Category Archives: Personal Growth

My Money Reality

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In the late 80’s my average monthly expenses after housing (rent/mortgage) was about $1200 a month.  Thirty-five years later that number was about $1600.  Since the cost of living had gone up, and my expenditures had not, that meant my standard of living had dropped significantly.  The cost of living calculator reports $1200 in 1989 would be the equivalent of $2313 in 2016.

Although I have always lived frugally, I found myself skimping on the quality of the food, household furnishings, and clothes I bought.  I was saddened that I was compromising my values in order to live within my means.  I accepted the compromise, since during the period of 2009 to 2014 my focus was primarily on my meditative practice.  I worked just enough to support myself during the periods where I was primarily meditating.money2

Part of my money story includes making a decision in 1995 to never be driven to do any activity because I felt financial pressure.  I had heard maxims that included “the universe will support us” and that if you “do what you love the money will follow”.  In my thirties, with a small nest egg, I felt secure enough to test out these tenets. I figured if they were wrong I still had time to recoup and if they were right I wouldn’t waste my life doing work that I wasn’t completely thrilled about.

My experiment resulted in me enjoying lots of leisure time, only doing work I loved, and always having enough money.  I have never been in debt, except for home mortgages.  I felt I was blessed by a stinginess with money that allowed me to enjoy saving more than spending.

That perspective on saving changed after my nest egg disappeared in 2000 during the stock market crash.  When I looked back on the money I could have spent and enjoyed – maybe on something frivolous like travel or entertainment – and saw that it had just evaporated with no benefit to me, I decided to put more value on using my money for me rather than saving it for later.  I learned that “later” might never come.

I started asking myself, “Do you want that?”  I made of point of getting myself everything I wanted.  I never told my self I could not afford something.  I knew that line was a lie.  I knew that it was always a choice.  Even towards the end of my “retreat”, when my standard of living was dropping, I was aware that I was choosing to spend my money on free time and valued that more than I did fancy organic food.

When I started to reenter the world in 2014 two questions came up.

What would I like to create?

and

How can I get the resources to create bigger than I have ever before?

To answer the first question I began exploring what was valuable to me.  Of course simple living and peace were the first things to come to mind.  My personal drive for freedom (enlightenment) is not something shared by many people.  Perhaps Mahatma Gandhi sums it up best:

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

Most people are not interested in ultimate peace, but they are interested in financial peace of mind, peace in their relationships, freedom from excess weight, freedom from unpleasant experiences, and more ease and joy.  I could see there were a large variety of ways I could contribute to people leading regular lives and offer people freedom.  It took me awhile to pick where I wanted to focus; that is another story.

The second question was about stretching beyond the money reality I was living in.  I knew I had a poverty mentality.  I lived in the ghetto and was comfortable there.  The values of my parents, the decrease in my standard of living, the money choices I was making, all contributed to a life of lack.  I was aware my vision of what to create was small and my financial vision was even smaller. I was also aware that I was capable of something bigger.  I seemed unable to stretch my vision bigger.

I entertained the questions:  What would it take for me to be like those people that produce big conventions or create big healing centers?  What would it take for me to be willing to “waste” money to create more?  What would it be like to be wealthy?  What would it be like to not worry when I throw out a plastic container that could be reused or recycled?  What would it be like to have employees and let them just do their job?

I was choosing to get beyond what my money reality had been.  I was willing to step away from all my judgments and conclusions around money and work.  With this choice and willingness I discovered tools that would assist me in the process of expanding my possibilities around money.  I got the most benefit from using the Access Consciousness tools that I picked up from classes, books and friends.

I have taken the advice of Gary Douglas that I heard on a radio show.  He told a listener that had phoned in about money issues that having money and wealth is just a choice.  If you desire to have money (or anything else you lack) then you have to tell yourself, “I am going to learn how to have money.”  Here is a blog where he gives similar advice:
http://access-consciousness-blog.com/2016/06/infinite-problem-money/

I am still in the process of changing my money reality.  I am learning how to have money and how to be wealthy.  Part of my process is contributing to others that would also like to change their money reality.  So many times I hear people turn down opportunities (classes, vacations, and treatments) that would benefit them because “they don’t have enough money”.  I have done the same thing myself in the past without realizing just how much more ease the things I was refusing could have brought me.  I was asking the question “Do I want this?” and coming up with a “No” when better questions would have been, “Will this contribute to my life?”  “Will this make me more money?” or “What will my life be like in five years if I choose this?”

Would you like a different reality with money? What would it take for you to have more money than you have been able to imagine?  What if it was easier than you think?

Check out my upcoming How to Change Your Money Reality workshop.  Workshops can be attended in person or live-streamed from anywhere.  Only $36 so all you penny-pinchers can join also.

OTHER RESOURCES

Access Consciousness Radio Show

Money Isn’t the Problem, You Are by Gary Douglas

How To Become Money Workbook by Gary Douglas

Creating our lives

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Does it seem like life just happens to you?  Or are you consciously choosing to create your life?  What would it take to have a life that is completely different?  And what if the change could be effortless?  What if you could make a choice today that would simply change everything?

For me, many changes have occurred in the last six months: new partnerships, new surroundings and a blank slate for creation.  Expansive energy fills and moves me as I live the question: What can I create that is beyond my imagination?  And who would like to play with me in this creative process? And what is possible?

I have moved out of my comfort zone to experience more.

With my move back to the Bay Area, which was my home for thirty years, I have seized the opportunity to connect with old friends.  I am open to attracting partners, people with shared values and a desire to create something more. In the past I thought that I had to have a vision and invite people to that, but now I know that I can just be willing to create beyond what I have already created and not restrict the possibilities with “vision”.energyI feel so blessed in many ways, yet I know that what I am enjoying is just the fruits of the choices I have made.  I used to wait for opportunities to open up.  I was waiting to find the right mate, the right job, the right friends.  I knew I was amazing, just as we all are, and I was waiting to be discovered.

Now I know that the fuel for forcing opportunities to show up is choice.  If I want opportunities, all I have to do is choose and ward off any thoughts and feelings that limit me and the possibilities.  I also know that some choices naturally limit other choices.  For instance my choice to be meditative naturally limited how much time I spent with people.

If I choose to paint the house white than I can not simultaneously have a blue house.

When I move out of form and structure, more possibilities become available.  I do not have to figure out how to create success and opportunities, they naturally flow towards me when I am effortlessly being.  In addition, I can ask:  “What is my objective for choosing to do a particular activity?  And is it possible to achieve that objective by another means?”  In the case of meditation, I choose to meditate because I was keen on enlightenment.  Now I am just keen on enlightenment, without forcing my ideas on how I can make that come about.  I am open to meditating, and I am open to the divine moving me by other means.

Many years I lived in judgments that limited me.  I had ideas about what a good relationship was like, what type of partner would suit me, what type of work I wanted to do, and what the “highest and best” activities were.  One of my most limiting beliefs was that success in business and relationships took effort.  I am still working at totally realizing the ideas that Easy does it and that all of life can come to me with ease and joy and glory.

What can I choose today that will create a world beyond my wildest dreams?create

 

 

From Couch to Half Marathon in 11 weeks

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Yup, you heard right.  It is time for me to mix it up a little.

Just before my medicine retreat, I talked to my daughter and she mentioned signing up for a half-marathon in April and one in June.  This got me to thinking about the possibility.  Maybe it was because it was the last thing I heard before going into silence for three days, or maybe it was because I was thinking about moving back to Occidental – the place I last began training for a marathon 20 years earlier, or maybe it was because I was intrigued by the Access Bar, an exercise food that increases endurance, eliminates fatigue, and prevents lactic acid build-up.  In any case, I decided to challenge my daughter to the June 4th Half Sauer and Half Kraut Marathon.

Never mind that I haven’t done aerobic exercise in a year and haven’t run in decades.  I used to have an active lifestyle before I moved to Arizona and found that doing anything out in the sun was simply unbearable. Yet, it was cool enough still to start training and I figured by May I would be living back in the Bay Area.

I looked online for how to prepare as a beginner for a half marathon.  The first thing I learned was that beginners are considered people that have been running three to four miles a few times a week for a year.  I soon found that the proper search words were “from couch to half marathon”.  Unfortunately, what I wanted to do wasn’t a possibility.  I had 11 weeks and all sensible people took at least a month longer to get ready.  I did find one website willing to provide a couch to half-marathon in 10 weeks guide.  However, the plan did not seem robust enough for me.

Despite the lack of aerobic exercise and running experience, I thought I had adequate time to prepare.  It seemed possible to me that I would be able to run (not run-walk) a half-marathon in under 2 hours with less than 12 weeks training, contrary to the authorities.  Since I know that many internet blogs simply parrot information, I decided to critically evaluate why I thought training would be possible in 11 weeks and what I would need to do to be successful.

I take good care of my body and these are the things that I think contribute to a strong base from which I can build.

  • I do a daily chi gung and tai chi practice.  At least 15 minutes everyday.  Despite the belief that only aerobic exercise can tone the vascular system, this type of exercise actually tones both the heart muscle and arterial muscles.  In addition, I have more life energy (chi) now than I ever had in my life.
  • I spend at least 30 minutes each day in meditation.  My meditation for the past year is a chulen practice which is focused on building life force energy.  I have more reserves now and greater capacity than I ever had in my life.  Indeed, twenty years ago when I started to train for a marathon I initially had to slow down due to fatigue from over-training.  Then I had to stop my training due to the life stress of divorce.
  • My body is in good physical condition.  I eat a whole food diet and supplement with high quality multivitamins/multiminerals.  I take additional supplements to support my individual health susceptibilities. (This means I take specific supplements to prevent the diseases my parents have developed.)

 

When I consider the additional stress of rapid training for the marathon I have decided to use the following supports.

  • Additional supplements. I usually take a Peak Performance Nutrition Pack and I have decided to up that to the Heart Health Peak Performance Pack.  This is because the additional running will create strain on my heart and vascular system and my family tends towards cardiovascular events, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.  I am also adding, a glucosamine/chondroiton/MSM supplement with additional anti-inflammatory herbs like turmeric (Replenex® Extra Strength) to help with the additional strain on my joints.
  • I am using essential oils (Tea Tree, Lavender) on my legs to reduce post exercise inflammation, stimulate circulation into the area, and enhance recovery.  I also use arnica tincture on my legs and arnica 30c internally.
  • I am using hot epsom salt baths (with essential oils), my infared heating pad, and even my ultrasound to encourage faster recovery.  I know that some people go for ice after workouts.  This would be an option, but I would want to submerge my whole leg in an ice bucket, and that is just not practical. For me alternating ice water and hot water would be ideal.  I’ve done this on my arms after a long day of massage.  I may do this for my legs if it seems required to support my body.
  • I am using a foam roller to massage my calves, shins, hamstrings, IT band, quadriceps, and spine after each work-out.  My IT band is tight!  I have a couple lacrosse balls to work my gluts, piriformis, and gemellus.  A have a chronic problem with tightness on my right side, so I need to be proactive with keeping things loose.
  • Dynamic stretching is fabulous at ensuring my muscles stay limber.  I discovered the power of dynamic stretching a decade ago when I was recovering from a knee injury (impact).
  • A greater emphasis on longer walks or runs earlier in training.  Most plans seemed to focus on increasing distance gradually.  I thought it made more sense to start with a couple hours a day of walking and then increase speed gradually.  Maybe half-marathon training is different, but when I was training for a full marathon, the emphasis was on doing long, slow runs.  It seemed to me that I would be able to increase my moderate paced walking distance at the same time as beginning to do some running.
  • Training twice a day.  Despite my experience with over-training twenty years ago, I sensed that more frequent activity at a moderate pace in the first few weeks would create a base faster that I then could use to chisel away my time from.  With this in mind I intend to train morning and night unless my body tells me differently.
  • Using the Access® Bars fifteen minutes before my training activity on an empty stomach.  Finding out about the Access Bar actually made me consider the quick training for the half-marathon.  I do not think I could do it with out this tool.  This exercise bar is designed to switch the body’s metabolism away from using sugar for fuel and into fat-burning.  I was curious about how this could be possible given the bars simple ingredients.  Indeed, since the bar includes CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) I erroneously thought that was all there was to it.  Just a nice tastey chocolate bar with CLA.  Then I read a summary of the research papers.  What I learned was the bar was developed, researched and produced without CLA originally.  You can read for yourself if you’re interested.  The bottom line is that elite athletes use the bar to switch their bodies into fat-burning mode.  This means less fatigue, greater endurance, greater strength (press and lift more, can do more repetitions of any activity, can hold planks longer), and no lactic acid build up.  No sugar being burned means no lactic acid build up and that means no muscle soreness the next day.  The muscles recover faster and I can train twice a day.

 

All my ideas are interesting, but let’s put it to the test.  I did my first walk on March 14th – just 82 days from the June 4th half marathon.  What time is possible for the 13.1 miles of a half-marathon?  Can I beat my daughter straight out?  I’d like to…

Now, my daughter has been running for years – three to four miles a few times a week.  She is also half my age.  While I am competing against her it seemed to be reasonable that I would be given a handicap.  After looking at finishing race times in the different age classes for the top placers and considering her running experience versus my lack of we decided on a 25 minute handicap for me.  That means if she finishes the race in 110 minutes and I finish in 134 minutes I win by a minute!

I am ready to go!