Positive Health Online

Several times in my life I have experienced what I can only call money magic. I have been able to decide how much money I want to make in a given time frame… and I do. Effortlessly!

Fifteen years ago I went straight from the protected environment of academia to the United States where I, on top of culture shock, also had to start making a living being self-employed. Eventually I did very well, but…

For many years my favourite way of self-sabotage involved money; the money dramas of my life have been outrageous, and in hindsight, also quite hilarious! But thanks to that, I have come to understand the dynamics of money making very deeply. I had to.

I offer here what I have had to learn about making money in the hope that it may have a positive effect on your relationship with money.

Why People Spend Their Money

Many years ago I read this in a book, of which I cannot remember the title or author: There are only two reasons why people want to give you their money:

1. You solve their problems;
2. You make them feel good (or better).

Take something as simple as food: the problem is you are hungry. So you go to a supermarket and buy some food for cooking at home which solves the problem, or you go to a restaurant which also solves the problem and adds a (bigger) feel good element. The fancier the restaurant, the bigger the feel-good element.

Almost anything you spend your money on can be analysed in terms of problem solving and feel-good. The bigger the feel-good element, the more expensive it usually is. Cars, movie theatres, massage therapy, dentist, clothes, kindergarten… all can be analysed in terms of problem solving and feel-good.

The better you can make someone feel while solving their problem, the more likely you are to be successful.

Money Is Energy

In the summer of 1998 I had just moved to Iceland. That summer life was very good, a fact that was reflected in that I had a lot of good energy to spread around. Money was coming to me effortlessly – and a lot of it! This is true money magic, considering I had only been in Iceland a few months and had just started a business. What I took with me from that summer was the clear knowledge that to make money, all you need to do is put out good energy and be open to receive, and then some of the energy will come back as money.

The more energy you have, the more alive and happy you feel. Most people have low energy levels as a result of their chosen lifestyles and because our western culture is not conducive to having a high level of energy. Therefore, they are attracted to people and services where they also experience an increase of their energy. They feel better from being around high energy people, as energy naturally flows from high levels to lower levels and, although perhaps not conscious of it, this is often a strong determining factor in how and where they spend their money.

Stephen and Lynda Kane of The School of Energy Awareness, recently here in Iceland to teach, clearly demonstrated this point: A big part of the reason they were so popular is that they gave everyone they came in contact with an energy boost. They have more personal energy than anyone else I've ever met.

Money Energy

There are eight different energies (ki) in the Feng Shui system. Wealth and career are two; the others are health, security, helpful people, partnership, learning and creativity. About four years ago I got sick with Chronic Fatigue.[1] My health energy went down, which caused my work energy to go down which caused my wealth energy to go down. All other energies were operating as strong as ever. I remember telling a friend, before I knew about the different energies of Feng Shui: "I have lots of energy but not the kind of energy needed to make money!" To make money again I had to first strengthen my health energy, then my work energy and then my wealth energy.

Unbending Intent

Three things are needed for bringing something into creation:

• A clear vision, a clear picture of present reality;
• Unbending intent to see the vision become manifest.

Intent is not will power. Intent is an energy that comes out of the middle of your body and starts pulling in the energy of the specific frequency of your vision. The clearer you are about your vision, the clearer you are about your present reality and, the more you care about seeing the vision come true, the stronger will be your unbending intent.

If You Are Thinking About Making Money You Are Not

Money is lower body energy (first and second chakra) which is reality. A very common personality trait is an unwillingness to face reality; it is often too painful. Being of the spacing-out type myself, I had to confront my personal brand of 'avoiding reality' in order to make money. I remember going for walks, repeating to myself: "Down, Gitte, down! Money is down!" Money is all the way down. Thinking is done in the head, about as far away from the part of the body where money is made as you can get. Therefore, if you are thinking about making money you are not connected to the energy of money manifestation.

The Best Ways to Increase Your Energy

• Codependence Recovery:[2] Codependence is the biggest stealer of energy. To me, inner work in the form of codependence recovery has been the fastest way to greatly increase my energy (as well as to have a wonderful life);
• Physical Health: Radiant health makes radiant living;
• Self-nurture: It is truly energizing to treat yourself lovingly and to pamper yourself – in all areas of life;
• Balanced Living;• Living your Purpose: We all have a unique purpose in life and, the way I see it, everyday we don't live that purpose we die a little. I find that living my purpose is a very strong energizer;
• Energy Awareness: Know what energizes you and consciously seek that out.

Making Money Is Inner Work

This has always, with no exception, been my case. I create my own reality means that my outer reality exactly mirrors my inner reality.

No amount of effort and struggle will bring me money if my inner reality doesn't support it. On the other hand, I have often made a lot of money when it has been off-season in my particular line of work because of my inner reality.

Inner work is about removing all resistance to having abundant money coming into your life. I have had a million and one unconscious reasons for not wanting to live beyond survival level. Yet wanting on a higher, healthier level to make money in abundance, has forced me, again and again, to look deep inside myself to see what was going on.

Parents

My mother was a victim and martyr. If I gave up my own victim role, i.e. stopped being just like her, I would lose her approval of me. I felt a very subtle loyalty to my father. I had to be successful enough to make him feel proud of me, but not so successful that it would trigger his feelings of shame of not being a (greater) success himself. This is a crazy balance to have to keep! I often felt I was walking a razor blade edge trying to make the money I needed and wanted for myself, being a success to make my father proud while at the same time having to put restrictions on my success. Talking to friends and clients, this seems to be a surprisingly common form of self-sabotage.

Resentment

Knowing that people have strong feelings about money, I have in my past often used not having money as a way to get even with someone if I, in my skewed thinking, perceived that he or she had slighted me.

For example, due to low self-esteem I used to be a people-pleaser, constantly seeking others' approval. This, in my skewed thinking, meant that they had the power over how I felt about myself. I resented that and got even by making sure that I did not have enough money. All ,of course, quite unconsciously. When I focused on making money only to pay bills and meet basic living expenses I felt resentful and I then refused to make any money at all. On the other hand, when I was clear on wanting 'me-money', money poured in.

If You Want Money You Have to Make it Yourself

A typical, and unconscious, fantasy that many people have is that one day someone will come and rescue them from their life and take care of them forever. The way this fantasy sabotaged my money making attempts was: If I can prove that I can't take care of myself, by making sure I always have too little money, then someone will (magically) show up and rescue me from my life. I worked really hard for many years to prove that I couldn't take care of myself. One day I decided to confront my fantasy and wrote a goodbye letter to my 'knight in shining armour', saying goodbye to him forever. I was surprised at the grief I felt, as if my 'knight' had been a real person.

This fantasy is, especially for women, a serious obstacle to becoming successful in business.

'It's too Good for Me!'

Every time I have another success coming up I can hear a terrified little voice inside me crying: "It's too good for me, I can't handle it"… and if I don't acknowledge it and let myself feel the overwhelm and fear, I end up sabotaging my success.

Revealing Yourself

Showing the world who you truly are feels very much like exposing yourself and brings up all your feelings of not being good enough – but money can't find you if you are hiding. Revealing myself felt horrible to me several years ago, but now it just feels honest. I show who I am and if people like what they see they will come.

Not Being Willing to Give Up

It takes more than talent to succeed; it takes audacity and most of all persistence and tenacity and sheer stubbornness. What kept me going in spite of all my self-sabotage was: "I am not willing to give up!"

Comfort Zone

Comfort zones exist with all the things, good and bad, that you know so well that you feel comfortable with them. This includes how much money you are comfortable having in your life. At one time in my life when the money magic was operating strongly, I remember beginning to feel very uncomfortable with how much money people was giving me… back then I hadn't learned to "just feel my fear and do it anyway", so eventually I retreated back into my comfort zone of a smaller income. Success in general is often outside people's comfort zones whereas failure is inside. So even though we may fear failure, when success approaches we feel so uncomfortable we retreat back into our comfort zone and choose failure, because 'familiar is safe'.

If I Fear I Won't Make Money – It's True.

Fear is in the mind and when you fear, you are not grounded in reality (first chakra). The easiest way to deal with fear is to just feel it. Accept your fear, feel it, and shortly it will be gone. However, it will always pop up again when you step outside your comfort zone!

Choosing to be a Winner

I learned about choosing to be a winner from a friend of mine who, after years of being a struggling artist, started to pull in a lot of money. I asked her in awe: "How in the world did you do that?" Her answer was that one day she just decided to be a winner… and shortly after making this choice she experienced dramatically increased sales of her art. Always willing to learn, I tried it for myself.

I decided to be a winner, too… and shortly afterwards I started getting very busy in my practice. Why did it work for both of us? The decision we made we did not make with our minds but with our guts. A decision made with your gut has the power to create your reality. Money making becomes a state of being rather than a set of actions.

It changes the energy you put out to the world: From perhaps feeling sorry for yourself or being worried about not making enough money, in fact, instead of being reactive and a victim of life, you make a pro-active choice to get out of your mental groove and try on a new one.

Letting Go And Letting God

I am the pre-dominant creative force of my own life and I co-create my life with God. This is the way I live my life and it includes making money. I take no action based on my thinking, whether logical, commonsensical or fear-based. I wait until a decision arises to my conscious awareness from somewhere deep inside. Then, following my inner truth, I take action and, if needed, a leap of faith. This way of living and making money takes patience, trust and courage. And it's wonderful!

The Incoming-Flow-of-Goodness-in-Life

On a magical afternoon I sat in my garden and looked at the flourishing plant life. It suddenly struck me how much life loves life. And then I realized that life loves me, too, because I am also life. And then I realized that that must mean that God loves me too, because God is life! That was when I stopped fighting for what I wanted, knowing that life and God was on my side and wanted much better for me than I could possibly dream of! There is an incoming-flow-of-goodness-in-life and all I have to do is to not block it. I have to give up all my self-will and control. I have to get out of my own way so that the goodness can get to me. When I surrender to the incoming-flow-of-goodness-in-life, I am fully grounded in reality and at peace with myself. I am open to receiving!

Concluding Remarks

A Money Issue is Never about Money

This has always been true for me and for everyone I have worked with. The approach I have adapted for when I have a low inflow of money is that I ask myself two times if I really want to make money.

First time I answer myself with "yes, I do", second time I answer "no, I don't". By asking and answering in this way, I bypass my thinking and feel which answer is most true. Always, when I have had little inflow of money I have not wanted the money. Next step is to do some serious soul-searching to find out why I am sabotaging myself.

This can at times be quite a detective job, and has often led me to some very deep emotional healing about things that have absolutely nothing to do with money.

Real Wealth is More than Money

Wealth is about health, happiness, abundance, prosperity, loving, sharing, surrendering, trusting, learning, living your purpose, being creative, opportunity, enjoying, balance…

Success Redefined

Some years ago I redefined success: I am a success if I have done everything I can, and then some more, to create the result I want. If I have also stretched myself and grown and become more of myself… then I have succeeded. If not, then I have failed, no matter what the result. This definition of success has helped me many times to pull off seeming miracles as often, when something looks as if it may not happen, an honest look at myself has revealed that I have, in fact, not given my all. When I give my all, magic happens!

PS I would love to hear money magic stories from readers.

References

1 I will be happy to share how I healed the Chronic Fatigue.
2 See also my article Whom are you living your life for? in Positive Health Issue No 94. Codependence is characterized by the following symptoms: Self-esteem problems; boundaries problems; self-awareness problems; self-care problems; thinking and behaving in extremes; control and manipulation; blame and resentment; damaged spirituality; avoiding reality (addictions); difficulties with intimate relationships. Codependence is a low energy state of being.