The Science of Getting Rich

[Joely]

Originally Posted by Angela

Matter of fact, it's flowing into our lives RIGHT NOW!

And always has been.

[RT Wolf]

I've spent a bit more time thinking about this. I feel that hte issue of "deserving" really rings with me. For example, in the audiobnook of 7 Habits, Covey talks about seeding in the spring to harvest in the fall, that sounds like an analogy for doing what needs to be done to deserve whatever. I used to believe that I had to deserve whatever money I get through self-sacrifice, which was a useless belief, but I still feel that I have to do something and can't make money effortlessly. The statement, "you get what you deserve" rings true to me right now. But that isn't true. A lot of people out there are getting more than they deserve by some standard and others getting less.

It also depends on what standards you use to judge by. For example, if you're a human being, you deserve basic goods for example is a standard I subscribe to.

I dunno how you were raised, moonrambler, but your comment reminds me of a specific christian idea that you can only find salvation in work and self-sacrifice as the Christ did it. You may not be christian, but being raised in the environment is just as good.

This sounds like the just-world fallacy:
Happy endings and the Just World Effect
The Just World Theory

Basically, if **** happens, there has to be a damned good reason.

"Moreover, when we encounter evidence suggesting that the world is not just, we quickly act to restore justice by helping the victim or we persuade ourselves that no injustice has occurred.

Parents and teachers bombard us with just world propaganda throughout our childhood. They tell us how important figures earned their places in the history books. We constantly strive to deserve what we want.

Well, I can't put it any simpler than that.

However, I do feel that in PD you take responsibility for what happens to you, although not all of it because there's just this randomness in your own thoughts if nothing else. I also feel that others are responsible. Have to reconcile this view with the concept of IM without falling prey to the just world fallacy necessarily.

I'd like to know though, ALG, do you believe that you generally get what you deserve by whatever measure?

For example, you gave an example of visualizing your boss giving you a pat on the back and smiling at you and praising you for some work you did, and my first thuoght was, "did you earn that smile or pat by doing actually good work, or are you just manipulating the universe?"

Edit: Once you mentioned that you would feel lucky if something good happened to you through IM. What did you mean by that? It seems to me that luck is random and that if you use IM you are consciously trying to create something and not-random. So what did oyu mean?

Thanks ALG!

And awareness is transformative. Just by becoming aware of these sorts of limiting beliefs they often lose their stranglehold on me and I can easily let them go, as I am doing right now. I feel a lot more whole on the inside for some reason.

[robc]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

The first sentence in the first chapter: Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich.

The statement you quoted is powerful and raises alot of questions - no doubt about it.

The fact that you have a problem with or are somewhat opposed to the idea is because you are very much used to what you have in your current existence.

Challenge what you know and possibly accept that someone else's ideas could possibly be correct. It's the first step in a new direction which could possibly change your life.

Holding fast to your own current beliefs just means that you don't know different from how you currently live. That isn't a bad thing but take into account this author's idea isn't a bad thing either, just his POV.

Life is about abundance in all areas: financial wealth is one of them, I'd say go for it especially if you've lived life without alot of financial wealth. Once you achieve that, you can move onto other areas of your life that require focus & improving their abundance.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

I dunno how you were raised, moonrambler, but your comment reminds me of a specific christian idea that you can only find salvation in work and self-sacrifice as the Christ did it. You may not be christian, but being raised in the environment is just as good.

This specific example isn't something that I relate to, but a very related example is the emphasis on working hard, and how insidious that can be when you feel like you need to justify your self-employment to people who have "real" jobs," because for the longest time a lot of people seemed to see my schedule as basically completely free. So they could expect me to be free anytime and seemed to think I spent my days lying around in the yard reading novels. So I started talking to everybody about how many hours I put in. And the more I talked about it, the more hours I worked, even though it made no significant difference in my income.

My imaginary friend Pam and I used to ask another woman we know to come along with us for dinner, and she almost always was TOO busy. One night when she did come along and we hadn't seen her in about half a year, I made a kidding remark about how come she was always TOO busy to go out with us, and she got totally offended and the first thing she said to me was, "Look. I have a job!"

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by robc

The statement you quoted is powerful and raises alot of questions - no doubt about it.

The fact that you have a problem with or are somewhat opposed to the idea is because you are very much used to what you have in your current existence.

Challenge what you know and possibly accept that someone else's ideas could possibly be correct. It's the first step in a new direction which could possibly change your life.

Well, I'm going to make it a 30-day challenge. I'm going to believe that statement for the next 30 days starting today, and if I have trouble believing it sometimes, I'm going to pretend that I believe it. There!

[Ninja]

I just started reading the book on-line: I can't believe it's written in 1910! That's almost 100 years ago, but so far it still seems relevant today. That's quite amazing.

[Liara Covert]

Rather than focus on what you don't have or can't understand, it makes far more sense to concentrate energy on what you're grateful for, on what you feel you have (i.e. strengths), and on generating ideas and possibilities.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by Liara Covert

Rather than focus on what you don't have or can't understand, it makes far more sense to concentrate energy on what you're grateful for, on what you feel you have (i.e. strengths), and on generating ideas and possibilities.

Well, the thing is, it seems to be a fundamental premise with LoA that intending for one outcome while having a contradictory desire has a tendency to cancel out the intention. There comes a time when we have to figure out what the hell is keeping us stuck.

[RT Wolf]

I love the process of self-discovery, anyhoo. I may manifest blocks just to work through them but I do love doing it.

What I"m looking for is a feeling, a feeling of wholeness and alignment with myself and every intention I have, so I can feel powerfully that I want whatever I want and without reservation or excuses. Just a big flow, really. Hard to describe the feeling.

[torilink]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

I love the process of self-discovery, anyhoo. I may manifest blocks just to work through them but I do love doing it.

What I"m looking for is a feeling, a feeling of wholeness and alignment with myself and every intention I have, so I can feel powerfully that I want whatever I want and without reservation or excuses. Just a big flow, really. Hard to describe the feeling.

Yes that is the beautiful power of acceptance (forgiveness) - and it is powerful.

[moonrambler]

I see the pattern that has unfolded in my life since I was a teenager. My parents were very focused on money, but for some reason they really never taught me anything about managing money. I guess they thought it comes naturally, that it's common sense. In my high school, math was divided up amongst two tracks -- consumer math for those not interested in college, and algebra & geometry for those planning on continuing their education. So I didn't learn anything about managing money.

The first lesson I learned about spending more than I had was when I bounced a couple checks my first year of college. The (hometown) bank called my dad, who called me, and he was all p.o.'d, and what he should have done was tell me I had to go earn the money and replace it, but after reading me the riot act, he put more money in the checking account. I don't think I bounced any more checks, but that was the start of a life-long habit of spending more than I had and borrowing to make up for it. Combining this with an anti-money attitude, has been very damaging.

[RT Wolf]

You were asking about how to act like you have more money. Depending on who you talk to, most of the actually wealthy (not just rich in appearance) keep their expenses lower than their income and use the surplus for something good.

The Millionaire Next Door, and the Millionaire Mind are books on that and the habits of millionaires in America (very interesting books, too). Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger (both billionaires, with Buffett being simultanously the richest person and the pledger oft he largest charitable donation ever) both give the same advice: Spend less money than you make and invest the rest. I like to make this process automatic by having a certain amount of mone taken out of my chequing account every two weeks and put into my savings account, automatically.

You could try one of the Abraham games, too, the one where you put a tewnty dollar note or whatever in your wallet or purse and mentally spend it. Or the other one where you get I think double the amount of money as the previous day and you have to spend it.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

I'd like to know though, ALG, do you believe that you generally get what you deserve by whatever measure?

For example, you gave an example of visualizing your boss giving you a pat on the back and smiling at you and praising you for some work you did, and my first thuoght was, "did you earn that smile or pat by doing actually good work, or are you just manipulating the universe?"

Edit: Once you mentioned that you would feel lucky if something good happened to you through IM. What did you mean by that? It seems to me that luck is random and that if you use IM you are consciously trying to create something and not-random. So what did oyu mean?

Well ..... I actually really do have many positive beliefs about myself (and this was also true before I ever heard of LOA). I think that I am clever; responsible; honest; adaptable; innovative; helpful; and very kind to children, old people & animals.

So frankly, when good things come my way, I generally have little difficulty believing that I do deserve them.

Regarding the example of the happy boss, well, this is the way I look at it. If I visualise the boss praising me, I am visualising an outcome. In LOA, we focus on the outcome, not the "how". The universe takes care of the "how", and we are part of the universe. It may well be that for the outcome to manifest, I have to do a very good piece of work. That's perfectly fine by me - doing a good piece of work is satisfying to me too.

A point to note is that there are many different kinds of bosses and work environments out there. In some places, you may do a good job and yet be unappreciated. This, I do not wish for myself. I am perfectly ok with the idea of doing a good job, but I do intend to be appreciated for my good work. Hence the visualisation is still helpful.

As for being lucky ..... well, suppose you get something good which, in the conventional sense, you didn't "deserve" - that is, you didn't earn it by working for it, or for being smart or capable or whatever. There are two ways you might react.

One way is to feel bad - "Gee ... I really don't deserve it .... Maybe it should be given to someone else."

One way is to feel good - "Wow! I can't say I really deserve this .... I sure am a lucky fellow!"

I choose the latter way.

[RT Wolf]

^ Thank you ofr replying. Yea, it seems like you don't have a strong belief in the just-world fallacy. I did, so for me in my world, you just don't get stuff that you don't deserve and if you got it, you deserved it in some way but usually directly for doing something rather than simply being something. It's not that I have chronic low self-esteem that i don't deserve biggert hings, I just had a belief that siad that to get better things I had to do things to deserve it, such as work or give value, etc. Which, obviously may be prices that I have to pay, but in my mind there was more like a karmic balance.

So its not, "I don't deserve good things." but moe like, "In general, people get waht they deserve." and how they deserve it is through work or hwatever.

I feel a lot more whole now and feel no resistance to when I say I want money, and I've had less resistance to IM in general, too. Let's see where this goes. For example, I got a cheque for 60 bucks from the social government yesterday after intending for some money. Let's see if I can get money in more interesting ways, but its ok if I don't.

Wow, the "why don't I have this already?" question is really powerful for me. It really identifies things which are beliefs, whether they may be thought of as limiting or not.

Thanks again ALG, for everything.

[oberlee]

ALG rocks.

[moonrambler]

Addressing the issue of being STUCK.

In Wattles' book, he specifies not reading information that contradicts the principles of The Science of Getting Rich. This makes me wonder if it's a problem for me that I like to read the difficulties people have with using LOA for their benefit -- I keep wanting to find answers to these questions, but now I wonder if I should avoid these topics altogether for the time being. For instance, I've completely avoided Steve's blog "Hopeless Situations" and the corresponding thread. Should there even be hopeless situations?

There are multitudes of people who are stuck. In every field and every endeavor and every hobby. People who want to run a mile under a certain speed and are stuck at one time achievement. Talented authors who want to publish an article or story in a high-circulation publication but still only get offers from the small press. Acclaimed musicians who want to be a guitarist for a big-time rock star but they can't get that one big break. People who want a certain golf score but can't get below the best score they've ever had.

In one of Wayne Dyer's books he says, "If you want to accomplish something you've never done before, you have to become someone you've never been before."

I've wondered if I can't get past a certain income level in my business because that is the highest income level I've ever had with a job. For the life of me I can't find any reason why this one certain level is so rigid for me. It doesn't matter if I put in 40 hours a week or 80. It doesn't matter if I re-sell books or perfume or widgets. This doesn't make any sense.

[RT Wolf]

^ Perhaps this is an amount of money that is significant to you in some other way. Perhaps its the most your father or mother ever made (or both), or someone else.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

^ Perhaps this is an amount of money that is significant to you in some other way. Perhaps its the most your father or mother ever made (or both), or someone else.

I've thought of this too, but I can't get any answers when I look at the amount -- either yearly, monthly, or per hour. It is a literal blockage, though. It's like when I tell about having my most profitable month last fall followed by my least profitable month in years, when I take the two-month total and divide it in half, voila', it's the standard monthly profit I always get. It's like I could not stand having that big leap in profits so the next month I had to decimate it. And I did not do anything differently that second month. And still, sales plummeted.

I can't even begin to describe how frustrating this is.

[LoveFreedom]

what an interestinga nd stimulating discussion here!!!

Two comments: first one to do with 'deserving money':
What helped me was Abraham words spoken through Ester. They often talk about the universe expanding because of our desires, and therefore our desires being a driver taking the universe (or the divine) to the whole new levels of experinece. And this is the REASON why we are here.

Took me a while to (1) understand it and (2) accept it, but once you do it's trully mind blowing!!!! For all who want to create better world/universe, this argument is a MUST. So if you stay in 100 000 000 hotel room, the divine/universe/everyone is experiencing it.

On one of the cds they thank their 'physical friends' their desires. On some level they live them and enjoy these creations, we can too if we allow them, let them in.

Another point I wnated to make had to do with a 'surplus of money'

quote from FT Wolf

I'm trying to deal with my limiting beliefs around money, too. I'm having trouble figuring out why I would want a surplus.

To me, having to have surplus has to do with a belief that there won't be enough one day or that the money won't be there when needed. So, ironically, a seemingly positive belief that we 'deserve a surplus' would be steming from a negative belief and a fearful response that 'there won't be enough when needed'. So really, abundance doesn't necessrily include suprlus in your bank account, just enough to have, be and experience everything we want.

Love to all

[ming]

This little book from Wattle I keep in my laptop desktop to reread at weak moments
Which I don't get is that the author keeps repeating 'you have to do things in a certain way' in order to get all the riches, but it is not explained which way is 'a certain way'. Does anyone feel the same about this paradox?

[Freelancer]

Alright guys I'll give my 2 million $ advice here as well (yeah I'm kinda cheap I know).

Ok some money beliefs I learned from various sources (can't find a quote on them so...):
1)
The more money you earn, the more value you give to other people.
2)
The more money you SPEND, the more value you give to other people.
3)
The more money you earn, the more money you can give to other people.
4)
The more money you earn, the easier its going to get for you.
5)
Money is a means to a end, not a end in itself.
6)
You earn money through playing at a 'job' or playing around with a business.


Hope this helps guys.