Can you fake richness? Can you project an image of being ultra-wealthy when inwardly you quaver at the thought of the bank impounding your property because the debt remains unpaid? Can you put on a mask of all-is-well in your world when your mind is preoccupied by the worry of how to pay this vendor or settle that bill? The answer is - to an extent, you cannot. Fake the poverty in your mind, that is.
Report of a study conducted by researchers on the body language exhibited by children of people coming from different socio-economic strata has appeared on the internet recently (a brief summary of the survey's results is available here). The study revealed that it is possible to guess the socio-economic status of even strangers from the subtle non-verbal cues they let out. Children from high economic background homes exhibit a greater sense of confidence in their interaction with others, do not baulk at making eye-contact, and have an easy smile and an easy laughter; while kids with not-so-high-economic background are nervous about making eye-contact, fidget with the button of their shirt while introducing themselves, and are generally unsure about how uninhibited they can be when laughing.
Reflecting on the survey, it occurs that if you clothe a person in the most expensive threads, that person will still reveal the state of their bank balance through their body language and non-verbal cues. Poverty is a state of mind, not the state of your bank balance. Poverty is also not the texture of the thread you are wearing. If you think you are poor, a failure, a reject, a nobody --- then your body language will show it all. But if you think you are rich, prosperous, a success, a somebody who has accepted life as it is, at ease with yourself, a human being of worth, then even if there aren't very many numerals before the decimal point in your bank balance figure --- your body language will still show it all. Your body does not know how much cash you have or what material wealth you possess; but it very well understands the quality of the thoughts you are holding in your mind; and it truthfully reflects them as is.
The way we have evolved over the ages, we define "rich" and "poor" in terms of tangible assets and physical entities. This man owns a residence of size X, so he must be rich. This woman owns a residence of size Y and also commutes in her own jet, so she must be richer than the man who owns just the X-sized residence. What we tend to overlook, because we can never see them, is the quality of our thoughts. Like the material entities, even our thoughts have two different qualities - one may be defined as "rich", and the other may be defined as "poor". Very interestingly, while it takes effort to earn richness in the material-world, it does not take any effort whatsoever to achieve richness in the thought-world. All that we have to do is to remain alert about the quality of thoughts that we allow to pass through our mindscape.
What are these "rich thoughts"? These are thoughts of being at ease with oneself; being ease with the world; these are thoughts of acceptance of life as it is; these are thoughts of love directed towards oneself and holding oneself in high esteem; these are thoughts that one is worthy of all the love and respect that there is in this world; these are thoughts that are not dependent on the opinion of the others, and definitely not dependent on how many numerals there are before the decimal point; and these are the thoughts that drive one to aspire, work for and achieve greater things in the most positive manner. So what are the "poor thoughts"? Any thought that self-defeats, self-deprecates, self-discounts, self-loathes, self-pities, and self-put-me-down, is not a "rich thought" but its exact opposite.
Now tell me, how much money do you have to spend in acquiring these rich thoughts for yourself? What effort do you have to expend in acquiring them? What skills do you need, which school or college do you have to attend, which exam do you have to pass and which qualification do you need to acquire in order to own these rich thoughts for yourself? You see, thoughts are all there in ether, and available to you free of cost, and as abundantly like the air and the sunshine. Now it is up to you to pick and choose the exact quality of thoughts you want to acquire.
Tell you what? You wanna become rich? You want money and wealth and prosperity badly? Okay so here is the secret. Acquire richness in thoughts first. Richness in the material world will automatically follow. Take my word on this.
It Has Become A Harbinger Of Only Negative News, These Days
I guess for the past few weeks (or is it months), this blog has been shrilly harping on the same theme again and again: keep your chin up, cheer up, there's nothing wrong with you and there's nothing wrong with this world, whatever bad that we see going on around us and with us is a grand detoxification of all sorts of hitherto fore-ignored negativities that were being built up in the society as a whole and within our own life; so remain positive and go through this process with excitement and wonder and see what new world is emerging. And with every passing day, it is indeed becoming a challenge to keep each others' cheers high, as news keeps pouring in about this person gone bonkers because of X reason, that company folding up because of Y reason, blah, blah, blah.
And yet, we have to keep up with the good cheer, if that is the only thing left to be done. Keep up with the good cheer ourselves, and egg on everybody in our vicinity and reach to keep up with their good cheer.
As if what is happening in our neighborhood is not enough, bringing to our hall and our desk more gloomy news from distant shores are the ubiquitous TV and the newspapers. The way the headlines scream in big and bold fonts ("make them even bigger, Johnny"), the way the news anchor couches their words in gloomy terms, you would think that the world is coming to an end. After soaking in all the darkness and the despair through our senses, it is but natural for the mind to dwell on these thoughts. Which is what we do not want. So what is the solution? Banish the newspapers for the time being. Turn off the television, and keep it turned off. Never mind if you miss a few episodes of your favorite soap. Never mind if doing this creates a huge chunk of vacuum in the waking hours. But then, what do you do with so much time on your hands?
May be, just may be, you could consume this huge chunk in walking through the woods. Get in tune with nature. Listen to the silence that soothes and embalms. Listen to the bird calls as they go about their routine. Realize what a beautiful place it is that you live in. Greet people who once you had never bothered to give a second glance, while you rushed past, totally absorbed in your world. Make new friends. Take up a new hobby. There is so much to do in this huge chunk, really.
Am I being escapist? By turning a blind eye to the goings-on, am I advocating that everything will be alright? The point here is this - let the collective consciousness take on the responsibility of setting this "everything" to "alright". Let us focus on setting to "alright", the one and only one person we can take responsibility for - and that is "ourselves". There are people whose job it is to get the economy back on track. They are doing their job as best as they can. It won't help if we keep watching them from the sidelines, biting our nails fretfully, wondering what the next moment and the next day will bring. Your troubles won't go away by your continuing to nurse them with worry and anxiety and fear, will they? But by deciding to not give them more importance than is due, by deciding to keep intact the peace of mind, you might actually find a solution! The deep woods and the embalming silence and the chirping birds and the beautiful neighborhood and the stranger faces and the new friendships and the new hobbies can and do spark creative ideas, you know. Ideas that can bring the sunshine back.
The least we can do, and in these circumstances the best we can do really, is to keep intact our sense of balance and calm, and be optimistic and hopeful about what the future holds for us.
So, if there is a television blaring in the background, switch it off please, for your sake.
[In our drive to achieve miracles at work, we sometimes forget some very basic elements of our existence. We tend to ignore the simple miracles that keep happening around us, only, we have taken them for granted. While on the subject of not letting negative, depressing thoughts to enter our mind, here's one reflective piece on the joys of pausing to stand and stare: "While Pushing To Achieve Miracles At Work".]
'How To Respect Money' Is The Lesson From The Present Crisis
Difficult it is, is it not, to keep our head in place when all around us are losing theirs? This is precisely what the current economic conditions are demanding that we do. To retain our cool, and not let the mayhem and gloom and sense of doom get to us.
That nowadays there is generally a feeling of being shipwrecked, along with the realization of the traditional support of lifebuoys, lifeguards, rafts, etc not being available to take us to the safety of solid ground -- is clear from the recent spurt in visitations to counselors by people who had never any record of visiting one before. The common leitmotif behind the motivation to seek counseling are the expected ones - job losses, layoffs, furloughs, salary cuts, and the accompanying worry of paying for the kids' tuition fees and paying for the debts taken when times were more cheerful. Another feature that is most visible in today's social life is the increase in attendance at spiritual and religious congregations: the subconscious connection we make, of a higher force being our lifebuoy, lifeguard, raft, etc is a throwback to the times when we used to be led by the finger by somebody senior to such places, and when we found them regaining solace and strength and comfort, making their particular road ahead more bearable for them.
Both these features - receiving counseling and attending spiritual / religious congregations - must be counted as positive side-effects of the present economic crisis. We have been on auto-pilot mode of "earn-enjoy-have-fun-and-tomorrow-will-take-care-of-itself" for so long, that a correction which makes us pause and take stock of our mental and spiritual health had become overdue. This taking stock leads us by the finger towards some deep self-analysis sometimes, which again is a positive offshoot. A churning begins in our mind about the way we have lived our lives all this while, about the thought processes that have dictated our decisions and choices. As with any churning, some very good aspects about us come to light. And as with any churning, some not so great aspects about us too come to light.
Take for example, our approach and attitude towards the concept of money. While it has been fed to us every moment of the day - by our parents, seniors and peers, by the newspapers and the TV and the radio, by the local religious congregation we used to go to - that (one of the, if not the only) most potent and powerful entity in this world is M-O-N-E-Y, tell me, how many of us really, really understand this thing called "money"? That a majority of us are largely ignorant about it - never mind the grand posture we take before the family members or the eloquent gestures and theatrical dialogs that we deliver before relatives and friends - is clear by the fact of the huge debts we have run up on our credit card and we now realize that we cannot pay.
As this article here suggests - Raise Your Hands, All Those Who Love Money -, unless somebody taps us on our forehead and points to us the folly of our approach towards this arguably most potent power in the world, we continue to live the same way that our upbringing has taught us. And continue to make the same mistakes we have always made.
While the economy will take its own time to get back on its feet - and that it will, there's no doubt -, let's use the present opportunity of the thumb-twiddling free time that we seem to have with us - waiting for the next job or contract to come our way - to conduct a positive self-analysis and identify areas where we can improve ourselves. Including how to give money some more respect than we have been giving it up until now.
Shed Your Cynicism, Discard Your Gloom, And Look Again
Come the morning, and like on autopilot we begin going through the rushed ritual of readying to go to the office. It is while searching through the hangers of clothes in the wardrobe, making up our mind whether it is going to be beige or navy blue today --- that it hits us. But we were handed over the final confirmation yesterday evening! That our contract-renewal request was finally, finally turned down! That yesterday was the last day in the office we have been going to for the past so many years! That today is the first day of the rest of our life, without any office to go to, without the usual banter and the bitching and the politicking and the oily food at the canteen or cafeteria and the water at the cooler and the meetings with the clients or vendors or the bosses or the colleagues and the...
Indeed, that we are facing deep crisis as a community is official and public news now; so it is okay to admit that, like the next-door Joneses, we too will have to scrape our way through the present times till the next upswing comes by. No use putting up pretenses that we are doing any better than the rest, is there? The long of the face and the drag in the shuffle and the droop of the shoulders say it all. The sympathy in their eyes and the nodding of their head and the understanding pat on the back say it all.
Sounds very good, and temporarily comforting, isn't it, when in such times somebody gives a very inspiring sermon on how there might be some very good opportunity lurking behind what superficially appears to be a crisis? In our cynicism and weariness, we know that, once the momentary euphoria wears off and the stark reality of having to re-heat yesterday's leftovers stares us in the face, we get back to the daily grind and the despair, and sprinkle all the words of inspiration over the crust of the stale pie. May be the food will taste better!
And yet, yet, behind the exhortation that there indeed could be an opportunity that is masquerading as crisis, is ancient wisdom. Not that whatever is ancient has to be good. But this wisdom has been tried and tested. We can neatly categorize the crises in our lives into two - one that we draw upon ourselves of our own accord, and the second that are thrust upon us by circumstances that take perverse pleasure in throwing those curve balls at us when we are least prepared.
The first set is something that we need to work upon, and ensure that we do not repeat again. If we are given another chance, that is. The second set is meant to be transformative in nature - the Universe has in Its Mind a special plan for us which we have to implement. It wants us to stop doing this, chuck away that, and instead, take up this and embrace that. And in general, we are expected to rethink our perspectives, rethink our value systems, and redefine who we are, what we stand for, who is important to us and who is no longer. Important to us, that is.
What does all this abstract painting translate into in practical terms, on the ground? Perhaps a change of vocation, for one. A change in the composition of what we call "family", for another. A relocation to another city or state or country, for a third. The problem is that we don't get the instruction in unequivocal terms often times - they don't dispatch the owl, HarryPotter-like, message in the beak, telling us what to do next. So we are left to our own devices as to what to do next.
We may decide to transform our life, or continue living it as it is. The key point is not transformation, the key point is to shift our perspective; to discard the doom and gloom from the heart and look at our situation with childlike wonder: so, what will happen now? The food is finished, the security coupons are over, what now? The foreclosure looms ahead, soon there won't be any shelter over the head, what now? The spouse of so many years is walking out the door, not to return, what now? How will the story pan out now? By shifting our perspective from playing a helpless character to becoming the director of the movie, our own movie called Life, we can think of alternatives to how our particular story unfolds. And make attempts to see how we can convert the challenge into an opportunity.
So, therefore, look out! There indeed is an opportunity masquerading as crisis! Catch it before it goes away.
Putting Thoughts, Emotions To Paper / Screen Helps
In these times of layoffs and pink slips, with the wrinkles etching permanent lines on the forehead, worrying about where the next check is going to come from, worrying about how the EMI gets paid and the credit card bill settled, worrying about how the children's tuition fees are going to be met coming spring... quite easy it is to mope around, feeling anxious, stressed, and nervous about the future. In these times of troubled relationships, when the wear and tear seems to be grating through the delicate threads that bond, when we know not what is going on in the other person's mind, when we are just not confident of what the turn at the next corner holds for us in our life, whether somebody is continue to walk alongside or bid goodbye or simply vanish and no goodbye, just an SMS saying that it's all over... we can spend hours upon hours simply brooding and feeling sorry for ourselves.
Dont' we do it? Spending hours upon hours simply brooding and feeling sorry for ourselves? Or, alternatively, we can spend these hours journaling. Putting our thoughts, emotions and feelings to paper, or typing them out on the screen. Venting it all out. This act sounds very simplistic. It is. And at the same time, it is quite effective too.
One very good way is to carry a notebook around - the cellulose kind or the electronic kind, doesn't matter. And when the urge hits, simply open it up and begin writing. Give some appropriate heading before you begin, so your thoughts rally around that one theme. And then let the writing flow. Convert it into a daily habit.
Be as detailed as possible in writing down all that is going through your mind. It could be anything: from the huge showdown with your partner last night to that cute, toothless smile the tiny tot flashed at you when you handed him or her candy in return for their singing. Don't bother if the pages appear initially to be full of junk. Just keep going at this very simple task. And when the task is over, close the book and stash it away. For the next day.
Without your conscious knowledge, this simple (simplistic) act of writing begins to suck away the clouds of despair and brooding and anxiety from your mind. There is this feeling of lightheadedness, an immense release, which comes about when you confide in somebody who is very close to you. Somebody who cannot talk back or respond or proffer advice, but who is sympathetic and even empathetic in their silence. Somebody who is not passing any judgment about whether what you are feeling is good or bad, justified or unjustified, correct or incorrect, virtuous or blasphemous. There is a sense of catharsis that cannot be described in words! And you will experience it yourself, when you take up this hobby of journaling.
Don't worry about whether the output is good enough or not. We are not going to submit your writing for the Pulitzer competition, nor is it going to be checked by your language teacher. Of course, after some time, when you look back and review your literary work and determine that the world deserves to know you better, there's no harm in converting your rambling into book form and getting it published. Who knows, the next year's Pulitzer Prize just might have your name written on it? Miracles can and do happen, ya know.
May be you could use the format of blogging, like I am doing. Who knows, you might even get to monetize it! And begin to earn income out of blogging!
Let Circumstances Not Dictate Your Sense Of What You Are
It is a known fact of life - our own sense of self-worth moulds and shapes not only our body, but also our destiny and future path. If we feel good about ourselves and about the world around us, this feeling percolates to every sphere of our existence. Our health barometer shows a good reading, our relationship barometer shows a good reading, and everything appears achievable and attainable. Yes, even in such turbulent economic times that the world is going through, circa 2008, we know in our heart of hearts that we will pull through.
But the moment the self-worth index takes a dip, everything plunges. Something changes in our brain and body chemistry. An altogether different set of chemicals starts getting secreted. And the outcome is that we crave food - or we begin to hate food - and in general, start feeling depressed. A chain of events cascades, pulling further down the self-worth index. Things go out of control. The result? A host of diseases. And then we end up taking medicines that are aimed at neutralizing the chemicals, but not at solving the base, the core problem: Shoring up the self-worth.
As human beings, we naturally tend to equate our self-worth with our achievements. So when we get a promotion or buy a new vehicle, we feel worthy. Or if we fall in love and the other party says yes, we feel good for ourselves. Think of any of the nicest things that can happen, and just watch the sense of self-worth zoom! But when the reverse occurs? The blues take over.
This equating one's sense of self-worth with one's achievements is perhaps part-DNA, but definitely something that we imbibe from the environment as part of the growing-up process. The uncle who puts the gun to his temple because his business got wrecked, or the sister who goes and hangs herself to the ceiling fan because her lover ditched her, or the father who takes to drinking because he lost his long-held job, or the mother who becomes depressed and bed-ridden because she lost hers, ... are sad incidents, but are definitely not good role-models for the vulnerable psyche of a growing child. In the face of such crises in their life, instead of caving in, when they bravely endure and overcome their particular situation, then that would be a way of living that the child can take forth further.
The business got wrecked? Fine, work on it, build another one. The lover ditched? So what, he or she didn't deserve you in the first place! There is somebody else out there who is more deserving, go look. A long-held job got taken away? Oh, then this is the right time to rethink one's vocation and station in life. There is no dearth of what can be done in this world. The Universe is benign, and all we have to do is to be optimistic, hopeful, cheerful --- and persevere.
The message that the child would then learn, and this is something that we should be aware of at all times - is that our self-worth is not defined by our circumstances. Circumstances come, and circumstances go. This is the yo-yo of life. Nobody has escaped the yo-yo, neither the kings, nor the hermits. But what is in our control and in our hands is to remain alert and be always aware of our sense of self-worth. And not let some silly situation we might be going through dictate its value.
A new version of the US dollar bill, circulating on the net. Somebody's creative mind at work!
... It Is Time To Reassess Our Attitude Towards Money
With such exciting (!) news from the world's markets and the US government's historic efforts to rescue their country's and by extension, the global financial system, it is quite natural to remain riveted to the goings-on. Indeed, every move being made by the government now has an impact on the financial well-being of every human being walking on earth, whether rich or poor. Every human being, except perhaps the ones who are not connected with the financial network of the civilized world.
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Pictures of a tribe living in the forests of Brazil. Compared to what you and I are going through nowadays, theirs must be a life of bliss!
While the media tends to gravitate towards news of doom and gloom, as it is wont to - the more you play on the audience's fears, the more sensationalism and histrionics and melodrama you dish out, the better your ratings -, and while the present movie has not yet reached its final reel - there is more to come, I have a premonition some more shake-ups are lined up to reveal themselves in the days to come before the hurricane sweeping the financial system finally ebbs and some sanity is restored -; in all this madness a new order is quietly rising.
Stodgy banks and financial institutions that were once mocked at for their no-risk-attitude and derided for keeping their balance sheets and portfolios free of dubious deals and investments have suddenly become the darling of both the investing community and the employee fraternity of the erstwhile hi-flying companies that have bitten the dust. These folks can be seen stalking the ruins to see what they can salvage at bargain basement prices. And they are now in a position to dictate terms - whether it is that once-blue-chip company or that once-blue-eyed-boy-or-girl. This is how the economics of the world plays out, has always played out - if one thing goes down, something else comes up, one person's loss is another's gain, the zero-sum game results in just that: a Zero.
This also leads us to a simple solution to our present conundrum: we simply align ourselves with the new order! Work on the resume - highlight the skills and underline the talents that the new order-makers are looking for, build the right set of skills that are in demand in the new era - and slip smoothly into the new seat in the new company. I know all this is better said than done... but what has to be done has to be done. This is yet another lesson from the same book of economics!
While the new order takes its own time to rise, it is a wonderful (!) opportunity for us as individuals to reassess our own attitude to the biggest source of turmoil and stress in our life: MONEY! Amongst all the causal factors behind stress in a modern man's and woman's life, it is this entity beginning with 'M' that tops the list.
While realms upon realms have been spent on discussing the various forms of problem financial behaviors, the root cause turns out to be the ideas that got shaped in our mind about money while growing up. This reassessment will not turn back the wheels of time, of course. But it will help us get back on our feet faster than would be otherwise possible. And keep us alert enough of our actions and reactions when it comes to matters pertaining to the green buck.
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...And this is the real one dollar bill. Let's look forward to the staid smile on the face of this bill to be restored!
The year 2008 will not be forgotten in a hurry. The omens hinted at "interesting" times at the beginning of the year itself. And as we entered deeper into its months and weeks and days, we have seen structure after structure crumble. While the Hadron collider proved to be a non-event - much ado about nothing actually, well at least for the time being and let's wait for the actual collision to occur -, look around you, and you will see the dust and the debris and the detritus everywhere, of structures that were old and established, venerated and celebrated.
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An Associated Press clip on YouTube - AIG bailout with a USD 85 billion infusion by US Govt.
Easy it is for anybody to deride the men and women who were supposed to have been bulwarks against the eventuality of these crumbles. It is quite obvious that these people are now knee-jerk reacting to the unfolding events, and there is no sign, as yet, that they have got on top of things and are in control. The scene right at this moment resembles a horse rider who has been yanked off the saddle, reins having slipped away from the hands long ago, the rider's one foot in one stirrup, the rest of the body being dragged on the ground, the horse wildly galloping to god-knows-where. And the rest of the world, jaw dropped, eyes unblinkingly-wide-open in horror, wringing hands, watches helplessly, wondering where it will end, and when the rider will get back into the saddle, if at all. The problem is not eased by the fact that there are these other horses on the ground, and all their girth straps are inter-connected, so if one horse goes wild and throws off its rider, the other horses panic too and follow suit in one massive synchronized failure.
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The imposing structure of Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC, courtesy wiki. In the eye of the present storm.
So is AIG going to be the last bailout? Fingers are already pointing towards the likes of Washington Mutual, and somebody is already eyeing to buy it, in case it becomes available for sale. As I type this out, Dow Jones industrials has dropped more than 200 points. Shares of AIG have fallen by half.
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Washington Mutual Branch office in San Jose, CA. In a few days' (hours'?) time, we will know whether WaMu will be required to be bought by yet another bank in yet another bailout process.
This crumbling of structures is not happening in financial markets alone. It is there everywhere, even if the manifestations are not so stark and explicit like the electronic trading board of a stock exchange. Social mores are changing. Definitions of what is acceptable and what is not are shifting. What was shocking and taboo and prohibited a few days ago has now become passe. Conservatism is taking a battering as never before - and yesterday's radicalism is becoming today's hidebound and dogma.
What this all means - is that we are experiencing change and churn at a scale that our present set of generations has never known. I wouldn't say we are "paying a price for evolution" - but we are definitely evolving, yes. And whatever new world will emerge when the change and the churn subsides, will definitely be for our individual and collective good. Meanwhile, if we are really, really alert, we can actually take advantage of this downturn and use it to transform our life.
World! Here Comes The Richest Person Who Ever Walked This Earth!
There was this interesting question posed by a member on the Self-Development Forum; it asked - "I have a question - Can you Cosmic Order a specific sum of money into your Bank Account successfully?"
Ah. If only wishes were horses. The beauty of these self-development tools is that they pump you up with a lot of hope and fuel those aspirations that had all but died in the last tsunami of circumstances. The heart begins swaying with the emotion of "yes, it is indeed possible", "yes, it might just succeed", "yes, I am not destined to this life of detritus", "yes, I have it in me to overcome all my present conditions"... Now whether this is a placebo effect that begins to act, or whether something happens to the mind because of the intensity and positive energy of these emotions - is a debate that we will let the experts thrash out amongst themselves. But the net effect is: you begin to take control over yourself. You begin to take control over your life. And it is in such a state of mind that miracles begin to happen. The unthinkable becomes achievable. The impossible comes under the realm of possibility.
So, can you use this self-dev tool called "Cosmic Ordering" to attract a specific sum of money into your bank account successfully? I wrote in response - "... The good thing about Cosmic Ordering is - is that when you place the order, you also begin to obtain insights on the possible routes for getting from point A to point B. These routes will invariably be aligned with your specific skill sets and talents. The insights will also tell you what shortfall in your skills needs to be made up so that your progress to point B is accelerated. ... All that one needs to do now, is to act on these insights! ..."
The key operative phrase here is not beginning "to obtain insights". This the Universe is doing for you. The key operative phrase here is "to act on these insights". Many a time we feel momentarily inspired by some fleeting thought about some course of action (no doubt sent our way by the Universe), but the next moment we turn it down, because we think it is beyond our will or our strength to perform it.
Perhaps, therefore, before ordering material wealth and wellbeing from the Universe, we should order for ourselves abundant willpower and abundant self-belief? That will see us through all implementation procedures needed to possess the material wealth and the wellbeing?
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