Achieving financial serenity IV
Session 4, Making Dreams Work II: Living the Financial Serenity Process
Ideas don‘t create change. Knowledge does not create change. Intention will not create change.
While all change is rooted in ideas, knowledge and intention, ultimately only action creates change.
The Financial Serenity process is proven to “work if you work it.” Let’s revisit what that means.
1. We consciously and actively embrace a more powerful truth. We choose to focus on abundance rather than impoverishment, through the practice of gratitude (gratitude journalling, meditations, conscious engagement with simple blessings, and living with an open hand) the use of symbolism in our environment and by increasing our faith through inspirational works and the company of creative positive people.
2. We learn to manage environmental anxiety, to recognise and harness “divine discontent,” and open energy channels in our lives through the creation of order – in our finances, in our relationships, and in our inner and outer environments.
3. We create a structure that effectively allows us to transform our vision into our future over time, by creating a powerful vision for our future, articulating our current reality, and defining the action steps required to move from current reality to the manifestation of our vision.
4. We commit ourselves to this practice by tithing our time, our money, our energy and our attention to the process.
During my personal experience of the practice and the work I’ve done with other people over the years, I‘ve found that there are a number of common obstacles on the path. The following are common questions:
Question A: “I‘m practicing the process but the money isn‘t coming. What do I do?”
Answer: Are you really practicing the process? Often, I find that discouragement leads us to do the work only half-heartedly, or not at all. If we think of the work as an end unto itself, as opposed to a “deal” (I‘ll do the work if I can see the results”) it becomes more meaningful and easier to do. Making the work a priority in our time tithing is also important – if we make it a low priority, we‘re telling our subconscious that it just isn‘t that important to us.
Are you really focusing on abundance rather than impoverishment? If you are refusing to give your best to the world until the world “shows you the money,” you‘re living an experience of impoverishment – saying, in essence, that you don‘t really have faith that you’ll be blessed with abundance. Unity teaches us the first law of abundance: Give, and give first.
Are you open to all opportunities? Or have you become attached to a certain path toward your dreams to the exclusion of others? (Another form of poverty mentality.) If you aren‘t making progress, throw open the floodgates. Take a McJob that may be below your skill level, and give yourself to it wholeheartedly. Apply for every job that you think you might be able to perform, write and submit proposals that have even the slimmest chance of being accepted.
Are you suffering from a sense of entitlement that is choking off your supply? We are all entitled to abundance we can’t even begin to imagine. But if we harbour resentment because the world or other people aren‘t giving us our due, we are engaging in a poverty mentality, making the unconscious assumption that our good depends on them. If you can uncover even an iota of resentment in your feelings about and toward financial well-being, drop everything and make it your first priority to treat and let go of that resentment.
Finally, is there a possibility that you are attached to your poverty as a form of identity or as an excuse for not facing your fears in other areas of your life? Begin to imagine who you would be without money limitations.
Q. I‘ve been trying to live my vision for a long time now, and I‘m not seeing any progress.
A. Progress is not linear. We can wander in the wilderness for long periods of time, and then realize our dream in a moment. Unfortunately, many give up before that moment arrives. Practice the process, commit the time and the energy, confirm and reconfirm your vision, and practice fortitude. At the same time, examine your vision closely to ensure that you have not simply outgrown your old vision, and that your lack of progress is not a signal that it’s time to think bigger. (Or smaller and more unique to you.)
Q. I‘m clear on my purpose, but it just isn‘t happening for me – I can’t seem to make any money doing it.
A. It is terribly important to disconnect purpose and income in our minds. Our purpose is about what we are here to give to the world and to achieve as souls – it may or may not be connected to our channels of abundance. If you are lucky enough to know your purpose, put your energy into orchestrating your life in a way that allows you to do as much of that as possible, whether or not you are being paid for it. (Waiting to get paid for our efforts is another obstacle thrown up by a poverty mentality – we are saying, again, that we don’t trust the world to provide for us if we give our best – we need to cut a deal first to ensure we won‘t be cheated.) The more we give, the more abundance we will experience, but the two may not be directly related.
Q. How do I know when I‘ve fallen off the path and am moving in the wrong direction?
A. If you believe you‘ve fallen off the path, so to speak, you probably have. By by listening to our “feelings,” our intuition, it soon become clear when we know we are moving in a direction opposed to our vision. If we are not sensitive to our feeling nature, or intuition, we will eventually begin to experience so many obstacles that we are forced to go back to the process and begin again at the beginning.
Q. I have a very clear vision, but my spouse (or family, or friends) act like I‘m crazy and refuse to support me. What can I do?
A. As long as the manifestation of our vision depends on the support or approval of other people, we are not practicing abundance. There are times that realizing our vision means realizing that our relationships are no longer appropriate, either in form or in terms of the people in our lives. However, I have found that usually, resistance from other people is a reflection of our doubts and resistance, and that once we shore up our own faith, their resistance falls away. Ask yourself why, if you have faith in abundance and in the power of your dream, their approval or support is necessary to you.
Remember, too, that the people in our lives may be uncomfortable when we begin to grow into our potential best selves. And remember what’s at stake.
The Journey
By Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do
determined to save
the only life you could save.