Today I just wanted to share a short (3 minutes) beautiful movie I came across today. Its by a woman called Marcy Blochowiak sharing her ideas of what for her are the secrets of success. It's got some lovely music and beautiful photographs and I would here share just one of her inspirational quotes.
"Believe and Achieve - the only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try it and the faith to believe it is possible."
I have, I think, the same level of incredulity that most others I know have toward the story of the ex hospital porter who blew away his £10m lottery win and is back to sleeping on his mother's floor. Now wait a minute! You know and I know that we'd never make the same damm fool mistakes this poor chap did, don't you? Well, roll on another lottery euro million winner last week and what's about the first thing he goes out and does? Yep. There he goes driving down the road in his spanking new farrari. Now where have I seen this before? Boy do we ever learn? Right? How do we get a poor boy, load him up with as much booty as his little arms can carry and watch him grow from rags to ...well, rags. The mind boggles.
What's one of the fundamental differences between how the rich and the poor handle their money? The thing is the rich by and large save and invest their money and spend what's left. The poor spend their money and save what's left.
Reminds me of the saying - Jesus Saves......only he can afford to! Lets face it, most people live a fairly hand to mouth existence. If they're lucky and push comes to shove, they can survive independently achieving personal independence and financial security for a couple of months if that.
If you've got something saved up, you've got a Plan B for when life throws a wobbly at you. Then we can protect and provide for ourselves with a certain level of confidence. We've got a safety net. I know I run the risk of sounding like an old codger who remembers only how good things used to be, but boy I can't help feeling that its harder for us today to exercise the discipline required of us to put a bit aside consistently than it used to be. My mother regularly used to put aside an amount with a company for her funeral expenses! Wow, those days are gone.
Most people will say how hard it is to save. (Only Jesus can - geddit?) Our £10m man would probably have said the same. The things is, its not the level of income we have. It's what we do with it. How many super athletes and entertainers out there formerly with fat cheques coming in now stare bankruptcy in the face? How did it get to be like that? Its not the money. It's the discipline.
Put it away! Little by little. And regularly. Why? Try self reliance, to further your dreams and goals, security, peace of mind, safety and stability, contingency plan, safety net, as a discipline in your life. And so on.
This idea of self reliance seems eroded in our culture. How else can we explain the trillions we have out on credit. It's a way of life for a lot of us now. But you know, borrowing in itself is not the problem. In fact it can even be a wise thing to do if you can find a way to make that money work for you. No , I don't mean put it on dog racing!
What if you invested your borrowings say in property that will increase in value and ultimately earn you much more than you could just keeping it in the bank? It's the financial sense that alas most of us were never taught or acquired along the way. We just don't know what to do.
So the picture in my mind is - Save. Put it away. Do it regularly. Aim for 10% of your income. Don't touch it except in extreme circumstances. Maintain a discipline. Aim to have at least 6 months of living expenses set aside. Learn how to make that saving work for you through compound interest(that's a whole other issue).
Blessings for today
1. Although it was bitterly cold and below freezing today, the sunshine was brilliant. And inside I am fortunate enough to have a heated house. I am one of the lucky ones. I cannot begin to imagine the trauma and suffering of those Afghan people who are dying or losing limbs to frostbite and the immense cold that they now face. The divine universe manifest the best possible outcome for them.
2. My son went out paintballing with a friend on occasion of the friend's birthday. He was a little troubled at shooting and being shot at and I am glad to have him consider that there are implications for firing guns at people. We know the difference between paintballs and bullets. Its just horrifying to think of children the world over who would not be able to blink at the thought of using a gun to kill or to maim. My heart goes out to them and those who suffer as a result of their actions.
3. My friend was playing some Indian Classical Music while I massaged her today and it was simply exquisite to listen to. I really appreciated that.
Imagine this. You’re excited about a new relationship you’ve recently embarked on. You can see the future in this relationship bringing you great fulfilment in many areas of your life. Its Valentine’s Day (why not?) and you’re arranged to meet and you turn up with great expectations. And your date doesn’t show. No phone, no word. Nothing. Has this ever happened to you? Not a great feeling is it? Of course your mind goes into overdrive about what could have happened and what this could mean.
By now, you’re probably wondering where this is leading. What does this have to do with my mastermind group? Imagine this then. Your mastermind group has arranged to meet and one or more members of the group don’t turn up and have left no forwarding message. Your mind goes into overdrive and….
OK, they’re not quite the same kinds of relationships but you can see where this is going. The fact is that the success of the mastermind group so depends on the solid commitment of all its members to attend and to adhere to the basic principles that the group operates by.
It’s a commitment to being there. It’s a commitment for yourself and all that you can achieve, to raise your level of success. It’s being committed to others and supporting and celebrating their success, as they would do for you. A commitment to listening to others, respect for self and others, being on time for meetings, challenging appropriately, asking for what you need, helping others grow and to accepting the help that others can give you.
I say this with the experience of having to challenge a couple of people in my mastermind group recently who have previously shown a pattern of just not showing or telling anyone about their absence. Now this isn’t easy but it has to be done to maintain the purpose and success of the group, that this behaviour is not allowed to continue unchecked.
These people have a lot to contribute and the rest of the group value these contributions and while I validate these, I think I do myself and the others a disservice if I don’t challenge behaviour that has a negative impact on the energy of the group
The thing is, when they don’t show, we speculate, as we would do if our date didn’t show. We turn over several emotions and we try to figure the best way to deal with it. Or how not to! But I maintain that it is vital not to just let it go like an elephant in the room you are trying hard to ignore, but to be honest and open with them and with yourself. And that may mean making a hard decision at the end of the day to terminate their membership of the group if the behaviour continues.
Make no mistake. The combined and committed energy of the mastermind group makes for success for all when we can leverage that energy to create an enriching experience for all the members in that alliance. To our success and the success of our mastermind groups!
Blessings for Today
1. I'm so grateful for some returning sunshine over the past three days. Yes I know climate change has created some oddities and some concerns but I am still glad to see the winter receding and the daffodils begin to rear their heads and to be able to stand in the sunshine and feel life returning to my bones.
2. I went to ask for a medical check up today and it was available for me. This is a huge area of gratitude for me as I have just returned from a part of the world where this would indeed have been an enormous luxury.
3. I appreciate the concessions my family have made to allow me to make my visit abroad and that they have managed fine while I was gone.
Here is the beginning of my post. I've been away to foreign climes to visit my sister who lies seriously ill and pretty immobile in a public and uncongenial hospital. Its been nearly a couple of weeks of witnessing the harsher realities of life of those people who live in the back waters of her city. And every day it reminded me of many of the things I can express gratitude for, living in a relatively more prosperous part of the world.
I am very conscious of the importance of good health to a successful and enriched life and when we have done all we can reasonably do to ensure our health, life can still throw us a raspberry and then we want to know that whatever medical help we can get is available to us.
My sister's health care was not great but even that is better than the complete lack of it as experienced by millions of people all over the world. My own health care system with all its short comings is something for which I am hugely grateful. I am prompted by my recent experiences to go and get a health check and am confident that at least some of what I seek will be available to me. I am grateful for that.
The trip has thrown me off balance and I haven't written on this blog for a couple of weeks now but fully intend to get back on track. For now I will keep this quote from Frank Lloyd Wright in mind -
" I know the price of success; dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."
Blessings for Today
1. Knowing I can if needed, have an operation without first having to find 8 people who will donate blood for me.
2. Living in an environment where I do not have to negotiate the garbage and detritus of human activity in getting from A to B. Yes I moan about litter carelessly discarded and its still something to moan about but I can also appreciate more the facilities for keeping my environment clean and the attention to hygiene and health.
3. I thank the divine universe for being on comparative good health and having a future before me.
