Moneyless limbo 101?

[Kaspian]

Ninja,

Three HUGE cheers for you and your enthusiastic, fabulous, self-empowered attitude!

[Ninja]

Originally Posted by Kaspian

Ninja,

Three HUGE cheers for you and your enthusiastic, fabulous, self-empowered attitude!

Darnit, why (with the exception of my parents and sister) do I only get complimented on my attitude online? All my friends just keep telling me to tone it down (translation: start doubting myself), because there is only a small chance (translation: no way in hell! You're too normal for that, just like the rest of us!) this crazy scheme of mine will work, and I'll fall flat on my face.

Maybe I need better friends... I'm all for being realistic and showing a little humility (rather than sending out a three line summary of my novel and expecting hordes of young, male and ridiculously handsome publishers to fight to the death over who gets to sign me on as their author), but just assuming things won't work out... or not even trying... that is just not the way I roll.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Ninja

I've noticed that a lot of forummers (including myself) wrestle with the question: how will I survive if I quit my job?

Steve, how about a blogpost that tackles this subject? [...] I'd love to see a 'moneyless limbo 101' from you!

For me, he already wrote it in the form of the following posts:

Money and the Law of Attraction

The above post got me thinking, but it wasn't enough. When I started reading these forum posts from Steve, however, my old paradigm kind of broke:

• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Coaching and Consultations (Blog)
• Coaching and Consultations (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Yet Another Raw Food Diet Update (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Coaching and Consultations (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Are You Afraid to Be Rich? (Blog)
• Money and the Law of Attraction (Blog)

And then I re-read this the Making Money Consciously post, with the truth, love, and power model in mind, "I understood." When I first read it, I didn't have enough awareness of certain things to really get much information from the article. Now that I have more (or at least, a different) perspective, I was able to download--to receive--much more information from the article.

Reading those links and lots of pondering was my particular solution for this "problem", taking into account my experience, my talents, my strengths, my knowledge, my skills, and all of my previous personal development experience which gives me a degree of awareness when dealing with certain things.

My answer was not about moving away from fear, that even Steve suggested to me previously (although that's no slight on Steve; he's super helpful 99% of the time and I'm pleased he even replied to my thread to try help out; he did end up helping with that post indirectly). Perhaps I might have a bit of that, but for me, facing my fear goes against my Maximiser talent. I'm not a fan of focusing on the negative, non-strong areas of my life. They make me feel not-good, but worse, they make me feel less-strong. I can take the not-good part, but less-strong cripples my ability to be effective. So I deem those solutions to be not effective for me.

What was effective for me was more truth. This is usually the case for me. Whenever I have an issue, it's because I don't understand how it works. I'm trying to understand the labels that people throw around, without understanding what the labels actually mean. In my case, I had to learn what money really is (social debt), and that there are different types of value (for the moment, the model I use to describe this is: social value, personal value(s), intrinsic value, absolute value). That works for me.

I also learned two more high-level concepts: concept fragmentation, and I learned that life is more about sharing value, not going out and working to earn money. It may seem so fundamentally simple, but to me, it was a major realisation that has shifted my whole approach and led me to take different action, or at least, action that comes from a different energy--a new understanding--and so I, even if I'm taking similar action to what I was doing previous, now have a different "energy conversation" in the way I interact with life, and life is responding in turn by giving me an abundance of reflections and "thought ripples" in some sort of Law of Attraction-like effect--helpful reflections that seem to serve the boarder purpose of me coming into more alignment with manifestation, which is something I had trouble with before.

But that is my specific journey. It is likely your specific journey will be very different to mine. You have a completely different configuration to me, so trying to draw on the same solution I used when you have different knowledge or skill isn't going to be very effective unless you learn what I learn, develop the skills I've developed, and then, to make it even more complex and difficult, have similar talents to me that allow you to see the world like I do. (You and I both have talents, but they're very different, and they cause us to see life differently.)

I really think it's important for people to throw away all notions of "what is the solution to this problem" and instead of "what is the solution to MY problem?" And then consequently don't focus on problems at all, and rather bring more truth, love, power, or a combo of all three, into your life.

You're living your own desires, so you need to focus on what you want, not what fixing your problem. Dipping into the work of Abraham-Hicks, when most people, including myself, tend to look at even their solutions to a problem in a way where their focus is still 80% or so on the problem. That isn't a good way to solve anything!

Imagine if, when you get a flat tire on your car you focused 80% on the flat tire and didn't (A) acknowledge that the tire is flat (truth), (B) realise that you don't want to sit here with a flat tire (love, since you're aligning more with your desires--or at least, you will shortly after that realisation), and (C) took no action (power). You wouldn't go anywhere.

(continued below...)

[Bruce Achterberg]

So, to be clear, what I'm saying you should do is:

1. Realise that this isn't "a" problem, but "your" problem. This is very unique to you, and your solution to it will be equally unique.

2. Stop focusing on it, taking action with the notion of "I must solve this problem." That never works for me, and it doesn't seem to work for other people. Whenever you focus on your problems, your desire to solve them may increase, but it just keeps you problem-focusing is all you do.

3. Bring more truth, love, and power into this situation. Somehow, doing that allows you to start moving towards a solution and it takes your focus off the problem.

I usually get my truth in the form of insights from people who have a lot more experience than I do in the area I am inexperienced in. They have a more updated, broader perspective and can see the forest from the trees more easily than I can. In other words, like in competitive games, they see patterns more easily when I just see chaos.

What I'm learning, though, is that this is how I work. Before I would search endlessly for specific solutions, but now I know that I need to look for the fundamentals. So, whenever I encounter a problem I need to:

(A) Acknowledge that there is something I don't know. Do I understand the definitions involved, or do I not really understand them at all? (i.e. What is money? Can you answer that question as it relates to the current paradigm you're in? If you can't, working with that concept isn't really possible. You won't be working with a concept, but just a label for a concept, and that won't help at all.

(B) Find or figure out the definition of whatever term I'm using (i.e. in this case, Steve explained that money is social debt, and I instantly realised where it came from and after reading his posts and pondering more, I learned that it's not about making money, but providing social value in a way that aligns with your personal values. And from all of my experience with Marcus Buckingham's work and other personal development experience, I had a good intuitive idea of what guidelines I needed to follow to do that. That helped me make effective decisions that made me feel free and unblocked--decisions that I'd follow through on.)

This is all about growth, and there are going to be points where you simply don't know the answer and you need to experience more before you see patterns and can identify what you need to do (at least, that's how it works for me; it may vary for you depending on your talent themes). So long as you keep bringing more truth, love, and power into your life, which usually means you're coming into greater alignment with those principles, your way forward should be more obvious, more clear, and feel more more free and energising instead of blocked, as if you're moving through sludge.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Phew! Writing that--as well as writing the other posts I wrote today--has been quite an effort.

I'd be quite interested to know how effective they were, so feel free to let me know via PM, a reply, or otherwise.

I'll also add that, somehow, I managed to solve one of my problems by doing no direct work on my problem and doing the complete opposite: writing posts for other people about their problems. (I think it has to do with the subconscious, but perhaps the LoA as well. I still can't really see where the subconscious ends and the LoA begins. I think I need a new paradigm to explain it. Probably do-able easily enough, but I've got enough on my personal development plate for the moment.)

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Ninja

Darnit, why (with the exception of my parents and sister) do I only get complimented on my attitude online? All my friends just keep telling me to tone it down (translation: start doubting myself), because there is only a small chance (translation: no way in hell! You're too normal for that, just like the rest of us!) this crazy scheme of mine will work, and I'll fall flat on my face.

Maybe I need better friends... I'm all for being realistic and showing a little humility (rather than sending out a three line summary of my novel and expecting hordes of young, male and ridiculously handsome publishers to fight to the death over who gets to sign me on as their author), but just assuming things won't work out... or not even trying... that is just not the way I roll.

Fire your friends.

We're in really similar situations, and I have people in my life who like to do this as well. I fired the worst of the people who exhibit the "out of fear for what might happen to Bruce, let's give him negative reinforcement" pattern. I'm in the progress of firing some more.

Importantly, I'm constantly aligning with relationships that align more with love and less with fear. This is an important thing to do once you've made some space for such relationships.

Also, don't neglect the "make changes in one area of your life and watch other issues you previously had magically disappear or become trivial to solve." I see this occur lots, and while I can't really harness it, it's useful to be aware that it happens, and pretty often and effectively, too.

I call the people you're encountering "detractors." They are inherently skeptical people who are generally pessimistic. This, in my experience, usually comes from a talent (i.e. such as the need for accuracy or order) that is channeled in a fear-based way instead of more consciously and in alignment with truth and love (power isn't really the issue here I don't think, but self-alignment does fall within power, so I guess it can be).

Fire these people from your life, or as Bear "I climbed Everest at age 23 after breaking my back" Grylls would say, "give them a wide birth", meaning that you keep away from them as much as possible (Bear Grylls is also known as Bear "I like arachnids" Grylls. That's a wink to any Bear fans out there).

I'll also mention that there's a good chance your crazy scheme will fail in some way or another, but you should absolutely still go for it anyway (not hoping it will fail, but doing your best to make it work). You need to fail before you can succeed, and I could go into why that occurs, but you seem intelligent enough to already get that concept.

So yeah, in general, start labeling people "detractor", "skeptic", or "pessimist" and fire them accordingly. In the rare case that you do find a supporter, consider doing more things around this person. If you have no supporters, seriously consider getting some. I can recommend Toastmasters. Toastmasters is *great* for people who just gush support. They may not be the most conscious growth-aligned people, but they're at least interested in seeing you do well even if you aren't doing well, instead of just telling you that you suck and that you will probably fail.

[Bruce Achterberg]

What are the opposites of "detractor", "skeptic", or "pessimist" types?

Supporters, "experientialists" (not a label I really use since I've only ever labeled these people with a concept, but it does the job for now), and optimists (who quite often make great leaders).

Supports support and nurture you. Accurate, effective, intelligent, aware supporters who actually know how to get results you're interested in can be extremely effective. You'll find it hard to find these people, usually, but some can be found and some will support and give advice for free (such as if you are within an organisation--such as Toastmasters--with them or working with them on a project).

Experientialists know that life is more of an experience rather than something to "prove" and relate to it without fear as much as possible. These people usually live pretty consciously, and if not, at least they seem pretty alive and in alignment with themselves and their desires.

Optimists are people who see the present and can't help but imagine a better future. I'm an optimist and my "see a better future" vision is always on. In fact, some people see me as critical when, really, I'm just extremely optimistic and focus on how something can be improved (which comes from my Maximiser talent theme that I discovered by taking StrengthsFinder 2.0, which is a test you get from the book that is surprisingly called, StrengthsFinder 2.0 ).

I'm an experientialist and an optimist. I'm not naturally a supporter, but I'm not bad at it when I do it since I've been modeling someone who is naturally a supporter/nurturer type.

[jenlili]

Not sure where in the thread to post this. But you'll find it.
I know some writers. Some are even published. This is what I've learned from them regarding actually getting published.

If you want to get what you've written published you just have to keep sending it to publishers until someone picks it up. Are you familiar with "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle? She told my sister once (how they met I do not know), that book was rejected 92 times.

Pamela Keyes has two books out (so far) "The Rune of Zachary Zimbalist" and "The Legend of Zamiel Zimbalist." She sent her manuscripts to more than 100 publishers before she quit counting. She didn't get to choose the cover art, and kids will judge a book by its cover, so...but the kids I know who actually read the books LOVED them. And so did I. The point is, now she's a published author her next book didn't take quite as much shopping around to find a publisher and she's with a bigger publishing house this time. The "Jumbee" is scheduled for a 2010 release...it takes a while.

My sister has written a couple novels. I thought they had potential. She has some connections and was introduced to an agent. He said of one of her stories: "sorry not my kind of book." She sent it to like two more people and gave up. (She's not a failure; she's just not a writer.)

Of course you can make this work. (Eventually you'll have to tell us your real name, or you pen name anyway, so we can find your book.)

[Kaspian]

Originally Posted by Ninja

Darnit, why (with the exception of my parents and sister) do I only get complimented on my attitude online? All my friends just keep telling me to tone it down (translation: start doubting myself), because there is only a small chance (translation: no way in hell! You're too normal for that, just like the rest of us!) this crazy scheme of mine will work, and I'll fall flat on my face.

Maybe I need better friends... I'm all for being realistic and showing a little humility (rather than sending out a three line summary of my novel and expecting hordes of young, male and ridiculously handsome publishers to fight to the death over who gets to sign me on as their author), but just assuming things won't work out... or not even trying... that is just not the way I roll.

Yesterday I attended a party, and in a conversation with a cousin-in-law, I said two things that I think are relevant and important.

1 - If I have to make a choice between taking care of myself and pleasing other people, I will choose to take care of my well-being.

IMO, your writing is tightly tied to your well-being.

2 - I want my relationships with other people to be based on mutual respect and a genuine appreciation for who the other person is. I am no longer interested in interactions that don't meet that criteria.

People that respect you and appreciate you for who you are will support your writing. If they have doubts, they will express them honestly, with an attitude of wanting be able to trust that you are right if only they understand better or get more information.

I agree with Bruce's suggestion to fire your unsupportive friends. Some relationships simply are not worth maintaining—the cost to your well-being is too high.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Ninja,

Here's a link to an Australian guy who has a few books published.

Hal Spacejock - Articles

I suggest you take a look around his site if you want to learn more about him. It's much better that you do that instead of me telling you about him since it'll save both of us time.

Consider this a pre-filtered resource from me that, while it may not be revolutionary, is at least worthy of consideration on your writing quest.

He has some pretty nice software resources available (for free), too.

[Bruce Achterberg]

You might also like these resources when it comes to writing:

Books for writers - recommended books on writing (this one is for you to filter yourself)

Sirlin.net — Your source of shocking insights on game design » Blog Archive » Writing Well, Part 1: Sensibilities (this one is pre-filtered by me and highly recommended; I suggest reading all three parts of the series)

Sirlin.net — Your source of shocking insights on game design » Sirlin-Recommended Books (there are many gems in this list, and probably more that I'm unaware of since I haven't read them yet. For starters, you can scan the items under the "writing well" heading, although other items on that page might spur some nice creativity. I own The Elements of Style, Why I Write by George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway on Writing, and On Writing by Stephen King. I'd mostly read and would recommend Elements of Style and On Writing by Stephen King. Why I Write seems good, too. Ernest Hemingway on Writing didn't really appeal to me, although there were some ideas I internalised from having read a degree of that book. I'm very fussy with books, so if I don't like them, I tend to go read something else and not finish them. I quickly know what's good and what's not and am usually pretty accurate in that regard.)

[DeRocky]

I'll try to offer my opinion. There's a lot of talk on here about everything eventually working out - having the dream job, good money, and all that. I personally don't think the universe is a dish of ice cream waiting to give you everything you desire if you simply "follow your heart."

If you quit your job on the basis of a ego-dream (having this, having that, and loving every second of it) you may be disappointed, just as it is sometimes disappointing to leave a relationship because you imagine that somewhere else there is someone more interesting, better suited to your needs and desires.

I think actions driven by ego-dreams are ultimately actions driven by craving and fear. We all have such dreams, but the point is not how life will provide for us. In my mind the main point is to seperate what's an ego-dream and what is a real urge to creative expression.

If you are really, truly, inwardly driven towards something then you do it - not because the universe is going to eventually align itself with you, and not because you think eventually it will make you happy. If in the process people favor what you do and are willing to trade value for it - then that's wonderful from the personal point of view, but a true creative expression is first and foremost about expression and life rather than the dream that things will all work out.

So I guess I don't have anything to contribute to the question ("what if you go hungry?") except to say that I doubt there's a clean answer. There's no garuntee. You either do the thing, or you don't and then you face the next moment and do the best you can.

I'm reminded of a blog Steve wrote about Security. I don't remember the exact name of it but the gist was -- security isn't the point!

[openyourize]

I haven't read this whole entire thread yet so there may already be a similar post here.... but WHY does everyone keep thinking that being jobless and homeless and moneyless are pretty much the same thing?

Think about this. If you walked into your work tomorrow and said I QUIT! right now, and walked right out the door, what would you do after that? Go home and mope for weeks until you get evicted or starve to death, whichever comes first? if you do that, then that is how you become homeless and starving. So I would hope you dont do that.

If you pound the pavement and look for a new job immediately, you will survive. if you keep looking until you find something, you will eventually find something. and if you lower your standards and humble yourself for means of survival while you make your plan to fulfill your true purpose, you can take a job in a restaurant or shoe store for awhile. Just to put food on the table until you find something better.

there is a whole world of options and opportunity, why be a slave? we all have to stop making so many justifications for our misery.