The Wealthy Spirit Insider

    Forgive Us Our Debts

    Posted on May 16th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    I was shocked when I read that Sports Illustrated reported that 78% of NFL players go bankrupt within two years of retirement.

    78%?!!

    Isn’t anyone teaching these people money management skills? Do they not understand that the riches they make while playing football aren’t going to last forever? That their moment in the sun is but a moment?

    I guess not. And I guess they don’t teach them to a lot of movie stars and music moguls, either. Here’s a few of them that have gone bankrupt: Gary Busey, Nicholas Cage, Burt Reynolds, MC Hammer, Toni Braxton, and Willie Nelson. Did they not hire a business manager? Or didn’t they listen to them?

    But of course, some celebrities have had their money stolen from them by their business managers like Doris Day and Billy Joel, whose brother-in-law embezzled millions. (Note: you can delegate, but don’t abdicate.)

    Many business people who went on to become icons of success have filed bankrupcy: Walt Disney, Charles Schwab, and Sam Walton, too! R.H. Macy of Macy’s department stores filed seven times before he got the company up and running profitably. It takes risk to create and build a business, and you don’t win every time. But with vision and hard work, you can learn from your mistakes and do better the next time!

    I filed bankruptcy once, too, in the recession of the early 90s. My major bookkeeping service client that was 75% of my income left with 2 weeks notice when I had just bought the business. (Lesson: don’t put all your eggs in one basket…where have I heard that before?)

    But that failure turned out to be one of the most defining moments of my life, because I had to work my way back up from nothing using the tools I developed in my Financial Stress Reduction® Workshop. My clients watched me practice what I preached as I rebuilt my life and helped others do the same. Many people have told me that my journey helped them to let go of the shame of failure and try again.

    So if you or someone you know are going through hard times right now, I promise you that failure is not forever! I survived to thrive and you can do it, too.

     

    Here’s to your fabulous success! May oceans full of big treasure ships arrive safely at your docks now and forever!

     

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    136-May 16

    “If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.”—Unknown

     

    I know what it’s like to be unable to pay your bills. In fact, things once got so bad for me that I filed bankruptcy.

    I had been on top of the world. My bookkeeping service had doubled every year and was now generating approximately $450,000 per year. I had thirteen employees and a beautiful new office suite. But I had one major client who accounted for 75 percent of my income, and when they left with a mere two weeks notice, disaster loomed. A friend handed me a book titled, “How to Borrow $50,000 on Credit Cards.” My credit was golden – never had a late or missed a payment in my life. Since I was absolutely strapped for cash, having been left with many financial obligations and no current means of paying for them, I borrowed $50,000 on credit cards.

    Unfortunately, there wasn’t a companion book, ‘How to Pay Off $50,000 on Credit Cards at 19.8%”…

    Five years later, I had faithfully paid the minimum balances every month, but by then I had the habit of using credit cards whenever cash flow dipped. Compound interest ate me alive. By this time, I owed $80,000. Then my chief bookkeeper quit and decided to go into business for herself. A lot of my clients went with her. My ex-business partners asked when I was going to pay them for the purchase of the company. I tried to sell the condominium I purchased at the top of the real estate market in 1987 (with a mortgage at 16%), but its value had plummeted and I owed approximately $70,000 more than it was worth. It didn’t matter; I couldn’t find a buyer at any price. I could no longer pay my current bills, let alone my debts. The barrage of telephone calls from creditors was non-stop. So were my stress, anxiety, and tears.

    A dear friend sent me to a bankruptcy specialist who exclaimed, “The bankruptcy laws were written for people like you!” He showed me that there was a way out, a path to forgiveness of my debts under the law, a new beginning for me after this failure. He pointed out that business involved risk, and that sometimes when you risk, you lose. The average millionaire files bankruptcy 3.5 times, he told me, and I was in some good company, with people such as Walt Disney, Donald Trump, Wayne Newton, Mark Victor Hansen, and R.H. Macy.

    I filed. The credit card debt went up in smoke as though it had never been. The tension eked out of my body as I started to relax and breathe again. Of course, my credit was now a black smudge of ashes. But, after all, what did I need credit for? Only to borrow money, and that was what got me in trouble in the first place. I needed to learn to live without borrowing, just as I learned to live without drinking.

    If you have ever stood in bankruptcy court and admitted your powerlessness over debt, forgive yourself and learn from the experience. If you have never had to do this, have compassion for those who have.

    Today’s Affirmation: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

    I was shocked when I read that Sports Illustrated reported that 78% of NFL players go bankrupt within two years of retirement.

    78%?!!

    Isn’t anyone teaching these people money management skills? Do they not understand that the riches they make while playing football aren’t going to last forever? That their moment in the sun is but a moment?

    I guess not. And I guess they don’t teach them to a lot of movie stars and music moguls, either. Here’s a few of them that have gone bankrupt: Gary Busey, Nicholas Cage, Burt Reynolds, MC Hammer, Toni Braxton, and Willie Nelson. Did they not hire a business manager? Or didn’t they listen to them?

    But of course, some celebrities have had their money stolen from them by their business managers like Doris Day and Billy Joel, whose brother-in-law embezzled millions. (Note: you can delegate, but don’t abdicate.)

    Many business people who went on to become icons of success have filed bankrupcy: Walt Disney, Charles Schwab, and Sam Walton, too! R.H. Macy of Macy’s department stores filed seven times before he got the company up and running profitably. It takes risk to create and build a business, and you don’t win every time. But with vision and hard work, you can learn from your mistakes and do better the next time!

    I filed bankruptcy once, too, in the recession of the early 90s. My major bookkeeping service client that was 75% of my income left with 2 weeks notice when I had just bought the business. (Lesson: don’t put all your eggs in one basket…where have I heard that before?)

    But that failure turned out to be one of the most defining moments of my life, because I had to work my way back up from nothing using the tools I developed in my Financial Stress Reduction® Workshop. My clients watched me practice what I preached as I rebuilt my life and helped others do the same. Many people have told me that my journey helped them to let go of the shame of failure and try again.

    So if you or someone you know are going through hard times right now, I promise you that failure is not forever! I survived to thrive and you can do it, too.

    Here’s to your fabulous success! May oceans full of big treasure ships arrive safely at your docks now and forever!

     

     

    Honor the Warriors

    Posted on May 15th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    135-May 15

    “The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”—Gaylord Nelson

     

    Some of your goals may not be accomplished in your lifetime. But they are worth your effort, nonetheless. They are your gift to those that follow you. Likewise, it is important that we honor those who came before us, and gave us gifts through great sacrifices of their own. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked tirelessly, all their lives, for women to have the right to vote, but died before the amendment was added to our Constitution. Were it not for them, half the citizens of the United States would have no say in our government.

    But without the early patriots, we wouldn’t have a government. I visited Philadelphia and wandered around the city, looking at all the memorials and monuments. I stood in the room where the Declaration of Independence was written and tried to imagine the warm breath of the patriots there, who created a new nation out of their best ethics and beliefs. In sweat and blood they heaved forth a tiny, mewling infant country, “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

    A price was paid for this child of dreams, for this “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” The signers of the birth certificate of our nation faced loss of friends, family, homes, money, businesses, and lives. The debts were collected. They paid them all.

    Of all the monuments in Philadelphia, the one that touched me most, that had me in helpless tears in the middle of a bright, sunny day, was an unprepossessing bronze plaque in the center of a small park. There were no crowds gathered around it, there were no tour guides, no music; it stood alone, a silent sentinel under the limbs of a shady tree. It marked a battlefield where soldiers laid down their lives in blood and muck so that this infant country might grow and prosper. So that I might have freedom. Remember us the plaque seemed to say; we perished so that you could be free; we died so that you could vote.

    And countless thousands upon thousands lie down in their wake and spend their last breaths dying hopelessly, helplessly, courageously for me. Some do not die in their body, but die in their minds or in their souls, lose their way, lose their families, lose their faith. Others die in their memories of the horrors of war. The price for freedom continues to be paid. May God bless them all, who died and died and die again. For me.

    And for you. Honor those who came before you, who paid for your freedom. Vote. Pay your taxes. Honor those who come after you; what will you pay for them? Expand your vision. Run for office. Save the environment. Get involved.

    Today’s Affirmation: “I honor and cherish my freedom, and those who provided it for me.”

    I was recently invited to the Los Angeles premier of a new movie “The People v. The State of Illusion” www.thestateofillusion.com. I highly recommend it! Written and directed by Austin Vickers, with commentary by many well-respected scientists and thought leaders, it illustrates, through the story of a man imprisoned for manslaughter, how our perceptions are conditioned by habits of mind and behavior. When we open ourselves to see beyond our limited conditioned perspective, our reality shifts to meet our new awareness. As the story progresses, you can see how the prison of his mind created his physical prison, with the scientific explanation for exactly how that occurs.

    Yes, I was already aware that what we focus on is what we create, but I had new realizations as I listened to the evidence presented in this film. I had been thinking about my Financial Stress Reduction® workshops lately, and wondering exactly why they produced the extraordinary results for people that they do. A friend of mine who had taken the class years ago was at the screening and introduced me to a friend of hers, saying, “I made $30,000 the first month I took her class!” Again I wondered, how does that happen? What it is specifically about the class that works?

    I found the answer watching the film. Every step of the way during the 8-week course, people are encouraged, through reflection, visualization, and action, to shift their perception of their financial and personal reality. As they open themselves to new ideas and take new actions, they produce different results. Their focus changes from looking at the problem and blaming themselves for what’s wrong, to looking at the solution and congratulating themselves for all that’s right. When that is reinforced every week, and they get another new perspective, and take another new action, it produces another better result. More money, better relationships, more time off, more fun.

    Intuitively, I constructed this class 22 years ago according to this model. I was consciously aware of some of it; some was learned, some was impressed upon me subconsciously by my own upbringing. But I can only facilitate the process during the course – attendees have to embrace it. Those that are ready to live a more abundant life take the risk to enroll in the class to begin with. In a positive review of the film, Scientific American said, “One we open our eyes, we should also be willing to take risks. To achieve success, people need to say yes to the unknown, and embrace the discomfort of unsafe territory.”

    If you are ready to change your financial life for the better, the next 8-week Financial Stress Reduction® teleclasses begin in August. There are 3 different sessions starting August 6, 7 and 8. Click here for details http://www.chellie.com/financial-stress-reduction-telecourse-information.html or call me at 310-476-1622. I’d love to help you be richer and happier. Are you ready?

     

    The Camel and the Eye of the Needle

    Posted on May 14th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    134-May 14

     “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions. He had money as well.”—Margaret Thatcher

     

    When I started thinking about become a prosperous person, I hit a stumbling block. There was a quote from the Bible that worried me for a long time: “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.” (I thought for a while it didn’t say rich woman, but somehow I knew that qualification wasn’t going to fly.) I wanted to be a rich person, but I wanted to be a good person and hopefully go to heaven, too. How was I going to do both? I knew that, as a spiritual person, if I felt that money was going to corrupt me, I wasn’t going to allow it into my life. And for years, I didn’t.

    Then, one evening, I happened across a television program that featured several religious scholars examining some Biblical statements, taking into account the geography, culture and the era in which it was written. I heard one scholar mention the above quotation and comment that most people misunderstood it. He said that people thought that the needle mentioned was a common sewing needle and therefore, of course, it was impossible for a camel to get through it’s eye. But this scholar laughed and said that “The Eye of the Needle” was the name of a gate in the wall of Jerusalem. And a camel could easily get through it—a moderately laden camel, that is, not a heavily laden camel. This changes the entire message. To me, this suggests that the lesson was only an admonishment to be balanced about wealth, and not overdo it to the point of overburdening your camel!

    Leo J. Fishbeck, in his book Sing Your Song For All You’re Worth states “A careful study of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, reveals that the people who were considered to be the most spiritual, those who were the great contributors to enlightened thinking, the most highly regarded, were usually very wealthy people—millionaires by our standards. As we read about their many accomplishments we find that, usually, the account ends with the statement, ‘And he was favored by God.’ According to the ancient authors of the Scriptures, there must be a connection between prosperity and Spirituality.”

    Money is a neutral. It will not corrupt you—only your use of it will. The choice to use money for good is always available to you. It is the wealthy who set up charitable foundations, endow hospitals, establish scholarships, promote art, literature, theater, etc. Ted Turner donated one billion dollars to the United Nations. Bill and Melinda Gates funded a charitable foundation with more than twenty billion dollars. You can’t do things like that if you’re broke.

    Examine your old beliefs. Are they facts—or just opinions? Are they refutable? Investigate. If they aren’t producing good things in your life, replace them with better thoughts.

    Today’s Affirmation: “The perfect order of the Universe is abundance for everyone—including me!”

     

    The First Three Things Lottery Winners Do

    Posted on May 13th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    133-May 13

    “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.”—Sophie Tucker

     

    Your wildest dreams come true: You pick the winning numbers in the lottery and suddenly you are a millionaire!

    Now what? What do you do first?

    There was a study several years ago that determined the top three things that most winners did—and nearly 90 percent did all of these three things. I will list them for you in reverse order, a la David Letterman:

    #3. They buy a new car.

    #2. They take a trip. If they were married with children, they go to Walt Disney World in Florida. If they are married without children or single, they go to Hawaii.

    #1. The very first thing they all do is say, “This isn’t going to change me.”

    That one fearful statement, “This isn’t going to change me,” rang in my consciousness like a clarion call. To me, this is stark evidence that most people have a negative picture of what having money will do to them. Many people in our society grow up with the idea that “dirty money” or “filthy lucre” will somehow corrupt them—that they will become arrogant or miserly and lose all their friends. A nationwide study conducted by the AARP in 2000 showed that the majority of people believed that “lots of money makes people greedy and insensitive.” How are you going to let money in your life if you think having it will make you a bad person? Doesn’t it make sense that if you thought money was a powerful force for good and that having an abundance of money would mean you could make large contributions to worthy causes, that a lottery winner would say instead, “This is really going to change me for the better”?
    If you think that having a lot of money will make you a bad person, your internal sense of integrity is probably not going to allow it into your life. You need to change your attitude about having money and being rich if you want more abundance in your life. Make a list of positive things you would do with money if you were wealthy. Why not decide that money will make you a better person?

    Today’s Affirmation: “The more money I get, the more money I share.”

     

    You Won the Lottery!…Now What?

    Posted on May 12th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    132-May 12

    “What you love is as unique to you as your fingerprints. You need to know that because nothing will make you really happy but doing what you love.”—Barbara Sher

     

    We’ve all had the fantasy of winning big. It takes many forms: Winning the lottery, winning the multi-million-dollar jackpot in the Megabucks slot machine, getting discovered and becoming a movie star, selling your screenplay for millions of dollars, writing The Great American Novel, buying the stock that leaps in value making you a billionaire, inventing the next big thing that everyone buys.

    You visualize the celebration, the adrenaline rush, the happiness you share with your friends and family. You see the new house, the new car, the vacation trips you’ve always wanted. Shopping sprees dance in your mind—you can have anything you want! You buy it all.

    And then? What?

    What do you visualize yourself doing after you become wealthy? Lying around on the beach all day? For how many days would that be interesting? When anyone tells me that, I know I’m talking to a person who either hates their job or hasn’t had enough vacation. As a creative being with talents and abilities beyond loafing and consuming, you have to do something that gives your life meaning and purpose. Go find a job doing that now…or create one. You don’t have to wait until you’re rich—this is the way you become rich.

    Years ago, Paul McCartney came to Los Angeles with his band as part of his world tour. A particular quote from the program impressed me. He said, “People ask me, ‘Why d’you do it? Why bother with the distractions? You’re rich.’ Cos I think everyone’s little dream, certainly mine when I was at school was, what you’ll do is get a lot of money and then you’ll go off on holiday forever. Just go off on a boat. But when you grow up you realize it doesn’t work. A year of holidays, maybe, is dead funny and a great groove. But after a year you think, what do I do in life again? Sail around the world in boats? Surely not…I know that after a year I’d start to wonder. I’d pick up a guitar.”

    Act as if you already won the lottery last year. Now go do what you love.

    Today’s Affirmation: “I am a winner in the lottery of life!”

     

    I am a big proponent of little long-weekend holidays. Taking big long 2-3 week vacations are lovely once in a while, but I must have my regular jaunts away for four days on a regular basis. I recharge my batteries, have a change of scene, having nothing scheduled that I have to show up for, have congenial friends with me, and activities I love. Can’t wait!

    When I go away for a bit, I  gather new material while I’m living life, having fun, playing poker, enjoying some free time, seeing friends and family, and being a “human being” instead of a “human doing”.

    Enjoy your weekend, darling dolphins, and make some plans for a getaway yourself. You need to have “I can hardly waits!” in your life, even if you haven’t won the lottery yet.

    Show Me the Money!

    Posted on May 11th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    131-May 11

    “The world isn’t interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship.”—Raul Armesto

     

    “Show me the money!” is that great expression from the movie Jerry Maguire. Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays a football player who keeps asking Tom Cruise as his agent to get him a multi-million dollar contract. He was enthusiastic, positive, and powerful and single-mindedly devoted to his purpose. He got the money.

    Business is like a football game and money is the scorecard. A good business may have many goals, but the primary goal of making money must be achieved or it won’t be in business for long. Just as the players in a football game need to know the score in order to know whether to run for a touchdown or kick a field goal, a business owner must know the money score at all times to ensure the success of the business. It’s helpful if all the players on the team know the score, too, and not just the quarterback!

    (Continued on page 131 of The Wealthy Spirit)

    Today’s Affirmation: “I’m scoring touchdowns in the game of life today!”

     

    A friend sent me this internet notice last year and I was moved to share it. In a democracy, we must all take responsibility for tweaking politics when they seem to get off the beam. It seems to me that money is playing a bigger part in out government than ever before, as politicians become more concerned with fund-raising in order to keep their jobs than they are in helping the people who elected them keep theirs. JMHO.

    “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government – lest it come to dominate our lives and interests”.
    - Patrick Henry -

     
    The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified!  Why?  Simple!  The people  demanded it.  That was in 1971…before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

    Of  the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the  land…all because of public pressure.

    I’m asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list;  in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

    In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.  This is one idea that really should be passed around.

    Congressional Reform Act of  2011

    1.   No Tenure / No  Pension.
    A  Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

    2.   Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
    All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.  All  future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.  It may not be used for any other purpose.

    3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

    4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

    5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

    6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

    7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.
    The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.  Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.   Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.  The  Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. 

    What do you think?

    Expand Your Income Horizons

    Posted on May 10th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    130-May 10

    “Every morning I get up and look through Forbes’ list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.”—Robert Orben

     

    Many years later, I had the opportunity to return the favor to my friend, Gaye, who had helped me define the underlying values that were important to me in my work. She had owned her own business for several years, doing advertising specialties out of her home. She arranged for companies to have gift items printed with their logos on them. It was a nice little business, but emphasis on the “little” nature of her business kept her from realizing most of her material dreams.

    When she came to the Financial Stress Reductionâ Workshop, Gaye wanted to change the way she was doing business and make a quantum leap in her income. Working alone out of her home, she had a six-figure annual gross income, but because of the high cost of goods sold, her net was very small. Gaye was having trouble making ends meet. She cried on my shoulder as she told me she had to borrow money to fix her old, broken car. As we worked together, she saw that she really enjoyed the creative and sales part of her business, but disliked the administrative and fulfillment tasks. It was fun for her to devise a marketing item for a client, to get just the right jacket design, color, material, and logo within the budget specified. She loved the meeting, greeting, and schmoozing with clients and potential customers, but running around buying materials, calling manufacturers, shipping, typing letters, invoicing, and bookkeeping she loathed.

    We came to the conclusion that the best of all possible worlds for her would be to merge her business with a larger company in her field, and to take a position with them in which she had responsibility only for creative ideas and sales. The ideal company would have many staff people who would handle the other administrative tasks. Within two months of making this decision, Gaye had her new position with a major, multi-million dollar company.

    “Chellie, it’s amazing!” she called me to report. “I had no idea what was possible to do in this industry! When I was in business for myself, I was happy to get a $3,000 order. But here people are writing $300,000 orders! I ask them if I can stand by them and watch while they write up these $300,000 orders because I’m hoping it will rub off!”

    It did. The next year, she wrote nearly $2,000,000 worth of orders, bought a new car and her dream home in the hills.

    Owning your own business is not always the best of all possible worlds. Maybe you can find a job where they pay you to do just the fun things you like doing. Who do you know who’s doing that? Copy them. Or be the first one on your block to do it.

    Change your mind. Change your job. Change your money. Change your life.

    Today’s Affirmation: “I expand my knowledge and ability to manifest riches every day!”

     

    Human beings are such creatures of habit that we create realities for ourselves and then feel locked into them as if they were “real”. Then we forget that there is always another alternative, that what we created can be dis-created and something new can take its place.

    You can create a new line of products or services. You can find different clients or a different job. You can choose a different income level. You can choose new partners, and a new family if you want to.

    Gaye has been my friend since 1974, when we met during a little theater production of “Little Mary Sunshine”. She played the lead, Little Mary, and I was her maid, Nancy Twinkle. We had a ball and became fast friends, along with Corinne, who played Madam Ernestine. The three of us stuck with show business for varying lengths of time, but eventually chose other careers that were on our life paths. But our friendship never wavered, no matter what career or profession we were involved in.

    Be open to change. But hold fast to glorious friendships that will make your life’s journey both meaningful and entertaining. As the old song goes, “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, and the other is gold.”

    Programming

    Posted on May 9th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    129-May 9

    “I forgive myself for having believed for so long that I was never good enough to have, get, be what I wanted.”—Ceanne DeRohan

     

    From the moment of birth, our programming starts. Our parents tell us things over and over as we grow. We inculcate their opinions, beliefs, and emotions until they are almost ritualized. Like Pavlov’s dog, we salivate when the bell rings, whether or not there is food on the table. A look, a word, trigger automatic response. We don’t choose our response; it is programmed. The word is spoken or the body tenses or the angry look pierces us, and the CD goes in the slot and the record plays. We are unconscious; therefore we are helpless. We are our programming.

    As we grow, we begin to learn that we can change the programming. We can put on a different CD. The search begins for the recording we want to hear. We go to college, seminars, psychotherapists; we read and study books, we discuss our search with groups of like-minded friends. We try out different CDs.

    But if we don’t give the new programming enough repetition, enough time, we fail to overcome the original input. The original CD may be harsh, loud, out-of-tune, and play with a constant boom and thud in the background, like a neighbor’s over-amplified bass blaring their rock music. We give up in despair, surrendering to the thought “I was born this way. I can’t change. It’s just the way I am.”

    Have faith! You will succeed. Newly programmed thoughts take time to marinate throughout your being. Habits are changed over time, with attention paid; consistent application of the new process, constant playing of the new CD will have its end result in new thoughts, new actions and new results.

    In the play Ondine by Jean Giradoux, the title character—a water nymph—has been betrayed by her human husband, Hans. Their doom is that he shall die, and she will return to the sea and forget him. But Ondine tells him that she will not forget; she has taken her precautions: “You used to laugh at me when I made the same movements in your house. You said I counted my steps. It was true. It was because I always knew the day would come when I would have to go back. And now, in the depths of the Rhine or the ocean, without knowing why, I shall go on making the same movements that I made when I lived with you. When I plunge to the bottom, I shall be going to the cellar. When I rise to the surface, I shall be going to the attic. In this way, I shall be true to you always.”

    You, too, are being true to a pattern, a habit of thought and movement. The one you were programmed with—or the one you chose. Which CD are you playing?

    Today’s Affirmation: “I choose to be rich and happy and all my actions are in harmony with my choice.”

    Top Ten Ways to be Happy at Work

    1. Choose Dolphins as Partners, Clients, Employees

    - it’s impossible to be happy when surrounded by angry, whiney, complaining people

    2. Don’t Overwhelm Yourself with Too Many Projects

    - you can’t really be happy if you’re tired

    3. Grow Rich in a Niche

    - pick the number one thing you like doing and become known for that, not 20 things

    4. Know Your Limitations

    - not everyone has to be number one; smaller can be happier

    5. Decide That You’re Already Happy and Confirm it Daily

    - happiness follows the decision, not vice versa

    6. Live Within Your Means or Create Better Means

    - millionaires have gone broke, so make sure you know how to budget

    7. Watch the News Only in Small Doses

    - if it’s on TV, it’s going to be 90% negative and depressing

    8. Love People in Large Doses

    - people are like thirsty plants – water them

    9. Have a Passionate Hobby and Make Time for It

    - enthusiastically participate in an activity that is separate from your daily work routine

    10. Have a Passionate Life and Make Time for It

    - have adventures, opinions, feasts, revels, dances, games, music!

    I wish you a very happy day today and every day!

    Go for the Underlying Value

    Posted on May 8th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    128-May 8

    “If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

     

    For many years I had studied acting, gotten my B.A. Degree in Dramatic Art, and made the trek to Hollywood as countless thousands before me. I got my Equity card performing in Hello, Dolly! with Martha Rae, my SAG card in The Time of Your Life with James Whitmore, and did odds and ends of dinner theaters, commercials, and Disneyland. Though even minor stardom eluded me, I enjoyed my creative pursuit of the dream.

    In between acting jobs, I took secretarial jobs to pay the bills—luckily, during one summer- school session, my mother had said “Learn to type, honey!” Each time a show closed, I’d call the employment agency and they’d send me on my next temporary assignment. One fateful day in September, a play I was in closed when the backers ran out of money. The temporary secretarial assignment was supposed to last for two weeks.

    I was there for four years.

    (Continued on page 128 of The Wealthy Spirit)

    Today’s Affirmation: “All my desires are worthy and I always get everything I desire.”

     

    Last year, I had just started my 8-week series of Financial Stress Reduction® teleclasses Monday and Tuesday, so I took Wednesday afternoon off and went down to the Bicycle Casino to play in their small 2:00 pm Omaha High-Low tournament.

    Note: Omaha is a card game played like Texas Hold’em, except each player is dealt 4 cards instead of 2, and the best high hand splits the pot with the best low hand. You have to use 3 cards on the board and 2 cards in your hand and the low hand must be 5 low cards the highest of which can be an 8.

    There were about 40 players, and we started with $5,000 in tournament chips (the buy-in was $50) I won some chips early, but then had a bad patch where I lost all but $1,000. But I won the next hand I played, and then had some wonderful winning hands – like a club flush with A-2-3-4-5 lowest possible hand, too. They call this “nut-nut” – having the “nuts” is having the best possible hand and having “nut-nut” is having the best possible high and low hands.

    I finished 3rd winning $285, then played a cash game of $8-16 limit holdem and won another $281. So it was a fun, relaxing, and profitable day off!

    What are your hobbies? Are they relaxing? Profitable? Fun? Share your stories here with us!

    Perspective

    Posted on May 7th, 2012 in The Wealthy Spirit by chellie

    Updated insider information by Chellie Campbell, author of “The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction”

    127-May 7

    “Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.”—Italian Proverb

     

    One afternoon, I was complaining about all of my problems to a friend as we milled with a group, waiting for a meeting to begin. She listened patiently to me whining for about five minutes, and then she had had enough.

    “Excuse me!” she said loudly. I froze in my tracks.

    “Did you eat today?” she asked.

    “Yes,” I said, not understanding why she was asking this question.

    “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” she continued, looking at me coldly.

    Now I was getting the picture. “Yes,” I said sheepishly.

    “And do you have a car to drive you to that place you’re going to sleep tonight?” she demanded.

    I was dead meat now and I knew it. “Yes,” I whined.

    “And is that car a Mercedes?”

    “Uhhh…” I was inarticulate with embarrassment.

    “Then shut up!” she exclaimed.

    We stared at each other for a moment and then we both laughed. “Thanks, Sandy,” I said. “Message received.”

    (Continued on page 127 of The Wealthy Spirit)

    Today’s Affirmation: “I take time to be happy—and to know that I am.”

     

    This story is one of my favorites, and I still tell it. We all get trapped in our limited perspectives sometimes and need a friend to give us a metaphorical kick in the ass from time to time.

    One of my dear friends still remembers the day she changed the direction of her life. She had called me to talk because she was drawn to the idea of becoming a psychotherapist. But it was going to take years of study and then internship and she was agonizing over what she was going to have to give up in order to do it.

    “How can I give up my acting career after all these years?” she wailed.

    As gently as I could, I said, “What career?”

    There was silence on the phone, and then “Ah.”

    She really hadn’t been doing any acting except in community theater or showcase productions – all things that didn’t pay. She knew that, but all the activity kept the illusion of success alive, even though there wasn’t an income to back it up.

    Old dreams die hard. One thing that keeps actors going is the eternal optimism that maybe today I’ll be discovered, maybe today I’ll get that commercial that will run forever and pay the bills, maybe today my agent will call with an offer for a TV series. You dream until one day your dreams come true or one day you wake up and discover your dream has changed.

    My friend enrolled in psychology courses, got her MFCC, did her internship, and has been happily running a successful private practice helping people for many years. And on the side, she still acts in community theater and has a ball. And that’s success, too.

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