deserve. You’ll begin
to accept that whatever you want is waiting for you and all you have to do is to open the door and
let it in. By the time you’re finished with this book, my hope is that you’ll know how to do this.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 12
First, we’re going to look at who you are and how you create your life. Then, we’ll look at
love and money and how they are related. Finally, In Section 2, I’m going to suggest a course of
action that you can take to move from where you are into prosperity.
As I said, prosperity and abundance are natural conditions. If you don’t have them, then you
aren’t experiencing the fullness of life.
No matter what your life is like now, you can experience total prosperity – even if you feel
broken, needy, abandoned and vulnerable. If you follow the principles in this book and do what I
suggest, you can experience peace, love, joy, freedom and complete satisfaction with yourself and
the world around you.
In order to accomplish this, you need to make some conscious choices and a commitment to
change. In the next chapter we’ll take a look at choices.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 13
Chapter 2. Choices
Do you ever wonder why some people always seem to have an easy time of life while you’re
still struggling to make your life work? For years I watched people around me enjoying physical
and financial health, both of which eluded me. “Why,” I would ask myself, “can’t I get my life
together? I have the brains and the desire, but no matter what I do, I can’t cross that threshold into
wealth and wellness.”
It hit me one day when I was on what I refer to as my journey. I had given away everything I
owned and was traveling from place to place with no money except that which came to me on a
day-to-day basis. I carried a wooden bowl, chopsticks and whatever fit into a backpack. I was
looking for answers. I was looking for The Truth.
One day, I looked around and there was my brother Marc traveling around looking for the
same Truth. He’s a loving, spiritual person and was also on an inner journey. But while I was
wandering with my bowl and chopsticks, he was riding around in a Ferrari.
What did he know that I didn’t?
As the years passed, I found the answers to my question. I came to see that my physical,
emotional and financial problems were related and were the result of many choices that I had made
in my life. My choices were an extension of my thoughts, beliefs and emotions and they were made
unconsciously. I also saw that I could change my consciousness and learn to make wiser choices
that served me better.
A lot of people complain to me that they do what they do because of the way they were
brought up or because of unpleasant childhood experiences. Thoughts, beliefs and emotions are
learned in our formative years; what we learn as children does influence our choices as adults. But
that doesn’t mean we can’t change. You can change every thought, belief and emotion that keeps
you from your prosperity.
We’re going to look at how you can transform your consciousness and the quality of your life
experience. Obviously, if what you’re doing isn’t working, then you have to do something else. If
you don’t make changes, then you’ll keep on repeating the mistakes of your past. (One definition of
insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.)
When I had Joan’s Crystals, I realized that people didn’t want to change their approach to life.
They just wanted to buy something to fix their lives for them. Time after time, people would ask
me, “Will this crystal fix me?” They’d want something to cure their arthritis, depression or
relationship problems. Making internal changes, in order to alter their lives, was not on their
agenda.
I Had to Make Changes
I know all too well the kind of changes one has to make in order to live a more comfortable
life. By 1972, although I was only 31 years old, I felt like an old woman. I was cold and tired all
the time, had frequent headaches, insomnia, digestive disorders and a long list of “itis” diseases
that included chronic bronchitis, cystitis, gastritis and sinusitis. For fifteen years I suffered from
debilitating suicidal depression. My first and second marriages, both of which ended in divorce,
were plagued by financial problems. When I was on my own I had moments of financial success,
but none were long lasting. Physical comfort was something I couldn’t remember.
From the time I was in my teens, doctors told me I was a hypochondriac and that my disorders
were all in my mind. They were conscientious doctors and kept me medicated with the finest drugs.
When I was only 21 years old, I was taking five to ten pills a day for headaches. During the early
’70s, I became addicted to 50 milligrams of Valium a day and was also taking drugs for headaches,
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 14
stomach problems, insomnia and allergies. Occasionally, I’d have to take Thorazine or Elavil,
powerful psychotropic drugs, to control my depression, suicidal thoughts and fits of rage. I’ve
always believed in a Benevolent Intelligence and found it hard to accept that this was the way I
was destined to live my life.
Exploring Belief Systems
From an early age, I read everything I could about the body/mind and how it worked. In the
late 1950s, when I was in college, I also began to explore belief systems outside of the Judeo-
Christian culture. Religious beliefs and how they affect people’s lives was a subject that fascinated
me from the time I was in high school. Although I believed in a supernatural power, I couldn’t
relate, on a personal level, to the God I learned about as a child.
When I was between marriages, I met someone who introduced me to eastern religions. I began
exploring Hinduism, Buddhism, and Theosophy, a metaphysical system based on eastern
philosophy. In 1964, when I was living in Washington, D.C., a diplomat at the Indian Embassy
taught me hatha yoga, which I did every day for years after. I also read about and tried some of the
remedies suggested by the gifted healer Edgar Cayce.
My second marriage, a relationship that began in 1969, was emotionally abusive and my
physical and emotional health gradually deteriorated. When I got upset, I’d start yelling and
screaming uncontrollably and the only thing that would stop me was breaking glassware on the
kitchen floor. I remember, on more than one occasion, dramatically sweeping everything off the
coffee table with my arm while I was raging at my husband. At one point, in the midst of an
episode, I went catatonic, shutting out everything. It was the only way I knew to escape what I was
experiencing.
Despite the pain, I kept looking for answers. When I had my fits of rage, there was a sane part
of me watching everything that was going on. Why, I wondered over and over again, am I such an
emotional mess?
In 1972, I began going to lectures at Astara, a metaphysical healing organization in
Hollywood, California. There I met a teacher from India, Swami Parampanthi, who taught me how
to meditate. Parampanthi gave a series of lectures called “Creative Self-Fulfillment” and taught me
that anything negative, including complaining and worrying, is a waste of time. What an eye-
opener that was for me, especially when I realized that I spent most of my time worrying or
complaining. At that moment, I made the choice to consciously change my life.
Parampanthi told me that I would be traveling into a world that was completely different from
the one with which I was familiar. I’d have to change my way of thinking and my way of looking
at life. He was right. That’s what transformation is all about.
At Astara I was taught a healing meditation with white light. My teachers also suggested
meditating on a picture of a healing Christ – a loving figure who stood with his hands raised,
palms out. I spent hours gazing into his eyes and imagining healing energy coming from his hands.
I repeated phrases affirming my health and was introduced to many forms of energy healing such
as polarity and the laying on of hands.
My Life Takes a Turn
About nine months after I started going to Astara, I was having one of my yearly bouts with
bronchitis. I went to the doctor and got the drugs he invariably prescribed to stop the coughing and
the infection. Except this time, I made a choice to move in a new direction.
In our neighborhood there was a tiny health food store that specialized in natural foods. I
bought a book, Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss, which was written in the early 1900s. It was about
natural treatments for various disorders. Based on what I read, I decided not to take the drugs.
Instead, I chose to eat only a few oranges and to drink some herbal teas and a lot of water. Much to
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 15
my amazement, within 24 hours the symptoms of bronchitis disappeared. That was the last time I
trusted orthodox medicine.
I started following the instructions in the book. I ate honey instead of white sugar, eliminated
white flour and ate many more vegetables. Even though I was still depressed and having occasional
fits of rage, I could tell my life was changing.
Then, one night in July 1973, I saw a television documentary about hypoglycemia, or low
blood sugar. I knew immediately that low blood sugar was a part of my problem. My family
doctor, despite a great deal of resistance, agreed to give me a glucose tolerance test (the test for
hypoglycemia). Even by American Medical Association standards, I had a raging case of the
disorder – my blood count went down to 30. (Anything below 80 is low.) The doctor had no idea
what to do for hypoglycemia. Fortunately, I soon found an endocrinologist/nutritionist in the San
Fernando Valley, the late Harold W. Harper, who had treated hypoglycemia for many years. When
I went to see Dr. Harper, he told me that if I followed his advice, I’d never be depressed again and
my physical disorders would heal. He prescribed vitamin and mineral supplements and handed me
a piece of paper that basically said, “Eat three small meals a day with snacks in between. No peas,
beans, corn, rice, potatoes or bread. No grapes, bananas or watermelon. No sweeteners of any
kind, no white flour, alcohol or caffeine.“
After gulping a few times and thinking, “but those are my favorite foods,” I made another
major choice – to follow the doctor’s instructions. Somehow, I knew that I would find the strength
to make the necessary changes. I was even willing to stop eating the pound and a half of honey that
I was using each week (and fooling myself by thinking it was okay because it was natural).
Where I found the motivation, I don’t know, but I started following Dr. Harper’s eating plan
immediately. The first miracle was that within 36 hours the depression that I had fought for fifteen
years lifted. Many of my aches and pains also started disappearing. I was sure that I’d be fine in a
short time.
It Wasn’t So Easy
When I went to see Dr. Harper three weeks later, he expected me to tell him that everything
was great. Instead, I had to admit that I had less energy. He gave me some additional vitamins and
said they’d probably help. They didn’t.
As time passed, I got progressively weaker. The weakness became so severe that I could barely
move from my bedroom to my living room; my long-term memory seemed to be fading; and my
vocabulary was reduced to simple words. No matter how much I ate, I didn’t gain weight, and I
started having some new aches and pains.
Although I didn’t understand why, I knew that I was going to be okay. I continued meditating
on a regular basis and would see myself, in my mind’s eye, healthy and strong.
One day, I saw a biochemistry textbook in the doctor’s office and knew it had information that
could help me. Despite the fact that I had no background in the subject, after reading the book, I
figured out that my liver was not converting what I was eating into glucose, the fuel that cells need
to perform their many functions. I knew the answer would be a green pill.
Fortunately, Dr. Harper was a maverick doctor with a great sense of curiosity who could
accept what I told him. He said it was highly possible, although unusual, and gave me two green
pills – niacin and a digestive enzyme. Within 48 hours, my energy levels increased dramatically
and I felt like a new person.
But my journey to health was still far from over. I focused totally on healing my body/mind
and I tried many different therapies, including chiropractic, massage, colonics, chelation and other
techniques that are still brushed off by the AMA as ineffective. For me they worked, although it
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 16
would be a long time before I could say I was healthy. Many times during the years that followed, I
had to make new and sometimes difficult choices.
How We Make Our Choices
If you’re at one of life’s crossroads, and this book may be one for you, then you’re faced with
a choice. You, and you alone, have to decide in which direction to go next. The choice you make
will have consequences and can affect your life for years to come.
How can you know that your choice will be the right one? Actually, there aren’t any right or
wrong choices. There are only choices. Each one has its own potential and will lead you through a
series of experiences, and each experience is a chance to grow and learn. Some experiences will
have a pleasant, comfortable outcome, others won’t.
At this point, you’ll be attracted to a direction that is most in tune with your current state of
consciousness. You might weigh all the logical elements of the choices that face you. But
ultimately you’ll make a decision that supports your state of consciousness, which, as I explained,
is a combination of your thoughts, beliefs and emotions.
For example, if you identify yourself as a victim, you’ll make the choice that allows you to
support your position as a victim. If you believe that other people, circumstances or bad luck are
responsible for your problems, then you have a victim consciousness. In order to support your
victim consciousness, even if you think you don’t want to, you’ll repeat the stories of your past and
find yourself in the victim position once again.
Recently, I was asked to do some marketing for a doctor who was restarting his career. At one
time, he had enjoyed a position of great prominence in his field and was sought after by people all
over the world. But now he was reduced to a lesser position in a local clinic and had little money of
his own.
I asked the doctor why he was in his present position. He told me a long story about the
problems he had with the medical establishment because of the innovative nature of his theories
and treatments. There was no doubt about it, he was a victim.
After listening to his tale of woe, I asked him if he had been a victim at other times in his life.
He said he was – many times. I told him that I’d be happy to do his marketing, but only if he was
willing to look at why he kept allowing himself to be a victim.
Like the doctor, you have the option of making a conscious choice to change the outcome of
your life stories. You too can decide to move to a new state of consciousness – one that supports
your prosperity.
It Takes a Commitm0ent
Fine, you may say, I’m ready to move. But are you really? Many people want to change and
talk about changing. Few actually do. How many times have you said to yourself, “I really should
do _______”? But you never did it and just beat yourself up mentally instead.
Studies show that although 80% of the adult population is aware of the role nutrition plays in
preventing serious disease, only 34% of them had made any significant changes in their eating
habits. Even though they know the consequences, which could be painful physically, emotionally
and financially, many people choose not to make changes.
Despite their resolve, a large percentage of dieters gain back their weight, ex-smokers become
smokers again, sober alcoholics “fall off the wagon,” and recovered drug addicts start using again.
Why do so many fail, while others don’t?
One of the main reasons is the degree of their commitment to change. Sometime the pain of life
has to get so bad that a person has no choice but to alter their living patterns. Meaningful, lasting
change requires a total remolding of consciousness. A different set of thoughts, beliefs and
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 17
emotions have to be developed. Without dedication and determination it’s virtually impossible to
accomplish this.
Think of a rubber band that snaps back to its original shape when the pressure to stretch is
removed. After a while, the stretch will become permanent, but it takes constant pressure for a long
period of time for this to happen. When you attempt to change without a strong commitment,
you’ll snap back to your old patterns in a blink of time.
Meaningful Change
There are times when I wish I could write a book that is filled with quick-and-easy answers
that could help people solve their life problems and improve their financial situation. As much as
I’d like that, the fact is, there are no quick-and-easy answers. No matter how much you’d like to
have someone kiss your boo-boos and make them better, it’s not going to happen.
Somehow, despite the fact that you probably put a lot of effort into resisting change, you’re
going to have to change if you want your life to be different than it is now.
If we look at nature, we see constant change. As I look out of my window, I see leaves falling
to the ground, exhausted roses waiting to be clipped from the bush, and new daisies blooming. The
sun is moving in and out of the clouds and a visiting flock of birds is feasting on my lawn. I never
get tired of looking out of the window because each day I see something different – there is
constant change.
If we were unpolluted by the stresses of civilization and still in touch with our connection to
the forces of nature, we wouldn’t resist change. But because of the way we live in modern society,
we’re no longer conscious of the true nature of our being. We’ve forgotten that each of us has the
ability to create exactly what we need and want and that change is a natural ingredient in the
creative process.
In our high-speed world, people avoid meaningful change because it takes so much time for it
to take place. We look for answers that will allow us to eliminate our problems quickly and easily.
When Bill Clinton was elected President he promised dramatic changes. Less than 100 days after
the election, he was crucified in the press because the changes he promised hadn’t taken place. The
problems had taken years to develop, but the citizenry wanted him to sweep away the problems in
an instant. He began a process of change that couldn’t possibly be completed in four years, and
certainly not in 100 days. Changing the consciousness of an entire nation takes much longer than
that.
We all observed the problems that arose when the Soviet Union broke apart. After the initial
elation, chaos reigned. The newly created states found it difficult to define themselves and to move
out of their old “take-care-of-me” consciousness and become self-sufficient. In time, they’ll
change. The individual nations will learn that by cooperating they can build a strong, secure union
of independent states that once again holds a position of power in the world order.
Once you accept the fact that change is a gradual process, you can enjoy the journey and count
the little changes along the way. But because it’s easy to snap back to your original life position,
for meaningful change to take place there has to be commitment.
The “C” Word
Do I sense that you are squirming at the word commitment? Would you rather go hide and pig
out on a bag of potato chips than to have to say the big “C” word?
If you’re chomping at the bit to have a chance to commit, then what I’m going to say probably
doesn’t apply to you. You are unusual, because in this age of isolation and alienation, for many
people, commitment of any kind is difficult.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 18
The reason is simple. People often find that those they hope will be there to support them
emotionally and/or financially are not. Instead of love and acceptance they find anger, rejection,
judgment or indifference.
You may have been subjected to emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child. If you were,
then it may be difficult for you to commit to relationships. If, as an adult, you were part of the
great corporate layoffs of the ’90s, you were probably shocked to learn that the position you had
counted on for your security was suddenly eliminated. What abandonment you must have
experienced when you were sent away. You probably felt this same feeling of abandonment if you
were part of a ‘til-death-do-us-part relationship that crumbled into a pile of broken pieces. It’s
tough for anyone who has known that kind of disappointment to make a deep commitment again.
The commitment I’m talking about is to a different kind of relationship. It’s a commitment to
yourself. It’s a commitment to do whatever you need to do in order to reach your goals and allow
your dreams to come true.
If you do make the commitment, the rewards will be enormous. You’ll be able to provide your
own security and satisfaction in every area of your life. As you learn to love and trust yourself,
you’ll be able to have lasting stable relationships. And this love you express will be reflected in the
abundance in your life. You will be prosperous.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 19
Chapter 3. Making the Connection
On some levels, primitive humans had more of an awareness of Higher Intelligence than we do
today. Their analytical powers weren’t as developed as ours and they lived very close to nature.
Babies have the same awareness that primitive humans had. But this awareness dulls when they
are taught not to talk to their spirit friends and to be “realistic.”
As we humans evolved we became more involved with learning physical skills and less aware
of our spiritual origins. From time to time, great teachers, such as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed,
Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu and Krishna, came to remind us about our Universal connection and
our creative powers.
But we didn’t get it. We didn’t understand that they were telling us about the nature of our
being and our relationship with the Universal Power. We chose to worship them instead. It was too
difficult for us to understand that they were like us, except that they had retained their awareness
of their origins. Staying focused on everything physical was easier.
For the Earth to progress, however, we humans have to awaken our awareness to our
connection to the greater, nonphysical reality. If we do this, we can all enjoy peaceful, loving,
abundant lives.
One of the ways we can come to know the greater reality is to connect to each other because
each of us is a part of the whole. We’re learning that by cooperating with each other and working
together for the greater good, everyone can flourish.
The Time Has Come
At this point, we’ve all learned the basics. We know how to use the five physical senses of
hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell. Now many of us are learning to use our inner senses of
knowing, hearing and seeing as well.
As part of our development, we have become more aware of ourselves as individuals. But
while we have been developing a sense of self, in many ways we’ve lost contact with each other. It
is becoming apparent to many of us that separateness is nonproductive and it contributes to the
spread of violence and chaos.
We’ve spent so much time developing our physical world, that we haven’t tried to consciously
connect to the “more” of us that exists in other dimensions. We’ve developed lots of technology and
toys, but we know that something is missing. Like ET, we long to go home to a place of peace.
Many humans yearn to stop feeling isolated and alone. They want to understand the true nature
of their being. Without being able to verbalize what they want, they hope to communicate with the
part of them that’s in the “unseen” reality. They want to call home.
It’s time now to tap into the world beyond three-dimensional reality and hear what is often
called our Inner Voice or Higher Self. Some humans have already learned how to make the
connection with other dimensions of consciousness. Mystics and shaman have been telling us for
years about what they learn when they travel beyond time and space.
We’ve begun to develop the skills that we need in order to connect to our Higher Power. It’s
time for us to find out what we’re supposed to do next. Whatever we’re all doing now isn’t
working. The Earth Project is in chaos and we need some new direction. We must call home.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 20
The Communication System
Fortunately, there is a communication system that we can use to do this. The system is simple,
easy to learn and it’s been around for thousands of years.
What is this vehicle for communicating with other dimensions of consciousness? It’s called
meditation.
Meditation is a way to connect to the core of your being. With it, you can develop your inner
senses, such as inner seeing, inner knowing and inner hearing. When you meditate regularly, you’ll
instinctively know how to develop your personal power and use it to create a comfortable,
abundant life.
When you develop your inner senses, you’ll understand the part you’re to play in the cosmic
orchestra and how you can become a well-tuned part of the whole. When you connect to All There
Is, you’ll no longer feel alienated and alone.
You can’t just go down to the corner store and buy meditation. Meditating is like using a
muscle whose strength has to build up slowly over a period of time. As your skill increases, you
can travel deeper into other dimensions of consciousness.
If you’re skeptical, or if you require scientific proof before you are willing to try something
new, I’m going to ask that you suspend your disbelief. For just a while, be willing to let go of your
need for external validation. Let your own experience be your proof. There’s nothing here that can
hurt you and if you take this journey with me, I promise that your life will be happier, healthier and
more prosperous.
Altered States
Since I don’t intend to run for president, I can admit to you that I smoked pot for six years and
on a number of occasions took LSD (acid). I liked experiencing altered states of consciousness and
rising above the pettiness of everyday life and the pain I felt.
For example, after my first acid trip, I saw clearly that “It all depends on how you look at it.” I
understood that how I interpret my life experiences and the actions of other people is entirely up to
me. I have free choice.
I had some bad trips on LSD. But I had some good ones too. LSD helped me expand my
consciousness and see how much there was to experience beyond the three-dimensional reality.
I don’t recommend that anyone take LSD because it can be dangerous. I’ve seen people flip
out and have frightening flashbacks for years after the initial “hit.” We don’t need mind-altering
drugs any more. Now there are other methods, like meditation, which can be learned easily and can
take us farther into other dimensions of consciousness (without the harmful side effects).
With meditation you can penetrate the veils that keep you from knowing The Truth of You.
Meditation will help you know, on a deep inner level, that peace and prosperity is there for all of us
– now. It’s right there within you waiting to be found, waiting to set you free.
The calming effect of meditation, which has been documented, can help you change your
emotional responses and effectively deal with stress. Meditation can help you learn to recognize
and express what you feel each moment. The energy that you use to push down these emotions will
be available to create a better life for yourself. Meditation can also help you develop focus,
concentration and discipline, which are key traits of successful, prosperous people.
Studies show that meditators are generally ten years younger biologically than non-meditators.
They are more relaxed and have superior coping skills. Meditation also helps to strengthen the
immune system. As a result, meditating can help you feel better physically and emotionally. It’s a
good place to start if you want to change your consciousness and live a happier, healthier, and
more prosperous life.
In Section 2, you’ll find a basic meditation and some variations that can help you move toward
prosperity.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 21
The Role of Serotonin
When I was taking Elavil, a strong prescription drug for depression, I read the information
sheet that came with it. The mind-altering effect of Elavil, it explained, was similar to the effect of
LSD and is created by elevating serotonin levels.
Serotonin is one of a group of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemicals allow
the wires in the brain to connect and complete their circuits. Serotonin regulates moods, sleep
patterns, depth perception and many other body/mind functions.
After reading about Elavil, I realized that serotonin was related to altering consciousness and
wanted to learn more about it. I found an article in Scientific American that explained that
serotonin is produced in the body from Vitamin B6, insulin, and tryptophan, which is an amino
acid, and other ingredients. Insulin is produced in a section of the pancreas called the islands of
Langerhans. I later learned that tryptophan is stored in these insulin producing cells. Dr. Harper
had already taught me that years of eating too much sugar and carbohydrates causes the pancreas
to produce erratic amounts of insulin. Obviously, serotonin production is also affected.
After I gave up sugar, I experienced a positive change in the quality of my meditations. Now I
realize that eating sugar and processed foods blocks people from their true selves. While eating
these foods, you can still get high and reach far beyond where you are now, but the information
may not be clear and you may be tapping into tainted energies. Sugar, in effect, helps keep you in
bondage, unable to fly free.
About eight months after I started consciously connecting to my Higher Self, I was at a
cousin’s wedding reception, which was held in a synagogue in New Jersey. Suddenly, I felt “called”
to the chapel and I went into meditation.
I felt transported. In my mind’s eye I saw a limitless horizon. A warm reddish glow filled the
“sky.” Gradually, a large, powerful presence appeared and spoke to me. Time and space didn’t
exist.
When my consciousness returned to the present moment, and I opened my eyes, everything
seemed more alive. It was as if I could feel the pulse of life.
Everything seemed exaggerated when I returned to my seat at the reception. I saw people
hunched over the table totally focused on the plate in front of them, eating chocolate cake and ice
cream. Without looking up, a person at the table said, in a monotone, “Isn’t this terrific?” and, in
unison, everyone else at the table responded ecstatically, “Mmmmm.”
I could see, in that instant, how empty their lives were. They needed the cake and ice cream to
feel good. I wished that I could share with them the ecstasy I was experiencing at that moment, a
pleasure that wouldn’t end when the cake was gone.
The wedding guests won’t remember that particular serving of dessert. But I can look back,
any time I want to, and re-experience the vision and the feelings it generated. I knew at that
moment what it feels like to go home and that it’s always there for me. Even as I write this, I feel
tears of awe and appreciation for the experience.
It’s Lighter Than it Seems
When I speak about our inner world and what it takes to connect, I realize that it sounds
serious. We tend to think of spiritual activities as solemn, not fun. I have to admit, that since I’ve
been living this way, I no longer crave raucous activities, heavy metal music, or violent movies.
Getting drunk or high on drugs is no longer my idea of a good time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t
have fun. Quite the contrary.
Now that I’m not so caught up in the struggle of living, I can see the humor in the human
drama. Here we are with the power of the Universe at our disposal, and we insist on affirming our
limitations. We’re powerful beings crying “I can’t, I can’t.” Despite the fact that if we just held
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 22
hands and loved each other we could accomplish so much together, we choose to distrust and fear
each other. That’s as ridiculous as an elephant quaking at the sight of a mouse.
I can honestly say that I enjoy myself almost all of the time – not just on weekends. Because
my life is exactly what I want it to be, I’m having a terrific time. During the course of the day, it’s
not unusual for me to have a “joy attack.” When I’m overcome by one of these, I have to stop for a
moment and savor the incredibly good feelings that flow through my body..
Every one of you is part of the greater reality and you have the ability to tap into the inner
world. When you connect to the “more” of life, you can become a conscious co-creator in
partnership with the Universal Force, or whateve r you call it, and realize your power to create
and your ability to love.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 23
Chapter 4. It’s All Energy
In order to create comfortable lives for ourselves here on Earth, we have to understand the
creative process. You wouldn’t try to build a house without the proper plans, materials, tools and
skills. You also need these to build a life.
First of all, let’s talk about the basic material that we use to create with on Planet Earth. The
basic material is energy that we transform into physical objects. There is nothing in three-
dimensional reality that is truly solid. We just perceive that it is. Everything that we “see” with our
physical eyes is only the whirling energy particles that we call atoms.
If we understand energy, then we understand how to create in three-dimensional reality. We
have the ability to perceive energy with our physical senses or our inner senses. We can see, touch,
smell, hear and sometimes taste people and objects. (Babies try to taste everyone and everything
they meet.) We can also perceive energy with our inner senses.
We use our inner sense of feeling to differentiate between various qualities of energy. For
example, when you go into a room where people are drinking and smoking, or if you walk through
a violent neighborhood, it feels different from when you’re in a church or out in nature. If you
close your eyes, it will still feel different. One situation is heavy and creates fear. The other is light
and creates feelings of love and caring.
Yin and Yang
Three-dimensional reality is dualistic. There are two contrasting qualities to everything that
exists in our world. Even the atom, the basic building material of the third dimension, exemplifies
this principle because the atom is made up of positively and negatively charged particles of energy.
Many of you are probably familiar with the symbol for yin and
yang, which represents different life energies. Let’s take a look at the
meaning of yin and yang. Yin is a feminine energy. Yin qualities
include: receptive, contracting, dark, wet, hidden, quiet and negative.
Yang is masculine. Yang qualities include: assertive, expanding, light,
dry, visible, audible and positive.
Negative and positive are qualities of energy. They are not good or
bad. Good and bad are human value judgments, not inherent qualities.
The following chart will help you understand yin and yang.
Yin
Yang
Night
Day
Moon
Sun
Rain
Thunder
Winter
Summer
Lavender
Red
Invalids
Athletes
Chess
Contact sports
Mother Theresa
Rush Limbaugh
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 24
When yin and yang are in balance, life is comfortable. It’s only when there’s too much of either
one that a situation or experience becomes uncomfortable. For example, a yang person is assertive
and physically active. When excessively yang, a person will show anger, hostility and violence. A
yin person is gentle and yielding. But when he’s out of balance, he’ll be shy, withdrawn and
fearful.
Men and women have both yin and yang within them. Every object or situation also has both
yin and yang. Look at the yin/yang symbol. White is yang and black is yin. They are intertwined
and there is black in white and vise versa. When one of the energies is excessive, the yin/yang is
out of balance and there is discomfort. People often refer to this as a negative experience.
Humans translate all experiences into feelings. Balanced energies feel light, soothing, peaceful,
harmonious. Energy that is out of balance is heavy, burdensome, disharmonious. Balanced energies
are aligned, while unbalanced energies are chaotic. People who are peaceful, loving and focused
are in balance. Those who are scattered, nervous and uncomfortable are not.
Some People Prefer Discomfort
It’s important to understand that being balanced or unbalanced is neither good nor bad. The
same holds true for comfortable and uncomfortable. They’re just different experiences. For
example, most people identify pain and suffering as bad because they’re uncomfortable. But pain
can be the impetus for growth and understanding. Pain can also be a warning that something is
malfunctioning in our body/mind. Without the warning of pain, we’d hurt ourselves badly. So even
pain has helpful and harmful aspects. Pain can indicate that energies are out of balance, but that
doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s just uncomfortable.
Our personal experiences with contrasting energies teach us discrimination. Discomfort
sometimes serves a purpose and is, therefore, desirable. The energy of discomfort is often chosen
because people are familiar with it: it’s easier and less frightening to suffer than change.
Some people are addicted to dis-ease. Despite medication, therapy, support groups and all the
sympathy they can garner, they won’t walk away from their anger and pain. They know their dis-
ease – it’s like an old friend.
Recently, Patsy Taylor, a woman I know, asked me if I would talk to Barbara, a friend of hers
who often attended my seminars. Patsy thought Barbara would benefit from a twelve-week course
in prosperity that was being given at the church she attends.
Barbara oozed neediness. It showed in her relationships and in her money. Barbara went from
doctor to doctor looking for relief from her asthma. As a result, she never had enough money
because she spent it all on health care. She knew her asthma was related to the emotional abuse she
experienced as a child, but she didn’t want to work through her emotional pain. No matter how
many practitioners she saw, she couldn’t find relief.
At an opportune time I said to Barbara, “I understand that you’ve shown some interest in the
prosperity class.”
“Oh no,” she whined, “I can’t commit for twelve weeks and I know they’re going to ask me to
tithe. I owe so much money and I don’t know what I’m going to do. My doctors say that I should
move to Arizona. . . .” On and on she went, affirming her dis-ease. I thought to myself, “But that’s
the whole point of the class. To help you see beyond your limitations.”
Barbara’s reaction was predictable. She couldn’t imagine life without her dis-ease and was
afraid to give up her doctors.
Years ago, I helped a woman, Jenny Martin, develop a healing regimen to overcome her
crippling arthritis. Both her mother and grandmother had suffered from the same disease. Over the
years, Jenny had tried every conceivable treatment for arthritis and had begun to explore
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 25
nutritional alternatives. At the time I met her, Jenny was taking twenty milligrams of cortisone and
sixteen aspirin a day.
I helped Jenny develop an eating plan and a supplement program and taught her how to clean
the toxins from her physical body. She also began to meditate regularly. The changes were
dramatic. In less than a year, she had withdrawn from the aspirin and all but five milligrams of the
cortisone. Jenny admitted that she was psychologically addicted to the cortisone.
When I examined the dynamics between Jenny, her husband and children, I saw that she
needed her disease. It allowed her to control her family, just like her mother and grandmother
controlled theirs. Because she was a diminutive person, Jenny’s illness gave her the power she
wanted over her much larger and stronger husband.
I’ve spent years trying to figure out why people choose to remain uncomfortable even when
information is presented to them that can change the quality of their lives. Smokers are the perfect
example of this. Evidence is now irrefutable that smoking causes serious disease. The chance is
high that smokers will develop lung cancer, leukemia, emphysema or other serious maladies. Yet
they still smoke. They put up with coughs, colds, allergies and social disdain in order to maintain
their habit. Smoking is an addiction, but it can be broken. Why doesn’t everyone try to be smoke
free?
The answer is that some people need to hurt themselves. Discomfort is an expression of their
consciousness. If you don’t like yourself, you’ll create punishment, not reward, to express your low
self-esteem. If you often berate yourself with critical self-talk, you’re going to act that out with
self-destructive behavior. This will show itself through physical or financial discomfort or
dysfunctional relationships. You might find yourself a victim of abuse, betrayal, etc.
A 1993 study at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found that 40% of the 110
patients with cancer or immune systems disorders stated, while under hypnosis, that they didn’t
really want to get well. The reasons were varied, but the most common were that they liked being
nurtured, the illness allowed them to withdraw from responsibilities and commitments, and it
served as punishment.
It’s possible that, like Jenny, you’ve learned uncomfortable behavior from your parents. Jenny
believed she needed her arthritis to control her family because that’s what she was programmed to
do. She wasn’t aware that by not controlling them, she could live a more fulfilling life.
Because you’re reading this book, I’m going to assume that you, the reader, are looking for
inner peace and financial freedom, which you consider to be a comfortable experience. As I pointed
out earlier, if you don’t like what you’re creating now, you have to change your consciousness,
which means balancing the energy in your life.
When energy flows freely comfort prevails. This is true of the body, emotions, money and
every aspect of life. Therefore, to create happiness and prosperity there has to be a free flow of
balanced energy.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 26
Chapter 5. The Energy of The Body/Mind
In the 1970s, there was a television ad for a car rental company. The ad showed a person
floating through the air, then gliding into the driver’s seat. That’s how I see the physical body. It’s
the vehicle in which you’re traveling while you’re here on Earth. If the vehicle is in tip-top shape,
you’ll have a better ride.
Your body is not separate from your mind. They operate as one unit, each having distinct
functions within the unit. When you read this chapter, be aware that I’m simplifying extremely
complex concepts. I’m not even going to attempt to define the mind. Philosophers and scientists
have been trying to do it for years without much success. Because the mind is infinite, and infinity
is beyond our comprehension, it can’t be accurately explained at this point in our evolution. But
even with our limited understanding, we can gain enough awareness to make significant
improvements.
In this chapter, I’m going to focus on the energy of the physical body.
The Physical Body
The physical body is an awesome machine that most people take for granted. They abuse it,
ignore it, and power it with low-grade fuel, then wonder why it malfunctions.
Hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of hours of work have gone into examining every
part of the body, down to the smallest particles of DNA. Despite this gargantuan effort, humans
are affected by a growing variety of physical disorders. Each year, it seems, a new disorder makes
the headlines. For example, Legionnaires Disease and Lyme Disease have been around for years
without creating widespread problems. But now they are affecting large numbers of people.
Tuberculosis, once under control, is again dangerously present and even polio and the bubonic
plague are making an appearance once more. Television ads hawk remedies for yeast infections,
coughs, colds, the flu, headaches, insomnia and other disorders that have been accepted as a
normal part of living.
In the last few years, new “discoveries” have made it possible for influential medical leaders to
announce that certain nutrients can prevent, or even cure, disease. Suddenly vegetables are coming
into vogue and vitamin supplements are recommended. The fact is that alternative practitioners
have known for many years about the value of food and nutrients as healing tools.
A small, but growing, group of respected scientists is examining the role of consciousness
along with nutrition in the development and treatment of disease. Unfortunately, their theories are
not accepted by the general medical population, which continues to focus on one aspect of our
being – the physical.
Our bodies are only one part of a complex system. It’s impossible to separate the body, the
mind, thoughts, beliefs, emotions from our physical and emotional environments.
In order to create health, which is an essential ingredient in prosperity, we must perceive the
totality of who we are. Ancient medical systems do this and, fortunately, there are modern
practitioners who can help balance our energies and integrate our parts.
For over twenty years, I’ve been consciously striving to learn what we’re capable of creating.
My laboratory has been my own body/mind, which, because of its condition, has provided me with
ample opportunity to experience the healing process.
For the first 32 years of my life I was treated by American doctors, all trained in techniques
sanctioned by the American Medical Association. At six weeks of age, I was given my first
prescription drug and for the next three decades was treated with the finest medications. As I grew
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 27
older, and the explanations became fewer, the doctors began calling me a hypochondriac and telling
me my problems were all in my mind. From my point of view there was definitely something going
on in my physical body, and I wanted to know what.
By the time that I insisted on the test for low blood sugar that I took in 1973, I owned a
medical textbook, which I studied diligently, hoping to find an answer to my many physical
problems. My body was always uncomfortable and I tried to find the cause.
In 1963, when I read about the healer Edgar Cayce, my eyes were opened to alternatives. Yoga
also helped me experience new ways of treating the body. But because my ingrained belief system
didn’t allow for anything else, I continued to go to orthodox medical doctors.
When I went to Dr. Harper my orientation changed. Through him I met many practitioners
who were developing innovative techniques for treating the body/mind. They were willing to risk
criticism, ridicule and even censure by their medical boards for using nonstandard medical
practices.
Because I had such a wide range of disorders, I had many opportunities to experiment and
learn. During the last twenty years, I’ve tried a wide range of alternative treatment methods
including homeopathy, chiropractic, biofeedback, therapeutic massage and many other healing
techniques. As a result, I am now healthier physically and emotionally than ever before. Each year
is better than the last. At an age when most bodies are wearing out and developing chronic dis-
ease, mine is growing stronger. I don’t use any drugs – not even aspirin – and haven’t had any viral
or bacterial diseases since 1977.
The reason I’m sharing this with you is because if you want to live a prosperous life, it’s
important to feel good. I’m hoping to awaken your awareness to the options that can give you more
control over your own health care. Alternative treatment methods are usually inexpensive, effective
and in tune with the body’s built in healing systems. By 1994 over a third of the American
population had tried alternative therapies, despite objections from orthodox medical practitioners.
Obviously, if alternatives didn’t work, people wouldn’t avail themselves of these therapies.
If your body/mind vehicle is working properly, you can travel to new heights of achievement
and levels of consciousness. If it’s not, it will drag you down; it’s hard to experience ecstasy when
you hurt. You need a functioning vehicle to realize your greatness.
In a future book, I’ll share what I’ve learned about healing the physical body. In this book, I’m
only going to explore the physical body/mind as an expression of your thoughts, beliefs and
emotions. This will give you the understanding you need to help you heal yourself.
Healing means balancing the energies in your life. If you want to improve your life situation,
that’s what you have to do.
The Body’s Energy Flow
Tens of thousands of interactions, regulated by the brain, constantly take place in every cell of
the body. Raw materials, such as vitamins, minerals and enzymes, which are extracted from food,
water, air and light, are utilized to create all of the substances your body needs to perform its
functions. Even when given raw materials of inferior quality, the body does an admirable job for
many years of manufacturing what it needs before it begins to malfunction.
The body is equipped with its own self-repair system. If something breaks, it fixes it. Before a
complete breakdown occurs, the body gives its owner many messages called symptoms. If these
symptoms are dealt with promptly, serious malfunctions can be avoided.
The basic fuel that the body uses to power all cellular activity is glucose, or blood sugar,
which has been carefully studied by Western medicine. But there’s another fuel that must be
available in order for the body to function. That fuel is life energy, and its flow through the body
determines our state of health.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 28
Eastern medicine is built around the principle of free-flowing energy. In the Chinese system,
energy flows through the body through a network of pathways called meridians. Meridians connect
to every gland and organ. Acupuncture needles are used to stimulate or calm specific locations on
the meridians. When energy is blocked from flowing freely, the body feels pain or discomfort of
some kind.
Even “the blahs” are energy that isn’t flowing freely. Certain disorders indicate excess yin,
which means stimulation is required, and others excess yang, which require calming. Acupuncture
is designed to balance yin and yang and to return the free flow of energy through the meridians.
Ayurvedic medicine, which is from India, recognizes energy centers called chakras. These are
whirling vortices of energy that are located at various places on the body. Ayurvedic medicine
recognizes that we have an energy body that is a duplicate of our physical/ emotional body and the
chakras are in the energy body. Your aura is part of your energy body.
As with the meridians system, when energy doesn’t flow freely through the chakras, there is
blockage which leads to discomfort. By balancing the flow through the chakras, comfort and
health, can be restored.
Both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine use herbs, tonics, foods, sunshine, water and other
natural tools to help the body heal itself.
Western medicine also has healing systems that deal with energy. Homeopathy, chiropractic,
biofeedback, polarity, massage therapy and other therapeutic methods are all based on theories of
energy flow.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 29
Use the External to See the Internal
Your body, like everything else that is visible, is a reflection of your consciousness. Everything
that we experience on earth is a combination of the internal and external – the external is a
reflection, or expression, of the internal. It’s easier for us to relate to the visible physical part of us
because we can see, touch, smell, hear and taste it.
I’ve said that in order to change your life, you have to
change your consciousness. Because your consciousness
isn’t visible, it’s easier to look at its reflection – your body
– if you want to learn more about yourself. Your physical
body is a map of the energy flow in your life. Take a look
at these two pictures. Without any verbal explanation, you
know immediately which person is more apt to be called
happy and healthy and which one is sad, lonely and
unhealthy. It shows in the way they walk, their facial
expressions and the energy they emit.
It would be difficult to feel uplifted while talking to A,
but you probably feel good just looking at B. A is a perfect
example of energy out of balance.
Because our bodies are the physical expression of our
consciousness, you can determine peoples’ feelings about themselves by observing their bodies and
how they take care of them. For example, people who like themselves are usually well-groomed
and dress comfortably.
Generally, people who feel compelled to follow the latest fashions and are willing to wear
anything that’s “in” no matter how uncomfortable it might be, don’t have a good self-image. They
are overly concerned about what other people think. Women who wear a lot of make-up are usually
less comfortable with themselves than those who wear none or just light make-up because they
think they’re fine just the way they are.
A person’s posture is very revealing. Remember the doctor I told you about who was always a
victim? I was aware that he felt like a victim before he even said anything. He wore a “poor-me”
expression on his face and his round-shouldered stance made him look as if he was backing away
from life.
Think of successful people you’ve seen. Do they look as if they’re afraid of life? Probably not.
More likely, they stand and speak as if they greet each day with enthusiasm. Success and
prosperity are feelings and they express themselves through body attitude.
If a person smokes, overeats or uses alcohol excessively, you can be sure they are grappling
with fears and insecurities. Any addiction, including a food addiction, is a sign that a person has
unresolved conflicts and that they’re not willing, or able, to deal with their feelings.
Auto-immune diseases, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems can be caused
by destructive emotions such as pessimism, distrust, fear, anger, hate and other uncomfortable
emotions. These either suppress the immune system or trigger a release of the hormone adrenaline,
which known as the “flight or fight” hormone.
Adrenaline, which regulates many body processes such as heart and respiration rates, gives us
an extra jolt of energy in crisis or high stress situations. For example, if you were out in the woods
and a bear approached you, adrenaline would give you the power to run fast enough to get out of
its way. Adrenaline is not meant to released in large quantities on a daily basis. Modern society,
with its constant stress, overworks our adrenal glands, which causes them to produce erratic
quantities of adrenaline. Because adrenaline affects blood pressure, heart beat, and many activities
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 30
of our autonomic nervous system, our body’s vital organs become stressed, which can lead to
tissue damage and serious disease. Adrenal fatigue is behind many maladies of civilization.
Looking at your physical disorders can help you determine which emotions are being
expressed. For example, if you have a pain in your neck, you’re probably annoyed with someone.
Also the suffix “itis” at the end of the name of a disease means irritation. The discomfort of
arthritis, sinusitis, cystitis, etc., are all related to irritated tissue. Your physical “itis” can be an
expression of emotional irritation.
Cancer is often caused by anger, as are many digestive disturbances. People who experienced
sexual abuse as children typically have eating disorders. A repressed immune system can be caused
by an inability to express oneself creatively.
From the time I was a small child I was plagued with physical discomforts. Because I wasn’t
able to express my feelings, I had to find a way to let my parents know that I was uncomfortable. I
accomplished this through my physical body. Because my parents were very responsible, they did
whatever they could to give their children the finest medical care. Over the years I learned that if I
had a physical complaint I could get the touching and attention I needed. Creating the physical
discomfort wasn’t a conscious act, but it soon became a viable avenue for my feelings.
Statistically, women suffer from more physical disorders than men. Having to behave like a
good girl and taking a position of subservience to men can be frustrating and debilitating and is
often expressed as physical dis-ease.
Logically, it would seem sensible to say that your physical discomforts are the result of what
you eat, environmental pollutants, a weakened immune system, a virus, etc. That’s true. However,
your physical health is primarily an expression of your consciousness. You wouldn’t eat the foods
you do or weaken your immune system unless it was to express certain thoughts, beliefs and/or
emotions. I know that this may be difficult to accept. It’s hard to comprehend that you draw
everything to you that you need to support your consciousness (including people, viruses,
accidents, and anything else that’s in your life).
For example, when I gave up sugar, the depression that had been with me for fifteen years
disappeared. For many years after, I thought that I had been depressed because I ate sugar. It’s true
that the sugar affected my serotonin levels, which, in turn, affected my moods. As I became more
aware of why we do what we do, I realized that I needed the sugar to help me express the feelings
that were buried deep inside of me.
When people tell me they’re depressed, I suggest that they try withdrawing from sugar. In
many cases their depression lifts, as mine did. However, unless they release their buried feelings, at
some point, they’ll go back to eating sugar again.
That’s why people find it so difficult to stay on diets. Most people who overeat do so for
psychological reasons. The eating serves as a way of pushing down painful feelings, which must be
dealt with in order to stop the overeating. When people eliminate certain foods, such as candy, cake
and ice cream, feelings start coming up and the only way to bury them is to eat again.
Because I had an eating disorder, I had the opportunity to carefully examine this issue. Even
after I started eating healthy foods, I’d binge. Flocks of chickens passed through my body. Because
my self-image was dependent upon what I looked like, the first thing I did every morning was
weigh myself. If I had gained any weight, I’d obsess about it for the rest of the day and battle with
myself about what I was, or wasn’t, going to eat. If I lost weight, I’d have a great day.
I didn’t realize that I was a compulsive overeater until I attended my first 12-Step meeting and
listened to other people share the pain that eating caused them. I soon learned that whenever I felt a
gripping hunger in my chest, which was my signal to overeat, I could stop and ask myself, “What
are you afraid of?” Many times I had to call other program members and ask them to help me work
through whatever was coming up. The effect was dramatic. I was determined to be healthy, and I
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 31
was willing to look at the pain of my past, as difficult as that was. As a result, within a few months
I was able to control my eating because I learned to use my eating as an indicator of my feelings.
When I recognize that I’m eating compulsively, I try to find out what’s bothering me.
As I said, you can use your physical body to help you recognize your thoughts, beliefs and
emotions. Observe how you treat your body. Do you treat yourself like someone you love? If not,
why not? What is it that you believe about yourself that justifies the way you treat yourself? Just
listen to what you say to yourself when you think about your body. Do you really think it’s the
extra inches on your waist or thigh or the shape of your nose that’s keeping you from having a
good time?
In the next chapter we’re going to look at how you use your thoughts, beliefs and emotions to
create your life stories.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 32
Chapter 6. Creating Our Lives
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “We create our own reality.” But what does that mean? It
means that we create our lives 100% of the time; we are totally responsible for what happens in
our lives, even when it involves other people. How do we do it?
We create with our thoughts, beliefs and emotions.
Understanding this concept is difficult, especially if you look at the suffering that prevails all
over the world. How can children in Africa be responsible for their starvation or the people who
died in The Holocaust have been responsible for their deaths? How can we be responsible for what
happens in our lives when there are other people who often set events in motion?
The Search for Answers
When I was younger, what the adults in my life said and did didn’t always make sense to me.
The often told me what I had to do. But instinctively I believed that there was a better way than
theirs to look at life. If I lived as they suggested, I reasoned, I would grow up like them, which
certainly didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t want to live in fear and insecurity; I didn’t want to gossip or
bend the truth. Playing the role of a good wife wasn’t my idea of fulfillment.
So I looked for alternatives. I think it was my strong desire for answers and my faith that the
answers were available that allowed me to tap into a Higher Source of information where I found
much of what you’ll find in this book.
In 1976, I gave away everything I owned and for six years traveled from place to place, never
knowing where my money would come from or what I was going to do. I stayed in Miami, Atlanta,
Eastern Colorado and at my parents’ home in Hopatcong, New Jersey. In 1980, I went to London
with $100 and a one-way ticket and stayed there for a few weeks.
When I wasn’t travelling, much of my time was spent in meditation. For weeks at a time I’d
stay in my room, wherever that was, meditating as much as ten hours a day. During one meditation
marathon, I stayed in a motel room for seven days with no sound and no talking; I had enough food
for four days.
During another phase, I learned how to wait. For one month, I’d get up every morning and sit
in a chair all day, except to eat and use the bathroom. I didn’t do anything but sit and wait. At 8:00
p.m. I’d meditate.
Much of my thinking time was dedicated to exploring the answers to questions such as: Who
are we? Why are we here? and What is reality? This book is the result of a lot of my thinking and
exploring of other dimensions of consciousness. I admit, I don’t have scientific proof that my
method works; but my experience over the past fifteen years is enough proof for me.
An Alternative
A current feel-good fad in the United States is Prozac, a drug which regulates serotonin levels
and allows people to feel better about themselves. If you’re uncomfortable, you certainly have the
option of going in that direction. Prozac can give you a quick fix for your feelings of emptiness. As
technology matures, more and more drugs and devices will be available that eliminate our
emotional pain or take us into altered states of consciousness. Right now, for example, there’s an
electronic device available whose promoters claim will allow you to “access your higher
consciousness” in an instant.
Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. Or perhaps I have too much reverence for nature. But I have
found that the closer I get to the natural order, the more comfortable my life becomes. For
example, if I didn’t observe, over years of time, how the cycles of the moon and the seasons affect
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 33
our creative process, I wouldn’t be able to use the awesome power of nature in the work I do. If,
for you, that’s a “So what?” then my method may not be the one you’re seeking.
If you’re only looking for productivity and don’t care about experiencing Universal Love or
developing your inner senses, if you don’t care that you’ll be forever bound to drugs or fancy
equipment for your pleasure, then go with technology. But if you’re willing to put in a little
personal effort and not require instant rewards, I promise you that your gains will be enormous and
that the journey will be interesting.
I’m hoping that the theories I’m presenting here will give you a deeper understanding of the
transformational process. With this knowledge you’ll be able to break the bonds of consciousness
that keep you from health, happiness and prosperity. Your nagging question, “Why is this
happening to me?” will have an answer. And, more importantly, you’ll know how to correct the
situation, if you choose.
It’s All Connected
As I’ve said, your life is a reflection of your thoughts, beliefs and emotions, which, from here
on, I’m going to refer to as TBEs. It’s the energy of your TBEs that create your life. In other
words, your life is an extension of what you think, believe and feel. Your life experiences aren’t
separate from you. They are part of you and they’re connected through the energy of your TBEs,
the material from which you build your life.
The creative process is complicated because you don’t create anything alone. You are totally
connected to every person and every thing on this planet. Every object, including you, emits energy
and all of the energy is part of one mass. As a result, whatever you do has an effect on everything
else. The slightest ripple, such as a thought or action, changes the nature of the whole.
Once, after an extended period of isolation and meditation in Atlanta, I went to New York City.
It was Christmas time. The contrast in the energies between the two cities was so dramatic that it
catapulted me into altered states of consciousness. One afternoon I was going uptown on the 34th
Street bus, when suddenly everyone on the bus became luminous. From the center of each person’s
chest came a ribbon of golden light that connected itself to other people on the bus. There was an
energy exchange between all of us, even though we barely acknowledged each other ’s presence.
The idea of connectedness is easier to comprehend if you picture the planet as a body.
Everything on the planet is a cell within the body. The continents could be organs, the oceans and
water the bloodstream, winds the breath, and the animal and human kingdom the mechanisms of
metabolism. There’s no such thing as one healthy cell in a body – all cells are interconnected. And
whether we like it or not, we’re all joined together and whatever we do affects the planet and
whatever happens in the world affects each of us.
We can extend this and say that the planet is a cell in the body of the solar system which is a
cell in the body of the universe. We can also compress the image by saying that you are a cell in a
family, which is a cell in your community, which is a cell in the county, etc. The point is, you don’t
exist in a vacuum.
So when we talk about your creative process, you have to be aware that we’re only focusing
on one small link in a big chain.
Magnetic Attraction
Science has shown that even the tiny atom has an energy field. So does everything else in
three-dimensional reality, including us. Our bodies are actually electromagnetic devices that
generate a magnetic field. This field can attract, or repel people, events, things, or anything else to
or from us because they too have a magnetic field. The magnetic field that I’m talking about is not
exactly the same as the field of a magnet, but similar in nature.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 34
When we need to create a life story in order to express our TBEs, we draw in everything
necessary to produce our drama – the sets, the actors, the stage crew, etc. We broadcast what we
need, like a casting call, with our thoughts and emotions, and those who want to play the part show
up. For example, if we need to be victimized, we’ll draw in victimizers who become willing actors
in our play. Actually, they’ve drawn us in also, because they need a victim. Often, a person who
has been victimized chooses someone who seems fine – not like perpetrators in their past. But
surprisingly, as time goes on, the person changes and becomes a perpetrator.
There was a story in the Los Angeles Times about a woman from the Philippines, an illegal
alien, who married an American who seemed like the perfect mate. For a year or so, everything
was fine. Then he started beating her. The abuse became so intense she feared for her life. She
went into hiding with her child because the husband wanted her deported and he had the legal right
to do so.
The woman had a need to be abused and drew in the perfect person for her drama. She didn’t
do it consciously, of course, but with her TBEs. It’s a well-known fact that people who were
abused as children often choose abusers as their mates. (This allows the abused person to express
the repressed pain of their childhood experience.) Some people who were abused become the
abusers, and they draw in someone who needs to be abused.
I realize that this may sound harsh. This could be the point where you cross your arms and
say, “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”
No I don’t. Not yet.
It’s often difficult to read about or listen to stories of extreme abuse without wondering how a
Benevolent Universe could allow it to happen. I remember once when I was rolling around on my
bed in extreme physical pain, I asked the question, “Doesn’t it bother you when I’m in this kind of
pain?” The answer I received was, “Bother is a human emotion. We just see various intensities and
frequencies of energy. Each experience has a purpose, even if you don’t understand it at the
moment.”
I was also reminded of something I’d learned before: when one person works through and
releases their pain, the healing effect is felt by the rest of the world. That thought often helped
make my pain more bearable. I knew that somehow by suffering as I did I was doing service to
mankind. Not much of a consolation when you’re racked with pain, but in the long run, it does
help.
Dennis Byrd, a football player with the New York Jets, was severely injured in a game. He was
paralyzed from the neck down and told that he’d never walk again. Not one to accept defeat, he did
everything he could to move just one toe. When it moved, he felt victorious. For months he worked
on his feet and his legs, until one day he walked. When he came onto the football field at the start
of a Jets’ game, the crowd went wild with applause. It was an emotional moment for anyone who
watched him as he haltingly walked to the microphone and spoke. His experience touched everyone
who saw him. Dennis served as a living example of how faith in oneself can conquer adversity.
In 1993 the world watched as fires destroyed over one thousand homes and caused almost a
billion dollars in damages in Southern California. Cameras followed people as they came back to
their burned-out homes for the first time. Along with the homeowners, the viewing audience
experienced grief, abandonment and betrayal. The tragedy affected everyone who watched the
uncontrolled destruction.
What purpose do tragedies serve? First of all, they serve as and emotional release for the
individual who is affected. It is their opportunity to express feelings of being wounded, crippled,
trapped, filled with grief, or fear. In addition, people who experience loss help all of us express our
feelings of grief. But there’s another reason, too.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 35
The Universal Force can’t call us on the telephone. We have to learn through our life
experiences. We’ll repeat a lesson over and over again until we get it. Through stories like the
California fires we learn how unimportant and temporary material possessions are and the value of
life. Whenever a person has to find strength within themselves, a meaningful lesson is learned.
A Purpose is Served
One of the themes that is played out over and over in the dramas in our lives, on television and
in movies, is triumph over adversity. Obviously, we like happy endings. Sometimes, when I’m
wondering why we decided to play out a particular drama, I realize that there must be something
going on that’s beyond my comprehension. Perhaps our suffering and adversity serve a greater
purpose.
It’s clear that each of us comes here with some handicap – like being dealt a few bad cards in a
poker hand. We’re such powerful beings that we have the ability to get beyond whatever we’re
dealt and trade in the bad cards for ones that give us a royal flush.
Suffering provides us with the opportunity to reach down inside and find our inner strength.
When we do, we are in touch with the Universal Power within us. Triumph over adversity allows
us to experience our unlimited powers.
Steven Hawking is a brilliant physicist and author whose body is so severely crippled by Lou
Gehrig’s that he spends his days in a wheelchair and can only communicate through a computer.
He serves to remind us that we are so much more than our physical bodies, and our limitations and
suffering are only challenges that we have the power to overcome.
As I said, our life process is complicated. We’re part of an entire solar system that’s working
together. Often the smallest parts can’t comprehend what’s going on in the larger organism. I’m
sure your liver cells don’t understand what’s going on when you decide to have a cup of coffee in
the morning. I can just hear them saying, “Why do I have to take so much abuse?”
Many years ago I had an image that helped me understand this concept. Think of a chess
board. Each of the categories of pieces can move in different directions. The pawns can only move
one space at a time and, at the beginning of the game, can only see other pawns. They don’t see the
bishop who can glide diagonally across the board or the rook who can cover a line of spaces in
either direction in one move. The pawn can’t conceive of the knight that can jump over other pieces
to protect it. It certainly can’t conceive of the being who is moving the pieces around on the board
and wants to win the game. Sometimes a pawn has to be sacrificed. This act of sacrifice is for the
greater good.
Actually, each of us is part of a greater reality and we share many thoughts, beliefs and
emotions. That’s how we create the dramas that we share. That’s also why, if each of us takes care
of our own little space, the whole world will benefit. When each of us experiences peace, love and
prosperity, the world will be peaceful, loving and prosperous.
Thoughts and Beliefs
For the first twenty years of my life, my father owned a silk mill in Paterson, New Jersey. He
had forty looms which produced jacquard tie fabrics.
(Jacquard means the design is woven into, rather than
printed on, the fabric.) I spent many hours at the mill and
would watch in wonderment as designs emerged from the
shuttle movement across the loom.
When cloth is woven, a thread, called a woof, is
intertwined among other threads that have been formed into
a warp. A shuttle carries the woof thread across the loom.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 36
Warping frames that looked like giant water wheels filled the back end of the mill. Thousands
of threads were lined up and spun onto the warping frames before they were transferred to the
looms.
The warps were virtually all of a single color, which set the tone of the fabric; fabric woven on
a white warp looked very different from fabric woven on a black warp. The design that emerged
was determined by the sequence of colors of the woof threads and the number of warp threads
under or over which the threads were woven. Specially produced punch cards were created from
designer’s drawings. These directed the loom as to which warp threads would be lifted and which
of four shuttle threads would cross the warp.
Imagine that your life is a fabric that is being woven. At the end of your time here, a design
will have been produced that can be identified as your individual experience on earth. The warp
threads of your life are your beliefs and the woof is created by your actions. As they intertwine,
your life stories emerge. The holes in your punch cards that instruct the woof are your thoughts
and emotions, which determine the course of your life. To create a new “color” as a basis for your
life fabric, you have to replace the warp – your beliefs.
Our Beliefs
Endless numbers of beliefs about every aspect of your reality affect the tone of your life. You
have beliefs about everything, even though you may not openly express them. It’s a belief that
allows you to see whirling atoms as solid objects and it’s a belief about human nature that sets the
tone for your interpersonal relationships. For example, if you believe that people are basically
good, then you’ll look for the good in everyone. If, on the other hand, you believe that humans are
inherently evil, you’ll always be on guard and you’ll expect to be victimized. Beliefs are not good
or bad, or right or wrong. They’re just beliefs.
As children, we develop our basic belief system as a result of what we’re taught and what we
observe. Religious beliefs, for example, are taught. A belief in God, Jesus, Mohammed, etc., is
learned from those around us. Later on in life, we can change our beliefs as a result of our
individual experiences and observations.
Many beliefs are passed down from generation to generation. These beliefs are deeply woven
into the fabric of a culture. The belief in their sexual vulnerability, for example, has been a part of
women’s consciousness for eons. The belief that men have to protect women also has been passed
along through many generations. There are also national and cultural beliefs that are held by large
groups of people.
We develop beliefs about ourselves from the way we’re treated by our caretakers. If, as a child,
you were frequently told you were bad, you’ll believe that you’re a bad person. If the adults in
your life often shamed you, you’ll feel that you are shameful and unworthy.
On the other hand, if you were loved and appreciated by your family, you’re going to have a
set of positive beliefs about yourself and your potential. These positive beliefs will allow you to act
in such a way that you’ll create a satisfying, rewarding life. As children, it’s difficult to separate
what other people tell us about our behavior and the truth of who we are. We tend to equate the
two.
Listen to your thoughts for a few hours. What are you thinking about, aside from money? Are
you telling yourself what a great job you did or how much fun you’re having. Probably not.
If you have destructive thoughts, such as you’re bad or stupid, or if you constantly tell
yourself that you’re inadequate, that’s the energy you’re using to create your life. Your experiences
will reflect your destructive thoughts. You’ll find people who affirm for you that you don’t deserve
to be treated well or acknowledged.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 37
Conversely, if your thoughts are positive, you’ll create life dramas that reflect love,
satisfaction, appreciation, etc. Your thoughts are directly related to your beliefs. If you believe
you’re either good or bad, then your thoughts will be an extension of that belief.
You learn your beliefs from your parents and the people around you. You also learn them from
the media. We have individual beliefs, cultural beliefs, racial beliefs, among others. Beliefs are not
like laws of nature; they can be based on logic that is not based on facts, such as the belief that
people of a certain color are inferior. Nevertheless, beliefs have a powerful effect on how we live
our lives.
Emotions
Whether we want to or not, we all have emotions. Emotions are a response to everything that
happens in our lives. Our beliefs and thoughts help to create our emotions. For example, if I
believe that something horrible will happen to me if I look at a frog, and I see a frog, I’ll feel
intense fear. My fear comes from my belief and thoughts about frogs, not from the facts about
frogs. The fear is also a reflection of my basic emotional structure and the feelings I have learned
from people around me.
Our basic emotional structure, like our physical genes, is inherited from our parents. We are an
extension of our parents’ consciousness at the moment of our conception; we are all an aspect of
their self-expression. From the moment we’re born, our emotions develop by learning from those
around us. We learn to model their feelings. But our basic emotional structure, which we inherited,
also colors our response to a particular situation.
Our emotions are created subconsciously, then they seek an avenue of expression. They can
overwhelm us and control our lives until we learn to express them effectively. Emotions, like
everything else, are energy. John Bradshaw, who has written and spoken for years about emotional
healing, calls them “energy in motion.” But we can learn to control and even change our emotional
responses.
Repressed Emotions
In order to reach our full potential, it’s necessary that we develop a free flow of emotions. At
this point in our evolution, we’re aware of emotions and we express them as best we can. We
understand sad, mad, glad and fearful, but we haven’t learned how to effectively use these
emotions for the greater good. We also haven’t learned to discriminate between the subtle nuances
of emotions. There’s an infinite range of emotions that we can learn to recognize and express.
Most of us, especially men, were told not to express emotions. We were taught that some
emotions, like anger, are bad. Children in our culture are often shamed when they express their
emotions. Boys are called sissies or whimps and girls are teased or scolded when they cry. Many
children are told that God won’t like them if they’re angry. It doesn’t take long for children to learn
to repress emotions.
When repressed, the energy of the emotions becomes blocked in our physical body, causing an
imbalance. I’ve come to believe that repressed emotions are the cause for almost all physical and
emotional disorders as well as for dysfunctional finances and relationships. I’ll talk more about this
later.
As we evolve we’ll learn that when, instead of repressing emotions, we express them as they
occur, and allow them to flow through us, we can use the energy of the emotions in our creative
process. The reason we’re blocked emotionally is that we were never taught to recognize and
express our feelings. It’s not that we’re stupid or inept, we just never learned how. Expressing
emotions is a skill that can be developed, just like anything else.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 38
Without a range of emotions, life is like a one-note show. Emotions add color and excitement
to life. We are the instruments and emotions are our notes. When we all learn how to use them and
tune into each other, we’ll be like a fine symphony orchestra playing beautiful music.
In Section 2, I’m going to show you how you can learn to recognize your emotions and release
the old emotions that are blocking you from peace, love and joy – and prosperity. In the next
chapter, I’m going to show you how we use our emotions as part of our creative process.
How You Create With Your TBEs
Current knowledge supports the fact that your subconscious mind processes your thoughts
and beliefs and directs your life. Through a process that is still a mystery, the subconscious helps
you bring what you need into your life in order to act out your thoughts. But the subconscious only
knows what it’s told. It acts on the information it gets from you and the people around you.
If your self-esteem is low, the people who brought you up probably never told you how perfect
you are. Unless you were the favored child in your family, you probably didn’t measure up to their
expectations and in one way or another they let you know it. And you believed them. If they hit you
or abused you in other ways, then you are apt to believe that you’re bad and worthy of punishment,
not reward.
Now you’re just repeating, over and over again, what was programmed into you. Your
subconscious accepts it as true and creates your life around these old beliefs. Your thoughts affirm
those beliefs, which become more deeply ingrained as time goes by.
If, for example, in your family girls were perceived to be not as valuable as boys, and you’re a
female, then you have an underlying belief that you’re not worth as much as a male. If that’s your
belief, then you’re probably underpaid or haven’t been promoted to a position that is equal to your
abilities. Or perhaps you’re in a relationship in which you’ve taken a back seat to your mate.
Perhaps he feels that the work he does is more valuable than yours. And you buy into it.
Men have trouble expressing feelings because they’ve been taught that it’s not “manly” to have
feelings. If you are a male, becoming aware of your emotions can cause diminished self-worth.
This can have an effect on the work you choose, the friends you spend time with, the car you drive
and the way you treat the women in your life. In order to express what’s buried deep inside of you,
you’re going to have to let go of some of your old beliefs.
I was born with a birthmark on my face. It faded by the time I was three, but until then, it had
a strong impact on my image of myself. Using the technique that you’ll find in Section 2, I was
able to go back in time and remember the feelings I had when people looked at me. Since babies
can hear with their internal “ears,” they’re aware of thoughts as well as sounds. I was aware that
people would think to themselves, or ask my mother, “What’s the matter with her?”
As I grew up, my life stories often stirred my parents to ask, “What’s the matter with Joanie?”
I acted out my belief that there was something wrong with me. When I couldn’t get my life
together, I’d ask myself, “What’s wrong with me?”
What were the words that you heard as a child? Were you programmed to believe that you
deserve the best that life has to offer? Do you honestly believe, deep down inside, that you are
lovable and worthy of acknowledgment? In order to be prosperous, that’s what you have to believe
or it’s not going to happen. So the system I’m presenting starts with changing your thoughts and
beliefs. When your thoughts are constructive at least 51% of the time, your life will move forward.
We’re Uneasy with Our Feelings
Generally we are uneasy with our emotions because we were never taught how to express
them. As a matter of fact, most of us were taught that it’s wrong to show our emotions. Because
we weren’t allowed to express our feelings, we reasoned that there must be something bad about
emotions. A large part of the population believes that emotions should be kept a secret. But, even
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 39
though we don’t talk much about feelings, we have them and they affect our lives in many ways.
Even people who don’t admit to feeling their emotions have them, they just don’t allow themselves
to fully experience the emotions.
I met David Lyons at one of my seminars. He is a dynamic entrepreneur who has terrific
coping skills. He has a positive attitude and faith in his success. Whatever pain has been in his life,
David dismisses it as no longer relevant. “What’s done, is done,” he says. “Now it’s time to move
on with my life.”
During the seminar though, it became clear to David that something internally was blocking
his success, and he decided to participate in a series of individual consultation sessions. Because he
had just started a new business, he didn’t want to repeat his past mistakes.
At first David resisted dealing with his emotions. But within a short period of time he was able
to see that even though he thought he had put them aside, they were there. For example, for the
first time in his life, he had to make cold calls to market his product. He called me after his first
day in the field, crushed by the poor response. After questioning him, we realized that when he
went on a sales call, he rushed through his presentation. He wasn’t familiar with sales techniques
and after the presentation, left a flyer with product information and said, “Read this over. If you
like what you see, give me a call.”
Obviously, David needed some sales training, but there was more to it. He was soon able to see
that he rushed through the presentation because of his fear of rejection. He wanted to get away as
soon as possible – before the prospect asked him to leave. Once he tuned in to his emotions, he
understood that he was approaching a prospect as if he was apologizing for being in the room,
which is the same way he felt as a child.
Within a short period of time, David not only learned excellent sales skills, but he opened up to
himself on a feeling level. He was amazed at the difference it made in the growth of his business.
Why don’t we talk about emotions? There are a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is
that if I share my feelings with you, I’m sharing a personal part of me, which puts me in a
vulnerable position. If you know how I feel, I believe that you’ll have an advantage. You can use
the information to manipulate or in some way injure me. If you don’t know how I feel, then I’m not
taking a risk. So I play it safe by keeping my feelings to myself.
Another reason is the commonly held belief that you can hurt someone else’s feelings by
expressing your emotions. Is this a rational belief? Can you hurt someone else’s feelings? No. If
you act in truth, you aren’t responsible for their response.
For example, have you ever heard, or said, “I don’t like to share my feelings when I don’t feel
good because I don’t want to upset anyone.” If you express your feelings, whoever is listening has
to choose to get upset; it’s not a requirement. If you tell me that something is bothering you, I have
choices. I can feel your feelings as if they were mine, or I can listen and empathize with you, and
let you be where you are without having to experience your feelings.
Why are we afraid of feeling our emotions when we’re alone? If you’ve been pushing your
feelings down for most of your life, there is a lot of pain, anger, frustration and more stuck inside
of you. It’s true, if you really let yourself feel your feelings some of that old stuff is going to come
out. But you can learn how to process the feelings and feel safe with yourself. You may fear that
there’s so much in there that once you start feeling it you’ll never be able to stop. Since you’ve
never learned to process feelings, that fear is perfectly understandable.
A therapy method used with juvenile killers was described in a 1994 Time magazine article.
The children, as young as thirteen, had used deadly weapons to kill people. They appeared to have
no remorse. For them, killing is just something you do to people whom you can’t control. One of
the killers in the therapy program shot his cousin because he thought this relative was trying to
cheat him out of $9 in a drug deal.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 40
All of the killers in the therapy program were victims of severe abuse or neglect. They coped
with their tragedy by denying their feelings. This denial became ingrained in them and they lost all
sense of remorse.
The therapy consisted of helping the children remember how they felt when they were being
abused. They were allowed to express the rage and hurt they had bottled up inside. (If they could
express the rage, there would be remorse and they wouldn’t kill again.) Unfortunately, some of the
children were so wounded that they never felt safe re-experiencing the horrors of their childhood
and did not complete the process. Those offenders were kept in jail because no methods have been
found to help reactivate a hopelessly numbed conscience.
Many people I know have gone through the process of remembering the pain of severe abuse.
I’ve been through the process myself and know how painful and debilitating emotional abuse can
be. The only reason I could turn my life around is because I was willing to get into the pain and let
it go. There were times when it was uncomfortable and even times when I thought the pain would
never cease. But it did stop, and on the other end was a beautiful rainbow of feelings that filled the
void left by the pain that I’d released.
I know that many people who read prosperity material have suffered for years from the
discomfort of not having enough money. Even if you’ve earned what seemed like sufficient money,
you probably felt it wasn’t enough. Not having enough has nothing to do with how much money is
available, it has to do with your feelings and your estimate of your own self-worth. If you can find
the willingness to face the feelings that are behind your financial situation, you’ll be free to create
the abundance you crave. You’ll be enough and you’ll have enough.
Emotions and Your Life Stories
Feelings that are repressed over a long period of time have to be expressed or they’re going to
leak out. If you place a corrosive substance in a storage container and allow it to stay stagnant, the
walls of the container will weaken and the toxins will seep through. The same things happen with
uncomfortable emotions that are stored in the physical body.
Feelings sometimes seep out as physical illness. The emotional pain that’s eating away at you
can become an ulcer; feelings of deprivation can become allergies; and your anger and resentment
can express themselves as cancer.
Despite the billions of dollars that have been spent on cancer research and treatments in the
United States, we still haven’t found a cure. For most types of cancer, the recovery has remained
the same for many years. The incidence of some cancers keeps increasing. We’re not going to find
a cure until the scientists begin to look at the role of consciousness in the disease process. Perhaps
they’re afraid to examine this because if they do, they’ll have to look at their own feelings.
Fortunately, interest is growing in a field of medicine called psychoneuroimmunology which
connects the mind and emotions to the development of physical disorders.
How can knowing all of this help you find prosperity? Right now, more likely than not, you
feel as if you’re a victim of circumstances. Or perhaps you feel that God, or whomever you think is
taking care of you, isn’t paying attention. That’s depressing. But, if you understand how you’ve
created your current situation, you can take action and turn it around. You can learn to take care of
yourself.
Since prosperity is a feeling, and it encompasses how we feel physically and emotionally, if
you understand the dynamics of the forces that are keeping you where you are, you can change the
behavior that’s supporting your present life condition.
If you understand that your feelings are going to express themselves, no matter what, you
won’t be as anxious to run to the doctor with every ache and pain. You’ll be able to figure out, for
yourself, what’s bothering you. Once you express the feeling, you won’t need the physical pain
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 41
anymore and it will go away. You may want to go to a practitioner who can help you balance your
energies, but you won’t need drugs to kill the pain or surgery to cut it out.
You’ll also be able to see how you’re expressing your repressed emotions through your money,
which is why you feel so financially undernourished. We’ll talk about this at length in the next
chapter.
Once you unlock your old feelings, you’ll be able to express new ones. With the conscious
awareness that you can develop with the information in this book, you can choose your life
experiences and the emotions you wish to express. You’ll be able to work through deprivation,
disappointment and rage and replace them with peace, love and joy.
Abandonment and Alienation
Before we move on to money, I’d like to say something about abandonment and alienation, two
of the emotions that are most often expressed in the human experience. Over and over again, if you
look at our life stories you’ll see abandonment dramas. Failed relationships, betrayal, abuse, loss,
and grief are all expressions of abandonment.
How can we forget the stories of babies who are being claimed by their birth parents after
years of living with adoptive parents who love them. As the court battles rage, we all cry for the
children because we believe that if they are taken from the adoptive parents they love, the moment
of abandonment will affect the direction of their lives and there is nothing we can do to help them.
We cry for the little children, but we also cry for ourselves and the abandonment that we remember
from our own childhoods.
While I was living in Venice, I had an experience that helped me understand why we
continually create abandonment dramas. At the time I was involved in a relationship that was
characterized by long-term physical separation. For the third time in my life I was separated, by a
few thousand miles from the person I loved.
I had met Tom in Atlanta and we lived together for a few months. Both of us wanted to live in
California and we planned on driving across the United States together. But it became obvious to
me that it would be a long time before he wrapped up all the loose ends in his life and I was
anxious to return to California. So I packed up everything I thought I needed into five apple boxes
and took the bus to Los Angeles.
At first, I rented a room in an apartment on the Venice canals that belonged to a deaf friend. It
was a wonderful experience because I had the opportunity to meet many interesting people who I
otherwise would never have met and I learned sign language. But I felt very alone. My new friends
were all part of a tight-knit community, and I was an outsider looking in.
Making enough money to live on was difficult. My energy levels hadn’t improved enough for
me to get a regular job and I wasn’t very grounded – I was like a space traveler who hadn’t come
in for a landing. The aloneness overwhelmed me.
One weekend, I stayed at my brother’s posh apartment on the beach at Marina del Rey while
he went to Hawaii with my parents. While they enjoyed the life of leisure, I felt like the poorest
person in the world. When they returned from their vacation, they found me desolate and weeping
on the couch.
It was then that they offered to rescue me, one more time, and offered to help me get a place of
my own. I found the converted garage in Venice and moved in, still hoping that Tom would join
me.
In Venice I felt isolated and alone. I kept focusing on Tom, who I knew, deep down inside, was
not the right person for me; but I needed someone to whom I felt connected. My need to bond was
overwhelming.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 42
One night I was experiencing incredible longing for Tom. He kept saying that he was coming
to be with me, but a series of events prevented his departure. I felt hopelessly alone. I started
sobbing – deep sobs. The sobbing continued for what seemed like hours.
Suddenly, it was as if I was separated from my sobbing self. I was observing myself sobbing at
the same time I was doing it. As I watched myself, I asked, “Why did I create this? Why do I keep
recreating separation and aloneness.”
I then had an inner experience that provided an answer for me, and I’d like to share it with
you.
I saw that when we come in to physical form, we’re left with a feeling memory of our
Universal origins. The memories are fuzzy; we are aware that we had been someplace where we
felt, in human terms, loved, accepted, and a part of something huge. We’re in a womb that’s warm
and comfortable, but we feel trapped by the physical boundaries. We’re aware of the energy of the
person in whom we are growing and we are aware of external sounds. But basically, we’re alone.
We feel disconnected from our Greater Selves but have no idea how to express our feelings.
Then, one day we are expelled from our warm and comfortable nest, which is another form of
abandonment. The first thing many of us experienced was a slap on the behind. What a rude
awakening. (Fortunately birth methods are evolving that are less violent.) When we protested, all
that came out was a harsh sound. Now we’re earthbound, but we still have the feeling-memory of
eternal peace and love and freedom. Through our life stories, we keep trying to recreate that which
we long for – home. To express our deepest feelings, we create stories of alienation, aloneness and
abandonment.
Alienation in modern society is recognized as the cause of many of our social problems. People
often join organizations in order to connect to like-minded people so they can feel less alone. Our
longing for relationship is, most often, our need to feel less alienated. But because there is so much
unbalanced energy on the planet, it’s hard to create harmonious relationships.
That’s why learning about love is so important if the Earth Project is going to succeed because
love is what connects us. When we all reconnect to each other with love, we won’t feel alienated
and alone. Love is the essence of our true nature. Love is home.
An essential part of the prosperity process is consciously releasing feelings of abandonment
and alienation and replacing them with love. As you’ll see in the next chapter, money is an external
representation of the love we crave. Without love, it’s impossible to have true prosperity.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 43
Chapter 7. Money
It’s a safe bet that anyone who buys a book about prosperity or goes to a prosperity seminar is
interested in making more money. Since you’re reading this book, I’m going to assume that you
want to generate more financial energy.
To do this you’ll have to become aware of the TBEs that are supporting your current life
position and then change them. To help you raise your awareness, we’re going to examine money
in general. Then, in Section 2, we’ll look at your TBEs and discuss what actions you can take to
alter your money consciousness and the money you generate.
What is a Money Consciousness?
Your money consciousness is how you think, believe and feel about money. People with a
prosperity consciousness know that there is a limitless supply and all they have to do is receive
their share. They trust there will always be enough to fulfill their needs and desires. Because they
know there’s enough for everyone, people with a prosperity consciousness rarely hoard anything.
Giving, loving, and sharing are easy for those who are in the prosperity consciousness because
they’re never afraid that there isn’t enough.
A scarcity consciousness is the opposite of a prosperity consciousness. People with a scarcity
consciousness never have enough and are afraid of losing whatever they own. They feel needy,
deprived and inadequate. Fear of the future, stinginess and hoarding are all characteristics of a
scarcity consciousness.
One day, I was speaking to a 65 year-old woman who was worried about her future. She had
received $200,000 when she sold her house four years before and had used up more than half of it.
She felt helpless.
“What am I going to do when my money runs out?” she lamented.
I asked her, “Why don’t you figure out how to get some more?”
She looked at me as if to say, “What a concept!”
Because she was past retirement age, she thought there was no possible way for her to generate
new money. That’s a scarcity consciousness.
Before a predicted storm, residents of threatened areas rush to stores and buy up arm loads of
supplies that they’re afraid will be difficult to obtain. This behavior is a sign of a scarcity
consciousness.
People who hoard millions of dollars often aren’t prosperous because they’re afraid of not
having enough. Although, to the observer, they might appear to be prosperous, in reality they
suffer from the fear of scarcity.
People in the prosperity consciousness act as if there is a limitless supply. They know they can
always generate more. On the other hand, those who think, believe and feel scarcity see limitations
and a finite supply.
People who have the spirit of entrepreneurship and are willing to take great risks in order to act
upon an idea often have a prosperity consciousness. They know that all they can lose is money. If
they do, there is plenty more – they just have to find it.
If you have a scarcity consciousness, it will be difficult for you to feel prosperous unless you
find a way to see your life and money supply from a different point of view.
What is Money?
When was the last time you thought about money? Probably within the last hour. Most people
spend an inordinate amount of their thinking time focusing on how much money they have or don’t
have or how much money they owe. Or they worry about not having enough money. People lie,
cheat, steal and even kill because of money. Others commit suicide.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 44
What incredible power money has over our lives! It affects what we eat, where we live, how
we spend our leisure time, how well we take care of ourselves and just about every other aspect of
our existence.
Yet money is nothing more than pieces of paper or circular bits of metal. By itself, money is
absolutely meaningless. Its power and usefulness is the result of the definition that society gives to
it. If everyone else was paying for goods and services with pieces of cloth, your paper currency
would be worthless.
At one point in our economic development, we did pay each other with cloth and other usable
goods. However, carrying around that kind of currency in our pockets was difficult. So we decided
to use money as a symbol for value, and we gave it different colors and numbers to signify how
many piles of cloth, beads or gold it was worth.
After years of practice, we found more sophisticated means of manipulating money. Now we
don’t even have to carry around the actual pieces of paper or coins. We can write a check, use
plastic cards or just punch numbers into a computer terminal and have dollars travel around the
world.
Obviously, money isn’t really just pieces of paper or circular coins. It’s much more than that.
Money is a symbol for an exchange of energy between people who have a relationship with each
other. Money is, therefore, a symbol of relationship. In this case it is a financial relationship,
which can be as emotional as any other relationship.
Your individual relationship with money is similar to your relationship with yourself and
others. In other words, you deal with money the same way you deal with yourself and others. Your
financial relationships develop along the same energy pathways as everything else in your life.
And, of course, your relationship with money is an extension of your TBEs.
Once you understand this, you’ll be able to comprehend why you act as you do with money
and how you can develop new and more effective behavior patterns.
Money Equals Love
I’ve pointed out that there are two aspects to everything in three-dimensional reality – the
internal and external. The internal component of all relationships, including those that are
financial, is an electrical impulse that we experience with our heart center, which connects humans
to each other and our environment. This impulse is experienced as a feeling that we call love.
Humans have an instinctive need to bond with each other and part of this bonding is the feeling
of love. I’m not talking about romantic love, that’s just one aspect of the love energy, but feelings
that we have for other people. Even conflicted relationships have an element of love in them. It’s
out of balance, but if there was no feeling, there would be no conflict.
Money is an external component of relationships. Money represents energy passing between
two people who agree to have a particular kind of relationship – financial. Parents have financial
relationships with their children and each other, employees have financial relationships with their
employers, and nations have financial relationships with other nations.
Financial relationships pervade our society. While money allows us to fill our most basic needs
for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medical care, etc., it also serves as a mechanism by
which we can bond with others.
To express the desire to bond, as well as expressing feelings of appreciation and
acknowledgment, people often use money instead of words. If you come to my store and you see
something that makes you feel good, chances are you’re not going to give me a big hug and kiss
and tell me how terrific everything is. You’re more apt to put some money in my hand and quietly
enjoy the moment while I package your purchase. If I smile at you, express interest in your life and
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 45
show my appreciation for your acknowledgment, you’ll probably come back to my store for more.
You’ll feel a bond with me.
Parents often give children money to acknowledge their achievements. Money from parents
also tells children that they trust them and want to support them. Parents, who for one reason or
another are unable to openly express their love, often give their children money instead. Money is
sometimes the only visible bond between parents and their children; except for when money passes
between them, they rarely touch.
Many people who are uncomfortable financially are acting out their love relationships with
their family of origin. People with financial difficulties invariably feel deprived, abandoned,
ashamed of themselves and unworthy. This applies to people who never have enough money as
well as people who have sufficient money. Even wealthy people can be uncomfortable with their
money.
It all has to do with our need to bond. If we didn’t feel bonded to our parents when we were
children, we keep searching for the bonding we need. Our financial expression is a reflection of our
early bonding experiences.
For example, I have a friend, Sally, who comes from a wealthy family and was provided for
with a generous trust fund. Sally was the child of two alcoholics who abused her emotionally. She
was the family scapegoat and her self-esteem was extremely low. Like her parents, Sally became
an alcoholic. When I met her, she was already sober and attending Alcoholics Anonymous
meetings regularly.
Every once in a while, the pressures of life would overwhelm Sally. She became manic and
would go on spending sprees that were as painful as any alcoholic binge. Her pattern was to spend
thousands of dollars on art or redecorating her apartment. During her manic episodes, Sally always
attracted down-and-outers to whom she’d either give or lend money. The drama always ended up
with the people cheating or manipulating Sally in some way, just as her parents had done.
After her money binges Sally would be overcome by shame and remorse. More often than not,
she would leave herself in a situation where she would feel that she was broke and unable to
support herself. Finally, with the help of a therapist, Sally saw that she never felt bonded with her
parents. Although they had plenty of money, her mother never nurtured her and neither parent was
ever there to support her emotionally. Her binges were Sally’s way of screaming, “I need someone
to touch me!”
Rescue Dramas
In families where there is little affection or acknowledgment and incomplete bonding, there are
usually multiple dramas around money. Children who need to be rescued by their parents are
usually asking for love, attention and emotional support. When a parent is unable to hug and
empower a child, the child has no recourse but to ask that his/her needs be met some other way.
When children feel deprived of love, they misbehave, get sick or create dramas that demand the
parent’s attention. Often, children who feel deprived create situations in which they receive
negative attention, such as punishment or abuse. For them, that’s better than no attention at all.
When children who feel deprived become adults, they don’t have the emotional vocabulary to say,
“I really need you to hug and love me because I feel so alone and unworthy.” Instead they ask for
money.
Parents who are unable to express love never learned how. Their parents didn’t bond well with
them so they have no idea how to bond with their children. In some cases, instead of bonding and
giving love, they give money.
Linda Pierce’s father Bob was emotionally abusive. Her mother Claire, afraid of hurting her
relationship with Bob, didn’t protect Linda from Bob’s rages. Claire’s way of saying, “I’m sorry,”
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 46
was to give Linda money or buy her expensive clothes. In time, Linda learned to ask for money or
clothes when she needed love.
In order to get her parents’ attention, Linda created periodic financial crises. A pattern of
rescue dramas emerged. It was as if the characters were all reading a script. First Linda would cry
to Claire about her dire straits. Because Linda knew that Bob made the major money decisions, she
needed an ally and hoped that Claire would play the part. She hoped that Claire would protect her.
But Claire never did. Instead, she’d say, “Go ask your father,” and predictably, he’d say, “No.”
Linda would then cry to Claire and complain about how mean he was, and finally Claire would
agree to talk to Bob. They’d discuss it, or fight about it, and, finally, Linda would get what she
needed, which made her feel that they cared about her. It was an empty victory, but better than
feeling entirely alone.
Anyone who needs to be rescued financially is saying that they need to feel loved or supported.
Invariably, those needs were not met by their parents and they try to satisfy their needs by getting
rescued by family members or substitutes, such as banks.
Banking Relationships
Banks are often parent substitutes. In order to establish a banking relationship, beyond just
keeping your money there, you have to find a banker who is interested in what you are doing and
has a desire to help you. You also have to feel comfortable with the banker. For small business
owners, their banker often knows more about them than anyone else. If there is a good relationship,
the business owner knows that there is at least one person who will be there if they have problems
with the business, even if it’s just to give advice. A bond develops between the entrepreneur and the
banker.
Banking relationships can be quite revealing. If you want to borrow money from a bank, you
have to tell them everything about your financial history. In the process, you have to closely
examine your financial behavior. You’re bound to feel a little embarrassed or vulnerable because
all of your “mistakes” are hanging out for everyone to see. It’s not unusual to feel as if you are a
child appealing to an adult for more allowance. You know that if you’re a good boy or girl, you’ll
get what you need. If they don’t like you or judge your past behavior harshly, you won’t find
satisfaction and acknowledgment.
If you get the loan you want and make your payments every month, at the end of the loan
period you and the bank will either say good-bye or create another loan situation. Chances are that
you’ll want to maintain the relationship if enough bonding has taken place. The loan serves a
purpose because you feel taken care of and acknowledged, and your payment record gives you a
chance to be a good boy or girl.
Loan relationships with a bank, like any debt relationship, also serve the debtors by giving
them the security that someone is out there who won’t forget about them. As long as there’s a
balance outstanding, the bank has a vested interest in the debtor’s success.
Since we’re looking at banking relationships, let’s see what else might be playing out. Suppose
you find yourself having trouble with your payments (relationship). You feel fear because if you
don’t pay, the bank will punish or abandon you. Once again, you feel like a child petitioning your
parents for understanding. The feelings you experience will be similar to those that you felt as a
child.
As adults, many of us find it difficult to say to people, “Gee, I really need to feel connected to
someone, and I need to know that I’m supported in what I’m doing. So could you come by every
month and tell me I’m doing a great job and maybe give me a hug?”
Instead, we go to the bank. Our financial relationships with banks serve as substitutes for our
relationships with those whose role it was to support us when we were children. Even if your
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 47
interaction with a bank is limited to a checking account, if you have feelings when you balance
your checkbook or bounce checks, those feelings correlate with your feelings about your family
members.
Business Relationships
If you have a job, you have a financial/love relationship with your superiors and a sibling
relationship with your co-workers. Situations you create at work will often be carbon copies of
situations you had in your family of origin. If you’re having a problem with someone at work,
examine how the problem relates to conflicts you had with family members.
If you have your own business, then your relationships with your customers will be a reflection
of your relationships with your family of origin or other close relationships. You’re asking them to
acknowledge and support you. If your customers like what you have to offer, they’ll express their
pleasure by exchanging money for your goods or services. If you had a balanced love relationship
with your family, that will be reflected in a healthy business. If, on the other hand, your parents
died or divorced when you were young, or if you were abused or in any way abandoned, you may
have more trouble establishing a comfortable and consistent money flow in your business.
These are generalizations, of course, but if you look at your job or business dramas, you will
see the same patterns there as in other areas of your life.
Money Feelings
Can you see how much emotion goes into financial relationships? We all have feelings that we
express through money. Our money is an externalization of our emotions. We create internally with
feelings and externally with money. They are directly related. Examining your behavior with and
emotions about money will reveal to you your inner strengths, weaknesses, satisfactions and
conflicts.
You can’t avoid having a relationship with money because you have to deal with it every day.
You have the choice of running away from it or facing it head on and using it to your advantage. If
you’re financially uncomfortable and wish to experience prosperity, then facing your money
feelings is essential. Without doing this, even if you create a money flow, it will be inconsistent.
Let’s look at some common situations to see how feelings can be expressed through money and
financial relationships.
Imagine that you’re shopping and you find a pair of shoes that are perfect. The fit is incredible,
the leather is soft and pliable, and the shoes go perfectly with many of your clothes. The only
problem is that they’re significantly more expensive than any shoes you’ve ever worn.
“You can’t afford these,” a critical voice in your head tells you. “They’re too expensive and
you can live without them. Be sensible. If you buy a cheaper pair, then you’ll have enough for the
dentist, whom you keep avoiding.”
You battle with the voice. “But I want them. I’ve been working hard and if I don’t give myself
something, what am I working for? Besides, if I buy these shoes, they’ll last so much longer than
the cheaper ones, and I won’t have to buy new ones so soon.” Gritting your teeth, you shout to
yourself, “I really want them!” When the clerk, who has been telling you how wonderful the shoes
look, asks you, “Will that be check or charge?” you hesitatingly hand over your credit card or write
a check.
How do you feel at this moment? You’re probably feeling a combination of emotions. One
might be elation, because you love the shoes and can’t wait to wear them. But you also probably
feel a gripping around your heart. It’s fear. And there’s that little voice in your head again quietly
chiding you, “Where are you going to get the money? You just keep charging more and more and
now look how much more you owe. Do you realize how much interest you’ll pay on these shoes?
You’re being impulsive and foolish. How can you be so self-indulgent? . . . “
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 48
Not a pleasant moment; but you’ve punished yourself, which is what you need. Your
underlying belief that you’re not a good person requires that you do this periodically. What’s
underneath all that chatter about a pair of shoes? Surely not the shoes themselves or the amount of
money you’re spending on them. That’s just a number. And why would the number $200 be any
better or worse than the number $35. Obviously, it’s not the number but what it represents to you.
Your feelings are a reflection of your money consciousness – your belief about the availability
of money. It’s also a feeling that reflects what you believe about yourself. If you have an
underlying belief that you’re “bad,” then you’ll conclude that you don’t deserve such a wonderful
pair of shoes. If you don’t trust yourself, you’ll be uncertain about your ability to pay for the
shoes.
When you’re paying for the shoes, it’s your internal child-self who feels fear. Standing there
with you is your mother, or another authority figure, shaking her finger telling you that you’re a
bad girl or boy and that you can’t have the ice cream you want. When you were little, you couldn’t
stomp your foot and say to her, “I’m going to have the ice cream, I don’t care what you say.” She
had the money and called the shots.
Now you have the money and you can do what you want, at least theoretically. But there she is
inside of your head telling you that you’re bad and you can’t have what you want. So you stomp
your foot and buy it anyhow – and feel guilty that you disobeyed your mother. You’re not supposed
to do that. You must be bad.
See if you can relate to this next scenario.
It’s the 25th of the month. Your rent is due in less than a week, you’re $500 short, and the
landlord isn’t too happy with you because you’ve paid your rent late too many times. Your charge
cards are just about at their limit, you owe your doctor almost $1,000, and your account is going
into collection if you don’t pay it. Your next paycheck can’t possibly cover everything you need.
Are you scared? Desperate? Does the chatter in your head go something like this:
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. What’s going to happen to me? What’ll I do? Where am I
going to get the money I need? Maybe I can get it from my parents? No, they won’t want to give it
to me. What am I going to do?”
If you relate to this situation, this is what you are probably expressing: You feel alienated,
alone and fearful. You believe that no one will ever be there to support you and that you’re
incapable of taking care of yourself. You feel trapped, inadequate and helpless. You also may be
expressing emotions about specific life stories that impacted you.
For example, Kevin Westmeir had a conflicted relationship with his father, Herman, who loved
his son, but was never able to express how he felt. Herman wanted Kevin to grow up to be
independent and strong and to be a good provider. He thought that if he coddled his son, Kevin
would be too dependent.
To make sure that Kevin grew up the way he wanted, Herman watched his son’s every move.
The demands he made on Kevin were often hard to fill. As a teenager Kevin became impossibly
rebellious, and father and son often had explosive arguments.
Herman insisted that Kevin get a masters degree to insure his worth in the job market. But
Kevin wanted to travel on his own and get away from any kind of structured environment. One
night, the two were having an emotionally charged fight about Kevin’s future. Kevin refused to do
what his father wanted. “Get out of my house!” Herman shouted. “I never want to speak to you
again and I’ll never give you another penny!”
No matter how much Kevin’s mother Betsy pleaded with her husband, he wouldn’t relent. It
took over five years for Herman’s anger to dissipate and for him to make a shaky peace with
Kevin.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 49
For years, Kevin relived this drama with surrogate fathers. Landlords acted the part of father
for Kevin. When Kevin fell behind in his rent, the landlords willingly played the role of the angry
father throwing the son out of the house. Kevin knew he couldn’t ask his mother for rent money
because his father controlled the funds and she’d have to involve Herman in the drama. Kevin’s
feelings of abandonment were expressed through his difficulty with paying his rent.
Let’s try one more.
You have plenty of money. So much, that people are always asking you to lend them some. It’s
hard to say no to someone who’s in trouble. Besides, you don’t need all that you have, so you
might as well let them have some. Invariably, people who borrow money from you don’t pay you
back. In spite of all their promises and good intentions, somehow they never find the money to
repay you.
You feel betrayed, abandoned and hurt. How could they treat you this way? You ask yourself,
“Why do I always pick the jerks?”
The drama you act out says that you’re afraid of being abandoned and alone. By lending
money to people, you know there will always be someone who won’t forget about you. You believe
you’re not lovable and that the only way people will like you is to give them money.
Actually, the lack of loving in childhood is a major cause of uncomfortable money feelings.
People who aren’t loved and empowered as children feel needy, deprived, empty, and emotionally
undernourished. Because the pain of their experience is so great, it’s impossible to express the
feelings. Instead, the feelings are expressed through money, which becomes as scarce as the love
they needed.
Seeing the Connections
If we look at the connection between money and love, it may be easier to understand why
people act out through their money.
How do you feel when you don’t have enough money for your rent or to pay your bills? Afraid
or carefree? How do you feel when you bounce a check or forget to pay one of your bills?
Ashamed, embarrassed? Or perhaps you’re indifferent. Either way, those are emotional reactions.
How can we feel emotional about pieces of paper that serve as a medium of exchange? When
we add up the balance in our checkbooks, why are we emotional about numbers that we see?
They’re just numbers. Obviously they represent much more to us than just numbers.
There is a direct relationship between how you feel about your money and how you feel about
yourself. Because we haven’t been taught how to express our feelings directly and because our
feelings must have an avenue of expression, we need a mechanism by which we can do this.
Through our money and our financial dramas, we can express our feelings surreptitiously.
If you examine your money feelings, you’ll learn a lot about yourself. You’ll be able to see
your hopes and fears and the quality of the reality you’re creating for yourself. By examining how
you deal with money, you’ll be able to recognize your beliefs about life and the thoughts and
emotions you use to create your life. Doing this will free you to create your own opportunities and
generate as much financial energy as you choose. You’ll be able to express your true self and to
create whatever you want.
Healing your money feelings is the key to a prosperous life. In order to be prosperous, you
have to feel comfortable with your money. Since your relationship with money is equivalent to your
relationship with yourself, when you are comfortable with your money, you’ll be comfortable with
yourself. That’s what inner peace and prosperity is all about.
Self-Abandonment
From these examples you can see that abandonment is a theme that plays out in many money
dramas. At this point, I’d like to introduce one more aspect of this powerful emotion – self-
abandonment.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 50
People pleasing means behaving in such a way that you perceive your actions will please other
people. We’re taught, from an early age, that if we please our parents, we’re more apt to get what
we need. If we don’t do what our parents want or don’t meet their expectations, they tell us we’re
bad, we’ve disappointed them, or we should be ashamed of ourselves. Their displeasure means we
receive less love, or worse. Some of us have been beaten, neglected or emotionally abused.
At school our teachers reinforced our belief that we need to please others in order to excel. We
were graded on our performance and our grades were sometimes affected by how much the teacher
liked us. If we didn’t behave in a way that pleased the teacher, we were punished.
It’s no wonder that as adults we continued our people-pleasing behavior. How many times have
you done what other people wanted in order to please them? Your actions may be based on what
you think other people want, not what they say they want. If someone has to give in, is it usually
you? How often do you say, “It’s ok, I don’t mind.”
Do you let other people know what you need or how you feel in a situation? If someone asks
you to do something that doesn’t feel right, do you say, “That doesn’t work for me.” Or do you do
it and ignore your feelings? Are you doing what they want because you’re afraid of losing their
love, your job or your friend?
If someone has to be uncomfortable, it doesn’t have to be you.
Every time you put yourself last, especially if you do something that goes against your values,
you’re abandoning yourself. When you do, you feel uncomfortable and less worthy. Often, the
people in our lives who abandon us are only reflecting our self-abandonment. When we abandon
ourselves, we get angry and express that anger by denying ourselves what we want. One of the best
ways to do this is to not earn what we need to satisfy ourselves.
If we continually abandon ourselves, and never express who we really are, we become the
person who we think everyone else wants us to be. Doing this blocks our individual creative
expression leaving us to always do someone else’s job – not the one that is best for us. When we
don’t reward ourselves with enough remuneration – we keep ourselves in a needy space.
Satisfaction is elusive if you’re repressing your thoughts, desires, and expression. The healing
process requires that we listen to and express ourselves.
Part of the healing process that will help you move into the prosperity consciousness involves
recognizing when you’re abandoning yourself and then eliminating this kind of behavior. It’s hard
to create rewarding life stories if you feel you’ve abandoned yourself.
Money is Always Attached to People
Why does money serve as such a good substitute when we need to express our feelings about
abandonment and our fear of being alone? It works because money is always attached to people.
No matter how much you wish it did, money doesn’t grow on trees and it doesn’t fly in the window.
If you want money, you need people, and if you feel like your money supply is running out, it’s
because you’re afraid of being alone, and of running out of people. The feelings of financial
insecurity and fear of abandonment are the same.
As I pointed out, abandonment is one of the primary feelings that people express. But it’s so
painful and difficult to deal with those feelings that we focus on money instead and act out our
abandonment issues through our finances.
When anyone says to me, “I have to pay the rent and I don’t know where I’m going to get it,” I
know that person is afraid of being abandoned or alone. He or she is afraid that no one will offer
emotional support, and that’s scary. It is, however, easier to say, “I don’t have enough money,”
than “No one’s going to love and support me.”
The reason it’s frightening is that we’re reliving fears that were generated in childhood when
the adults in our life weren’t there to support us emotionally. That hurt. As a matter of fact, that’s
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 51
why we feel so awful about ourselves. It’s tough to admit that people who were supposed to love
us didn’t – or couldn’t.
What we don’t realize is that the original hurt was seen through the eyes of a child. Children
don’t know enough to realize that whatever their parents did was not done through malice or
because the parents didn’t care for the children. They were doing the best they could, given who
they were at that point in time. They had to cope with much more than children understand.
Children aren’t aware of their parent’s self-esteem issues, financial problems or job pressures. The
list could go on and on. All the child knows is that he/she is not getting the love and support needed
and feels deprived.
Once when I was releasing a lot of childhood feelings, I remembered back to when I was two
and one-half years old and was sent to nursery school. At that time, my mother was pregnant with
my brother. I had the feeling that she sent me to nursery school because she didn’t want me around.
I felt unwanted.
My mother was wonderfully cooperative during my healing and when I checked this out with
her, she said that my feelings were accurate – she didn’t want me around. That didn’t mean I was
unwanted. Housework was a full-time job for her, and her pregnancy caused fatigue. So yes, she
wanted me out of the house for a few hours each day. To a young child a few hours seems like an
eternity, and I felt like I was being banished. That was my perception, not the truth. In reality, she
wanted me and loved me – and she didn’t want me around.
No matter what causes it, the feeling of deprivation gets acted out over and over again through
lack and scarcity. Not having enough money is a wonderful way of expressing deprivation,
aloneness, confusion, abuse and much more.
What is Your Money Telling You
Once you comprehend how to look beyond money to the feelings behind your money behavior,
you’ll develop tremendous self-awareness and you’ll know exactly why you haven’t reached the
financial level you crave. To use this idea effectively, never say the word money when you’re
thinking about your financial problems. Instead of money, think of feelings that you associate with
people in your life, especially your family of origin.
You’ll probably have to practice this until you really see the connection between your financial
situation and your childhood. Use the examples below to help you examine how your money may
be acting out old feelings.
• If you think other people are going to cheat you, you’re afraid of being abused or
manipulated.
• If you’re stingy, you’re afraid of love/intimacy.
• If you are worried about running out of money, you’re afraid of being left alone.
• If you never have enough money, it’s because you believe you’re not enough.
• If you often say, “I’m broke,” you feel broken or wounded inside.
• If you are never able to buy things you want, you feel deprived, usually of love.
• If your money is out of control, so are your feelings.
• If you need to be rescued financially, you may be punishing your parents for treating you
the way they did.
• If you often borrow money, you think you deserve more than you receive (emotionally).
• If you don’t pay back money you borrow from your parents, you’re depriving them of love.
You’re also showing your anger.
• If when you look at your bank balance you feel ashamed, you’re ashamed of yourself.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 52
• When you go to buy something and you get a gripping feeling around your heart, you’re
feeling like a bad girl or boy.
• If money slips through your fingers and you never keep enough for yourself, you don’t think
you deserve prosperity.
Money Flow
Before we get to the next section where you’ll learn how to heal your money feelings and turn
your financial discomfort around, let’s take a look at the energy of money.
One of the main characteristics of money is that it circulates. It is the lifeblood of our
commercial system. If money doesn’t circulate, or if money doesn’t flow freely to all of the cells in
the body of the planet, then the flow is out of balance. The result will be dis-ease.
Right now there is a serious financial dis-ease all around the globe. A small percentage of the
population is circulating most of the available money energy, leaving billions of people with
insufficient financial energy. There isn’t anyone who actually needs $5 billion, $500 million or
even $25 million to live a comfortable, satisfying life.
In many cases, the have-nots lack the energy and hope to change their life position. But even if
they had the energy, they wouldn’t know what to do. They’ve never learned the necessary living
and coping skills. They’ve come to believe that poverty is a natural state of being and they never
look to new horizons. The idea that they have the power within them to create whatever they need
is beyond their comprehension. Occasionally, someone rises up from the depths of poverty and
becomes successful, serving as an example of the potential within everyone to create a new reality.
For the most part, people are stuck where they are.
The fact is that some people are more adept at generating financial energy than others. People
who have the talent and knowledge to create money may not be as adept at generating healing
energy or artistic energy. It’s not their job. You can see a correlation if you look at the physical
body. The heart does a great job of pumping blood and the pancreas produces the digestive
enzymes we need to process our food. These enzymes can’t filter the blood or defend against
foreign invaders, that’s the job of the liver and thymus gland. Imagine if the thymus gland kept all
of the defender cells, and the spleen, which manufactures blood, decided to keep everything it
produces all to itself. The entire system would fail.
The money generators are keeping most of it for themselves. The flow of money is blocked and
the entire system is suffering and is at risk. If the flow of money was balanced and more was
invested in people, those who live in poverty could achieve their potential and contribute to the
general economy. The payoff would be enormous for everyone.
The problem comes when we fail to see that we’re all connected and we think that what we
have is ours – as if we own it. It’s impossible for one person to possess that which was created by
all of us acting as an extension of the Universal Force. Money energy is available for us to use
while we’re here. Like everything else, money is just a tool for us to utilize in the creative process.
And we have to remember that we’re all working together towards a common goal – creating a
peaceful and loving environment.
Michael Milken is an example of what can happen when a person’s self-interest and need to
hoard energy gets out of control. As he amassed his fortune, he failed to anticipate how his actions
would affect the financial system. His vision was limited to himself.
Because of the materialistic values that have been instilled in us, we often measure our self-
worth by how much money we have. Showy houses, jewelry, cars, etc., are often a way of saying,
“Look how much I’m worth.” To prove how valuable they are, some people commit fraud, take
advantage of trusting people, and abandon basic human decency in order to increase their
individual money supply.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 53
At this time, the money system on the planet is severely out of balance. The United States
serves as a prime example of a country whose energy flow needs healing. Our chronic debt, our
need to rescue other countries even if it hurts us, and the lopsided distribution of financial energy
are all symptoms of serious dis-ease. So is the greed that permeates our institutions. It’s no wonder
that the cells within the organism of the nation-body are also out of balance.
We, the people, can help the country by balancing our financial energies. If enough of us do,
the deficit will be reduced and money will flow more freely. Waiting for the politicians to take care
of us is not the answer. The time has come for us to take care of ourselves and take the action
necessary to balance our lives
Step into the Money Flow
If one of your symptoms of money dis-ease is insufficient flow, then you need to stimulate the
flow in order to balance your financial energy. There are many symptoms of blocked money flow.
They include:
•
Unpaid debts
•
Late payment of bills and other obligations
•
Fear of financial insecurity
•
Unbalanced checking accounts
•
“Insufficient funds” messages at the ATM machine
•
Stinginess
•
Giving so much that the giver is left in need
•
Chronic lending or borrowing
•
Any fear regarding money
•
Shame, embarrassment or feelings of inferiority about one’s financial situation
•
Feeling the need to have the bank or someone else rescue you financially.
Imagine that there is a money flow around the planet – like the jet stream you’ve seen pictured
on weather maps. There are areas where the flow is weak and others where it is strong.
In order to experience financial abundance, you have to step into the money flow. You can
decide how far into it you want to go. But in order to have a constant supply of money, you have to
create a clear pathway through which financial energy can flow. How can you do this? That’s what
we’ll look at next.
The Reality of Money
Let’s bring this discussion down to earth – right into the third-dimension. There is no doubt
that we create our prosperity with our consciousness. Whatever we think, believe and feel is
reflected in our finances and our life stories. But how do we get the money we need? Does it just
fly in the window when we feel good about ourselves? Not quite.
Money is a bridge between what we feel and what is visible. Although money is energy, it has
a solid dimension. As a result, we have to deal within the physical world in order for it to flow and
multiply.
Our need to be rescued and taken care of expresses itself in our financial dramas. When we
need money, we tend to look for it to come from other people, not from us. If you want to be
prosperous, then you have to take responsibility for generating the money you need, whatever the
amount might be. It’s your choice as to how much money you generate and how you use it.
If you pray for money, you’re asking God to rescue you or give it to you. God doesn’t give you
anything. God is an energy force that is available for you to use to create your own life. You don’t
do it alone, you do it with other people and with the energy provided by God, i.e., the Universal
Energy Force.
The problem comes when you think of God as your Father. It’s almost impossible to use the
word “father” without responding with feelings about your Earth father, whatever those feelings
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 54
may be. Many people are asking God to be the father they never had and beg him to take care of
them.
That’s why taking responsibility for creating your own life is difficult. You have to
acknowledge your power and be willing to use it.
I used to like to chant at an ashram in Santa Monica. The hypnotic sounds helped transport me
into a timeless dimension. One day in 1984, I couldn’t budge beyond my financial pain. As the
chanting droned on around me, I was pleading, “Please God, help me. Please let me have what I
need.”
Suddenly, a voice deep within me boomed, “No more ‘Please God.’ The power is within you.
Release it!”
Something happened to me that day, something that enabled me to understand, deep down
inside, that I could change my life. I knew that the Universal Power that I kept asking to rescue me
was not going to come and fix it for me. It suddenly became clear that the Power was within me
and I had to take responsibility for that power and use it to help myself. Doing this is essential if
you to experience prosperity and the freedom that it brings.
Unlocking your power and supporting yourself in every level of your life are a must. If you
want true prosperity, you’ll have to do two things. One is to deal with your TBEs. The other is to
make specific plans as to how you expect to generate money. You have to open a pathway so that
money can flow through you.
You have a few basic choices. One is to get it from other people. But that’s not generating
money, that’s using someone else’s. If that works for you, fine. But if you are using other people’s
money, they usually want something in return and you can never be free to create a life that’s your
true expression.
Another choice is to get a job that pays you want you want. There are people who make
salaries of $1 million or more. Positions like that are not readily available, but those that pay from
$30,000 to $100,000 are in the reach of many people. If that is what you want that’s okay too. The
down side of working for other people is that you’re at the mercy of your employer. If, for some
reason, the company you work for decides that your services are no longer needed, you have no
choice but to leave.
Many people who have jobs work for the money, not because they like what they are doing.
That’s self-abandonment. If your job goes against your values or doesn’t satisfy your creative
needs, you won’t ever be prosperous. You may earn enough money to buy what you need, but you
won’t be prosperous because you won’t be happy. On the other hand, if you have a job doing what
you want to do and it pays enough to satisfy you, then you can be prosperous working for someone
else. Actually, as long as you feel free, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing.
A third choice is to be involved in your own enterprise, either alone or with other people.
Entrepreneurship is the wave of the future and many new opportunities are emerging to support
people in their endeavors. Business ownership, and the opportunity it provides to generate
unlimited amounts of money, can give you the freedom to create whatever you want. With your
own business, you can use your individual talents and creative expression to support yourself
emotionally and financially. One of the greatest satisfactions is having someone acknowledge you
by purchasing something that you’ve created or by paying you for a service you have performed.
No matter how you decide to generate your money, if you want to make it multiply, you have
to learn to use money effectively. You have to understand this powerful energy force and learn how
to nourish it and make it grow.
You now have enough information about thoughts, beliefs, emotions and energy flow to be able
to change your consciousness and create a prosperous life for yourself. In the next section you’ll
find specific steps you can take if you want to experience prosperity.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 55
Section 2
Chapter 8. Connecting
You didn’t arrive at your present life position suddenly – you’ve been slowly moving toward it
all of your life. As a result, you can’t expect to move to a new state of consciousness in a few days
or weeks. It’s like going from California to New York. You can’t get onto a train in California and
pop instantly over to New York. You have to ride through Ohio, Kansas and a number of other
states. You may even decide to stay in Kansas for a while – it’s your choice as to how far you want
to go.
The same is true when moving from one state of consciousness to another. You have to pass
through various stages before you reach your destination. If you’re in a scarcity consciousness and
you dream about winning a lottery or somehow obtaining millions of dollars, that’s equivalent to
moving to a different continent. You may decide to go all the way or you may find that once you
meet your needs and have a bit of a surplus, you don’t want to go any farther. Fine – it’s your
choice.
The illustration here explains this principle. The goal of the journey is to travel from A to H.
If you’re starting at A, you have a long way to go. But if you only want to go to E or F, or from C
or D to H, it’s a much shorter journey. In the next chapter, I’ll show you how to determine the
location of your starting point and how to choose a destination.
If you do what I suggest in this book, then you’ll have a better idea as to how far you want to
go. But even if you only want to move from A to B, you have to go through the process of change.
You can use this book like a map to help you find your way and stay on the right path. It’s a tool
for you to utilize to help you reach your destination, wherever that might be.
How do you know this information is valid and that you’ll reach your goal? Just ask yourself,
“Does it make sense?” If it does, give it a try. There’s nothing here that can hurt you – it can only
help. You’ll be successful if you do something every day that takes you closer to your goal. It’s
your effort and commitment that will get you where you’re going.
What You Need For The Journey
When you go on a journey of consciousness, pack lightly and leave your past behind. All you
really need to take with you is a positive attitude, faith in your future, and a strong desire to
change. Anything else you drag along is extra. Slowly but surely, your past is going to fade away
as you approach new horizons.
There may be some bumpy roads and some stormy weather along the way. That’s part of the
process. But as you work through each challenge, you’ll come out stronger than before – more sure
of yourself and your ability to take care of yourself.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 56
You have the power of The Universe within you and there isn’t anything you can’t achieve if
you set your mind to it.
Don’t Forget to Call Home
When I was on my journey, wandering around from place to place, my conservative middle-
class parents had trouble relating to the fact that their daughter never knew where she was staying
or where she would be from week to week. When I called my parents periodically, my father would
grumble, “When are you going to get a job?” My mother, who has the soul of an adventurer said,
“Just call home once a week so I know where you are.”
That was fair enough. What my mother didn’t realize was that I was calling home every day.
I’d wake up every morning, go into meditation, and get my instructions as to what I was to do each
day. I developed a way of dialoguing with my Inner Guidance and wrote down the conversations.
Once, when I was staying in a motel on Sunset Boulevard on the outskirts of Hollywood, I was
feeling particularly restless. I’d been in the room for days, except for about an hour each afternoon
when I went out for food. (I had no refrigerator so I couldn’t store anything in my room – I was
eating only fresh food.) As I went into meditation, I thought, “I need to get out of here for a while!”
“Okay,” I heard my Inner Voice say. “Go outside and wait.” Because I had no other means of
transportation, I’d been hitchhiking around the Los Angeles area or taking buses. It wasn’t
dangerous in 1976, and I met interesting people who gave me rides from one place to another. They
often gave me a few dollars, which I used for food.
On that particular day, I stood at the curb in front of the motel and stuck out my thumb. Within
a few minutes a man stopped and offered me a ride. He was a gentle retiree who wanted to drive up
to Ventura along Pacific Coast Highway. He was hoping to find a companion and was glad that I
was available. I loved that drive, which I had taken on numerous occasions in the past, and was
grateful for the opportunity to spend the day in such beautiful surroundings. It turned out to be a
wonderful afternoon filled with beautiful vistas. The mountains and ocean gave me a feeling of
limitlessness and by the time we returned, I no longer felt hemmed in.
If I hadn’t called home, I would have missed a wonderful experience. Calling home and
checking in with your higher power is the only way to find out where you should go to find the
perfect opportunities you seek. You can go from place to place on your own, but if you want to
reach your goal in the shortest possible time, it helps to have guidance from someone, or
something, that sees more of the picture than you do. In the long run, it saves a lot of time and
effort.
Via this book, I can give you the information I have and tell you what I believe is the path to
prosperity. Ultimately, you have to find your own way – the one that is designed just for your
individual consciousness. No matter how many books you read or seminars you attend, at some
point, you’ll have to say, “This is the way for me.”
Save yourself a lot of energy and disappointment by calling home once a day. You’ve got
nothing to lose, except a few minutes, and everything to gain.
The Call is Toll-Free
At this point, I’m only going to give you basic meditation instructions. As we progress, I’ll
give you additional meditations that can help you develop a stronger connection to your Inner
Being.
Many people who come to see me say, “I’ve tried to meditate, but I just can’t seem to do it.”
They seem to think that in order to meditate they have to completely quiet their mind. Quieting the
mind comes as a result of meditating over a long period of time, but any time you’re looking
within, you’re meditating.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 57
There are many meditation methods. Some are passive and others are active – not in the
physical sense – but in the sense that you actually do something during meditation. All of the
meditations that you’ll find in this book will help you develop the lines of communication with
your Higher Self, or whatever you call it.
Create a Meditation Space
First, I suggest that you prepare a space to use on a regular basis for your meditations. Doing
this conditions your mind to relax and ascend to other dimensions. In time, just sitting in your
meditation space will immediately relax you.
Your meditation space can be a separate room or small area in your home where you can sit
with your eyes closed for at least a few minutes each day. Choose a clean, quiet place away from
all distractions where you can sit on a chair or on the floor. If you use a chair, choose one that
allows you to keep your back as straight as possible. If you sit on the floor, you may want to lean
your back against something so that you can keep it straight. If you’re too sick or weak to sit up,
you can lie on your bed, but sit as soon as you are able.
You’ll need a shelf, table, or surface of some kind. If you’re sitting on the floor, an inverted
carton or wooden crate will do.
Place any, or all, of the following items on the surface that you choose:
• A plant or flowers
• An incense burner
• A candle
• A picture of someone who inspires you
• A picture of yourself
• A rock or some other object from a place in nature that you enjoy
• Anything you want that makes you feel good or that you feel the urge to use.
Don’t be in a hurry to create your meditation space. You might want to start with something as
simple as a candle. Let your intuition guide you. Be patient and wait until you get a strong urge to
add something. When you get the urge, follow it.
Getting Started
For a few days just sit quietly in your space for five to ten minutes. This will help establish
your energy. Before you sit, light a candle and/or some incense, if you like. Eventually, lighting the
candle or incense will signal your brain that it’s time for meditation.
Fold your hands gently in your lap and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Then just sit.
If you’ve never meditated before, you’ll probably feel as if your mind is just a jumble of thoughts.
Don’t try to stop the thoughts, just watch them. Imagine that you’re on the bank of a river and that
your thoughts are the river going by. Don’t try to stop the river, just watch it. Within a week, you’ll
see the river begin to slow down. You’ll probably become impatient, or even bored. That’s okay. If
you find yourself complaining, just watch the thoughts pass by.
Do this for 5 to 10 minutes.
You may find that you fall asleep because you’re so relaxed. In the beginning that’s okay.
Eventually, you’ll be able to stay awake.
If you’re afraid that you’ll miss something if you fall asleep, set a timer for 20 minutes. Doing
this allows you to relax and forget about time.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 58
A Basic Meditation
The Watching-The-River Exercise that I just introduced is an excellent way to quiet your
thoughts. You can either stay with this exercise, or move on to something else, such as the Basic
Meditation described below, or any of the other meditations in this section. All of these can help
you establish communication with your Higher Power.
I highly recommend that you begin each inner session with the following meditation. It serves
the purpose of placing you in the energies of The Light, which can be protective.
• Sit in a chair with your back straight and ankles crossed or in a comfortable cross-legged
position on the floor. Fold your hands gently in your lap and close your eyes.
• Take a few deep breaths. Then let your breathing find its own level.
• Imagine that a beam of rainbow light is entering the center of your forehead. You don’t
actually have to see anything (although you may), just imagine the presence of a light. Imagine that
the light travels down the center of your body and diffuses into all of your cells.
Repeat silently to yourself a few times, I am in The Light, I am filled with The Light.
Do this for 5 to 10 minutes.
After you’re comfortable with this meditation, try some others.
If You Resist
At first, it may seem as if you can’t fit all of this new activity into your life. Even though we’re
only talking about ten to thirty minutes a day, establishing a new habit pattern can take time (21
days on average), and you may find yourself resisting. It would be perfectly natural for you to
avoid meditation and then feel guilty.
You can eliminate the guilt by telling yourself that there’s no hurry and it doesn’t matter if you
miss a few days. Even if you meditate only once a week, you’ve made progress. You’re more apt to
continue if you take away the self-criticism. No one is judging your performance – there’s no right
way or wrong way to meditate – and no one else cares if you meditate.
You may find yourself saying, “I haven’t got the time to spend with all of this.” If you haven’t
got the time to sit quietly with yourself for ten to twenty minutes a day, you’re probably too busy
or you aren’t using your time well. If you’re always in a hurry to do the next activity, you’re in the
future and missing the now, which is where your life is happening.
It’s a matter of priorities. If making money and getting it all while you can is the focus of your
life, then you probably don’t have the time to spend with yourself. But if you’d honestly like to find
more meaning in life, and you hope to feel prosperous, then you’ll have to slow down and get into
the flow of life. The idea is to stop trying to make everything happen and to allow your life to
happen. The purpose of meditation is to help you build a better life for yourself. If you want that,
then somehow, you’ll find the time to do it.
If you have a strong desire to meditate, but find that you’re really resistant, examine the
following reasons that keep people from traveling into their inner world. These happen on a
subconscious level, but if they apply to you, you’ll know.
• People are afraid that if they go within and learn about who they are, they won’t like what
they find. If you never look within, then you’ll never know who you are, and in a strange way, that
may seem safer. It takes a lot of effort to avoid yourself. Many people resort to overeating, eating
junk foods, drinking alcohol, smoking, taking drugs, compulsive shopping, overworking and
anything else that numbs feelings.
• People are afraid of meditating because they instinctively know that if they connect to their
Inner Power they’ll have to take responsibility for creating their lives. It’s a lot easier to blame
God, luck, other people, circumstances, and lots of other things outside of ourselves for the
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 59
problems in our lives. Accepting our own power as co-creators with the Universal Force can be
frightening.
• If you have a need to be taken care of, the idea of connecting to your Inner Power may
frighten you. You may reason that if you use your Inner Power, you won’t need anyone else and
you’ll be alone.
People learn at an early age that if they’re weak and/or sick, others will pick them up and help
them. The thought of health and independence, which many people say they want, can be
frightening because those thoughts often create a fear of being alone. The reasoning is, if I’m sick,
other people will be there for me. If I’m healthy, no one will notice me.
In reality, that’s not what happens. Healthy people are like magnets and they draw in others.
When you’re healthy, you’ll get to pick and choose the people with whom you want to spend time.
If you’re resisting the meditation experience or finding lots of reasons why you can’t meditate
(time, inability, no quiet place, etc.), then you might want to look at your hidden fears and what
connecting to yourself really means to you.
Breathing
The two techniques that follow can help you build your meditation muscles more quickly. They
are diaphragmatic breathing and candle gazing.
Breathing is essential to life and when it’s done properly can help you clear your mind and
reach higher states of consciousness. Although breathing is an instinct and everyone does it, not
everyone breathes correctly. Many people develop bad breathing habits and as they age their
breathing becomes shallow and incomplete.
Bad breathing habits not only contribute to ill health, they also keep you from realizing your
full potential. When your system is denied the oxygen it needs, it can’t function properly. Learning
to breathe properly will help you both physically and with the inner work we’ll be doing.
To check your breathing:
• Stand with your feet together and arms at your side. Close your eyes.
• Take a deep breath through your nose. Observe yourself as you breathe. Take notice as to
whether you’re expanding your chest or your abdomen as you inhale.
• Exhale.
If you’re breathing properly your abdomen will expand when you inhale and contract as you
exhale. Breathing this way allows your lungs to fill properly. If your chest expands and your
shoulders rise during inhalation, your breath is incomplete.
Belly Breathing
Belly breathing can help you relax any
time you are tense. When you feel anxious
about something, just close your eyes and take
5 to 10 deep breaths. Deep breathing can also
energize you. When you are feeling tired or
drained, do a few belly breaths.
If you’re breathing from your chest, I
strongly suggest that you retrain your body to
breathe properly, which means breathing from your diaphragm or belly.
Lie flat on the floor or on your bed. Take a few deep breaths and feel yourself relax. Place one
hand on your abdomen. Take a deep breath through your nose. As you inhale, let your abdomen
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 60
push your hand out. As you exhale, feel your hand go down. Do this 3 to 10 times. Take your time
with each breath.
Breathing this way will probably feel strange at first, but with practice you’ll become
accustomed to it. I suggest you practice this every day. A good time to do this is when you get into
bed at night, when you first wake up in the morning, and/or any time you want to relax.
I suggest that you do belly breathing every day.
Candle Gazing
Meditating will help you develop discipline and
concentration, two valuable skills that are found in successful
people. Candle gazing is an exercise that can help you learn
to concentrate. It will also accustom you to sitting quietly and
focusing on something other than your outer world.
I suggest that you do this regularly until meditation is
comfortable for you. If possible, do candle gazing in your
meditation space.
To do this exercise, place a lighted candle at eye level
about two feet away from where you are sitting. Focus your gaze on the flame of the candle and
just watch it. Try not to blink your eyes, but don’t force them to stay open.
Continue to watch the candle flame for 5 to 10 minutes. If your gaze wanders, slowly bring it
back. As you do this, be aware of your thoughts without trying to change them.
Some Guidelines
• Try to meditate every day in your meditation space.
• Aim at meditating at the same time every day. In the beginning, you may skip some days as
you begin to develop the meditation habit. Don’t be hard on yourself if you do. It’s okay – there’s
plenty of time. I suggest that when you first start these inner activities, you aim for three times a
week.
• Establish some rituals to signal your subconscious that it’s time to connect. Lighting a
candle, burning incense, doing some breathing exercises, sitting quietly in a chair in your
meditation space – these are all activities that can be part of your ritual.
• Don’t have any expectations about your meditation; don’t go into meditation with any
preconceived ideas about what’s going to happen.
• Be patient with yourself. Just like anything else you might be learning, meditation techniques
take time to develop. Enjoy the process as well as the results.
• Don’t be afraid to try meditations that you create. Most of the meditations that you’ll find in
this book are ones that I developed during the past fifteen years and they work for me. You may
discover others that work better for you.
• If your mind wanders when you’re meditating, gently bring it back.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 61
Chapter 9. Take a Look at Your Life
Before you choose a destination and chart a course for your journey to a new state of
consciousness, it’s necessary to identify your present position. Basically, the journey entails
changing your thoughts, beliefs and emotions and how you interact, or behave, with your
environment. In the next few chapters we’re going to look at your TBEs and your behavior,
especially the way you behave with other people and with money.
Taking a good look at your life as it is now requires more than an hour or a day. It could be
months before you complete this inventory of yourself. Internally, you’re a complex being with
many different thoughts, beliefs and emotions. In your outer world, you have a variety of
interactions with other people and your environment. You have a whole set of actions and feelings
about money. Each of these, along with your money consciousness, has to be evaluated if you want
to move into a prosperity consciousness. You’re not going to judge anything, just observe and
evaluate.
The difference between evaluation and criticism was made clear to me when I was learning to
fly. The chief pilot, who was in charge of all of the flight instructors, was doing a formal
evaluation of my progress. The night before the evaluation I could barely sleep. I was afraid he’d
criticize me.
When we got in the plane the next morning, I said to him, “I’m scared.” He said, “Why? I’m
not testing or criticizing you, I’m just evaluating your progress. One of the reasons we do this is to
see if your flight instructor is doing everything properly so we can make adjustments, if
necessary.”
Evaluating doesn’t mean judging. It means observing what is. Whatever is, just is. It’s not
good or bad.
For example, suppose you observe that you’re impatient and intolerant of other people’s
mistakes. That’s not bad, it’s just the way you behave. At a later time, you can decide whether or
not you want to change your behavior. But none of your actions require judgment.
Another good example is evaluating your body. When you look in the mirror, do you always
focus on your flaws and judge yourself harshly? Your extra weight or facial features that you don’t
like probably elicit unkind thoughts. Evaluating your body means noticing your weight, not judging
it. Instead of saying something like, “Yuck,” when you look at yourself, just note your current
weight. It’s just a number.
Keep a Journal
I suggest that you keep a journal in which you can record your observations. This will allow
you to keep track of your progress. As you go through the process of change, there will be times
when you wonder if the work you’ve been doing has helped you accomplished anything. By
looking back at where you’ve been, you’ll be better able to see where you are and where you’re
going.
A good time to write in your journal is before you go to bed at night when you can take stock
of the day. Writing just a few short lines, if that’s all you want to do, is fine. At other times, you’ll
want to write more. As you develop the writing habit, it will become a vehicle through which you
can express your feelings and, hopefully, your creative ideas.
You don’t need anything fancy. A plain notebook or steno pad will do. My first journals were
lined notebooks in which I wrote detailed descriptions. Now I use unlined sketch books and I print,
which forces me to only express the kernel of my thoughts. It’s the method I use for my inner
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 62
expression. Having the unlined book also allows me to draw pictures or free-form designs when I
want.
When you write in your journal, don’t worry about the grammar or composition. No one else is
going to see what you’re writing and you’re free to say whatever you want.
I’ll say more about journaling in the section on expressing your feelings.
Start With The External
To start the process of evaluating your life, I suggest that you look at your external world and
use it as a pathway to your internal world. While you’re observing, watch what you’re thinking
and feeling.
For example, look around the room where you’re sitting now. What do you see? How do you
feel about the furniture? If you like it, you probably feel good. If your furniture isn’t pleasing to
you, you might feel shame, deprivation or frustration. Think about a few people in your life. When
you focus on a particular person, does it stimulate feelings? You’ll probably find that the thought
of some people elicits pleasant, light feelings while the thought of others brings up uncomfortable,
heavy feelings.
Now think about something you have to do each day. Where do you do it? What do you feel
when you think about the activity?
Do you see what I mean? Whatever is part of your external world will evoke thoughts and
feelings. If you notice your thoughts and feelings, you’ll be connecting to your inner world. I
suggest that when you make your observations, write down a few words in your journal. After a
while, you’ll be able to see patterns of thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviors emerging.
As I said, this is not a quick-and-easy process. You’re going to go through many stages of
resistance and working through it. Looking at your life means facing it head on and not denying
what might be lurking in the dark corners. That’s why it’s important not to judge what you see and
to let whatever you’ve done with your life be okay. Whatever you did in your past wasn’t good or
bad. It was the expression of your TBEs at that point in your life.
I’m Not One to Judge
I know how hard it can be to let go of the judgment because it means forgiving yourself. That
was tough for me because I constantly berated myself for behaving the way I did. When I thought
about my past actions, I often felt ashamed and embarrassed. At times in the past, I was
overbearing and aggressive; at other times my behavior reflected my extreme neediness.
Despite my upbringing, I wasn’t exactly the model middle-class adult. Even after I gave up
alcohol, drugs and a lot of bad habits, I still perceived myself as unworthy. Everything in my life,
especially my income, was a reflection of that.
One night shortly after I met Margo Elliot, I was lying in my bed in a presleep twilight.
Suddenly I felt a strong presence in the room with me. It’s difficult to explain what went on that
night, but it felt as if I was being bathed in stardust. I heard a female voice saying, “Forgive
yourself, child. You’re a beautiful being of Light and haven’t done anything wrong.” I could feels
tears welling up as I experienced her love.
In the years that followed, I often remembered that evening. In order to actually forgive myself,
I had to peel off many layers of self-loathing. Sometimes, when I was berating myself for my
behavior, I’d focus on the phrase, “Forgive yourself, child.”
I’m sharing this with you because I know that many people avoid looking at their lives because
they’re afraid of what they’ll see. It’s not unusual to be ashamed of past thoughts and actions. But
there’s no reason to be ashamed. You haven’t done anything wrong. You did the only thing you
could have done given who you were at that point in time. If you’d like to behave differently in the
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 63
future, that’s okay. You have that option. But what you did was merely what you did. It has
nothing to do with your value as a human being or your potential for achievement.
Please keep this in mind as you observe your life. Remind yourself, over and over, that you’re
just evaluating, not criticizing and that you’ve never done anything wrong. Any time you have a
memory that brings up feelings of shame or remorse, imagine that you’re surrounding yourself
with a vibrating pink light and say to yourself, I surround myself with Love and Light and I
forgive myself.
I suggest that you read through this chapter without stopping. When you finish the book, you
can return to this section and use it as a guide as you take your personal inventory.
First, Let’s Look at the External
Let’s start by evaluating the external part of your life. Here’s a list of areas that I suggest you
examine. Writing down your observations will greatly enhance the effect of this process.
Your Living Situation
What is the condition of your living quarters? Do you keep your home neat and clean? If not,
why not?
What kind of neighborhood do you live in? What do you notice about the people who live
there? Is this where you want to be?
What is the condition of the interior of your home? Is your home empty or filled with
possessions? Is it visually pleasing to you?
Can you connect to nature in or around your home? Are there plants or other living things
(other than people) in your home?
If you share your home with other people is there harmony or conflict? Do you and the people
in your life contribute to a peaceful, loving environment?
Your Food
What is the color and condition of your food? Is it white, pasty and packaged, or fresh and
colorful? Are your foods natural or filled with chemicals?
Do you eat because you have to or because you want to? Do you care about what you eat?
Are your foods nutritious or don’t you care?
Do you often eat what hurts your body and suffer the consequences or do you eat in a way that
shows respect for your body?
Do you gobble down your food or eat slowly, savoring your food? Do you binge?
When you eat, are you relaxed?
Your Body
What is the condition of your body?
Are you at your ideal weight? If not, are you undernourished or over-nourished?
Do you obsess about your body?
How would you describe your body?
Is your body comfortable or uncomfortable?
Where are the aches and pains?
How often do you have to give your body drugs to make it more comfortable? What kind of
drugs?
Do you give your body enough sleep?
Do you exercise your body?
Do you give your body the food it wants and needs?
Do you do nice things for your body, like massages or relaxing baths?
Your Clothes
Do you care about your appearance?
Do you dress comfortably?
Do your clothes show respect for your body and the grandeur of your being?
Are your clothes clean and well cared for?
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 64
Is your wardrobe predominantly drab or bright? What are the colors you are drawn to most
often?
What do your clothes say about you?
Do you like your clothes?
When you are with other people, how do you feel about your clothes?
Your Money
How much available cash do you have at this moment? Is that comfortable for you?
How much money do you expect in your immediate future? Is it enough to cover your needs?
How do you generate your money?
How much money do you need to be comfortable? To be happy?
Do you take good care of your money?
Do you spend your money wisely? If not, what would you do with it that you’re not doing now?
How would you describe the money flow in your life? Is it smooth, sporadic, sparse, full? Do
you have a sense that there is something blocking the flow?
Are you generous or stingy?
Relationships
Let’s stay with the external and look at how you relate to the world. I suggest that you examine
your relationships with others, with yourself, and with your environment.
Your Relationships with Others
Think about the people in your life. In general, how would you describe them? Are they
peaceful and loving or hostile and antagonistic?
Do you feel bonded to other people or do you always feel like an outsider?
Do you have trouble communicating with other people or is it easy for you?
If you have a significant other, what is the tone of your relationship? Do you make beautiful
music together or is there a lot of cacophony in the relationship?
Do you feel equal in your relationships? If not, do you feel less-than or more-than?
Do you get what you need from your relationships?
Do people understand you?
Would you rather be alone than with other people?
Do you feel lost when you aren’t in a love relationship?
Are you controlled or manipulated by others?
Are you controlling?
Can you relax when you’re with other people?
Are you a people-pleaser?
Are you able to express your feelings to other people without feeling threatened?
Do you have friends with whom you play or only business associates?
Do you blame others for your life position? Are you frequently a victim?
Have you been betrayed or taken advantage of by others?
Your Relationship with Yourself
Do you like yourself?
When you look in the mirror, what do you say to yourself?
How much time do you regularly spend alone? What do you do when you’re alone? Do you
enjoy your alone time?
How do you treat yourself? Do you treat yourself like someone you love?
Do you compliment yourself or criticize yourself most of the time?
Do you let yourself do what you want to do or is the course of your life dictated by others?
Do you like to laugh? Do you laugh every day?
Your Relationship with Your Environment
Are you an active member of your community? What do you do to make it a better place to
live?
Do you make your views known to your city, state and national representatives?
Do you vote?
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 65
Do you make a conscious effort to conserve energy such as electricity?
Are you an aware consumer, or do you let advertising determine your needs and desires?
Do you recycle?
Do you have a relationship with the animal kingdom?
Do you spend time in nature?
Summary
In summary, how would you describe the overall energy of your life?
Is your life dark or light? Is it musty-dusty or bright and cheery?
If you were someone else observing your life, what would you say?
Are you comfortable with what you see?
Are you satisfied with your life in general?
What do you like most about your life? The least?
You may need an extended time period to complete this inventory. Stay focused on the process
and allow it to proceed at a leisurely pace. Every few months you may want to take another look to
track your progress.
Time
Time, like money, is an energy. Also, like money, people often think they don’t have enough
time. The fact is, there is an infinite amount of time. Because we anticipate an end to our lives, we
perceive time as finite. Only humans are aware of time. Birds and flowers have no concept of this
dimension.
The way we use time is similar to how we use money in that both represent our relationship
with ourselves and others. For example, people who respect time are apt to respect other people;
procrastinators are not in touch with their personal power; and people who are habitually late need
to feel “bad” or control others. If you always live in the past or the future, then you are avoiding
yourself in the present.
When you’re connected to your true self, you’ll be in tune with Universal time. You’ll be
exactly where you have to be at the right time. The energy of time in your life will be balanced.
I try to function on what I call Bird Time. Swallows are never in a hurry to get back to
Capistrano. To them, it doesn’t matter when they arrive. Actually, in the last few years, they didn’t
even make it to Capistrano – they stopped off at the San Clemente Mall instead; And that didn’t
bother them one iota. It was where they were and that was fine with them. Unlike human beings,
birds trust that their world is in order and all they have to do is follow their inner direction.
One goal of the journey to prosperity is to learn how to deal with time. Whenever you say, “I
need more time,” you’re affirming scarcity. If you have too much time, then there is an imbalance
in your life. When the amount of time you have is no longer an issue, you’ll have enough of
everything.
Although I’m mentioning time under external observations, it could also be an internal element.
We experience time internally, but we count it externally because we use time-keeping devices.
Before we move to the internal aspects of your life, I suggest you observe your relationship with
time.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself regarding time:
Are you often in a hurry or working against deadlines?
Do other people manage your time?
Do you use your time in a way that satisfies you?
Are you usually early or late for appointments, or are you prompt?
Do you keep people waiting, or are you usually the one who has to wait for others?
When you have to wait for someone, how do you feel?
Do you think you waste time? How?
Do you make an effort to fill your time productively or are you able to just be and let time pass?
Do you spend a lot of time thinking about the past or the future?
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 66
When you’re with people, do you become impatient?
Do you ever lose track of time? If you do, what are you usually doing?
What Do You Want?
After you take a good look at your life, ask yourself, “Assuming I can have anything I want,
what would I change?” Many times when I ask people this questions, their answer is, “I really
don’t know.” If you’re out of touch with yourself, it would be understandable if you didn’t know
what you want. With the exercises outlined in this book you can discover a satisfying life path. It’s
important that you do what you love if you want to live a prosperous life.
I strongly suggest that as ideas come to mind, you write them down. You’ll be able to change
your goals as you go more deeply into your own consciousness and gain self-confidence in your
creative abilities. Writing your thoughts in your journal points you in a direction from which you
can begin creating your new life.
A Discovery Process
If you have a clear idea as to what you want to do, then you’ll be able to set goals and plan a
pathway to your future. However, if you aren’t sure what you want, I suggest you do the
following:
• Ask yourself the question, “If money, time and responsibilities were no problem, what
would I do?” Each time you get a thought, think it through. For example, the first answer I often
get from people is, “I’d travel.” If that’s your answer, then think about where you would travel and
who your traveling companions would be, if any. Is there some way you could earn money while
you travel?
If you would use your resources to develop a business, think through how you would spend
your money setting up the business and exactly what the business would be. Imagine its location,
the customers, etc. No matter what your answer, create it with as much detail as possible. After
investing some time in this process, you may decide that what you’ve been creating is not really
what you want to do. Fine. Let it go and start down a different path and repeat the process.
• Find out what you want your life to give you. What is it that you value? Do you value truth,
compassion, companionship, alone time, family time, productivity? Make a list of everything that
is important to you. How do you want to spend your time? Assuming that you have to support
yourself financially, how do you really want to do it? Write down everything that is important to
you knowing that you can have whatever you want. There are no limits to what you can create.
Once you decide what you want, it’s just a matter of figuring out how to get it. Whatever you can
conceive, you can achieve.
• In meditation, imagine yourself perfectly happy. Ask, “What am I doing that creates so
much joy for me?” See if images or ideas come to you. Nothing may happen in meditation, but
during the day or when you wake up in the morning you may find ideas popping into your head.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 67
Chapter 10. Look at the Internal
Now that you’ve had practice observing the externals of your life, it’s time to move inside and
see what you can find. We’re going to look at your thoughts and feelings as well as the beliefs that
form the foundation of your life.
This is a process that takes time to complete. By the time you work through all of the questions
in the next few chapters, you’ll probably find that your life has already begun to change. I’m going
to describe a meditation now that will help you understand how change occurs as a direct result of
observation.
Going Inside Meditation
This meditation is a combination of an ancient Zen Buddhist technique and bio-feedback. It’s
an excellent way to connect to your internal world. I’ve done this meditation for so many years that
it has become a signal to my body to relax. Within a few seconds after I take a deep breath and
begin the meditation, I’m in a state of deep relaxation.
Here’s how to do it:
Start with the Basic Meditation, which I’ll repeat here.
• Sit in your meditation space with your back straight, ankles crossed and hands folded gently
in your lap. Close your eyes and take a few deep diaphragmatic breaths. Then let your breathing
find it’s own level.
• Imagine that a beam of rainbow light is entering the center of your forehead. You don’t
actually have to see anything (although you may), just imagine the presence of a light. Imagine that
the light travels down the center of your body and diffuses into all of your cells.
• Repeat silently to yourself a few times, I am in The Light, I am filled with The Light.
Do this for a minute or two.
• After you feel connected to the light, take a deep breath. Then turn your attention to your
jaw. Observe how it feels. Do you feel tension or is it relaxed? Does the right side feel any different
from the left? Do you feel any pain or discomfort? Don’t try to change anything. Just observe until
it changes.
If you wait long enough, there will be a change. It may be very subtle, but it will occur.
Once you feel a change, wait a few seconds, then say to yourself, “My jaw is relaxed.” As you
say this, imagine that you’re letting go of some of the tension. As you imagine your jaw relaxing,
say to yourself, “Let go, let go.” Keep repeating this phrase. When you think your jaw has relaxed,
let go again. And again. Do this for about two minutes or more. If your mind wanders, gently bring
it back.
• Repeat the process with your shoulders, solar plexus (the center of your abdomen under your
rib cage) and the center of your chest, which is your heart chakra. At first, you may not feel much,
especially if you’re generally out of touch with your feelings.
You can use this meditation to scan your entire body, going from your head down to your toes,
stopping to observe each body part. You can spend as much or as little time on each part as you
want. Sometimes I spend 15 minutes or more in one location. At other times, I scan my entire body
stopping only for 30 to 60 seconds at each location.
From this meditation you can understand the concept of awareness preceding change. You’ll
also see that change happens as a direct result of awareness. This meditation technique will help
you develop your internal powers of observation, which will help you get in touch with your
thoughts, beliefs and emotions. If you can describe what you are feeling in your physical body,
then you’ll be able to define your emotions.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 68
Your Relationship with Your Higher Power
Since we’ve just traveled into your inner world, I’d like to suggest that as you examine your
relationships, you also look at the one you have with your Higher Power. Since more than 90% of
the population expresses a belief of some kind in a force greater than themselves, there’s a good
chance you do too. Even if you’re an atheist, you may still recognize a force that is beyond your
understanding.
When I was about seventeen years old, I asked my mother what she thought God was. She said
that it was anything that was beyond human possibility, like the mountains or clouds. A
philosopher might have labeled her a pantheist because she saw God in nature.
The questions below refer to your individual concept of a Higher Power, whatever that might
be, and the part it plays in your life. I suggest that you write the answers in your journal.
Do you believe that there is a power greater than yourself?
Do you feel a reverence for life?
Are you involved in any spiritual group, such as a church, ashram, study group, etc?
Do you meditate regularly?
If you pray, are you usually asking for help, giving thanks, or a combination of both? For whom
or what do you usually pray?
What kind of response would you like to receive to your prayers?
Do you have the feeling of working together with your Higher Power?
Do you feel in control of your life or are you a victim of circumstances or the actions of others?
Have you had any experiences during which you felt a presence?
Are you aware of an Inner Voice? Do you listen to it?
Have you ever felt transported beyond space and time?
Examine Your Beliefs
As I said in Section 1, you have beliefs about every aspect of your life. These beliefs form the
foundation for your thoughts and emotions. By looking at your thoughts and emotions, you can
recognize your beliefs.
For example, if you believe that people should be able to trust one another and someone tries
to take advantage of you, you’ll have an emotional reaction. Any of a number of emotions
including betrayal, disappointment, anger and/or resentment could affect you. Your thoughts about
the incident would relate to your belief about people. For example, you might say to yourself, “I
don’t understand how someone could do that to me. I trusted her and believed what she said and
look what she did to me.”
On the other hand, if you believe that people can’t be trusted and someone takes advantage of
you, you might feel validated or even satisfied. Your thoughts might sound like this: “I knew that
was going to happen. It just goes to show you that you can’t ever trust anyone. I should have
known better than to trust someone.”
Do you see how the belief established the point of view?
Every morning I receive two newspapers, The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County
Register. Reading the editorial pages is quite an education in divergent viewpoints. The Register
maintains a conservative point of view while The Times is more liberal. One newspaper can be
passionately in favor of an issue while the other is vehemently opposed. Neither is right or wrong,
they just have different opinions that result from opposing belief systems.
If you examine your life stories, you’ll be able to recognize the beliefs that form the basis of
every one of your experiences. For example, relationships are colored by beliefs about appropriate
behavior; many areas of our lives are affected by religious beliefs; and how we vote is a reflection
of our political beliefs.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 69
You can discover your beliefs by listening to your conversations with other people. Whenever
you express an opinion, it’s based on a belief. Your beliefs will also become obvious to you if you
examine your thoughts and emotions, which spring from your beliefs.
Notice, especially, when you make “I am” statements about yourself. For example, when you
look in the mirror, do you say to yourself, “I am too fat.” When you talk to other people, do you
say, “I am not very good at doing this.” These “I am” statements reflect your beliefs about
yourself.
Money Beliefs
Since, by reading this book, you’ve indicated an interest in changing your relationship with
money, I suggest that you look at the beliefs you have relating to money. Your money beliefs have a
direct effect on your ability to create the financial energy you need. In order to be prosperous, you
have to believe that you’re capable of generating more money than you need, that you can take
care of yourself and that you deserve rewards for your efforts.
In order to change your beliefs, you have to find out what they are. Like the other parts of this
process, this isn’t something you can do in an hour or a day. You’ll have to reach down inside to
discover what your beliefs are, where they came from and how they are affecting your life.
Ask yourself what money beliefs you learned from your parents. Did your father believe that
women shouldn’t work outside of the home? If so, and you’re a working mother, you’re going to
have some guilt about what you’re doing and you might punish yourself by working for a lower
salary than you deserve.
Perhaps you know some wealthy people who have indicated that they are often bothered by
needy acquaintances looking for handouts. If this is the case, you might shun wealth because you
want to be sure that people are in your life because they like you, not because of your money.
If you were you told by parents or a religious teacher that money is the root of all evil and that
it corrupts people and you’re trying to live a moral life, you could have a hard time dealing with
money.
Have you learned to believe that the only way to make money is to work hard, sometimes to
the exclusion of your family? With this belief, it would be hard for you to create passive income
that allows you to enjoy a lot of free time.
When it came to his potential, my father was a bit of a dreamer. He appeared to be totally
confident and acted as if he wasn’t limited by his current earnings. He encouraged my brothers,
Marc and Steve, to think this way. As a result, both of them were able to create large sums of
money. Since I was the girl in the family, I was told, over and over, “Get your teaching degree so
you’ll always have something to fall back on.” Despite the fact that I showed an early interest in
science – I was the only girl in my high school physics class – no one ever suggested that I do
anything else but teach. My father’s belief that I needed my teaching degree came, in part, because
when his sister’s husband left her alone with two small children, she supported them by teaching.
My mother validated this idea by telling me never to overshadow the men in my life. She was
very proud of the fact that she had decided not to become a CPA – she didn’t want to have that
kind of stature in relation to my father.
Underlying everything were my beliefs that:
•
Girls are not as valuable as boys.
•
A woman’s job is to take care of her husband.
•
The best thing you can say about a woman is that she’s a good mother, a terrific
housekeeper and a great cook.
My life story was a direct reflection of the beliefs that I learned from my parents. At twenty, I
got married for the first time. I was still in college and despite a full schedule of classes was
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 70
expected to fill the tradition role of wife. I didn’t like doing housework, but believed it was my job,
and I did it. Teaching, the career path that was expected for me, was not my goal. Actually I had
no real goals. My major in college was English, and I wasn’t qualified to do much of anything.
When I graduated from Rutgers University in 1962, there was a teacher shortage in New
Jersey and they set up a program so that non-education majors could teach in grade school. As if it
were destined, I signed up for the program and for one year taught first grade. I hated it. It was as
if all of the karma I built up by driving my teachers nuts with my constant talking came crashing
down on me. There were six students in the class with severe discipline problems who were
determined to make my life miserable. Years later, I had nightmares that I had to teach first grade
again.
Shortly after the school year ended, someone came to my house and tried to sell me a set of
Great Books of the Western World. Somehow he convinced me to come work for the company
(Brittanica); within a month I was earning more money than my husband and working half the
number of hours. It was hard for me to come to terms with my abilities and potential because that
wasn’t what I had been programmed to do.
It took two marriages and many experiences for me to overcome my belief that I had to be a
great housekeeper. (For me, marriage only meant more laundry.) It hasn’t been easy for me to
recreate my life based on a belief system that allows me to have everything I want – and not be
married or have children.
But it was worth the effort. Had I known what I know now, I could have saved myself years of
discomfort. I could have seen that I was just living out my parents’ belief system and I would have
learned how to develop my own.
What were some of your early life stories that formed your beliefs about yourself and your
potential for prosperity? How did your parent’s economic position affect your beliefs about
generating and multiplying money? How did their religious beliefs affect your beliefs about what
you can or cannot do with your life?
Examine Your Money Beliefs
Look at your life now. What do your life stories tell you about your money beliefs or your
beliefs about your creative potential? Are you living your life or the life your parents believed you
should live?
You can use the Going Inside Meditation that I outlined in the beginning of this chapter to help
you reach your belief system. As you learn to feel comfortable focusing on your body parts, place
your attention in the center of your chest and ask, “What are my money beliefs?” or “What are my
beliefs about my potential?” At various times throughout the day or when you wake up in the
morning, you’ll get the answers. Something might happen in your life to remind you about one of
your beliefs. When you recognize a belief, write it down in your journal.
Over the years, I have done a great deal of journaling about my relationship with money. I’d
like to share some of the insights I have had about my beliefs and feelings that affected my money
flow. Perhaps you can relate to them and you’ll be stimulated to recognize some of your beliefs. As
you’ll see, the examples below combine beliefs with thoughts and emotions. After reading the next
two chapters on thoughts and feelings, you’ll have a better understanding about how to recognize
your beliefs.
Read the following and see if recognize your money beliefs.
I’m afraid to tell you, “I need to be touched.”
Instead of asking you to touch me, I ask you for money.
***
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 71
You were afraid to touch me when I was little,
So I’m afraid of being touched.
When people want to touch each other, they give each other money.
I’m afraid to have you give me money.
***
When I try to please you, you ridicule me.
You also minimize my accomplishments.
If I’m only worthy of ridicule,
I must not be worthy of having my accomplishments acknowledged.
Since people show their acknowledgment and appreciation by giving money, I’m not worthy of being
given money for what I do.
***
If I have a savings account and pay all my bills on time,
It means I’m taking care of myself.
I tried to take care of myself and protect myself when I was little,
But you ignored me.
I felt powerless and thought I couldn’t take care of myself.
Since I can’t take care of myself, I can’t have a savings account and pay all of my bills on time.
***
If I pay my bills late, you notice me.
If I pay my bills on time, you ignore me.
To get you to notice me, I pay my bills late.
***
Because I didn’t get touched, I feel deprived.
By not having enough money to buy the things I need, I can express my deprivation.
If I keep telling you that I haven’t got enough money to buy what I need, you’ll know that I feel
deprived.
***
I want to be rescued because that’s a way for me to get people to acknowledge that they care about
me.
***
If I pay my bills on time, you won’t know that I still hurt or that I’m still here.
I’m afraid that my creditors will call me.
But when they call me, I know they care and know I’m here.
I can also tell them how uncomfortable I am and how difficult things have been.
***
If I’m successful, that will make you feel inadequate.
I don’t want to hurt your feelings, so I won’t be successful.
I make more money than you ever did, so I’m hurting your feelings.
So I better do something to hurt me to punish me for hurting you
***
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 72
Examining Your Thoughts
Unless you’ve been meditating for many years, your conscious mind is probably busy all of
your waking hours. If you listen to the chatter in your mind, which is often called self-talk, you’ll
hear yourself commenting on everything you do or say. You probably even comment on what you
think.
I said in Section 1 that if your thoughts are positive 51% of the time, your life will move in a
positive direction. There’s no doubt about the fact that our thoughts affect how we live our lives.
Your attitude towards life is defined by your thoughts and beliefs along with your emotions. By
listening to your self-talk, you can understand how you’re responding to life.
Even if you’ve numbed yourself to your feelings, you can hear your thoughts – if you listen.
Because every thought has a hidden meaning as well as an obvious one, you can use your self-talk
as a gateway to your unconscious.
For example, if you criticize yourself a lot, obviously, you have a low self-image. If, in your
mind, you keep telling yourself that whatever you do is stupid or terrible, then you have a basic
belief in your inability to perform. Once you observe these thoughts, you can explore your
subconscious and see why you think the way you do.
The Watching-The-River Meditation in Chapter 8 will help you examine your thoughts. You
can also observe your thoughts any time you are doing mindless tasks such as washing the dishes
or gardening. All you have to do is remind yourself to observe your thoughts, just as you do with
the Watching-The-River Meditation.
After you become more comfortable with observing your thoughts, you’ll be able to be aware
of them any time during the day whether you’re alone or with other people. The thoughts you have
when you are with other people will be revealing, especially when you’re with people who make
you uncomfortable.
Consciously observe your thoughts for a week or two. As you become familiar with your
thoughts, patterns will emerge that are keys to your subconscious beliefs and emotions. Because
thoughts are more accessible than beliefs or emotions, it’s easier to control and change them. Your
life is the reflection of all three elements and by changing just one – your thoughts – you can
effectively alter the outcome of your life stories. Because your subconscious believes whatever it is
told, you can use your thoughts to reprogram yourself.
In this chapter, we’re only discussing observing your thoughts. In Chapter 11 we’ll talk about
changing them.
Thinking Patterns
There are certain basic thinking patterns which you can recognize. First, what is the general
tone of your thoughts? Is it positive or negative? Positive thoughts are constructive, negative
thoughts are destructive. If you denigrate yourself or others, if you look for flaws instead of
attributes in yourself or others, and if you always expect the worst instead of the best, you’re
having negative, destructive thoughts. If you praise yourself and have a clear vision of yourself as
a success, you have positive, constructive thoughts.
Second, where in time do you do your thinking – in the past, present or future? Spending time
in the past accomplishes nothing, unless you’re doing it to solve problems or if you’re accessing
information to aid you in your creative process. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time. I’m not saying
forget your past, just don’t dwell in it.
Spending time in the future is also unnecessary, unless you’re actively engaged in planning or
problem solving. Most people who spend time in the future worry about it. As a matter of fact,
worrying almost always involves future-thinking – you’re worried about the future consequences
of the past or present. For example, when you worry about paying bills, you’re concerned about
what is going to happen in the future, i.e., how you’re going to be punished.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 73
Parents often worry about what is going to happen in the future. There’s no rule of parenting
that says, “Thou shalt worry.” But most parents worry unnecessarily about what’s going to happen
to their children.
Once, during the time that I was on my journey and staying with my parents in Hopatcong,
New Jersey, I casually announced, as I left the house one day, “I’ll be back around five.” When I
returned at seven o’clock in the evening, I found my parents agitated and upset. “Where were
you?” my mother asked. “You said you’d be home at five and by six we were worried.”
I was surprised that they were so concerned. “There wasn’t any reason for you to worry,” I
said. Then I asked them, “How many times has something awful happened to me when you didn’t
know where I was?”
“Never,” they replied.
“Then why worry?” I said. “It’s your option what you think about while I’m gone. I’d rather
have you generate thoughts with a positive outcome because that can help me far more than
whatever you create with your fear.”
My parents’ concern was the result of what they thought might happen in the future. It had
nothing to do with the present or what was actually occurring. Their worry actually hurt them
because emotions such as worry cause an adrenal response. Hans Selye, the Nobel prize winning
scientist, says in his book The Stress of Life, that we’re born with a certain amount of adrenal
energy and when we use it up, we die. So every time you have an adrenal response, you’re using up
a bit of your life. It’s far more helpful for everyone involved to have thoughts of a positive
outcome.
The most useful place to be with your thoughts is in the present. When you’re in “the now,”
you can observe your life, evaluate what is happening, and take appropriate actions that can lead
you into a comfortable future. If you’re in the past or future, you can’t feel your emotions because
they’re happening in the present. Also, if you want to hear your Inner Voice and connect to
yourself, you have to be in the now. In order to stay in the present, you have to deal with time. You
can’t rush, because then you miss the now. You also can’t procrastinate. If you’re in the moment,
you’ll be more attentive to yourself and others. You’ll also be far more creative.
Both the Basic Meditation and the Going Inside Meditation will keep you in the present. When
you’re doing the Going Inside Meditation and looking inside your body to see what is going on in
your body parts, you’re feeling your body in the present, not the past or future. That’s why it’s
such a valuable meditation and why it has been used by Zen Buddhists for so many years. Spiritual
seekers who aim for enlightenment or self-realization know that one can only experience the All
There Is in the present moment.
Here’s a meditation that can help you focus on the present moment and stop worrying about
the future:
• After you do the Basic Meditation, repeat to yourself, There is no past, there is no future,
there is only the here and now. As thoughts of the past or future come into your mind, replace
them with this phrase. Even if you’re thinking about the next minute, that’s the future.
You can help yourself focus on the present by doing the Going Inside Meditation or by
watching your breath as you sit in your meditation space. Just observe your breath and body as
you breathe.
Relationship Thoughts
A third thinking pattern that will emerge as you examine your thoughts involves your
relationship with yourself and others. From your thoughts, you can see whether or not you respect
yourself, what you expect from yourself and if you love yourself. You can also observe how you
feel about yourself vis-à-vis other people.
Are you critical of yourself and others or are you tolerant and accepting? Do you forgive
yourself and others? When you have a good idea, do you encourage yourself to act on it or do your
fears keep you from accurately expressing your creative thoughts? When you see your reflection in
the mirror, what do you think? Can you build a positive life with the thoughts you have?
Relationship thoughts, along with money thoughts, take up a majority of our thinking time. No
matter what we’re doing we are involved in relationships. Even isolators have relationship thoughts
because avoiding people is a negative aspect of relationship.
Money Thoughts
It has always amazed me how many hours a day people spend thinking about money. For a
long time I thought that only people who are financially needy obsess about money. But once I
started asking people about their money thoughts, I was surprised to discover that virtually
everyone I questioned, no matter what their financial situation, admitted to thinking about money a
good part of the time.
Recognizing the nature of your money thoughts is a useful technique if you want to understand
why creating enough financial energy is difficult for you. Listen to yourself when you think about
money. Are you thinking about piles of money that are there waiting for you to claim? More likely,
you’re in the future worrying about what’s going to happen if you don’t have enough money on a
particular day. The thought, “What am I going to do?” is probably one you’ve had more than once.
There’s also a good chance that you’ve prayed for help.
There’s no logical reason to worry about money. Worrying is not going to change your current
situation or help you create more money. To the contrary, worrying blocks the money flow through
your life. If you’re in a financial bind, you can be concerned – that’s not the same as worry – and
your concern can prompt you to take action, which is the only remedy for a money pain.
Money thoughts, like money feelings, always represent your beliefs and emotions about
something other than money. Money is just the symbol of other energies in our lives, and we
choose to think about money because it’s easier than dealing with our emotional pain. For some
reason, as uncomfortable as it is, money pain is easier to express than the actual emotional pain.
If prosperity is your goal, it’s important to listen to your money thoughts. These thoughts have
to change in order to reach your goal. Thoughts that express your fears will have to change to
positive expectations.
What Would You Change?
Are you comfortable with what goes on in your mind? Is being alone with yourself a pleasant
experience or are you tired of hearing yourself worry and complain? Would you rather be having
pleasant, productive thoughts?
The one part of us over which we have control is our thoughts. Once you train yourself to be
familiar with your thoughts, you can stop those you don’t like, find their source if necessary, and
replace them with thoughts that are more in tune with the way you want to spend your thinking
time.
Can you define what you want your thinking time to be? Here again, I suggest that you write
down your goals.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 75
Chapter 11. Change Your Thoughts and Beliefs
I’m going to assume that your goal is to have positive, constructive thoughts with which you
can create a prosperous life. Because your thoughts are the most accessible part of your internal
world, they’re the easiest element to alter. The information in this chapter is going to help you
reprogram your subconscious, which will also alter your external life expression.
It All Depends on How You Look At It
Have you ever seen or known a married couple and said, “I wonder what he sees in her?” Do
you ever wonder how people could vote for someone whose approach to politics is opposed to
yours? Have you heard negative comments about people you care about?
Obviously, there are different ways of looking at everything. If there weren’t we would have
only one political party, one brand of every consumable product, and no dissenting opinions. How
boring life would be if that were the case.
Even though we perceive ourselves as finite, we live in an infinite reality. This means that for
every choice we have to make, there are an infinite number of possibilities. Our reality is far more
complex than we realize. In order to function, each of us makes a choice as to how we are going to
perceive our reality, and then we operate within the definition that we choose.
On a physical level, it’s interesting to note that electrons were once defined as electrically
charged particles. No one has ever seen an electron – they are measured and plotted by the way
they behave. Physicists have discovered that electrons don’t always behave like particles –
sometimes they behave like waves. Now quantum physicists have shown that electrons will behave
in accordance with the expectations of the person measuring their behavior. This is exactly what
happens with the reality that we perceive – life happens the way we expect that it will.
That’s how you create your life. Your reality forms as a result of your beliefs or expectations,
which are programmed into your self-conscious. If you perceive yourself to be incompetent,
uncreative, inadequate and worthless, that’s exactly how you’ll appear in the stories you create.
But if you reperceive yourself, i.e., see yourself from a different point of view, you’ll see the
beautiful, powerful being that you really are. When you reperceive yourself, you’ll change your
expectations and your life.
Play a Happy Tune
Earlier I pointed out that your subconscious believes whatever it is told, and it acts on the
information it receives. For example, if you keep saying, in one way or another, “I am a victim,”
your subconscious will help you create life stories that prove your statement to be true. Once you
recognize your thought patterns and become aware of your victim point of view, you can
counteract your “I’m a victim” statements with phrases such as “I am in control of my life and can
create whatever I want or need.” If you say this many times, you’ll counteract the messages
already implanted in your subconscious and your life will move in a new direction.
It’s as if your subconscious is a record that is being played. Because the same tune has been
played over and over again, the needle gets stuck in a groove, which becomes a path of least
resistance. You have to actively do something to push it out of the old groove and into a new one.
In order to have it stay in a new, more pleasing groove, you have to play a new tune often enough
to carve out a new path and have it become the path of least resistance.
It’s important to listen to your thoughts so you can see what “song” you’re playing. To change
your life, all you have to do is sing another tune – a happy one. Affirmations can help you do this.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 76
The amount of time it takes to develop your new song will depend on the length of time you’ve
been playing the old one. That’s why it’s so much easier for young people to change. Their grooves
are not as deep as an older person’s and it’s easier to shift over to an alternative.
Affirmations
Affirmations are a highly effective tool that you can use to reprogram your subconscious. They
are statements of fact that you repeat about yourself and your life as if they are true. Your
subconscious listens and then acts upon these statements. Affirmations are simple to do and can be
done any time during your waking hours. The effect of affirmations is enhanced if you do them
during meditation.
Affirmation can help you reperceive yourself and refashion your beliefs. For example, if you
have a subconscious belief that you are unworthy, by affirming I am a worthy person and deserve
the best that life has to offer, you’ll eventually replace your original subconscious program with
the new one. Your life stories will then reflect your new perception of yourself.
When I first learned of the power of affirmations, I did them for as many as four or five hours
a day. On my morning walk, when I did housework, drove in my car or any other time when my
mind wasn’t occupied with specific tasks, I’d do affirmations. I can clearly remember when I
started healing and only had enough energy to walk a few blocks, I’d say to myself, “I’m perfectly
healthy and can do whatever I want.” I constantly affirmed my health, as if it were true at that
moment in time.
I have found that the most effective method is to use two different kinds of affirmations. One is
like the statement I just described where you affirm a positive condition or situation, such as I
accept my power and release it, I accept myself exactly the way I am or I am healthy and all my
systems are functioning perfectly. The I am Peace, I am Love and I am Joy meditations are
positive affirmations.
The second kind of affirmation is a statement that defines what you are releasing. Once you
examine your life and discover the emotional payoff of your life stories, you can release your need
for a particular variety of experience. For example, you can affirm, I release my need for financial
discomfort.
This affirmation will begin a process that allows you to experience the emotions that are
behind your financial discomfort. If, for instance, you discover that your financial situation helps
you express deprivation, you would then affirm, I release my need for deprivation.
The next stage is to affirm the new situation that you want to create without using the word
that describes your discomfort. For example, you wouldn’t affirm, I am free of financial
discomfort, instead you would affirm, I have a limitless supply of financial resources.
Once you choose an affirmation, repeat it often. To increase its effectiveness, write it in your
journal. Some teachers suggest that you write the affirmation at least 100 times or ten times a day.
I’ve never had the patience for that. I prefer doing affirmations verbally and writing them once or
twice in my journal when they first come to me.
Another affirmation technique I suggest is to praise your achievements – even minor ones.
Whenever I did anything well, no matter how seemingly insignificant the deed, I’d clap my hands
and say out loud, “Joanie’s a good girl and can have whatever she wants.” This had the dual effect
of helping my Inner Child feel better about herself and affirming my ability to create a life that
suits me.
I’m going to suggest some affirmations below. It’s even better if you create statements that are
specific to your situation. If you meditate regularly, you’ll find that affirmations will pop into your
mind from time to time.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 77
Use any of the following affirmations that feel comfortable to you.
For Health
I release my need for dis-ease.
I release all pain and memory of pain.
I am perfectly healthy.
I release my resistance to wellness.
I release my fear and tension.
All of my cells are in balance.
All systems in my body are functioning perfectly.
For Emotional Healing
I release my fear of abandonment.
I release all grief and sorrow.
I release my fear of my feelings.
I am free to feel my feelings and express them.
I release my fear of self-expression.
I release my need for disappointment.
I am happy, joyous and free.
I am surrounded by loving, caring people who support me.
For Love
I release my fear of loving.
I release my fear of relationship.
I release my fear of intimacy.
I acknowledge my aloneness and release it.
I release my need for rejection.
I allow myself to love myself.
I forgive myself.
I accept myself exactly as I am.
I am experiencing love, affection, acceptance and approval.
I allow myself to experience love to its fullest.
For Prosperity
There is limitless supply and it is mine.
I release my need for financial insecurity.
I allow myself to experience prosperity.
I release my need to feel needy.
I have everything I want or need.
I release the feelings that block my prosperity.
I open myself to receive.
I release need and manifest abundance.
I accept my power to prosper.
I acknowledge my inner power and release it.
Conversations with Yourself
In Chapter 10, I suggested that you listen carefully to your self-talk. What is the general tone
of your conversations with yourself? Is it critical, depressing and defeating, or is it praising,
encouraging and constructive? Do you find yourself apologizing or defending yourself in your
mind?
If your self-talk is negative and you want to be happy, then, obviously, you have to change
what you say to yourself. Affirmations can replace negative thoughts, but you can also learn how
to change the nature of your mental conversations.
For example, if you often tell yourself, “You really shouldn’t have done that,” you can
immediately counter with, “Everything you’re doing is fine.” Any time you are critical of yourself,
you can transmute the thought to praise. Try to imagine that there is a Benevolent Being watching
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 78
you who believes that you’re perfect just the way you are. Let that Being talk to you and encourage
you through everything you do.
At the same time, you can also change your expectations. People often expect too much from
themselves and, as a result, can never acknowledge their achievements. This is especially true for
people whose parents were critical rather than empowering. Many men I know had fathers who
were always disappointed with them. This kind of parental attitude can be demoralizing and result
in failure-oriented behavior.
At one of my recent seminars, Wally, one of the men in the audience, told us that his father,
who was a self-made multimillionaire, repeatedly told him, “You’ll never be able to make as much
money as I have.” With that kind of programming, it was no wonder that Wally was having trouble
experiencing prosperity. I suggested to Wally that whenever he heard, in his thoughts, his father
reminding him of his inability to earn large sums of money, he say to himself, You’re a talented,
competent person and will be paid handsomely for the work you do.
The need for perfection also manifests itself as negative, critical self-talk. Perfectionists have a
high fear of failure and a fear of making mistakes. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received
came from Gil Gunnel, who owned the flight school where I studied for my pilot’s license. For a
few months after I closed my business I worked for Gil. One day I apologized for making a
mistake and I said, “I don’t usually make mistakes.” She said, “That’s really a difficult position to
take. I always say, ‘I make mistakes, and when I do it’s no big deal.”
Mistakes are our way of learning. We don’t come out of our mother’s womb knowing how to
do everything and the only way to learn is by trial and error. Imagine what would have happened if
Thomas Edison had given up after his first failed experiment when he was trying to invent the light
bulb. The fact is that he tried over a thousand times before he found the right combination.
One of my young neighbors often helps me with my office chores. When Jean first started
working for me she panicked every time she made a mistake. After the first few incidents, I said to
her, “I like it when you make mistakes because it means you’re trying.” On the few occasions that
she made an error, I praised her work and told her not to be concerned about the mistake. As a
result, she was able to relax and enjoy the job and she was much more pleasant to work with.
Your self-talk will reveal whatever fear you have of moving your life in a new direction. When
you hear fear-talk, remember that’s the little child in you. You’re the adult now and can praise and
encourage your Inner Child. You have the power to turn every negative into a positive.
One of the main areas of fear that you may deal with is money fears, especially if you keep
your bank balance at or below zero. When you start worrying, ask yourself, “Is everything okay
today? Do I have enough to eat and a place to stay today?” Focus on the present and don’t let your
fear of the future interfere.
Another useful phrase is, You never know what lies around the corner, and its companion,
Don’t quit before the miracle. Whenever I’m about to give in to my fear that what I need is not
going to appear, I remember all of the times in my life when at the last moment, something
unexpected happened. I’ve learned that the Universe is always on time and I usually want it to be
early.
Having faith in an outcome paid off for me when I decided to move to Laguna Hills,
California. In April of 1990, I knew it was time to move from Marina del Rey. I told everyone I
knew that I was moving September 1st. In June, I started looking at homes to see where in the
Laguna Hills area I wanted to live. Since my mother lived in Laguna Hills, I wanted to be fairly
close.
For weeks I looked in the beach communities, but couldn’t find what I wanted. Finally, at the
end of July, I decided to look for a house near my mother. On August 1st, I made arrangements
with a moving company and started packing. By August 15th, my friends were asking, “Aren’t you
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 79
worried about not finding a place to live?” My answer was, “I don’t need it until August 29th.” On
August 24th, I saw an ad describing the house I knew was mine. I called the owner and told her to
hold it for me. Two days later I went to see it and, sure enough, it was just what I wanted.
Visualizations
Seeing a clear picture in your mind of whatever you’re trying to bring into being is an
important step in the creation process. Whatever exists in your mind can manifest itself if you
don’t block the image with negative emotions. As you are visualizing, you can also examine
whatever feelings might come up that may be keeping you from moving forward.
For example, suppose you are visualizing someone handing you a check for $50,000. While
you are doing this, shift your focus to your heart center and feel what you’re feeling there. If you
become aware of fear, for example, you can then ask yourself what you’re afraid of and do the
Emotion Clearing Technique at a later time.
The most effective way to do visualizations and have them come to pass is to do them in a deep
state of meditation when you are connected to your subconscious. After you do the Basic
Meditation, create whatever you want clearly in your mind. Be as detailed as possible. For
example, if you want to imagine that you’ve won the lottery, think about how much you’ve won
and what you will do when you find out that you’re a winner. Whom will you tell and when will
you tell them? What would you do with the money when you get it? In most states, the winnings
are paid over twenty years, with 28% taken off the top for taxes. If you win more than $4 million,
your yearly check after taxes would be more than $100,000. If you want your money to be insured,
you can’t just dump that much into a single bank account, so what would you do? How would you
spend or invest the money? How would it feel if you had that much financial freedom?
The key to using visualizations effectively is to create what you want with as much detail as
possible and to create the feelings that you’ll have when you manifest your desires. The feelings
that you generate are the force that brings your vision into three-dimensional reality. Create
joy and that’s what you’ll have.
If, when you are attempting to create positive feelings, you feel something blocking you, take
the time to find out what it is. As long as there are uncomfortable feelings percolating inside of you
that negate the effect of the visualization, it will be difficult for you to realize your dream. By
feeling the blocks and working through them, you can insure your success.
Remember, you can create anything you desire. You might not be able to do it in the time
frame you want because there’s energy from your past that has to be cleared, but you can do it.
Unless you’re quite far along in the clearing process, don’t count on that check for $50,000 to
rescue you from your financial woes. More likely than not it will come when you don’t need it.
Need and prosperity don’t go together. In your current position, you can probably generate a few
hundred or even a few thousand dollars in one swoop. But $50,000 – that’s another story.
We’ll talk about building your money muscles so that $50,000 seems like pocket change in
Chapter 17.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 80
Chapter 12. Examining Your Feelings
The work I do with private clients often involves helping them recognize their feelings. Many
times, they’re aware that something is bothering or blocking them from success, but they haven’t
a clue as to how to define what it is. To help them, and the people who attend my seminars, I’ve
devised a method to teach people to recognize their emotions. Awareness is the first step in the
process of change, and this method is designed to stimulate emotional awareness.
I understand how difficult it is for people who have never been allowed the freedom of
emotional expression to define their feelings. It took me years to overcome a lifetime of
programming that had taught me it was wrong to feel. My father even had a special rule for us,
“Sotkins don’t feel.”
This part of the journey to prosperity is probably one most of you who are reading this book
would rather avoid. You may want to just skip over this part and pretend it doesn’t exist. Please
don’t do that. The information in this chapter and the techniques you will find here are essential if
you are going to release the blocks that are keeping you from your success.
Avoiding the Pain
At a recent business seminar I gave, one of the participants, Bill Davis, told me that a few
years ago he had a business that did very well. Because of some serious problems with his
overseas suppliers, he lost the business. “Were you a victim of circumstances?” I asked. As if to
say, “It wasn’t my fault,” he assured me that he was. When I asked if he was ever a victim before,
he said, “Many times.”
It was tough for Bill to admit that he had created his business problems because of old
feelings he was repressing – he didn’t want to look at them. But he knew that something was
blocking him and asked if he could see me privately. Bill had developed effective coping skills and
was generally satisfied with his life and his relationships. It wasn’t easy for him to look at his
past because he was afraid that if he felt his pain, he’d upset the balance in his life. When he
overcame his fear, he recognized a long series of abandonment stories from his childhood. In each
of the stories Bill was a victim of circumstances. Now Bill is using the methods you’ll find in this
book to help him connect to his feelings and release them. Because he’s highly motivated and has
a good business consciousness, I’m betting on his success.
However I’m not so sure about Susan Owens, who had a strong desire to have her own
business. She had tried it once, but it didn’t do very well; she was afraid to try again. I suggested
that she look inside herself to find out why she had created her failure. She had every excuse in
the world for not doing this. It was too difficult for her to face the truth of her past. From my
observation, I’d say that an overwhelming majority of the population falls into this category. As a
matter of fact, most people will do anything they can, including hurting themselves in myriad
ways, to avoid acknowledging their feelings.
There was a person in a support group I attended who expressed so beautifully how people
deny their pain. He told us, “I come from a fine family. Everything was always fine. If anyone
asked, ‘How are you?’ the answer was always ‘Fine.’ How did we get along? Fine. That’s the
only word we knew. The truth was we weren’t fine. Underneath we were all hurt and angry and
had no way to express it.”
Defeated by Feelings
I’ve been consciously transforming myself since 1972 and in that time I have successfully
utilized dozens of different techniques, many of which are in this book. I learned to let go when I
gave my things away, and I learned how to forgive and to love. I did affirmations, visualizations,
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 81
and I meditated for hours on end. However, until I learned to feel my feelings on a deep inner
level, I didn’t make the progress I hoped to make.
In 1987, when I had my first business, Joan’s Crystals, despite the fact that I was generating
large sums of money, I was never comfortable inside. I worked frantically and created complex,
draining situations. Even though I knew I was supposed to relax, I was always pushing to create
one more product or to mail out a thousand more catalogs.
I took care of my money and paid all my bills on time. I even managed to pay off $11,000 in
medical bills that weren’t covered by insurance. Although money seemed to be rolling in faster
than I could count it, I held on like a tightrope walker teetering on the high wire. When my father
died, I was so out of touch with my feelings and unable to express myself, that I immediately
started acting out through my money. I borrowed from the bank, printed 50,000 catalogs on
credit, and started asking for thirty-day terms on my purchases. It didn’t take long for me to fall
off the wire and come crashing to the ground.
Fortunately, I found Codependents Anonymous (CoDA) where, along with therapy, I learned
to express feelings. I went to CoDA at least five times a week for eighteen months until I finally
understood what was causing my problems. Although I had made progress in therapy, it wasn’t
until I heard other people discussing their painful life experiences that I could give myself
permission to examine my own life stories and emotions.
If I hadn’t had personal experience with the positive financial effects of learning to feel my
feelings, I don’t know if I’d believe someone who told me this process would work. As a result,
I’d understand perfectly if you think you can skip this part of the process and just do the work
with your thoughts and beliefs. You can try it, but eventually you may find that you need to return
to this chapter and try the techniques I suggest.
You’ll get results by doing the meditations, affirmations and visualizations. They work. I used
to imagine money flying in my window, and at one point that’s exactly what it seemed like, except
it was flying into my mail box. I’ll never forget the Monday that I went to the post office and
found $5,000 waiting for me; but because I didn’t clear out my feelings of unworthiness and deal
with my painful memories, it didn’t last.
Losing Money
I’ve come to believe that the reason business owners have so many financial ups and downs is
because they express their emotions through their money. It’s especially apparent when a parent
dies or when they are going through a divorce. During times of grief and loss, emotions are often
expressed via bad business deals, loss of customers, real estate losses and other circumstances
that cause financial problems. When entrepreneurs are uncomfortable emotionally, it shows in
their business.
Recently, I met a couple in their 70s who had undergone a painful experience with a financial
manager who embezzled their retirement funds. They were horrified to learn that their substantial
savings, which came from years of hard work, had disappeared. I wondered what it was in their
background that was expressing itself through their situation. When I questioned them, I learned
that both had lost their parents at an early age. People from their generation never learned to
express feelings and both the husband and wife had carried their grief for over half a century. It
expressed itself through their financial catastrophe.
Get Rid of the Baggage
I hope you will see the value in going beyond the surface of your feelings to see what’s hiding
in the nooks and crannies of your emotional body. Going through the process that I’m going to
describe may not be comfortable, but there’s a big payoff at the end. Many times, after I let go of
another layer of repressed emotions, there’s a financial reward waiting for me. Either new clients
show up, I suddenly sell more books, or in some way I increase my income. After doing this
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 82
process over a period of time, I came to appreciate and look forward to it. I realized that when I
was in the midst of experiencing my emotions I was more in touch with myself than at any other
time.
If you’re motivated enough to leave the state of consciousness you’re in and move to a new
one, you’ll find the willingness to let go of the baggage of your past. That’s what your repressed
emotions are – old baggage. You don’t need them any more than you need that stack of magazines
that’s been sitting in your garage for years or those clothes that you’ll wear again “some day.”
In the movie The Mission, Robert de Niro’s character went on a journey deep into the jungle.
On his back he carried a heavy bag with all of his possessions. Aware that he was doing penance
for hurting and killing people in years past, he willingly dragged the heavy load along with him.
Finally, he felt cleansed and let it drop into a ravine below him, freeing him to know peace and
love.
What you’re going to do with this process is pack up the old baggage you carry along with
you and drop it into a chasm. Once you do this, you won’t have to deal with your pain again.
Finding Your Feelings
Before you can let go of your old emotional baggage you have to find it. If you’ve numbed
yourself to your emotions, you can’t begin the process of change until you locate and identify your
feelings. Doing the Going Inside Meditation in Chapter 10 is the first step. When you focus on
your body parts and how they feel you’re actually connecting to your feelings as they are
expressing themselves in your physical body. At first, you may just be aware of a sensation.
Perhaps you’ll be able to identify tension or pain. Eventually, you’ll be able to recognize what
kind of tension or pain you’re feeling. For example, you may recognize frustration or fear,
especially when you focus on your heart chakra in the center of your chest.
I suggest that after you become comfortable with the Going Inside Meditation you spend at
least a few minutes a day focusing on your chest area – both in the center and around your heart.
That’s where abandonment is stored. It’s important that you learn to connect to this and other
uncomfortable feelings that are latent in your physical body.
Identifying Your Feelings
After you find your feelings, the next step is to identify them. One of the main reasons that
most of us have trouble identifying our emotions is that we have no feeling vocabulary. We aren’t
born knowing how to recognize the nuances of feelings. Even if you have a strong desire to learn
to feel your feelings, unless you can recognize individual feelings, you won’t be able to develop
emotionally.
I’m going to make the process easier for you with the following list of feelings. Each time you
find a feeling, you can use this list to identify it. We’ll also use this list when we discuss
expressing your feelings. I suggest you make a copy of the list and keep it handy for reference.
Any time you feel something that you identify as sad, angry, fearful or happy, use this list to see if
you can define the emotion more specifically. Doing this will help you when you want to go back
into your memory bank in order to release painful emotions, a process we’ll discuss in the next
chapter.
Please be patient with yourself as you go through the process of learning to find and identify
your feelings. If you’ve never consciously connected to your emotions, you’ll have to work
through all of your old defenses before you can connect to yourself on an emotional level.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 83
Comfortable Feelings
Accomplished
Acknowledged
Appreciated
Awed
Awesome
Calm
Compassionate
Confident
Connected
Delighted
Ecstatic
Empathic
Encouraged
Energized
Exuberant
Focused
Grateful
Happy
Hopeful
Inspired
Interested
Joyful
Limitless
Loved
Loving
Optimistic
Pampered
Passionate
Peaceful
Powerful
Prosperous
Proud
Respected
Safe
Satisfied
Strong
Successful
Surprised
Sympathetic
Thankful
Triumphant
Trusting
Unbeatable
Uplifted
Valuable
Valued
Uncomfortable Feelings
Abandoned
Abused
Afraid
Alienated
Alone
Angry
Annoyed
Ashamed
Awkward
Bad
Betrayed
Better-than
Bored
Broken
Burdened
Chaotic
Confused
Deceived
Defeated
Defiled
Degraded
Depressed
Deprived
Disappointed
Disconnected
Discounted
Disenchanted
Disgusted
Disliked
Disoriented
Distraught
Drained
Driven
Embarrassed
Empty
Fearful
Fragile
Frantic
Frightened
Frustrated
Grief stricken
Guilty
Harried
Hostile
Humiliated
Hurt
Ignored
Impatient
Insecure
Insignificant
Intimidated
Irritated
Less-than
Lonely
Longing for
Lost
Manipulated
Misused
Needy
Neglected
Offended
Overwhelmed
Pained
Picked on
Pressured
Puzzled
Rebellious
Rejected
Remorseful
Restless
Sad
Scattered
Self-conscious
Shamed
Startled
Tired
Trapped
Troubled
Ugly
Unacknowledged
Unappreciated
Unloved
Unsure
Unwanted
Unworthy
Used
Victimized
Violated
Vulnerable
Worried
Worthless
Wounded
Wrongly accused
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 84
Balancing the Yin & Yang
For men who have been taught that only sissies express their feelings, connecting to their
emotions can be especially difficult. Fortunately, there are now a growing number of books being
published that explore what it means to be a man. The authors recognize how outdated concepts
of masculinity limit a man’s expression. Men are beginning to acknowledge the feminine side of
themselves, just as women are exploring the masculine energy that they express. As I explained in
Chapter 4, everything is a combination of yin and yang – feminine and masculine. Now we are
recognizing that to acknowledge only one aspect of ourselves keeps us from a balanced life.
For the men who are reading this book, I hope you will take some time to look beyond
whatever prejudice you might have against your own emotional nature. Your emotions are there,
whether you want to acknowledge them or not. When you discover your emotional self, it doesn’t
mean that you’re going to cry easily or express your emotions in the same way as women. It only
means that you’ll have more control of your life because you’re more complete and aware of your
total reality. To avoid knowing yourself emotionally is, in the long run, self-destructive. Holding
in your feelings contributes to diseases such as heart disease, cancer and a host of other
discomforts.
Women are often afraid of being too emotional – especially women in management positions
or women business owners. They try to be like and compete with the men in their business lives.
Being in touch with your emotions doesn’t have to lead to sloppy emotional outbreaks. Once you
release some of your old emotional baggage – in private – you won’t have to work so hard to keep
it from expressing itself in public. You’ll be free to be your powerful, feminine self who is
nurturing and receptive. Just as men can benefit from developing their feminine, emotional selves,
women can also benefit from balancing their feminine and masculine energies.
There are two approaches to creating your life. One is to go out and make it happen by
constantly pushing forward. That’s a yang, or masculine, approach. The other is to sit and wait
for everything to come to you. That’s the yin, or feminine, approach. Either one, by itself, is less
effective than a combination of the two. When you balance your masculine and feminine energies,
you’ll be able to create cycles of activity and rest. You’ll put your energy out into the world to
announce your intentions, then sit back and wait for the energies to mature. You’ll be able to
create an ebb and flow of energy in your life. When your energies are in balance, you’ll be able to
draw in what you need, almost without effort.
Your emotions are just one kind of energy that creates the totality of you. But it’s an important
aspect of your being. Emotions are very human – they are one of the main forces that we use to
create with while we’re here on Earth. Your thoughts and beliefs are part of the creative process.
But your emotions, more than anything else, determine the outcome of your life stories.
Releasing the Pain is Essential
At times it seems odd to me that this force, which is so much a part of our creativity, is
unavailable to most of us. If more of us were in touch with our feelings we wouldn’t have the
violence and abuse that is so rampant on the planet now. People who know how to express anger
appropriately never reach a point where they express rage, which can destroy everyone in its path.
When wounded children, who have no outlet for their pain, become teenagers or adults, they are
destined to act out their pain by causing it in other people and/or sabotaging themselves.
For the Earth Project to work, it’s essential that we all break through our resistance to
ourselves and learn to feel and express our feelings. We’ve created situations where our only
choice is to feel trapped, manipulated and fearful. In the movie Network, the main character, a
burned out newscaster, screams, “I’m not going to take it anymore!” Is that how you feel? Well,
you don’t have to take it any more. You can change whatever is going on in your life. You can
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 85
support yourself however you choose – as long as you’re willing to learn what you have to in
order to make it a success.
Even when you release your feelings, success won’t be handed to you on a silver platter.
You’ll have to do the footwork and actively create a venture that can place and keep you in the
money flow. By getting in touch with who you are on a feeling level, you’ll be able to choose a
path that allows you to comfortably express yourself. You’ll be able to spend your days however
you want.
Years ago, I thought I wanted to have a gigantic business. Because of what I was taught,
that’s the only way I could conceive of earning large sums of money. When I tried it, I didn’t like
it. I found that being a people manager wasn’t right for me. I felt like the mommy and none of the
kids wanted to play with me. It was like being a grade school teacher, which I didn’t enjoy at all.
After I closed Joan’s Crystals, all of my future business planning involved big numbers and a
big company, because that’s all I could conceive. But since I’ve been allowing myself to emerge, I
have found that I’d much rather support myself writing books and speaking. There are cycles in
my life now. For the past two years, I’ve taken three to four months to look inward and write a
book. When it’s complete, I reconnect to the outside world and speak to groups of people.
In earlier years, I never imagined myself as an author. Because I’ve gone deeper and deeper
into myself, I’ve been able to create a life that is far removed from anything anyone in my family
ever modeled for me. It’s a life that satisfies me and I don’t care if it doesn’t satisfy anyone else.
I’m no longer compelled to live up to other people’s expectations.
The nice part is that I receive far more support from my family and friends than I ever did
before. The support is no longer financial – I don’t need them for that anymore. Now they support
me with love, affection, acknowledgment and appreciation, which is all I ever really wanted. I just
didn’t know how to get it.
This can happen for you too – if you make a commitment to yourself and do everything
necessary to allow your life to work for you. That’s how you’ll come to know prosperity. I see
that the more I mold my life into what my heart desires, the more satisfied and complete I feel.
Those feelings have to express themselves as financial comfort, because that’s part of what I’m
expressing.
I’ll agree that feeling, identifying, releasing and expressing emotions is not easy. At times it
can become downright difficult. But, believe me, it’s worth the effort. I’ve never met anyone who
has gone through this process with regrets. Time and time again, people express how grateful they
are for whatever they went through in the past because it allowed them to reach a point of
satisfaction that would have been missed if their lives had been smooth and easy along the way.
A few years ago, I reconnected to my high school sweetheart. We’d been out of touch for well
over twenty years during which time I experienced a lot of physical and emotional pain. He still
felt lovingly toward me, and when he heard my story, he became angry because I had to live what
he perceived as a terrible life. I objected and asked him not to deny me the value of my life’s
experiences. Yes, I’ve experienced a lot of pain and discomfort, but that’s over now. Because I’ve
known such depths of despair, I can also know great heights of joy, which I wouldn’t trade for
anything. Because I was able to break the bonds of my imprisonment in this body/mind, I can fly
free now to heights few people ever reach. My life, with all of its pain, is a gift that I accept with
gratitude.
Examining Your Money Feelings
Before we go on to the next chapter where we’ll talk about releasing and expressing feelings,
I’d like to take a moment and suggest that you identify your money feelings so you can understand
what you’re expressing through your financial situation.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 86
In Section 1, I spoke about money feelings and gave you some examples of money dramas
that were a reflection of feelings. Everyone has these dramas because we all use money to express
relationship feelings.
If you’re in business for yourself, it’s essential that you understand what you’re acting out
through your financial relationships. If you don’t, then you could easily find yourself borrowing
more money than you need, spending or investing foolishly or placing yourself in financial danger.
For whatever reason, if you don’t take care of your money, you’re looking for a disaster to
happen. Success in business requires that you understand and practice good cash flow principles.
If you block the flow, you won’t be comfortable.
If you aren’t in business for yourself and you have money discomforts, then finding your
money feelings will help you build a secure financial base for yourself. The only way to do this is
to become secure with yourself and to have faith in your ability to generate what you need.
Anyone who wants to be in the prosperity consciousness must examine their money feelings.
If you don’t, you can never feel secure. Trust is essential – trust in yourself to fill your needs.
That means working through feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency vis-à-vis your talents and
potential. Most people in a scarcity consciousness don’t trust themselves and depend on others to
fill their needs. That’s why it’s difficult to step out of scarcity and into prosperity because it
means giving up dependency. Once and for all you have to take responsibility for your life. You
have to make decisions for yourself and not procrastinate about taking care of your money.
People who care for money are the ones who attract it. The more you care for it, the more
money you’ll have. Caring for it means keeping good records and learning about money flow and
how money multiplies. In Chapter 17 I’m going to talk about building your money muscles. This
will give you some practical insight into how you can start from your present position and
gradually generate increasing amounts of money so that you’re not overwhelmed by the force of
money or thoughts of accepting responsibility. I’ll also discuss how to clean up your money mess,
if you have one.
Before we can begin to look at how to handle larger and larger amounts of money, it’s
essential that you identify your emotional blocks. I can’t emphasize this enough. I don’t care what
your background is or how much money you had or didn’t have in your life, if you’re reading this
book then you’ve got money issues, otherwise you’d just get out there and be in your prosperity.
Most people have to go through some kind of process to create a prosperous life. Now is as good
a time as any to find out what it is your money is really expressing.
Emotions that are commonly expressed through painful financial situations are: entrapment,
frustration, alienation, deprivation, worthlessness and shame. You may also feel unloved and
unappreciated.
The work that I have been doing with people across the country usually involves unlocking
emotional issues that are expressed through money issues. More often than not, the people I
counsel are business owners who are having problems with their businesses. Actually, that’s why
they usually call or come to see me – they want to find the cause of their inability to experience
success in business. I’ve never spoken to a business person, male or female, with financial
problems who didn’t have emotional issues as a basis for their business concerns.
I have also worked with many people who want to go into business but find that something
keeps them from actually doing it. Here again, it’s never a financial issue but always an emotional
one that needs to be examined and released.
Your behavior with money is the key to your prosperity. In order to feel prosperous, it’s
important to detach yourself emotionally from your money. To do this, you have to take the time
to examine which feelings you’re acting out through your money. Once you recognize the
emotions, you can find other non-financial outlets for your feelings.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 87
I know how difficult it is to look at your feelings. It’s so much easier to say that your bank
account is empty or not full enough than to say that you feel lonely and empty inside. But that’s
what you’re saying. If you face the emptiness and work through its cause, you can change your
money feelings and how you behave with money.
What Are You Afraid Of?
I’m going to give you some specific suggestions to help you work through your financial
fears. You’ll also be able to use techniques that I will describe in upcoming chapters. You can use
the Feelings List to help you with this process.
Whenever you think about money, scan your body (as you learned to do in the Going Inside
Meditation), and look for areas of increased tension, such as “knots” in your stomach or a
gripping feeling around your heart. Can you identify any fear? Who or what are you afraid of?
Don’t use the word money in your answers. For example, don’t say, “I’m afraid I’m going to run
out of money.” Substitute the word people or love for the word money.
If you’re worried about not being able to pay your bills or rent, ask yourself “What am I
afraid of?” See if you can relate your fear to an abandonment drama earlier in your life. If your
problems are severe enough to affect how much money you have for food, you can probably relate
your fear of abandonment to your mother. The gender of your landlord or landlady may indicate
which parent is represented in your rent drama, although it can be a combination. For example,
Kevin Westmeir, whom I told you about earlier, acted out dramas with his landlords that
symbolized his relationship with his father. Occasionally, he had a landlady who represented not
only his father, but his mother as well.
There are many different kinds of abandonment. Examples of physical abandonment include:
if a parent died or left when you were young; if your parents divorced; or if, as a child, you were
left alone to fend for yourself for long periods of time, or if you suffered physical abuse of any
kind. But abandonment can take place without any direct action. Emotional abandonment, for
example, is just as painful as the physical variety. This can come from emotional abuse or from
one or both of your parents not being there for you emotionally. If no one ever heard you when
you hurt, if you were discounted or ridiculed, or if a parent knew about abuse you were
experiencing and did nothing to protect you, you probably feel abandoned. To act out your
feelings, you’ll often draw people into your life who abandon you in a similar way. It’s possible
that many of the dramas you act out with those people will be financial in nature.
Bill collectors are perfect for the role in these dramas. No matter how much you plead with
them and tell them your problems, they ignore what you say and keep the pressure on. They’ll
make arrangements with you, but only if it fits their terms. These men and women, who must
often play the role of the “bad guy” in our dramas, do us a great service by being there for us to
use to help unlock our repressed emotions.
Whenever you’re spending money, become conscious of the feelings in your heart center. If
necessary, carry the Feelings List with you so you can be sure that you recognize the emotion that
you’re expressing.
Whenever you talk to someone about money, listen carefully to what you’re saying and how
you define your finances. For example, if you say, “I never seem to be able to earn the money I
need,” try the sentence again using the word love instead of the word money. The sentence would
now be, “I never seem to be able to earn the love I need.” Do this with your thoughts as well as
the words you speak.
A main characteristic of people in a prosperity consciousness is that they have no fear of
scarcity – they know they will always have enough of whatever they need. If you can feel that
what you have is enough, no matter how much you have now, then you’ll understand the feeling of
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 88
prosperity. If you’re concerned about not having enough money, ask yourself what you’re afraid
will happen if you don’t have enough. What will happen if you don’t pay your rent?
Five Magic Words
I’m now going to give you the five magic words that will help you figure out why your life is
what it is. With this knowledge you can take action to change whatever you find uncomfortable.
The five words are:
Why did I create this?
This phrase can help you resolve many of your life problems. Whenever you are faced with a
challenge, instead of saying, “Why is this happening to me?” you can ask instead, “Why did I
create this?”
When I was living in a converted garage in the Oakwood section of Venice, which is now
terrorized by gangs, I was one of the few Caucasians in the neighborhood. There was a lot of drug
dealing and violence. Many times I’d ask myself, “Why am I here? Why have I created this?”
Whenever I ask myself why I’ve created something, I know that there are many reasons. However,
if I focus on how the situation is related to my need to express repressed emotions, I can usually
see a pattern that repeats itself in many of my life stories.
A combination of feelings were being expressed through my experiences in Venice. After
months of inner reflection I saw that I felt isolated, alienated, impoverished and deprived. It took
years for me to work through the memories that were at the base of those feelings. But asking the
question “Why did I create this?” enabled me to get off the pity-pot and start healing my life.
When I observed my neighbors, I saw anger and frustration boiling over. Their rage helped me
to see that I had to get in touch with the rage that I had buried deep inside of me. Although I’d been
on a spiritual path for many years and appeared to be peaceful, I’d never dealt with the anger that
I’d pushed away for most of my life. By asking “Why did I create this?” I was able to see the
reflection that my neighbors provided. As a result, I was able to feel and release some of my
repressed rage.
While living in Venice, my aging car, which had no hood latch, was fair game and about every
two months someone would steal my battery. Finally, I asked myself “Why did I create this?” I
realized that it was time to get in touch with the feelings of violation that I had held onto for forty
years. An incredible healing started to take place because instead of asking, “Why did this happen
to me?” I asked, “Why did I create this?”
After I was able to understand and release some of my feelings of anger, frustration and
violation, the time came for me to move out of the garage. I found a huge three-bedroom apartment
in Marina del Rey, a very “uptown” neighborhood, and realized that if I rented out two of the
rooms, I could afford it. For slightly more than I was paying for the garage, I could completely
change my environment and live in a neighborhood that was more in tune with my new state of
consciousness.
Why was I able to do this? Logically you might say that it was because I was earning more
money. That was true, but I was earning more because I changed my consciousness. I no longer
needed what the Venice neighborhood provided emotionally. The new apartment was a physical
symbol of my new set of thoughts, beliefs and emotions. I no longer felt that a garage was all that I
deserved.
I’m grateful for my experience in Venice. Without it, I never could have progressed. Instead of
complaining and feeling like a victim, I chose to take responsibility for my life. As a result, I was
able to turn it around.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 89
Recently, a friend of mind, Matty Woods, was telling me about a person she worked with, Tim,
who was causing a problem for her. I had met Matty’s father, and realized immediately that Tim
physically resembled him. Their energy was similar. When Matty described what Tim was doing, I
asked her, “Why did you create this? How does that make you feel?”
When she told me, I asked, “Who made you feel that way when you were a child?”
“My father,” Matty answered. Matty could see that she had recreated a situation that was
similar to the one she experienced with her father. As a result, she understood why she created the
situation with Tim.
By having the awareness, and telling me what she felt, Matty was able to start balancing the
energies that were affecting her relationship with Tim. She followed up with the exercises that I
taught her. Within a short period of time, Tim stopped sabotaging her, even though she never said
anything to him. The need that he had been filling had dissipated.
Because this is such an important principle, and I’d like you to fully understand it, I’m going
to give you one more example.
About eight years ago, my friend Mike was having a problem with the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS). He felt that he was being treated unfairly by the woman examiner assigned to his
case. For months it dragged on and on, and Mike felt bruised by the experience. The day he told
me about the problem, Mike was feeling a great deal of fear. A hearing was scheduled for the next
day and the thought of it weighed heavily on his mind. I asked Mike if the woman examiner
reminded him of his mother. She did, he admitted. Upon questioning, he saw a correlation between
his mother’s treatment of him and the examiner’s. Both relationships also generated the same
feelings for him. He was suffering in silence about the IRS, just the way he did with his mother.
To help him let go of his need for the IRS problem, I led him through the Emotional Clearing
Process, which you will find in Chapter 12. I gave Mike a teddy bear to hold and had him connect
to his child-self. I then had him imagine that he was telling his mother how he felt. I also suggested
that during his meditation that evening he send love and light to the examiner. The next day when
Mike went to his meeting with the IRS examiner, it was as if a curtain had been lifted. Everything
went smoothly and he felt confident and unemotional about the session. Eventually, a satisfactory
settlement was agreed upon.
We’ll talk more about creating with your TBEs. But in the meantime, think about some
experiences that you’ve had in which you were a victim, or look at your current discomforts. Ask
yourself, “Why did I create this situation?” Then think back to childhood experiences with your
family of origin and see if you can relate your present feelings to those you had during interactions
with your mother, father or siblings. Once you identify the feelings, you’ll be able to change the
outcome of the situation and not repeat it again.
In Chapter 14, you will find The Seven-Step Process. You can use this whenever you are
trying to solve a problems. It will remind you to ask yourself, “Why did I create this?” Then it will
lead you through the steps that you need to take to release the old emotions that are being generated
by a particular situation.
Seek Help If You Need It
A word of caution: If you have severe financial problems, you may be blocking memories of
extreme emotional pain inflicted in your childhood. If your problems, financial or otherwise, are
chronic and debilitating, I suggest that you seek out a support group, such as CoDA or Debtors
Anonymous, or therapy of some kind, preferably with a therapist who understands codependency
and relationship issues. Severe financial pain is always an indication of emotional pain, often
involving physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Memories can be buried deep inside your
unconscious mind. If this is so, you’ll need help unlocking the memories. If you have trouble
remembering your childhood, this could apply to you.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 90
If you perceive that you can’t afford therapy, you may be able to find a clinic or a psychology
intern. These graduate students work under the tutelage of an experienced licensed therapist and
often have great insight. When I first started my journey to emotional health, I went to a clinic and
paid only $5.00 a session. The person to whom I was assigned was so good for me that I stayed
with her all through her internship and while she earned her Ph.D. and developed a practice in
Beverly Hills. If you’re serious about getting well, you’ll draw in the person who can help you.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 91
Chapter 13. Changing Your Emotions
A musical instrument has many potential sounds within it. These sounds stay silent until the
musician does something to release them. The same is true of your emotions. You have the
potential to express every possible emotion, but they only make themselves heard when you “play”
their sound.
When the musician plays a series of notes, a melody is heard. Some melodies are bright and
cheery, others are sad and melancholy. In an instant, the mood can change from happy to sad and
vice versa. You have moods too. To “play” a happy melody, you choose comfortable emotions. To
play a sad melody, uncomfortable emotions are used. Like an instrument, you can rapidly switch
from one mood to another.
Your emotions express your response to a particular situation. Because every human is unique,
your combination of responses – the melody you play – will be different from everyone else’s. You
don’t consciously choose the emotions that you’re going to play from one moment to the next.
They come from your subconscious and are a reflection of your state of consciousness.
If the major themes of your emotions are sad or melancholy, you can move to a new state of
consciousness and learn to play a different tune. You can alter your previous conditioning and use
a new set of emotions to express yourself.
There are many ways that you can do this. No matter which method you choose, you will have
to go through various steps in the process. The first, as I’ve pointed out, is to find and identify
your feelings in order to change your level of awareness. This prepares your consciousness for
change.
The next two steps involve releasing and expressing the emotions that are blocking the flow of
positive energy through your body/mind. Old resentments, anger, wounds, grudges and guilts keep
you from knowing peace, joy and bliss. A self-image based on old impressions will keep you from
your prosperity.
Over the years, I’ve developed a number of effective techniques for facilitating emotional
release and expression. I’m going to present some of them here. If you’re uncomfortable financially
and willing to take the time to do the following exercises, I can virtually guarantee that you will see
a change in your money flow.
Release Your Inner Child
If I asked you how old you feel at this moment – inside – what would you reply? When I do
this at my seminars, the answers range from two to ninety, regardless of the age of the audience.
Aren’t there times when you feel old and tired and others when you feel like a small child?
Whenever you feel playful, you probably feel more like a child. You also might feel like a child
when you speak to someone who is a dominant authority figure.
Some people never got a chance to be childlike, even when they were young. In large families,
the older children often have to accept adult responsibilities early in their lives. Caretaking duties
are passed down to children long before they have completed their childhood, forcing them to
behave like adults. Children with parents who tell them, “Act your age!” have to put aside childish
behavior and act more adult. Children are encouraged to behave in ways that stifle their youthful
creativity and expression.
This is unfortunate because as adults it is the child within us that is creative, expressive and
connected to our spiritual reality. Children easily invent games and stories. They play with
imaginary playmates and often see “spirits” that adults can’t comprehend. Babies are almost pure
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 92
emotion. Their only means of expression is their feelings. As they become more verbal, they are
taught to express their emotions with words or actions. We soon learn that if we can’t express our
feelings verbally, we can use devices such as passive-aggressive behavior or other ways to act out
our emotions.
In order to reach your current age, you obviously had to pass through each of the years along
the way. When you became five years old, what happened to the four-year-old part of you? It
didn’t just disappear. You integrated all of your previous memories and feelings into your five-
year-old self. So the energy of your four-, three-, two- and one-year-old selves are still there inside
of you. They are an integral part of your expression.
If you were wounded emotionally when you were young, then the child within you, which is
often referred to as the Inner Child, is still wounded. In order to reach a prosperity consciousness,
you’ll have to make contact with your wounded Inner Child and let it express the feelings that you
have been carrying around with you. You have to heal its wounds.
The techniques that I am presenting here will help your Inner Child express itself. Once you do
this, you can release old feelings and learn to express new ones. With these new emotions, you can
change your life stories and take yourself into the prosperity consciousness. When you replace
neediness with fullness, you will be prosperous.
Releasing the emotions of your Inner Child is a complex process – far more complex than I
can address in this book. In the Resource Section you will find other titles that can help you with
this process. Attending CoDA meetings will also help you connect to and release your Inner Child.
Getting to Know Your Inner Child
In order to release the repressed emotions that are keeping you from your prosperity, you’ll
have to get to know your Inner Child. The following technique will help you connect to your Inner
Child and encourage it to express itself.
You may want to give your Inner Child a name. A nickname from childhood with which you
identify will work as will any name that you always wanted to have. I call my Inner Child Joanie.
I’ve even developed a Joanie cartoon that I use in my journals. You met her in Chapter 5 – she’s
both the happy person and the sad sack. Both of these drawings came from my journal. I found
that I could express my emotions more easily through the Joanie cartoon than I could through my
adult self. Joanie was able to express anger long before I could.
If this sounds a little schizoid, it is. You’re going to split yourself in order to reprogram
yourself. Once you change your emotions, you can integrate once again. Don’t be concerned about
getting weird at work or in your relationships – you won’t. This can be a private process, although
you might want to consider going to a support group or finding a friend with whom you can share
your process. Something magical seems to happen when people share their feelings with each
other. The act of sharing is often enough to release old emotions.
Here are some suggestions for connecting to your Inner Child:
1. Take your Inner Child shopping. Buy toys that your Inner Child can use such as crayons, a
jump rope, toy cars and trucks, dolls and a teddy bear. I consider a teddy bear a basic piece of
equipment for changing feelings. It’s tough to hug a teddy bear without reactivating feeling
memories of childhood. Adults who felt threatened and vulnerable as children, often feel safe and
secure when they hold a teddy bear.
2. When you’re in your meditation space, close your eyes and visualize yourself as a child.
Imagine yourself, as an adult, coming into the picture and reaching out your hand to the child.
Take his or her hand, tell the child that you love it and that you’re here to help it. Put your arms
around the child and let it feel your love.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 93
3. Find a picture of yourself as a young child and keep it near your bed. Before you go to sleep
at night, gaze into the child’s eyes and feel yourself connecting to that part of you.
4. Ask your Inner Child what it wants to do. The answer you receive might surprise you.
5. Develop a dialogue with your Inner Child by writing in your journal. Ask your Inner Child
to speak to you. Some people like to use the non-dominant hand to write the words of their Inner
Child. Let the words come as a stream of consciousness.
A few months after I connected to my Inner Child, I asked her what she wanted. I made a list.
Much to my delight, the third item on the list was “Take flying lessons.” I had taken lessons in
1963 and didn’t realize that I still harbored a desire to fly. A few days earlier I had seen an ad in a
local paper offering a sample lesson at a nearby flight school for only $20. I made an appointment
for the next day. As soon as the lesson was over, I signed up. Getting my pilot’s license turned out
to be one of the best things I ever did for myself. I can’t imagine anyplace where I could have
developed so much confidence and self-sufficiency. When you learn to take responsibility for your
life, it can affect everything you do.
The Emotion Clearing Technique
After you connect to your Inner Child, you’ll be ready to help it express itself. The technique
that follows is one that can consistently help you through the process of altering your emotional
responses.
At some point, I realized that the discomfort I felt in my physical body was an expression of
emotional pain. But I was so disconnected from my feelings that I couldn’t easily understand what
I was expressing. To help myself, I developed the Emotion Clearing Technique, which became my
basic method of releasing feelings. I’ve used this technique hundreds of times for myself and have
taught it to many other people who have found it as effective as I do.
I still use this technique whenever I feel a little off center. Even though I’ve been releasing
emotional pain for many years, every once in a while I know that something wants to be let out.
Doing this exercise helps me get back on course.
To do this you’ll need a towel. I call it a “yelling towel.” You’ll need it because once you learn
how to let go of your emotions, you might find yourself wanting to shout or even scream. Doing it
into a towel will allow you to avoid attracting attention from your neighbors or other members of
your family.
Here’s how to do this technique:
1. Lie down on your bed on your side. Hug a teddy bear, doll or pillow. Close your eyes and
gently rock yourself back and forth. Take a few deep diaphragmatic breaths.
2. Try to imagine that you’re a young child. Think of a picture you have of yourself as a child
or remember an incident from your childhood.
3. As you rock back and forth, focus on the part of your body that’s uncomfortable. If you
have a definable pain, imagine that you’re traveling into it. Don’t run away from the pain. Go
inside of it and feel it with all of its intensity.
As you do this, say out loud, “I’m so uncomfortable,” or “I hurt so much.” Talk as if you’re a
child. Your talking may sound like whining, that’s fine. After repeating what you’re saying a few
times, direct your words to one of your parents. For example, you might say out loud, “Mommy,
mommy, I hurt so much.” In your mind, make the connection to your parent and imagine they’re
listening carefully to what you are saying, even if this didn’t happen for you when you were young.
4. Now try to define what you’re feeling more clearly, or tell your mother or father why you
hurt. For example, you might say, “Daddy, I feel so disappointed because you won’t play with
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me,” or “Daddy, I feel so abandoned because you never come home anymore.” Whatever you say,
use the present, not past, tense and start your sentences with “I feel.”
Keep repeating what you’re saying or tell your mother or father exactly what is bothering you.
Tell them everything you wish you could have said as a child that you didn’t know how to express.
If you find yourself getting angry and need to raise your voice, use the towel if you’re afraid of
having someone hear you. Make whatever sounds or say whatever words you need to express
yourself.
Eventually, you’ll begin to experience not only the memory but the feelings that go with the
memory. The goal is to allow yourself to feel the feelings as fully as possible without blocking their
expression. Once you begin to experience an emotion, focus on the feeling. Locate it in your body
and stay with it (just as you do with the Going Inside Meditation). As you feel it, let yourself cry or
moan or whatever you want to do in order to express the emotion. This is the key to having as
complete a release as possible.
At first, you may have trouble remembering or saying anything. You’re going to resist the
emotional release, especially if you have been conditioned to repress your emotions. In order to
express them, you’ll have to break through your own defenses. Don’t expect a full release the first,
second or even the third time you try this. You have to recondition yourself in order to allow
yourself freedom of expression. This will take time and effort, but it’s worth the investment of
energy.
The reason I suggest that you find a friend with whom you can share your process is that when
you reach the point where you’re able to fully experience the feeling, you may become frightened
and imagine that you’ll never get out of it. Believe it or not, that’s good. Because if you’re able to
experience the feeling that deeply, you probably won’t have to do it with the same intensity again.
If you do become afraid, call your friend and tell him or her what’s going on.
If you make an agreement with a friend to share this process, both of you have to understand
that your purpose is only to be there for each other and not to give advice. Just offer an
understanding ear without trying to solve any problems. If one of you says, “It feels like it’s never
going to stop,” the other person can offer reassurance that it will.
Why Bother?
You may say at this point, “Why would I want to put myself through this?” There’s a practical
reason – it’s going to allow you to move from where you are to a much lighter, more comfortable
state of being. These deep pains cause blocks in your energy flow. As I’ve said, you’ll find that
your financial situation changes when you let out the old pains.
I know it’s difficult to do this voluntarily, but do you really have a choice? Are you willing to
continue doing what you’re doing and getting the same results? The technique I just described is
the shortest path between neediness and prosperity. Once you become familiar with this technique,
you’ll look forward to doing it because if you’ve numbed your feelings, you’ll welcome the
opportunity to reawaken the emotional part of you. You’ll feel wonderful when the release is over.
Believe me, I’m not a glutton for punishment. I like to feel good. That’s why I’m glad I found
this technique. I’m so clear now that there’s very little anger, resentment, hurt or any other
emotional discomfort lurking in the corners of my psyche, waiting to jump out and sabotage me.
As a result, my physical body is healthy and comfortable for the first time in my life. When I’m out
and about during the day, I often notice that I’m smiling, not for any particular reason except that I
feel so good. People tell me that just being with me improves their state of mind because I generate
so much joy. That’s why I’m willing to get on my bed and do all of the boo-hooing I have to in
order to let go of the emotions that are dragging me down.
Do you have to do this to become prosperous? Not if you know of another way to get rid of
your old emotional baggage. You could go to therapy, but many of you who are reading this aren’t
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 95
willing to do that. I used this technique while I was in therapy and my therapist said that I made
unusually rapid progress. Unlike many others, I was able to dramatically change my basic
emotional patterns and responses.
Remember, I said it’s up to you how far you want to go. If you plan on moving to the
prosperity consciousness, I suggest that you try this Emotion Clearing Technique.
Using Your Journal
Your journal can become an integral part of your clearing process. Whenever I’m trying to
understand why I’m feeling uncomfortable, I write in my journal. I’m often amazed at what is
revealed to me.
Journal writing is not like any kind of formal writing. It’s a stream of consciousness that can
help you understand yourself. When you write in a journal, it’s for you and you alone. You never
have to worry about anyone else reading it and you are free to say whatever you want.
At first, writing about your inner thoughts and feelings may be awkward, but after a while,
you will become quite comfortable with it. You’re actually establishing a new pathway of
expression.
When you were learning to speak, you had to practice for months before anyone understood
what you were saying. Your brain had to adjust to the spoken word. The same thing happens with
writing. You are learning to express words through your fingers. Just as it did with speaking, your
brain has to establish this method as a pathway for thought.
If you have a computer, you may want to use it to do your journaling, especially if you have an
aversion to writing. After time, you will establish a rhythm and a relationship with the computer.
The most important thing to remember is to not judge your writing. The grammar, spelling,
form, etc., do not matter. It’s important that you let the words flow smoothly between your brain
and the keyboard (or paper) when you are writing.
If your self-expression is seriously impaired, you may want to draw pictures before you write
words. That’s what small children do. By drawing you can take yourself back to the time when you
were first starting to have trouble expressing yourself.
Many people resist journaling, probably because it can be so revealing. But if you do it, you’ll
find that it can help you take a giant step in your journey of consciousness.
When you write in your journal, don’t report facts or events. Focus on your feelings and new
ideas or understandings that develop. Practice starting sentences with the words, “I feel,” or
“Today I felt.”
Making the Sounds of Your Feelings
Learning to express your feelings means developing a new skill. Some people are more adept
at emotional expression than others, but anyone can learn how to do it. Like learning to play an
instrument, you have to practice in order to achieve any level of virtuosity.
Emotions are the notes humans strike when they play their instruments. Usually we do it with
words, although as babies we used only sounds. If you have trouble using words to express your
emotions, I suggest that you try the following technique.
In the beginning, do this lying on your bed, on your side, in the position I described in the
previous technique. After you’re familiar with this exercise, you can do it sitting in your meditation
spot or standing with your eyes closed.
• Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and imagine that you’re traveling into your solar
plexus.
• When you become aware of a pain, tension, or any kind of feeling or sensation, make a
sound, out loud, that describes what you are experiencing. At first your sounds may be very quiet
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 96
as you develop the courage to express them. As you become familiar with the process, it will be
easier for you to make loud sounds.
Here is another way to use sound to help you release:
• Stand with your feet comfortably apart, knees slightly bent. Start gently bobbing up and
down, keeping your feet on the floor. Let your arms swing naturally with the movement. Close
your eyes or keep them half-closed without focusing.
• As you bounce, sigh, moan or hum one note. Continue bouncing for a few minutes or more.
It’s important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to do these emotion-releasing
techniques. They’re meant to allow you to say and do whatever is right for you. In the beginning,
you may feel silly, embarrassed or reluctant to make any sounds. Just as with the previous
technique, you have to overcome years of conditioning that told you to behave “properly” or not to
express your emotions.
Therapeutic Screaming
Anger that has turned into rage is one of the most prevalent feelings that is being expressed at
this time in our history. At times it seems that the world is boiling over with anger. If each of us
learns to deal with our anger individually, the entire world could move through anger into a more
peaceful state of consciousness. Being angry at what’s going on will not change it – your anger is
only being added to the pool of anger that already exists.
If you are willing to deal with the anger and rage that is trapped within you, not only will you
help yourself, you’ll also help establish a more peaceful consciousness on the planet. Remember I
said that whatever you do affects the entire world. Although that’s hard to conceive, it’s true. If
you feel powerless over the events of the day, releasing your anger will help you feel more in
control.
If you have repressed frustration and anger, if you feel trapped and controlled, there’s a good
chance you have high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, weight problems or any one of a number of
physical disorders. It’s impossible to retain high-energy emotions without having them express
themselves in one way or another.
Instead of sabotaging yourself or indulging in self-destructive behavior, I suggest that you let
out some of your feelings by screaming. Small children know the value of this mode of expression,
often to their parents’ dismay.
You can scream in your car with the windows rolled up (which will give you the freedom to
make as much noise as you want), or you can yell at home. But you’ll probably have to use a
yelling towel, unless you live out in the wilderness.
If you never yell at people or your pets, or if you’re a quiet (yin) person, it may be difficult to
let yourself scream. You can start with peeps if that’s all you can muster. After you develop the
courage to give a hefty scream, you can add words. Think about someone who is controlling you
or pushing your anger buttons. It can be someone who angered you in the past. Scream and yell at
them as much as you want. Swear, if you want, and say whatever comes into your mind. Let it out
so that you don’t have to carry the anger and resentment around with you anymore.
Once the release process starts, you may feel the urge to scream every day for a week or more.
Releasing feelings is like squeezing a lemon. At first a lot comes out. After a while, you have to
squeeze hard to get the last few drops. If you’re still not experiencing prosperity, you’re not even
close to those last drops. There’s plenty that has to come out.
Letting Go of Your Anger
If you’ve been told that it’s not spiritual to show anger or that “God” won’t like it if you’re
angry, you’ll have to give yourself permission to release your anger. Because you’re not directing
your anger/rage at anyone, no one is going to be hurt by your anger/rage. Remember, the truth of
you shall set you free and if you’re angry, that’s your truth. Just because you never express your
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 97
anger doesn’t mean you don’t have any. It’s a lot better for everyone if you let it out and free
yourself to express a more comfortable emotion.
Therapeutic screaming will help you release some of the anger you’re carrying around with
you. If you’re aware that you have rage that you’re holding back, you may want to attend an anger
release seminar or have someone help you who is familiar with techniques for releasing anger.
I had to let go of an enormous pool of anger and resentment that affected my digestive organs
and contributed to the weakening of my immune system. Fortunately, I realized that in order to
stop punishing myself financially and otherwise, I’d have to release my anger. I used the following
techniques.
When you feel anger coming up, instead of stifling it, go off by yourself somewhere, with a
yelling towel if necessary, and verbally express whatever wants to come up. I usually start by
saying out loud, “I am so angry.” (That’s when my dog knows to go hide under the bed.)
I make a fist and grit my teeth and keep repeating “I am so angry,” until I can feel the anger in
my chest. Then I get more specific and will say something like, “I am so angry because you did (or
didn’t) ________ .”
Punching the air seems to help get the anger out of my body. I’ll stand in front of a mirror,
imagining that the person with whom I’m angry is standing in front of me and I’ll punch the air
with both of my hands. If you have a punching bag available and know how to use one without
hurting your hands, you can use that.
You can also stamp your feet, bang on your mattress, or punch a pillow. Yell and scream until
you feel that you’ve exhausted the anger. When you’re finished, I suggest you do some
diaphragmatic breathing and surround yourself with pink light.
Fear
If you watch the news then you know that along with anger, the major emotion that is being
expressed throughout the world is fear. There is an epidemic of fear that is permeating our lives.
Even small children no longer feel safe walking down the street or playing in the park. Although
conditions seem to be worsening, I see it as part of the planet’s healing process.
If you can accept that we create our reality with our feelings, then perhaps you will agree that
we create our communal experiences through an aggregate of everyone’s repressed feelings. Fear is
a feeling that virtually every human being harbors. Many people are paralyzed by their
unexpressed fears.
Because the planet is moving towards a healthier state of consciousness, it too must go through
a process of release. We are the cells of the planet and we have been holding on to fear. The events
that are taking place in the world at this time are so severe that we are forced to express our fear.
Like an alcoholic who has to hit a painful bottom before moving forward, we are in a fear crisis
and are being forced to look at ourselves.
The other day a mother of a child that had been kidnapped and murdered asked, “How can a
loving God have allowed this to happen?” I’m sure she echoed the thoughts of many who shared
her grief. How frustrating it is to feel totally out of control in a hostile world.
I have a strong belief in the Benevolent Intelligence of which we are a part. Because of this, I
accept everything that happens as part of our evolution. When something looks horrible to me, I try
to go beyond my immediate feelings and see the event in terms of the greater reality. My faith is not
in a Being that decides what happens to each of us, but in a natural force that moves through all
existence. From everything I have observed, natural systems seek balance and do whatever must be
done to reach that point. Earthquakes can be a disaster for humans, but they are a natural part of
the release process that the planet is going through as it evolves.
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Like pawns in a chess game, some of the cells of Planet Earth have to be sacrificed for the
good of the whole. In our physical bodies, glands or organs are sometimes sacrificed in order for
the entire organism to survive. In nature, natural fires destroy both flora and fauna as forests
regenerate.
From the point of view of a family of deer, a forest fire is a major tragedy. They can’t
comprehend the force of nature that requires removal of the old to make way for the new. The
parents of a murdered child who are consumed with grief would find it hard to believe, and
certainly wouldn’t care, that they are helping the planet to heal.
We can turn the tide of events by looking at our fears and taking the action that will allow us to
get beyond them. If we hold onto the belief that a supernatural force is doing something to us, we
can never gain control. But if we ask “Why are we creating this?” actions can be taken that will
change the course of events. If each of us faces our individual fears and lets them go, there will be
less fear in society as a whole.
The effect of positive action can be seen where members of a community, fed up with drugs
and violence, commit to taking back control of their neighborhood. Instead of just complaining and
running away from the danger, brave men and women face their enemy. By working as a unit with
a common purpose, they create a peaceful environment for themselves.
Letting Go of Fear
Letting go of your fears is a long slow process. You have been programmed to be afraid since
you were a child. Parents teach their children fear. It is a feeling that has been passed on through
time immemorial.
Fear can be a constructive emotion. Fear keeps us from walking off the edge of a cliff or
walking into a burning building; but our fears have become irrational. We are afraid of other
people because of the color of their skin, afraid of doing what we want to do because we may not
have enough money twenty-five years into the future, and afraid to talk to people because they
might not like us.
A successful, prosperous life is the result of taking risks. If you’re afraid of the unknown to
the point where it paralyzes you, you’ll never be able to walk beyond the space you’re in now.
You’ll be stuck in your comfort zone forever, no matter how painful it might be.
I am fortunate because one of my coping devices is to do whatever frightens me. I’m aware
that fear interferes with my freedom and I’d rather walk through my fear and leave it behind than
nurture it and let it control me. Faith is what allows me to move forward and leave my fears
behind. Not faith in a God, but faith in myself. I have come to believe that I have the power to
rescue myself from any difficult situation. This faith did not come overnight. Although I’ve always
had an extra dose of courage, I often have to do a lot of inner dialoguing in order to push myself
through a difficult situation.
I don’t know if I’ll ever forget what it was like sitting on the tarmac waiting for clearance for
my first solo flight. The word scared doesn’t begin to express what I was feeling at that moment. A
little voice inside kept reminding me that in an instant I could die, or worse, be maimed for life.
Somehow, I had to reach deep inside to that part of me that knows that I have the power to take
care of myself. I reminded my frightened self that thousands of people solo for the first time and
don’t crash. I had to find the faith that I could be one of those who make it.
That’s what I mean by faith. You’ve made it through lots of tough times already. Now you
have the option of either believing that you can do it again or you can’t. It may be uncomfortable,
but in the end, you’ll be glad you tried.
Don’t wait until your fear subsides before you take action. Acknowledge your fears and move
forward anyhow. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Since you’re rarely going to
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be putting your life in danger, the most you can probably lose is money, time, material goods, or
acquaintances. If your fear of loss stops you, then you can never be free.
Make a list of your fears and ask yourself if you’re willing to let them run your life. If you’re
not, take action. Do something concrete that will allow you to counteract your fear. If you’re afraid
of people, find a group where you can feel safe. Recently I saw a sign that said, “Don’t just sit
there, do something!”
Releasing Through the Physical Body
Because emotions are energy, when they aren’t released, they have to find a pathway of
expression. Often they reside in your physical body where they express themselves as pain,
discomfort or chronic dis-ease. When you are ready, these stored feelings can literally be scooped
out of your body and released.
There are a number of ways to do this. One of the easiest is massage, which can be done by
you or someone else. Nothing helps relieve tension and mild pain and increase energy levels like
massage.
Various forms of massage are available including Swedish, shiatsu and acupressure. Some
therapists have a light touch, others do deep tissue work that can release intense emotions that have
been stored for many years. Some techniques, like rolfing, Heller work, myofascial massage and
psychostructural balancing, help to restructure the body and overcome distortions such as
scoliosis.
Some therapists now combine various forms of electrical therapy, preferably microcurrent,
with massage. This helps the restructuring process. In 1993, I experienced microcurrent therapy
combined with myofascial massage. The effects on my scoliosis and related problems were
dramatic.
Another technique, which is usually done by chiropractors, is called Neuro Emotional
Technique (NET). With this therapy, the practitioner can help the patient locate where in the body
various emotions are stored and then release them by adjusting corresponding vertebrae. I was
amazed at the effectiveness of this technique which a chiropractor did for me. Network
Chiropractic, a relatively new branch of chiropractic, also helps release emotions.
Rebirthing is an intense therapy that is designed to release deep emotions through controlled
breathing. Many people experience dramatic breakthroughs after a series of rebirthing treatments.
This is one therapy that I suggest you do with someone you know and trust because you have to let
go and make yourself vulnerable.
Qicong, a Chinese system of energy balancing which stresses deep breathing techniques, can
stimulate release. Yoga breathing, such as pranayama, is also of great value.
Most people who use these various body-work techniques don’t understand that strong
emotional releases can be stimulated. As a result, when feelings come up, they often go right back
to the self-destructive behavior that caused the problem in the first place. Using the Emotion
Clearing Technique in conjunction with any kind of body work will increase the effectiveness of
both.
You can find body workers through most New Thought organizations such as Unity and
Science of Mind. Spiritual and New Age bookstores can usually recommend local practitioners. I
highly recommend any kind of body work or energy balancing treatments. They can help you both
physically and emotionally and often eliminate the need for drugs.
Self-Massage
Almost twenty years ago, an acupressure practitioner introduced me to foot reflexolgy. This
ancient technique is based on the theory that all body parts have stimulation points in the feet.
When you massage your feet, you are helping to unblock the energy flow in your body. The first
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time this was done for me, the pain was unbelievable. My physical and emotional health were
clearly reflected in my feet.
From that day on, I started working on my feet on a regular basis. There was a direct
correlation between the release of pain during the massage and the progress I made in my healing.
Despite the fact that I am quite clear, I still work
on my feet almost every day.
If you look at the diagram on the pervious page,
you’ll see that the points follow the anatomy of the
body. The points that relate to the head are in the
toes. As you move towards the heel, you are
following the makeup of the body.
Use your thumb to locate sore spots on your feet.
When you find one rub it until the pain dissipates.
Don’t be afraid to press hard. You can also do
reflexology massage on your hands and ears.
They too have points that correspond to various
body parts. To do your ears, use your thumb and
index finger to rub your ear.
If you want more information about reflexology,
you can find books on this subject at your local health
food store, library or bookstore.
Develop New Feelings
If I tell you to give up processed foods and I don’t tell you what to eat instead, you’ll never
change your eating habits. Similarly, if I suggest that you release your uncomfortable feelings
without helping you discover new feelings to take their place, you’ll do everything to avoid
eliminating your painful emotions.
You can do the following exercises even if you haven’t begun to let go of your painful
emotions. The only danger in this is that you’ll get hooked on the feel-good activities and resist
those that aren’t as pleasant. You’ll have a better attitude and approach, but the old feelings will be
there, waiting to express themselves. What better avenue of expression could they find than your
finances? So keep this in mind if you want to make a complete shift into prosperity.
Using the Movie Screen in Your Mind
As a warm-up for these exercises, I suggest that you build a movie screen in your mind. If
you’ve never tried to consciously visualize anything, this exercise will help you develop the skill
(which can be a great aid when you’re trying to create something).
You can do this in your meditation space or when you’re lying in bed before you fall asleep.
Actually, if you have any trouble clearing your mind when you’re trying to sleep, this can be a
great help.
Try to imagine that you’re looking at a movie screen. If you don’t see anything in your mind’s
eye, that’s okay. In time it will come. Now imagine that you’re projecting numbers onto the screen.
See giant numbers in succession. You might want to fill them in with various designs, like dots or
plaids. The idea is to try to visualize them as clearly as possible.
After you begin to actually see numbers in your mind’s eye, place other objects on the screen,
such as flowers. For example, imagine that on your screen you see a beautiful red rose. Imagine its
petals, stem and leaves. Imagine its fragrance. Let the rose rotate so you can see it from various
points of view. Become aware of any feelings you have about the rose.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 101
Here are some exercises for developing your positive emotions.
I Am Peace Meditation
Sit in your meditation space and do the Basic Meditation (See Chapter 8). After you’re
connected to The Light, do the following.
• Imagine that you’re sitting on the banks of a calm lake at dawn. The sun is just coming up on
the horizon and a light mist is rising from the water. You can hear a variety of birds making their
morning sounds.
• Feel the peacefulness of this place. Feel the quiet. As you do, repeat to yourself, I am Peace.
Each time you say the word peace, try to feel it.
Do this for three to five minutes.
I Am Love Meditation
Sit in your meditation space and do the Basic Meditation. After you’re connected to The Light,
do the following.
• Imagine that in the center of your chest is a giant opening in which you can see a vibrating
pink light. Imagine that you are sending the pink light to someone you love. It can be a parent,
child, friend, lover or a pet. Imagine that the pink light enters them in the center of their chest. As
you do this, repeat to yourself, I am Love.
• As you do this, feel yourself generating the feeling of love from your heart. Experience the
sensation of love as you repeat to yourself, I am Love.
Do this for three to five minutes.
After you become familiar with this meditation, you can use it in other ways. You can imagine
that you’re sending the pink light to someone with whom you are having relationship problems. It
can be a person at work or in your personal life. Every time you do this exercise, you are adding
love to your energy field and it will help you move into a more positive state of consciousness.
I was taught to do this exercise anytime I was in a crowd. I would sit on bus benches at rush
hour and practice beaming love to everyone who passed by. I highly suggest this if you want a
mood boost – it feels terrific.
I Am Joy Meditation
Sit in your meditation space and do the Basic Meditation. After you’re connected to The Light,
do the following.
• Think of a time in your life when you experienced great happiness. It doesn’t matter how far
back in time you have to go for the memory. Develop as clear a picture as possible in your mind’s
eye. If you don’t experience anything visually, that’s fine. Your memories may all be on a feeling
level. Since that’s all that matters for this exercise it doesn’t matter if you don’t actually “see”
anything.
• Once you have a clear happy memory, travel into the feeling. Feel the joy as it fills your heart
and spreads throughout your body. As you do this, repeat to yourself, I am Joy
.
Do this for three to five minutes.
After you’re comfortable with these three meditations, you can do the same with any of the
positive emotions on the Feelings List. Doing this will accustom your body/mind to positive
emotional responses.
Practice Positive Feelings
Use the Feelings List on page 77 and choose one from the Comfortable Feelings section. Close
your eyes and imagine an event or person that might allow you to create the feeling. Stay focused
on your body and try to maintain the feeling. With each feeling that you generate, say, I am (the
feeling . For example: I am compassion, I am passionate, I am loved.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 102
Trust Yourself
In order to overcome feelings of alienation and abandonment, it’s important to learn to trust
that you will give yourself whatever you need. If what I said in Section 1 about self-abandonment
applies to you, then it’s essential that you change your behavior. If you continue to behave the way
you’ve been behaving, you can’t move to a new level of consciousness.
First and foremost, you can stop giving your power away to other people. As long as you
aren’t willing to own your own power, you’ll always be dependent on others to fill your needs.
Since no one can fill all your needs, you’ll always be unhappy. The commitment to prosperity is
actually a contract you make with yourself to do what you have to do to nurture, protect and
satisfy yourself.
For many of you that means a drastic change in your approach to life. You’ll have to make
decisions for yourself, take care of yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually, and take
whatever actions necessary to allow your life to flow smoothly. You won’t be able to blame other
people, your astrological sign or God for your life stories. You’ll have to accept your power to
create whatever you want or need.
When you accept your power, you’ll trust yourself and you’ll never worry about being
abandoned again. You’ll know that you can deal with whatever comes your way and you will feel
healthy and comfortable physically, emotionally and financially.
Set Boundaries
How can you develop this trust? One of the most powerful methods is to learn to set
boundaries. If someone is treating you unkindly or unfairly, you have the option of saying to them,
“This doesn’t work for me.” You can explain exactly how you need to be treated and then, if they
can’t fill your needs, walk away from the situation. You’ll find that each time you take care of
yourself, you will create a new situation that fills your needs. When you take a stand for yourself,
you’ll trust yourself more. This will increase your personal power and your ability to create what
you want.
You can also learn that “No” is a complete sentence. If someone asks you to do something that
isn’t right for you, you have the right and the power to say no without offering any explanations.
You never have to defend your position, just state it. Keep in mind that if someone needs to control
you, they won’t be happy with what you’ve said. If you are afraid of losing them, you have the
option of continuing your people-pleasing behavior. But if you do, you will be abandoning yourself
one more time and you’re more apt to punish than reward yourself. There’s a good possibility that
when you stand up for yourself, the person you’ve been trying to please will gain a new respect for
you and your relationship with that person will improve.
When you’re setting boundaries, it’s important not to ask too much of other people. They have
a right to their position, no matter what it is. For example, if you’re in a relationship and want your
partner to be more attentive or tuned into your emotions, you have no right to insist they alter their
behavior unless they truly want to. It’s never right to demand that someone else change who they
are and how they behave for you. You have the option of compromising within a relationship or
getting out of it.
I have a friend, Mary, who has been doing a lot of personal growth and emotional release
work. She has come to recognize how unhappy she is in her marriage, but she’s committed to it.
Her husband is a workaholic who is totally out of touch with his feelings, which used to be exactly
the way Mary was.
The problem is that Mary still wants more emotional attention than her husband can provide.
No matter how much she wants it, he can’t give it and there is a constant level of irritation between
them. Mary has finally decided that if she’s going to stay in the marriage, she has to develop more
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 103
interests of her own in order to change her focus from her husband to herself. She understands that
she has the option of creating a life and support system separate and apart from her husband and to
share with him only that which they still have in common.
Another friend of mine, Rachel, who is now 81 years old, had to go back to work when she
was 55 because of her husband’s business failure. Although she became the main income producer
in the family, her husband Jack insisted on the same level of housekeeping at home that Rachel had
always provided. But Rachel, who enjoyed the attention and acknowledgment she received at work,
had no intention of taking care of Jack’s every little need. He huffed and puffed for months about
how he was being treated, but Rachel stood her ground. In the end, Jack developed a new sense of
respect for Rachel and their relationship deepened. Because she stood up for herself and clearly set
her boundaries, Rachel learned to trust herself. As a result, when Jack passed away seven years
ago, Rachel was able to take care of herself and learned to enjoy living alone.
Changing behavior in relationships means taking a big risk because you never know how the
other person is going to respond. That’s why this path requires a commitment to yourself. You have
to do whatever you need to do to make your life work the way you want it to.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 104
Chapter 14. The Seven-Step Process
Now it’s time to bring together much of the information that has been presented up until now.
At this point, I’d like to introduce you to the Seven-Step Process, which can help you through the
process of releasing old emotions.
The Seven Steps can be used whenever you realize that you are uncomfortable with the people,
events or any situation in your life. They will heighten your understanding of why you have created
your problems and help you identify the patterns of your life stories. Once you do this, you can
break the patterns and establish new ones.
You can do the steps by yourself or you can have someone else lead you through them. If you
decide to do the steps with another person, choose one with whom you are not emotionally
connected. If you do the steps by yourself, I suggest that you use your journal. First I’m going to
list the steps and then explain each one.
The Seven Steps
Step 1. Define the problem.
Step 2. Accept responsibility for your part in creating the problem or
conflict.
Step 3. Affirm your willingness to create a solution.
Step 4. Ask yourself, “Why did I create this?”
Step 5. Clear the emotions behind the situation.
Step 6. Examine your options.
Step 7. In your mind’s eye, see that the problem has been resolved.
I suggest that you do The Seven-Step Process when you can sit quietly with yourself with no
time constraints. It’s important that you give yourself a chance to complete all Seven Steps.
Let’s look at each of the steps so you can see how to work them effectively.
Step 1. Define the problem.
Briefly state the problem. Don’t place blame, just give the facts. Writing down this step will
help bring the problem into clear focus.
Avoid giving all of the “He said. . . She, said,” details. Concentrate on the essence not the
details of the problem.
For example, if you are having problems with a coworker, you might say, “I’m feeling
uncomfortable about the way Jane is treating me. I feel she is not acknowledging my work and is
taking me for granted.” If you are having financial problems, you might say, “No matter how much
I try, I can’t seem to earn enough money.”
Step 2. Accept responsibility for your part in creating the problem or conflict.
Say to yourself or someone else, or write in your journal, “I accept my part in creating the
problem.”
Here’s your chance to get out of the victim position. This is where you begin to take
responsibility for your life. Once you do, you’ll never have to be the victim of people or life’s
circumstances again. You’ll understand that if something in your life is uncomfortable, you’ve had
a part in creating it.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 105
Step 3. Affirm your willingness to create a solution.
Say to yourself or someone else, or write in your journal, “I am willing to create a solution.”
There is a solution to every problem if we look for it. Successful people believe this, that’s
why they can overcome even the most difficult obstacles that come their way. Even if, at the
moment, your problems seem insurmountable, once you affirm your willingness to find a solution,
you will. Perhaps not immediately, but you will find it.
Step 4. Ask yourself, “Why did I create this?”
This is the moment when you totally accept that you create your reality. It’s the moment when
you’re no longer a weak, helpless, powerless child that is at the mercy of all of the adults in your
life. At the moment that you ask yourself this question, you’re on the way to controlling your
destiny.
After you ask the question, examine the feelings that the situation creates by asking yourself,
“What am I feeling?” Use the Feelings List in Chapter 11. Go down the list of uncomfortable
feelings and see which ones apply to the problem you’re attempting to work through.
Then ask yourself, “When, as a child, did I feel the same feelings?” Close your eyes and let
your mind drift back in time. As soon as an image comes to mind, latch on to it and try to
remember the entire incident, including the feelings you had at that moment.
If another person is involved in the problem or conflict you are trying to resolve, try to
understand how that person reminds you of someone in your family of origin.
When people discuss problems with me that they have at work and we do this part of the
process, invariably the irritating boss is like their parent of the same sex and coworkers are often
like siblings or parents. Once you get proficient with this step, you’ll begin to see that almost every
situation you create in your life has elements of your family of origin in it.
I don’t remember who said it, but I read once that in any relationship between two people,
there are really six people involved: the two people who are having the relationship, plus each
person’s father and mother.
Once you’ve identified an earlier incident that reminds you of your current problem, if
possible, drift back in time again, and try to remember another similar incident that happened when
you were a young child. You may be one of the many people who don’t have many clear childhood
memories. Over a period of time, as you repeatedly do these steps, you’ll begin to have memories
of early experiences.
I remember once, when I was trying to understand my relationship with food and my feelings
of deprivation, I had a clear memory of being a baby in my crib crying for food. The memory was
remarkably vivid. I could feel my chubby little arms and legs and I was aware of my inability to
move around freely. I felt trapped in my crib and my hunger was intense. Because my mother had
told me that it was the fashion when I was a baby to feed on schedule, not demand, I knew that this
memory could be valid.
Step 5. Clear the emotion.
If necessary, do the Emotion Clearing Technique in Chapter 12. It’s important that as you do
this you tell the person in your memory how you feel. You can do this out loud or you can write in
your journal. The important thing is that you express what you are feeling at the moment you have
the memory of the feeling. You may want to do one of the other techniques, such as Therapeutic
Screaming, that I introduced in Chapter 12.
Once you have expressed the feeling, imagine that the person who made you uncomfortable as
a child is apologizing for what they did and imagine that they are expressing love for you. Imagine
that a pink light surrounds both of you.
For example, suppose you find that as an adult, you are often getting blamed unfairly for doing
things that are “bad” or “wrong.” You’ll probably discover that one of your parents often did this
to you. If this is the case, first you would say to your parent, “It really upsets me when you blame
me for something I didn’t do. I feel abandoned and betrayed and misunderstood. I feel that you
favor my brother/sister and I always feel left out.”
Then you would imagine your parent putting his or her arm around you and saying, “I’m sorry
that I did that to you. I really love you but never knew how to express it.” Then imagine that the
feeling of love is passing between you and your parent and see a beautiful pink light surrounding
the two of you.
Step 6. Examine your options.
As you feel the emotion of Step 5 dissipating, begin to examine the positive actions that you
can take to change your current situation. Because you have affirmed your willingness to find a
solution, you will probably be surprised at how many possible solutions to the problem present
themselves.
Some people find that it’s easier to work something through if they use another person as a
sounding board. I’m not suggesting that you whine and complain to someone else, but that you
conscientiously try to find a solution to your problem. Anytime you feel yourself falling back into a
“Poor Me” position, you’ll have to find a way to pull yourself out of it and focus on the solution.
State clearly, or write down, the actions you will take to resolve your problem and when you
will take the actions. This is what taking control of your life is all about.
Step 7. Close your eyes and imagine that your problem has been resolved.
As you imagine this, feel the inner satisfaction and feeling of success that comes from knowing
you resolved your problem.
It’s your option to assume a positive or negative outcome for any situation. Here’s your
opportunity to create a positive outcome on the level of consciousness. Once you do this, the
solution can take form in three-dimensional reality. You will have established a positive, healthy
energy flow and your life will reflect that flow.
At first, you’ll probably have to work through some fear about taking positive action. That’s
normal. Fear of abandonment and rejection will rear its ugly head at every possible opportunity.
But with the skills you’ll develop by practicing the techniques in this book, you’ll be able to
acknowledge your fears and put them aside.
It takes time to develop the trust that you can resolve all your problems. This doesn’t happen
overnight. Just as you learned to distrust because of repeated events, you have to relearn trust by
repeating the process.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 107
Chapter 15. Love Is The Healer
The key to living a prosperous life is love. People who love themselves satisfy their needs and
desires. Love connects people and counteracts feelings of alienation and aloneness. As I’ve pointed
out, love is one of the primary characteristics of our Inner Being. We seek and crave love, and
when we are denied love we wither.
If you are expressing neediness through your financial situation, then you were probably not
given the love and nurturing that you needed as a child. Young children require an enormous
amount of touching and loving and many receive less than they need. In more primitive countries,
babies are carried around by their mothers all day. They feel warm and protected. In modern
society, babies and young children are often left untouched for long periods of time.
When my nephews were born, my sister-in-law Deborah was in a position to spend a great deal
of time with them. Because she had household help, she wasn’t burdened by tedious chores. I
marveled at her patience with the children and her willingness to focus her life on them. When they
were frightened or confused she would hold them and let them “regroup.” Her background in
psychology and her spiritual focus gave her insights that helped her cope with the difficulties of
motherhood. From my point of view, Deborah was the perfect mother.
But most parents don’t have all of the advantages or the insights that were available to
Deborah. In my mother’s day, Dr. Spock was the expert everyone followed. At that time, he
advised that mothers feed their babies on a schedule, not on demand. My mother was doing the
best job she could when she let me scream and scream until it was the right time to feed me. I’m
sure my screaming upset her, but she wanted to do what she believed was correct. Most of my
peers had similar experiences. As a result, a generation of babies grew up feeling deprived without
understanding why.
The average parent finds it difficult to give children all of the love and nurturing they need
while trying to balance the many responsibilities that come with living in modern society. Stress
often leads parents to be abusive rather than loving. In later years, this is expressed by the adult
child through his or her life stories, especially through finances.
If you deal with feelings of deprivation, there’s no reason why you can’t counteract the damage
that was done in the past. You can love yourself and overcome all of your feelings of need and
deprivation. It may take a while to reprogram your consciousness, but it can be done.
In the twenty years that I’ve consciously been on the healing path, I’ve seen hundreds of
different systems and techniques designed to alter a person’s state of health and level of financial
comfort. The two elements that stand out in the effective systems are love and its companion
forgiveness.
If you take nothing else from this book other than the information in this chapter plus the Basic
Meditation and the I Am Love Meditation, you can make significant changes in your consciousness
and your life.
Earlier I asked if you treat yourself like someone you love. In order to give yourself everything
you want, that’s what you have to do. You have to love yourself in order to generously reward
yourself just for being who you are. The exercises in this chapter will help you learn to reperceive
yourself as lovable and deserving and to treat yourself in a loving way.
Unconditional Love
Before we came to Planet Earth, when we were in our pure energy state, the love we knew was
not the least bit tainted by judgment or conditions. Love is – it’s as available as life energy and as
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 108
essential to our survival as the air we breath. When we mix pure love with expectations, what
results is an energy far removed from the original substance.
Most humans only know conditional love. We are loved if we fulfill certain needs and desires
of our caregivers and people with whom we have relationships. That’s why pets are so popular.
They tend to give unconditional love. No matter how they’re treated, except in cases of extreme
cruelty, they’re ready to love whoever cares for them.
Learning to love unconditionally is part of our evolutionary process. The more we can give this
kind of love, the closer we are to higher states of being; but it’s impossible for us to give
unconditional love to others unless we know how to give it to ourselves. We’re our own laboratory
in which we can practice the art of loving and being loved. We can heal our own wounds and
nurture ourselves with this energy that is the very nature of our being.
Where do we even start the learning process? A good place is with self-acceptance. If you
can’t accept yourself just the way you are, then no one else will either. People are often afraid that
if they accept themselves in the present, their lives will become static. That’s impossible because in
nature everything is constantly changing. You can accept yourself the way you are and, at the same
time, have a desire to recreate yourself. The problem comes when you say, “I’ll be happy with
myself when I lose twenty pounds and when I have more money.” The paradox is that if you love
and accept yourself now, you’ll lose the twenty pounds and you’ll have more money.
In 1988, when I was living in Marina del Rey, a friend of mine invited me to a support group
based on Arnold Patent’s book You Can Have It All. Each week six to eight people got together to
offer each other love and support. During the course of the evening, we’d repeat, many times, the
phrase “I unconditionally love and support you just the way you are.” Sometimes we said it to the
other members of the group, sometimes we said it to ourselves. The effect was powerful. Each
week I’d leave the group feeling stronger and more connected that ever before. I was able to
experience the healing effect of unconditional love.
I learned to use the phrase I unconditionally love and support myself just the way I am any
time during the day when I could feel myself criticizing myself. Often, I used the word accept
instead of support. This is an easy exercise and I strongly suggest that you try it.
Start by looking in a mirror and focusing on your eyes. Make contact with yourself and say, I
unconditionally love and accept you just the way you are. You’ll be amazed how much emotion
you feel when you do this. Every morning when you wake up, look in the mirror and repeat the
phrase. During the day, whenever you think of it say to yourself, I unconditionally love and accept
myself just the way I am.
Forgiveness
Forgiving is an act of love. You can forgive yourself, as I pointed out earlier, or you can
forgive others. Both will help you move to a new state of consciousness.
When Mahatma Ghandi was assassinated, he was so close to the energy of love that in the
instant before his death he said, “I forgive my assassin.” He was able to let go immediately so that
he could fly free. When I see people on the news who have been hurt in some way by another
human being and I hear them say, “I can never forgive,” my heart aches for them. As long as they
hold on to hate and anger, they aren’t free to love. Their anger doesn’t hurt the perpetrator, it hurts
them. It eats away at them and creates physical and emotional discomforts.
People often quote the biblical passage, “An eye for an eye.” The oral Talmudic tradition
makes it clear that this doesn’t mean a physical eye for an eye. It means that restitution of some
kind must be made. It doesn’t suggest that violence be met with violence.
Revenge is at the core of gang violence. There wouldn’t be any drive-by shootings if people
were taught to forgive. War is also based on the need for revenge. A vengeful consciousness is
passed down from generation to generation and now, because we have so many weapons of
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 109
destruction, it has gotten out of hand. It’s essential for the survival of the human race that we learn
to forgive one another.
Forgiveness can’t be achieved with words alone. If I hold a grudge or if I blame someone else
for my life position, I can say that I forgive that person. But unless I release the anger and
resentment that I carry, I won’t be able to feel forgiveness deep in my heart. It can take years after
you decide to forgive someone to experience the fullness of forgiveness. You have to start
someplace and being willing to forgive someone is the first step.
My teacher, Swami Parampanthi, used to say that the best way to drive your enemies crazy is
to love them. There can’t be any dangerous confrontation when one person is not willing to fight
with another. It takes two to make a war. It seems ridiculous that our leaders talk about fighting for
peace. Peace is not achieved via violence. It can only come from love, cooperation and forgiveness.
For those of you who long to know peace, love and joy, I suggest that you look at the
resentments you carry with you. Your resentments are dragging you down and keeping you from
reaching your full potential.
Once you identify your resentments, you’ll have to make a conscious decision to forgive
whomever you resent. When you do, try the following:
• Sit in your meditation space and do the Basic Meditation. After you are connected to The
Light, imagine the person you want to forgive and surround him or her with a vibrating pink light.
Say to yourself, I surround (the person) with peace and light and release him/her with
love.
This is similar to the forgiveness exercise in Chapter 9 that I suggested you use for yourself. In
order to clear out anger and resentment, give yourself the opportunity to express your emotions by
writing in your journal or sharing your resentment with someone else. It can also be useful to
confront the person and tell them face to face why you hold a resentment against them – without
expecting any specific reaction from them. If you do confront, don’t blame. Just tell the person
how you feel. If you’re afraid that they will have a violent reaction, do it with at least one other
person present, preferably someone who is not emotionally involved with either of you.
If you can’t confront the person face to face, there are other techniques you can use. For
example:
• Write the person a letter, which you won’t mail, telling him or her exactly what is bothering
you. Be honest and open about what you feel and use the words “I feel” as often as possible.
• Imagine that the person is in the room with you and say out loud what you want to express.
• In meditation, imagine that your higher self is connecting to the other person’s higher self
and discuss how you can resolve the conflict.
It’s easier to hold on to anger and resentment than to let it go – especially if you’ve held on to
it for a long time. You’ll have to make a concerted effort to get beyond the anger.
Forgiveness is something that can’t be forced. You’ll be able to feel it deeply after you clear
out the old emotions. Don’t be in a hurry – it will happen in time. The more you learn to love
yourself, the easier it will be to love and forgive others.
Love Your Body
Your body is an externalization of your consciousness and the way you treat your body reflects
how you treat yourself. When I asked you to evaluate your body, I suggested that you examine
what you say about your body and how you treat it.
Your body has incredible patience with you. Feed it junk, bruise it exercising, stress it to its
limit and, like the Energizer Bunny, it still keeps running. It may slow down or complain via
symptoms, but until you actually kill it, it’s there for you to use and abuse.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 110
Many of you who are reading this book have already begun to eat healthier foods and go to
health care practitioners who use therapies other than drugs or surgery. Others of you have not
begun to make the change. If you’re serious about prosperity, then no matter how you take care of
your body now, I suggest you consider making some positive changes and treating your body in a
more loving way.
Here are a few suggestions:
• Eat foods that are fresh, colorful and unprocessed. Read the labels on your food. Don’t eat
what you can’t pronounce – that’s a good way to point yourself in a new direction.
• Do something nice for your body that you’ve never done before. Have a massage, learn
biofeedback, make sure you get three hugs a day, take a relaxing bath with mineral salts (available
at health food stores), or have a facial.
• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.
• Sleep the number of hours you need so that you don’t need an alarm to wake up.
• When you feel fatigued, stop what you’re doing and relax.
• Buy yourself a rose.
• If you live in a polluted area or if you have allergies, use an air purifier while you’re
sleeping.
• Drink filtered water.
• Use a shower filter to remove the chlorine from the water.
Surround Yourself with Symbols of Love
If you haven’t focused on loving yourself before, it will be easier if you bring symbols of love
into your life. Hearts, pink candles, flowers and angels will all help you remember to generate
loving feelings. Doing this may embarrass you, especially if you’re a logical rather than emotional
person, but these symbols can help you.
Inside of every skeptic, curmudgeon and “rational” thinker is a little kid who needs some
loving. Give yourself permission to express love by bringing love into your life. One of my male
friends started wearing boxer shorts with hearts on them. They were his secret, but somehow they
touched his heart and he began to open up.
As you begin to release old feelings and behavior patterns, you’re going to find that it’s safer
to love and be bonded to others. Symbols of love will help activate your love energies and lead you
to a more loving future.
Give Love and Service
Humans have a strong need to give love as well as to receive love. It’s part of the flow of
energy that keeps us alive. The options for giving are infinite and there is bound to be one way that
suits you more than others. No matter who or where you are, there is another living being that can
benefit from your presence. All you need to do is to reach out.
The amazing effect of giving is that it feels as good for the giver as the recipient. If you find
yourself wallowing in your troubles, reach out to someone in a more difficult situation. Both of you
will feel better and you’ll find that your life has meaning and purpose.
If you have trouble relating to people, reach out to animals. There are many unprotected
creatures who can use your help.
If you’re a business person, mentor a beginner or give your time or talents to younger members
in your community. Our schools need all the help they can get.
It’s important to get outside of yourself and to connect to other human beings. We are all part
of the same whole, and when we touch each other, we strengthen the entire organism.
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Chapter 16. Changing the External
Experience has shown me that once I visualize and affirm my goals my life begins to shift.
Then I have to deal with the effects of the changes that have been put into motion. For example, if
you’ve been in a needy space and your life begins to shift financially, new feelings will have to be
faced and you will have to learn to deal responsibly with money. If you don’t, you’ll fall back to
where you started.
You’ll have to alter your life externally to match changes that are taking place internally.
For example, you may suddenly feel the urge to get rid of old possessions, break off
relationships, connect to new groups of people, seek new information or move to a new dwelling.
It’s essential that you not avoid the shift, but flow with it. This takes some practice because, as I’ve
said, most people resist change. You can do visualizations all day long, but if you don’t actually
make changes, nothing will be different.
If you’re visualizing perfect health and you’re not willing to make the dietary and lifestyle
changes that a healthy life requires, you’re not going to get healthy. If you’re creating more income
and you don’t take care of the money, you’ll never improve your financial situation.
Remember, this isn’t about your fairy godmother waving a magic wand and making your life
perfect. It’s about taking responsibility for your life and creating whatever you want.
The Journey Begins with the First Step
Making a commitment to yourself is the first step of the journey to prosperity. After you look
at your life, decide what needs changing and explore what it is you want from life, you have to
make a firm decision to make choices that will lead you to your goal. Positive action is required to
move your life forward and you have to motivate yourself to do what you need to do.
If you approach prosperity with a kinda-sorta-maybe attitude, you’ll never make it. As I’ve
said, you have to overcome your own resistance in order to develop new paths of thought and
action. Your scarcity habits have to be replaced by prosperity habits.
There is a lot of fantasy thinking when it comes to wishing for prosperity. Some spiritual
teachings foster this kind of thinking. When people hear, “God will provide. All you have to do is
ask,” they think that the Daddy-God they have created is going to fix their problems and answer all
their prayers.
That’s not how it works. The Universe does provide, but it doesn’t just hand over cash. The
Universal flow creates opportunities and possibilities. You have to do the footwork. In order to
experience financial abundance, you’ll have to consciously tap into the money flow – and stay
there. You also have to make specific changes in the way you deal with money.
That’s why you need to make a commitment to prosperity. When you’re tempted to revert to
your old behavior patterns, you’ll have to do a lot of motivating self-talk to push yourself back on
track. You can also connect to like-minded people on a similar path who can serve as a support
system. If you set a strong intention to find such a group, you will.
To set an intention, first write it down. Then clearly visualize what you want as having
happened. When thoughts of doubt creep in, examine your feelings, process them with the Emotion
Clearing Technique and affirm your success.
For example, suppose you want to create a group of people to give you emotional support
while you’re on your journey. In your journal you would write, “I intend to find a group of
prosperity bound people who are actively seeking to improve their lives.” Then you would
visualize yourself surrounded by happy, loving, sharing people who seem genuinely glad to be with
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 112
you. As you do this, you’ll look in your heart center and solar plexus to see what you’re feeling. If
you feel something like fear of rejection or abandonment, do the Emotion Clearing Technique by
traveling into the feeling and saying, “I’m so afraid that you are going to reject me.” Then imagine
the people hugging you and telling you that they unconditionally love and support you.
After you set your intention, you can start doing the footwork. Make some calls to local
churches, spiritual book stores or other places where people gather and tell them what you’re
seeking. You may be referred to someone else who has information. Follow up and call the person.
Also, keep your eye out for notices in the newspaper and ask people that you know.
In time, as you become more adept with these methods, you’ll get very quick “service” and
have to do less and less footwork. You’ll instinctively know where to go or whom to call. It will
seem as if what you’ve asked for just shows up.
Now whenever I need information or want to find something, I state my need in meditation.
Then I wait for an urge to make a call or go someplace. Sometimes people call me. I often find my
needs filled within 24 hours.
Just recently I wanted to know something specific about Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP),
which, you‘ll probably agree, is a fairly offbeat subject. I thought to myself, “I need to speak to a
NLP person.” The next day I felt the urge to attend an event given by a local Chamber of
Commerce. During the course of the morning, I spoke to a woman I didn’t know. When I asked her
what kind of business she had, she said, “I arrange seminars for NLP speakers.”
This system works well for me because I’ve come to trust that what I need usually comes
through people. Every time I meet someone, I mentally ask, “Of all the billions of people on this
planet, why is this one standing next to me?” I’ve learned that if I ask questions, I’ll get answers.
Even if the person has no obvious information or resources that I need at the moment, I’ve met
another potential source. When I need it, I can call upon it.
The point is that if you set a strong intention, do the footwork, and stay open to opportunity,
you’ll get what you want.
Act As If
If you’re trying to manifest something substantial, such as perfect health, a million dollars, the
perfect satisfying, high-salaried job, a Ferrari, etc., chances are that it’s going to take more than 24
hours to get it, no matter how clear and powerful you are. The question is, what do you do while
you’re waiting for it to show up?
You have a few general choices. One is that you can worry about not getting what you want.
You can feel sorry for yourself because other people have what you want or mope around longing
for your dream to come true.
The other choice is that you act as if everything you have asked for will come to pass. This is
the time to start shopping. Then when the opportunity finally appears, you’ll be able to make the
right choices. Shopping for what you want also affirms your intention to be successful and helps to
reprogram your subconscious.
Suppose you have a desire for a luxury car. You haven’t driven in many of them, but you love
the way they look and the way you imagine that they feel. Now suppose that someone hands you
$100,000 for a car. Is that when you want to start shopping? Do you really want to make a rational
decision when $100,000 is burning a hole in your pocket? You’ll never do it. You’ll probably buy
the first car you drive. So do your research now, as if you’re going to get what you want.
I remember when my brother Marc got his Ferrari. He had wanted one for years, but had only
driven one once. As soon he could afford it, he went out and bought his brand new ruby-red dream
car. Fortunately he kept his BMW because the Ferrari spent more time in the shop than he
anticipated. It didn’t take him long to realize that a highly-tuned racing machine with about a six-
inch road clearance didn’t belong in Los Angeles traffic. Talk about fouled spark plugs – and it
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 113
cost him over $100 every time they had to be cleaned. His dream car turned out to be as
pleasurable as a soured romance.
Acting as if your dreams have come true can be fun. You can experience luxury without ever
paying the price – especially if you get over your need to own everything you see.
Last year I went to New York to visit my father’s sister, Lillian, who is now about 85. I took
Lillian shopping on upper Fifth Avenue where the stores are filled with baubles for the very rich.
It’s a great place to practice opulence. When I took her into a store that sells high-priced watches
and asked to try on one with a $15,000 price tag, Lillian cringed as she waited for the salesman to
ask us, politely no doubt, to leave. Since I was acting as if I belonged there, the salesman was more
than happy to do his whole routine for us. I could tell that Lillian caught on when, after the
salesman told us the price, she asked, “Do you give senior citizens’ discounts?”
She even managed not to gasp when I went into Harry Winston’s and asked the price of a
diamond and ruby necklace and earring set – with stones the size of half-dollars. “Eleven million,”
the saleswoman oozed. “But you have to take the whole set.”
As Harrison Ford said recently, “If you act like a star, they treat you like a star.”
You can act “as if” in many areas of your life. For example, if you want to be healthier than
you are, you can plan your life as if you have achieved your goal.
Even when I had trouble creating financial energy, I always assumed that as I become
healthier, I would become more prosperous, and I acted as if it were true. I never allowed myself to
worry about the fact that I wasn’t saving or investing any money. I knew that the investment I was
making in myself would pay off. So I planned on the kind of life I intended to live. It took quite a
few years for my life to match my mental image, but eventually it did.
People who overcome physical disabilities always act as if they can do it. They never give in to
the possibility that it can’t be done, and they plan their lives based on their anticipated success.
If you act as if you have whatever you want, you will. Whatever it is you’re trying to create,
own it in your mind. Plan for it, shop for it, make space for it. It’s yours. The only glitch in the
system is that you have to be ready for it – in consciousness. Once you are, it’s yours.
The Three-Month Factor
I’ve been helping people change their lives for almost twenty years. During that time, on
occasion, I become frustrated because people would express an interest in what I was saying and
then do exactly what they had always done. My first thought was that something wrong with the
way I presented my ideas.
However, after observing for many years, I’ve noticed that three to six months after people
learn about their options, they often begin to look for more information or they actually begin the
change process. Obviously people have to mull over an idea and carefully evaluate how it will
affect their lives before they make a commitment or take action.
Keep this in mind because you may read this book and then put it back on the shelf without
trying any of my suggestions. But once you’ve read it, the information is in the data files in your
brain and you’ll process it on an unconscious level. Your awareness has changed and when you’re
ready, you’ll take action.
Changing isn’t easy. You may have become so accustomed to the space you’re in that it will
take a gigantic push to even think about moving to a new one. One you get started, if you move too
fast, in no time at all, you’ll go back to where you started and give up on the journey. I hope you
won’t do that because everything you do affects everyone on the planet. If you move forward
towards peace and prosperity it will help others change in that direction too.
By actively seeking prosperity, you make it easier for others to follow on this path. It’s like any
new path. The first person who discovers it has to clear the way. Then, as more people walk over
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 114
the cleared area, the path becomes more defined and easier to follow. Right now, the world needs
people with a pioneering spirit. We have the opportunity to establish the pathway for people who
wish to leave the darkness, with its violence and greed, behind. We can help them walk into the
Light, where peace and prosperity are enjoyed by everyone.
You don’t have to go first. Others have walked before you and the way has been cleared. But
the pathway isn’t well worn. There are still bumps and rough spots that have to be smoothed out.
You can wait until the road is all paved over and traveled by many vehicles, or you can start on the
journey now and enjoy the unspoiled vistas.
The Commitment
I’m going to assume that you’re not ready to make any formal commitment at this moment. As
a matter of fact, it’s better that you don’t. It’s important that you think through your decision to see
what it really means for you and how you’re going to implement your decision. You’ll have to
come up with your own plan of action.
Here are the steps I suggest you take before you make your commitment:
•
Follow the instructions in Chapters 9, 10, and 12 on how to examine your life, thoughts,
beliefs and emotions.
•
Think about what you want your life to look like. Write it down – these are your goals.
•
Create an action plan. Write down the steps you’ll take if you decide to commit to the
journey to prosperity.
Then make your commitment. Leave yourself as much time as you need to reach this point. If
you feel any pressure to make serious changes you may wind up sabotaging yourself. The
commitment should come as a natural result of whatever inner processing you do while you are
evaluating your life.
Once you decide to commit, I suggest that you do more than casually say to yourself, “Okay,
I’ll commit.” If you put a little ritual and ceremony around it, you’ll implant the thought in your
subconscious and strengthen the power of your commitment.
Make a copy of the certificate on the following page and fill in your name. Even if you have to
make a special trip somewhere to use a copy machine, do it. Putting effort into the commitment
makes it stronger. If you want to make up your own certificate with your own words, fine.
Light a green seven-day candle and place the certificate near your meditation space. (Most
supermarkets sell the candles.) Stand by the candle and read the commitment out loud. Pass the
certificate quickly over the flame. Then sit in your meditation space with the commitment in your
hand, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and clearly visualize yourself as having reached
your goal. When you’re finished with your meditation, place the commitment under the candle and
leave the candle lighted until it burns out. When the candle is finished, place the commitment
someplace where you can see it daily.
If this sounds silly to you, that’s okay. Do it anyhow. Rituals have been used for thousands of
years in every culture. Most religions, associations, clubs and other groups have rituals because
they serve the purpose of implanting goals into the subconscious. Once you are comfortable doing
rituals, you can have fun creating your own.
After you make your commitment, here are some actions I suggest you take:
• Start by taking some of the small steps listed below. Make at least one small change
in your life every day.
• Do something everyday that will take you closer to your goal.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 115
• Slowly begin to change your behavior patterns, especially with money. (See next
chapter.)
• Do affirmations and visualizations.
• Meditate at least five minutes, three times a week and gradually build up to at least
10 minutes every day. Then steadily increase your meditation time to 20 minutes a
day.
• Reach out to other people. The more you connect to others, the easier it will be to
create prosperity.
• Once a day, look in the mirror and say, I unconditionally love and accept myself just
the way I am.
• Look through this book on a regular basis to remind yourself about what you need to
do. You might want to just open the book at random to see what page appears. Then
do what is suggested, or think about whatever is on that page.
Start Small
After you make your commitment, start your journey by taking a few very small steps.
Make tiny changes in your life, just to accustom yourself to the process. After a while, you’ll be
comfortable with change and actually look forward to each opportunity for change that presents
itself.
Here are a few actions that you can take to get started on the journey.
• Move your toothbrush to a new location.
• When traveling by car to places you regularly go, take a new route.
• If you eat the same thing for breakfast every day, change one item on your menu.
My Commitment
I _____________________, make a commitment to do
everything possible to create a happy and prosperous life.
I am willing to take responsibility for my life and accept
my power to create whatever I want.
I will be kind and gentle with myself. I will learn to love
myself unconditionally and accept myself exactly as I am.
Signature Date
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 116
• If your morning or evening routine follows the same pattern every day, change the
order in which you do things.
• Put your socks and shoes on in a different order.
• If there is a person you always ignore, say hello.
• If there is a person to whom you only say hello, say something else, like, “How are
you today?”
• If you always sit at the same table when you eat at your favorite restaurant, sit at
another one. You’ll have a different point of view.
• If your clothes are always within the same color scheme, buy something different.
Any regular routine can be changed. As you make the changes, observe your thoughts, beliefs
and emotions. Watch for fear and resistance.
Make Way for the New
Everything that’s in your life now is a reflection of the combined energy of your past and
present. In order to create a positive future, you have to let go of your negative past. By getting rid
of the energy of the past, you make way for new energy to fill the vacated space. For example, if
your closets are bulging with clothes and you give some away, there will be space you can fill with
new clothes that you will like more than those you gave away.
When I gave away everything I owned in 1976, I created a giant vacuum. Each new object that
came into my life was evaluated. If it didn’t represent my destination, I passed it along. I still go
through the process of letting go of possessions in order to change my life energy.
In June, 1993, while in meditation I heard, “Give away everything that is easily replaceable.” I
realized that I was trying to build a new business but my garage was filled with many remnants of
my previous one. In 1990, when I moved to Laguna Hills, I dragged along cartons filled with
staplers, tape dispensers, organizers, pens, pencils, envelopes and paper clips, all of them remnants
of Joan’s Crystals. Although many of the items looked old and worn, I thought I might have a use
for them some day, and I saved them. I also had sets of shelves, bins, boxes, cartons and more.
Then there were the crystals and stones. Wherever I looked there they were – hundreds of them. I
realized how much my life was clogged by the past.
Because I did it gradually, the giveaway lasted for almost a year. Fortunately, one of the local
organizations was preparing for a bazaar and was thrilled to come and take my things away. When
I was ready to let go of the crystals, I found a dealer who was happy to pay $300 for all that I had.
Each time I let go of things, I felt lighter and less burdened by my past.
Now, every three to six months I look over everything I have to see if whatever is in my home
is in tune with where I’m going. Clothes that I don’t love, even if they’re practically new, are given
away. Files are cleaned out, anything that holds memories of discomfort is given away and I clean
my house thoroughly. If I’m going to create a space in which I’m completely comfortable, then I
can’t afford to keep anything that doesn’t satisfy me or feel right.
I often suggest to people who are making big changes in their life that they give away their
past. No one who has done it has ever told me that they wish they hadn’t. This action always has a
positive effect.
I suggest that you carefully evaluate everything you own to see what each item means to you
and decide what you want to keep. Look at items you have stored in boxes and ask if you’re ever
going to use the things again. If you haven’t used something in a year, you probably don’t need it.
If you have items from old relationships, failed marriages or any part of your life that was
uncomfortable, let it all go. Keep whatever brings you joy and get rid of the symbols of pain. Ask
yourself, “Would I take this with me to my dream house?” Don’t affirm scarcity by thinking, “I
won’t be able to afford to replace these.”
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 117
I also suggest that you thoroughly clean your home. Dust and cobwebs keep clear energy
from flowing freely. If you’re not much of a housekeeper, get help – it’s worth the investment.
Because of the way I live, I’ve come to see how unimportant material possessions really are.
I’m no longer painfully attached to anything, which means I have no fear of losing anything. To me
this means freedom because as long as I’m not afraid of losing what I have, I don’t have to live
defensively and no one can ever own me. That kind of freedom is important to me – much more
important than possessions. I do buy electronic equipment, jewelry, nice clothes and other material
indulgences. I enjoy what I own, but my things aren’t the ultimate reward for me, and I could give
them away without a moments hesitation.
I must admit that my desire level has changed. Before, if I wanted a bigger television, for
example, I felt a craving in my chest. If I didn’t get the television right away, I’d feel deprived.
Now I wait until I create a comfortable situation. When the moment is right and the craving gone,
after shopping carefully and deciding what I really want, I make a purchase. For me, this is a much
more balanced way to live because I’m not controlled by my desires.
The second effect of clearing out my life has been that it has become easier to create what I
want. With the old energy gone, it’s as if the next level just slips into place. New things, people and
income come into my life.
Play a New Part in the Drama
Margo Elliott, the woman who introduced me to The Mother, often reminded me, “This is all a
drama.” When we had no money for food and had to fast, she’d remind us that life is just one big
play.
Since we have free choice, we can decide which part we want to play. Would you rather be in a
tragedy or a comedy? It’s your choice. Are you type cast in the role you’re playing? Are you
enjoying your part? If you don’t like it, play another character. Actually, you can create whatever
character you like.
If you want to change your life stories, then you’re creating a different character. You don’t
have to jump into a new part all at once, you can sidle into it a little bit at a time.
Start by doing things that are out of character for the person you’re playing now. If you’re
very conservative, do something slightly daring. If you always act impulsively, think something
through before you act on it. Take risks by doing something you’ve always wanted to do, but for
some reason were afraid to try.
Don’t worry about what other people are going to say about your new behavior. One little slip
is not going to send everyone you know running. Of course, if you like the new way, you may have
a problem. You may have to find new friends who support your desire to live out your fantasies.
Look at everyone around you. They are a reflection of you. Is that who you want to be? If you
don’t, go find a group of people who are a more pleasing reflection. Don’t let your fear of not
fitting in keep you from joining in. If that’s where you want to be, you’ll fit in.
Seek out people who smile, laugh, give, share, and love to serve. If that’s out of character for
you, fine. Force yourself to be with positive people if that’s what it takes. You’ll adapt. Unless, of
course, you like being miserable and unhappy. If you like it, stay there, and give this book to
someone who might want it.
Each day, try something that’s out of character for you. You can always go back to the way
you did it before. But remember, in order to make your dream come true, you absolutely must do
something other than what you’re doing now!
Chapter 17. Building Your Money Muscles
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If I tried to pick up a 100 pound object, I would either hurt myself in the process or just give
up because I couldn’t do it. If Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to pick up the same object, he’d have
no trouble doing it. The weight is relative to the muscular strength of the person attempting to
lifting it.
The same concept applies to money. Money is an energy whose effects are relative to the
consciousness of the person using it. For some people, $10,000 is an enormous sum of money; for
others, it’s only pocket change. People with strong money muscles can easily deal with $10,000,
for weaklings that amount can be overpowering.
Suppose I hand you a million dollars today. What would you do with it? Where would you put
it? Do you know how to protect yourself from fraudulent investment schemes, bank failures, the
IRS? Would you recognize a fraudulent investment scheme if you saw one? How much would you
spend and on what?
Money is a powerful energy that can take over your life unless you know how to keep it in its
place. If I did hand you a million dollars, and you had never handled large sums of money before,
you would probably find yourself totally disoriented and unable to make decisions. Most likely,
you would turn the money over to a money manager, look the other way and pray that it didn’t
disappear too fast. Suddenly, you would be in a childlike position with the money manager playing
the part of your parent.
In the course of a minute, your whole world would be turned upside down. You wouldn’t have
any idea how to measure the value of money, you wouldn’t know what you could or couldn’t afford
and your sense of personal worth would be in turmoil.
If your money muscles aren’t strong enough to handle it, that’s the reality of a million dollars.
With well-developed money muscles, another million dollars is no big deal. It’s just a little more
energy that’s available for you to use. With financial strength and endurance, you can use this
powerful energy to your advantage.
No matter how much money you want, if it’s more than you’ve ever dealt with before, you
need to build your money muscles so that you don’t become overly excited each time you receive a
large sum. Some people become intoxicated by money. Before I learned the techniques you’ll find
here, if I got a thousand dollars, I’d get hyper and my mind would start racing trying to figure out
how I was going to spend it. All I’d think about, until it was gone, was the thousand dollars.
Not long ago, I received an unexpected check for $10,000 and I was amazed at my reaction. I
didn’t jump up and down and call everyone I knew. I didn’t feel the blood rush to my head, and I
didn’t race to spend it. Instead, I let the check sit in my drawer for a few days – very out of
character – and on a day when I was going in the direction of the bank, calmly deposited the check.
The only reason I could do that was because I had previously done the same thing with $5,000 and
$8,000. Ten thousand dollars was only one step away.
What is the highest sum of money you have ever dealt with in a year? That’s the limit of your
experience. If you want to earn more than that, you’ll have to expand your consciousness to
encompass a larger sum. If you have a $20,000 consciousness, you’ll be knocked off center by
$40,000.
There are an infinite number of ways to deal with money – no method is right or wrong. What
you’ll find in this book is just my point of view, at this moment in time.
Left Brain/Right Brain
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 119
The two hemispheres of our brain each process information in a different way. The left
brain is used for logical, analytical tasks and the right brain is where we do our creative,
intuitive thinking. Some people are predominantly left-brained, others right-brained.
Left-brain people are fact-oriented. They make logical decisions based on tangible evidence.
They want the facts and only the facts. People who have a facility with numbers are usually left-
brained. Men, generally, are more left-brained than women.
Right-brained people are artistic, creative and make decisions based on gut feelings. They
don’t like to bother with details. That’s why artists often have trouble dealing with money matters.
Numbers don’t make any sense to them because numbers follow such strict laws of operation.
No one is only left-brained or right-brained, but most people are more one than the other. Our
chosen professions often reflect our orientation. It’s easy to understand that accountants are left-
brained and philosophers right-brained.
When it comes to money, left-brained people have an advantage. They like to play with
numbers and statistics. Spread sheets are a left-brainer’s playground. Because left-brained people
are generally less emotional, they can see numbers for what they are – just numbers.
Right-brained people have to work harder to develop the discipline that’s necessary to handle
money effectively. For the artist or poet, numbers don’t matter. They’re more of a nuisance than
anything else.
When I was on my journey, I was in right-brain heaven. I spent virtually all of my time in an
advanced state of creativity and intuition. There was nothing to ground me. As a result, I had a
difficult time with money. I couldn’t seem to reach down and grab what I needed because my focus
was somewhere out in never-never land. I wasn’t happy with my situation, but I didn’t want to
divert my attention and deal with the realities of money.
As I started coming back down to earth, I found myself at Debtor’s Anonymous meetings
where I was forced to learn how to deal with money. If I hadn’t done that, there is no way I could
have built the business that I did. When I was planning to market a line of stones called Joan’s
Stones, which were eventually sold at six hundred stores, I had to care about every penny. It was
tough at first, but with practice it got easier and easier.
Getting my pilot’s license also helped me develop my left brain. Flying is very mathematical
and requires clear, logical, analytical thinking. By the time I took my flight test, my whole
approach to life was different because I was more mentally balanced .
If you’re having financial problems, there’s a good chance that you think emotionally, not
logically. You’ll have to make a decision to take the steps to develop your money skills if you really
want to be a financial success. Building money muscles is similar to building physical strength. It
takes time and effort plus discipline and determination. If making over $100,000 a year were easy,
more people would be doing it.
Exercise Your Left Brain
If you’re not accustomed to working with numbers, I suggest that you do some basic mental
exercises to help develop your left brain. Here are a few suggested activities:
• Carry a small calculator with you and use it whenever possible. For example, at the
supermarket calculate the cost per ounce of items that are on special and compare them to
regularly priced items of a different size; calculate the cost of multiple items; keep a
running total of the items you’re buying. In your car, calculate your miles per gallon,
estimated time of arrival, average miles per hour, etc.
• Mentally practice mathematical progressions. For example, start with the number 1 and
add 3 to each number. Your answer would be 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, etc. When that becomes
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 120
easy for you, make the progressions more difficult. For example, add 37 to the previous
number.
• Count anything you can: how many times you slice a piece of fruit, the number of red
cars that you see, the number of people at a bus stop, the number of stores in shopping
centers, etc.
How Much Do You Want?
What would you tell me if I asked you how much money you want in the next year? Would you
say $100,000 or more?
I have found, generally, that people who seek prosperity have an unrealistic idea about what it
takes to generate large sums of money. People who have taken prosperity workshops or have read
books on the subject often believe that if they visualize, pray, and affirm, the money will come.
More often than not, they dream of winning a lottery or somehow receiving a huge sum of money.
This kind of fantasy thinking usually leads to disappointment and failure. Because there are
only a relatively few lottery winners each year, it’s obvious that everyone who dreams, prays and
affirms about winning the lottery isn’t going to have their wish come true.
It’s important to understand that no matter how much visualizing, praying and affirming you
do, no matter how many of your old feelings you’re willing to release, if you don’t create a viable
action plan, you are not going to create an financial abundance. God does not write checks –
people do. If you want money, you have to find people who want what you have and are willing to
pay for it. Unless you’ve learned how to pull money out of the air, that’s a reality you have to face.
If you don’t have the skills or a product for which people are willing to pay large sums of
money, then you have to develop them.
I’m going to assume you answered $100,000 or more when I asked how much money you
want to have. Let’s see if that’s really what you want.
The first question to ask yourself is “How can I generate that much money?” If you want
$100,000 or more, you have some choices. You can get paid for having excellent skills that are in
high demand. A second choice is to develop a business that grosses about a million dollars a year.
You’ll need to gross that much in order to pay yourself $100,000. Another way is to develop
passive income, like books, tapes or products on which you receive a percentage of the profits.
Personally, I like the last method.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, You reap what you sow. That means you get what you give.
In order to get $100,000 or more, you have to give a lot of energy. Is that what you want to do?
How much time and energy are you willing to invest? Your answer will determine your income.
You can invest energy in the processes I’ve described in this book. That’s a good foundation.
But you also have to invest energy in the commercial world in order to be in the money flow. You
have to be out there with people, or touching them through your products, in order to generate
income. Sitting home and wishing, moping, or feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t do it.
At this point, instead of asking “How much do you want?” I’ll rephrase the question and ask,
“How much energy do you want to invest?” If you’re only capable of earning $20,000 a year in the
current marketplace, are you willing to invest the time it takes to learn the skills you need to raise
your income.
That’s why you have to build your money muscles. If you’re earning $20,000 a year now and
invest some effort, you can raise yourself to $25,000 or $30,000 through whatever method you
choose. For example, you can invest in learning new skills so that you can be paid more. From
each plateau you’ll have a better view of what lies ahead and you’ll know what to do next.
Your motive for reading this book may have been to find a quick and easy way to improve
your money situation. I can’t tell you how to do it that way. But I can promise you that if you do
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 121
the inner work and take some of the small steps that I suggested, you’ll be in a better position
to generate more money than you are now. The more inner work you do, the better equipped
you’ll be to reach high income levels.
Clean Up Your Money Mess
The first direct action that you need to take is to clean up your money mess. The information
here will apply to you if you:
• are burdened by debts
• consistently bounce checks
• worry that you don’t have enough money for your needs
• never know where your money has gone
• live from paycheck to paycheck, often borrowing in between
• have reached the limit on your credit cards
• often think about borrowing more money as your way of solving your money problems
• write checks before the money is in the bank.
It’s important that you be in integrity and comfortable with your money if you want to create
prosperity. If you act out guilt, shame and other destructive feelings through your money, you
won’t stop doing it just because you have more income. Prosperity means feeling good about
yourself, so you have to create a situation where that’s possible. If you’re bouncing or kiting
checks or getting shut-off notices, unless you clear out your feelings and develop a good
relationship with your money, you’ll do something to create a similar situation even after you have
income.
Many people aren’t comfortable working with numbers and avoid money management because
they don’t like the tasks involved. Also, when money runs low, people prefer not to face the truth.
Instead of seeing just numbers, they see their personal worth. I’ve often seen people avoid
balancing their checkbooks because they’re afraid of what they’ll see.
To straighten out your finances, here is what I suggest you do:
1. Get a small spiral pad and keep track of everything you spend and earn. By everything I
mean even the money you put in parking meters and pay phones. At the end of six to eight weeks
make a list of the monies you’ve spent in various categories such as food, housing, entertainment,
clothes, etc. This list will tell you exactly where your money is going, and from it you can create a
viable spending plan.
2. If you are in serious debt and have creditors hounding you, call a moratorium on your
payments. You’ll be amazed how cooperative creditors can be if you talk to them. Tell them or
write them a letter saying that you’re trying to avoid bankruptcy and you’re going to take a three-
month moratorium. Explain that during that time, you’re going to send them a small payment – it
can be as little as $5.00 a month. Once you create a spending plan, you can decide how much you
can afford for debt repayment. If you have to make arrangements with the creditor, call and talk to
them. Don’t hide. They don’t want you to default and usually will do everything they can to help
you through your tough times. Banks are often willing to extend car payments for at least a month.
Ask.
Communicating with your creditors is essential. That’s taking responsibility for your financial
situation. Don’t whine and cry. Just make arrangements.
If you can’t do this alone, I suggest that you go to Debtors Anonymous. They have a
program for helping members get their finances back on track. There is no charge to attend
meetings – they pass a hat and you can give whatever is comfortable for you.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 122
3. If necessary, make arrangements with utility companies. You can almost always get at
least a two-week extension on gas, electric, water and phone bills.
4. Don’t pay everyone else before you pay yourself. If you receive money and spend it all on
debt repayment, you’re going to be left with nothing for yourself. Never leave yourself in such a
needy space that you’re expressing your pain through your money.
5. Stop using credit cards. As long as you’re into deficit financing, you can’t be in surplus.
Each time you get deeper into the hole by using credit you’re affirming your inability to create
what you need. Cut up the cards and spend what you have, not what you think you’re going to
have. That’s one way to be in the present not in the future.
6. Balance your checkbook within a week of receiving your statement. If you have a computer,
I strongly suggest that you use a program such as Quicken (Mac or IBM). It’s a quick and easy
way to keep track of all of your checks and it takes less than ten minutes to reconcile your account
when your statement comes.
7. Never write a check unless the money is already in the bank.
The key to cleaning up your money mess is to get over your vagueness about money. Face the
truth of your situation and then deal with it. As long as you avoid looking at what’s going on with
your money, you’re not ready to deal with more. Create a space that money would want to fill.
Get to Know Money
If you go for an extended visit to a country that you’ve never been to before, upon your arrival
and for at least a month or two, you’ll feel unsure of yourself and disoriented. Finding your way
around may seem difficult at first. After you familiarize yourself with the layout of the city and
learn some of the local customs, you’ll feel more comfortable and life will become easier for you.
The same is true of the money consciousness. If you’ve just hovered around it without staying
for any length of time, you need to become familiar with everything about money. Once you
develop a facility with money, handling it becomes natural, and it will be much easier for you to
attract money and keep it flowing.
If you have a difficult relationship with money, there are some definite steps you can take to
become more comfortable with the powerful energy force. I’m going to suggest some money-
oriented activities to help you expand your awareness of the energy of money.
• Become totally familiar with the feel of money. If at all possible, obtain $500 to $1,000 in
cash. You aren’t going to spend it, so it can be an entire paycheck. If that much is not within your
reach, use whatever amount you can. Get the cash in small bills.
Sit in your meditation space with the cash. How do you feel about it? Is there anything
frightening about having that much cash? Do you feel hyper and anxious to get rid of it? Are you
afraid someone is going to steal it from you? Fan the money, shuffle it around, count it and smell
it, always noticing how you feel and the thoughts that are going through your head.
After doing this for at least 15 minutes, hold the money in your hands, close your eyes and take
a few deep diaphragmatic breaths. Imagine that the money is pulsating and alive and that it
radiates rays of energy. Imagine that the rays are surrounding your body and filling your energy
field. Then imagine that the rays enter your body through the center of your forehead. Let the
energy diffuse into all of your cells. Repeat to yourself, I am surrounded and energized by money.
Do this for 10 minutes. When you are through, place the money under your pillow and sleep
with it there for at least one night.
• Even though you may find checks more comfortable, for at least one week pay for
everything with cash. Be sure to keep a record of everything you spend. Note your feelings when
you spend it.
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 123
• Give someone an unusually large tip (for you) or give ten dollars to a street beggar.
When you do this, you’re not throwing money away, you’re keeping it in circulation. In this
case, good energy is coming back to you because the recipient of your generosity will have
pleasant thoughts about you. Also, by acting as if you have more money than you need, you are
implanting the reality of your prosperity in your consciousness. As you give the money away,
notice how you feel. Watch for fear in your heart center. If you do feel some, affirm to yourself,
I have a free flow of financial energy and can share freely with others.
• When money comes to you, instead of spending it immediately, keep it for at least a few
days. Whatever you were going to do with it can always wait at least another day. Observe your
feelings. Are you afraid that someone will be angry with you if you don’t pay your bills on the
exact day you said you would? Acknowledge the fear, but wait to pay the bills.
Learn About Money and Commerce
If financial abundance is your goal, then it’s important to learn as much as you can about the
dynamics of money and how to make it multiply. You have many options as to what you can do
with your money. If you know how to make educated decisions, whatever monies you have can be
grown into a secure stockpile of funds.
You might wonder why people who supposedly know what they are doing with money make
big mistakes and suffer tremendous losses. The reason is that they have an emotional need to feel
abandoned, betrayed, disappointed, etc. By doing the internal work that you learn here, you can
avoid such losses. The more in touch you are with your feeling/intuitive self, the better your
financial decisions will be. You too can be an investor who anticipates the growth of an unknown
company and realizes enormous profits.
That’s one of the more interesting qualities of money – it multiplies at a rapid rate if you tune
into the world of commerce. Investments are one way to grow your resources, but there are other
methods as well. For example, you can sell a product for more than your costs. As you increase
your ability to generate money, you can make large sums in a short period of time.
I had a cousin, Max Elkon, who was a role model for me when I was young. Max was an
elegant gentleman who lived at a fancy hotel in New York City. Although his living style was
conservative, Max enjoyed many of life’s luxuries. Selling large diamonds was the way Max made
his money. Each sale brought him thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars in profits.
He never had to go to an office, hobnobbed with the jet set, traveled all over the world and had a
relatively pressure-free life. Max was a master at multiplying money.
Another characteristic of financial energy is that other forms of energy can be transformed into
money. Time and effort can become money in your pocket. With a marketable skill, you can receive
hundreds of dollars for each hour that you work. In order to reach that point, you have to invest
time in developing your talents and clientele.
No matter what your life position is now, you can alter the way you generate money. If you
have a clear goal in your mind about how much you want to earn and can feel yourself at that
income level, you will create what you need to reach it – if you believe you can. It will take time
and effort, but if you stay focused on your goal, you can accomplish whatever you want.
When I was struggling and living in the converted garage in Venice, I never perceived that
lifestyle as my final destiny. Not once did I believe in anything other than my eventual success.
There were days when I was scared and confused and couldn’t generate what I wanted, but I never
thought of myself as being at a dead end. I constantly read books and asked successful people
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 124
questions to help me understand what I had to do to become financially secure. At the same
time I was doing the emotional clearing work, I started learning about money.
When I first entered the business world, reading business publications was difficult for me. I
had to force myself to concentrate when I read. But as I began to apply some of the principles
about which I learned, I found my interest level increasing. Before long, I looked forward to
reading the business section of the newspaper and I devoured magazines and books that helped me
understand the world of business.
After I started bringing in what seemed like large sums of money, I saw that I had a lot more to
learn. I made a commitment to myself not to try to bring in large sums of money again until I could
be sure that it wasn’t going to overwhelm me. This time, instead of trying to generate as much as I
possibly could, as quickly as possible, I allowed myself to become comfortable at various plateaus
before moving on to the next one. At each level, I reached out and learned more about the level
toward which I was moving.
If you’re serious about financial prosperity, learn about money and carefully consider how you
are going to generate the income you desire. My book, Starting Your Own Business: An Easy-To-
Follow Guide For The New Entrepreneur, is written for people with no previous business
experience and a minimum amount of money to invest. It can give you a realistic idea of what you
need to do if you decide to try a venture of your own. From my point of view, working for yourself
is the logical extension of taking responsibility for your life.
Set a Series of Realistic Goals
Instead of dreaming about enormous sums of money suddenly coming into your life, I suggest
that you set realistic goals concerning how much money you are going to generate. Set a goal of
increasing your income by ten percent a month, or every three months. Then find a way to create
the added income. By working with small increments, you will generate it more easily.
Each time you raise your income level, change your behavior with money. If you don’t save
money now, open a savings account. Take definite steps to create a financial base for yourself. Set
goals for this also. For example, you can aim for $500 in a savings account within six months.
Each positive action you take toward reaching a goal will increase your levels of self-
confidence and trust in yourself.
Act As If You Have It
Always behave as if you are reaching your stated goals and act accordingly. Speak to bankers,
stockbrokers and other people who handle money to find out who you want to deal with when you
have your money. Tell them that you’re anticipating a dramatic increase in your income and you
want to evaluate various options. Do your research in advance so that you don’t make rash
decisions when the time comes to take action.
Develop a facility with investments by choosing some that you might make if you had the
funds available to you now and see how they do. This will help you understand money flow.
Practice dispersing funds. This is a great way to spend your thinking time. Ask yourself, “If I
got a check for $100,000 dollars today, what would I do with it.” After you’re comfortable at one
level, move onto the next. Always watch your feelings as you do this to see where your fears are
lurking.
I have found myself feeling financially insecure when I distribute mental funds. I’ll think about
how much I’m going to give to specific organizations that I want to support, then I’ll start finding
reasons why I shouldn’t. I have to keep reminding myself that there’s more where the $100,000
(or whatever number I’m playing with) came from and if I could manifest it once, I can do it
again.
Build Up Your Karmic Bank Account
Prosperity Is an Inside Job 125
There is a law of physics that states: For every action there is an equal and opposite action.
In other words, if you push forward with a force of five pounds of pressure, there will be a
force of five pounds of pressure that comes back toward you. I could restate this by saying
whatever you give out will come back to you. If you give love, you’ll get love. If you give
problems, they’ll come back to you. This applies to every aspect of our life.
To become prosperous it’s essential that you give some form of energy. It can be time, money,
material goods, nurturing or service of any kind. That’s the only way to build up your energy
account from which you can withdraw at a later date.
The best way to start on the journey to prosperity is to share what you have, whatever that is.
Give, give and give some more – as much as you can without hurting yourself. By this I mean:
don’t give so much money that it puts you in a precarious position; don’t give so much time that
you have none left for yourself; don’t give so much nurturing to others that you don’t nurture
yourself. After you give, pause for a while. This gives the energy a chance to work its way back to
you.
Create an ebb and a flow. Send energy out for a few weeks, then let it come back. Save for a
three to six months, then put some of the energy back in circulation, always leaving something for
yourself. During times when you are “ebbing,” cut down on your spending and giving and let the
energy build up inside of you. Then when you flow again, you can give more, which will come
back to you more than it did before. That’s how to create abundance.
If you don’t do anything else that I suggest, start giving and sharing. That’s the best way to
begin the prosperity process. You probably have plenty of things stored away that someone with
limited resources can use. Give with the knowledge that your gift will bring great joy to people in
need. If you have no material things to give, give time.
Even if you’re in a financially difficult place, give money to someone who needs it or has given
you spiritual nurturing. When you have little and you share what you have, you’re giving a greater
proportion than a person who has great wealth. That would be generous and you will receive in
kind. If a person with $10 million shares $100,000 with people in need, it is less meaningful than
the sharing of a person who only has $100 and gives $10.
Giving affirms abundance. It is an affirmation of your belief that there’s always more as well
as a belief in your ability to create. As I’ve said, abundance is all around you and it’s yours to
have. All that is required is that you tap into it and let it flow in your direction.
Believe in Yourself!
You have more than enough information now to start on the road to prosperity. With the
information in this book, you can reach levels of emotional and financial comfort that may have
seemed elusive and unattainable.
The fact is that you are a reflection of The Universe. You are the Power and you are The Light
and you can create whatever you want. Believe in yourself and your ability to manifest your
dreams.
Don’t think that you have to depend on others to take care of you. They can never give you
exactly what you want or what you deserve. Commit to yourself and to filling your own needs and
you’ll never want for anything again.
Om – Peace – Shalom
Notes
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