In my book Sacred Success, I issue a warning: When you commit to Greatness, everything unlike itself will come up to be healed. Life gets in the way. Obstacles arise. Shit happens. Breakdowns occur.
To the masses, obstacles are like ticking time bombs, something to quickly defuse or avoid altogether.
But for those pursuing Greatness, obstacles are doorways to healing and growth. What seems to get in the way is the way to transformation.
As A Course in Miracles tells us:
Money does not give you power. Power comes from the choices you make. That’s a very important distinction.
Not all high earners are powerful women.
Successful women fall into two groups. The Successful High Earners and the Hard-driven High Earners.
The hard-driven ones I describe as superwomen on steroids, classic workaholics. They’ll breakdown before they’ll slow down.
These are not powerful women. In fact, they have more in common with underearners than their higher paid peers. They live in deprivation…not necessarily of money, but time, joy, freedom, and control of their life.
One of the defining characteristics of Successful High Earners is that they actually take time for relaxation and self-reflection, to figure out what is really important. Their decisions are based, not on fear, but on their most cherished values.
In my book Sacred Success, I issue a warning: When you commit to achieving Greatness, everything unlike itself will come up to be healed. Life gets in the way. Obstacles arise. Shit happens. Breakdowns occur.
To the masses, obstacles are like ticking time bombs, something to quickly defuse or avoid altogether.
But for those pursuing Greatness, obstacles are doorways to healing and growth. What seems to get in the way is the way to transformation.
“Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented once again” A Course in Miracles tells us, “So where you made a faulty choice before you can now make a better one and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought you.”
Ten years ago, a coach bluntly told me: “You’re too into doing, Barbara. You need time for just being.” I was depleted, burned out and knew she was right.
I cleared my calendar, eliminated all but the essentials and created space for self-reflection. My mantra was “I surrender and receive.”
I believe this is exactly what Covid-19 is calling us to do—Surrender and Receive. Surrender need not be passive but can be highly productive.
Believe me, I had no idea at the time that a whole new body of work was living inside me. By slowing down and tuning in, I “downloaded” what would become my next book, Sacred Success.
The “downloads” came as I asked myself a series of questions. I’m happy to share them with you. The first question most people ask themselves, when facing uncertainty, is ‘what should I do?’ Actually, that’s the last question to pose.
The first question to ask is: What do I need to let go of? Letting go, especially of what causes unhappiness or ceases to serve you, creates space for better to come. How do you know what needs to go? It’s probably that which you’re most afraid to release.
The next question to ask is: What do I want? This helped me get in touch with my deepest desires rather than the ‘shoulds’ and ‘ought’s” that I often gave into. I took a deep dive into my Soul’s wisdom by asking myself these 4 questions:
The final question to ask is: “What should I do next?” Follow the advice of artist Vincent Van Gogh: “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘you cannot paint’, by all means paint and the voice will be silenced.”
How are you using your time in quarantine?. Leave me a comment below.
I’m a big fan of The Secret. I just watched the video again the other day.
Thanks to this wildly selling video and subsequent book by Rhona Bryne, the Law of Attraction has gained national attention. And that’s a very good thing…to a point.
The Law of Attraction states that you attract whatever you want into your life through your ability to feel good, think positively, and focus only on the desired outcome. Simply put, if you want to be rich, don’t focus on lack.
But here’s the problem. How many times have you said you really want wealth, believe riches are on the way, refuse to focus on anything but abundance….and still, nothing happens? Your bills go unpaid while your bank balance dwindles.
What The Secret failed to mention is that the Law of Attraction is only part of the equation. There is also The Law of Congruency.
This law states that your declared intention must be congruent with your unconscious decisions. For example, you may say “I want to be rich,” but if you distrust wealthy people, don’t believe you deserve it, or see money as the root of all evil, then wealth isn’t really what you want.
Or as A Course in Miracles explains: “What you ask for you receive. But this refers to prayers of the heart not the words you use in praying.”
This inner discord explains why affirmations or positive thinking, as powerful as they are, don’t always work.
If you don’t have what you want, chances are your spoken goals are in conflict with your authentic desires, and deep down, you don’t actually want what you’re asking for.
The solution—try asking yourself a question: Why don’t I want it? Or put another way: What’s my pay-off for not having it?
What do you say you want in your life but can’t seem to manifest?
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I once saw a poster that made a lasting impression. On it was written: Will it matter that I was?
Those words struck me like lightning bolts. I realized, after 40 years on this planet, I had never felt like I mattered…which explained the seemingly inexplicable angst I’d felt my entire life.
That’s when I made a decision. I vowed to do something ‘important’ so I’d finally feel like I mattered. And off I went.
I wrote a book, then several others. I appeared on national TV. I spoke to large audiences. But no matter how loud the applause, it never drowned out my sense of insignificance.
Until I wrote Sacred Success. Then everything changed. The women I interviewed for the book showed me the way to a more meaningful life.
Rather than focus on their fears and self-doubt (which they all had), they were living their life as if they already mattered…as if they had a God given purpose they were determined to fulfill.
Rather than striving to feel important themselves, they were seeking to make a difference for others.
When I asked one woman what drove her to such stratospheric success, her response echoed what almost everyone told me.
“It’s more than money,” she insisted. “It’s impact. I am motivated by leaving a legacy.”
As soon as I started asking myself: ‘What is the legacy I want to leave?’ I felt my focus radically shift.
I could finally acknowledge that I DO matter. I always have. Not because of something great I’ve accomplished. But because I’m here for a reason—to leave my mark on the world, even if it’s only a tiny footprint in the sand.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.”
Have you considered the legacy you want to leave?
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Call me crazy. Or call me Woo-Woo. But I firmly believe financial success is a spiritual journey; financial abundance is a divine right; and financial responsibility is a sacred duty.
Something happens when you bring faith into finances. The often overwhelming task of making more money and managing it wisely becomes not only easier but more meaningful.
Look at it this way. You and I are here for a purpose. Money is a vital tool for doing what we were put on this planet to do. How can you possibly follow your God given destiny if you’re drowning in debt, struggling to make ends meet?
Disciplined spending, sufficient earnings, habitual savings and prudent investing are sacred tools for not only living your best life but making the world a better place.
Money, I believe, is God made visible.
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