Photo by TW Collins
When a well-known financial guru discussed the “dharma of money” recently, I was surprised. This person didn’t strike me as particularly spiritual or metaphysical of mind, and what was described was actually the Law of Attraction in action at its finest. This guru explained that the flow of money is important and that if you hoard it, less new money will flow to you; therefore, it’s important to make charitable gifts to others and keep the money flowing throughout the Universe, even when you don’t feel you have the extra cash to throw around. You will feel prosperous by giving and in turn, the Universe will reward you with prosperity.
I think I’ve found the way that works best for me, and I’ve also observed this concept gone horribly awry. Plenty of people are attracted to the Law of Attraction for money reasons, usually that they want more, lots more. Instead of more prosperity, some people reaping much more
debt.
This spiritual flow of money is something that I’ve been practicing for a couple of years and most recipients never know. Every month, I send a week’s worth of grocery money to a disabled woman who does so much spiritually for other people and never ever asks for anything. There are certainly other things I could spend that money on for myself, but I feel good helping out someone else. I feel RICH. I prefer to help when it’s anonymous so that there are no unspoken expectations. I’m by no means wealthy, but I always have enough for my family and myself with enough left over–with careful planning–for an adventure or two. When I worry about money, then it’s time for me to make an anonymous donation, and somehow that money always returns to me many times over. I don’t give with the idea of receiving multiples of money in return, but it does seem to loosen the stranglehold of any financial worry.
To the contrary, I’ve noticed a painful trend among some otherwise adept followers of the Law of Attraction: if you want to have money and get out of debt, then spend lots of money! It’s not working for them, and I’ve been thinking about why. I’ve concluded that it’s just not the same concept of “flow.” The money is flowing out but the energy of it is still focused on themselves rather than flowing it out to others in a charitable sense. So the flow is confined to helping one person–the self. Not that you shouldn’t ever do something nice to feather your nest, but I do believe that some of these people are kidding themselves in a way that will come back to haunt them and some of them are just now on the precipice of self-destruction.
I’ve been observing about half a dozen outwardly successful followers of the Law of Attraction, all of whom have some tremendous surprises the general public does not know–the general public, their friends, neighbors, colleagues, family, and sometimes even their spouses. I know because of many discussions I’ve held with them, and I can share the trends I see while keeping their identities private…but any one of them could be your next door neighbor or business partner and you’d never know their true financial picture.
The members of this group I’ve been observing–they don’t all know each other–are regarded as extremely successful with annual incomes ranging from $100,000+ to $600,000–and nothing to show for it except debt. Seriously, they own NOTHING. They are all one payment away from losing their nice homes and new cars. They have zero assets and almost unfathomable liabilities. They each owe the IRS anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 in back taxes. They owe child support and/or alimony and are constantly threatened with going back to court for not paying on time. Their utilities are repeatedly turned off for non-payment. All their credit cards are maxxed out and they usually can’t afford the minimum payments, with some owing $20,000 in credit card debt and others owing closer to $50,000 in credit card debt–on revolving credit accounts that have delinquent interest rates of 23% to 25%. They have no collateral and rock-bottom credit ratings.
I’ve also noted, just out of curiosity, that none of these people tithe at their churches or make charitable contributions. They say they’d like to, but there’s just not enough money to pay their bills and they have to decide between having the utilities on and sending money to a good cause. After all, they’re deeply in debt and know it.
Their answer to their money problems? Let the money flow! Meaning, SPEND MORE MONEY!
One recently managed to get a new credit card at an ungodly rate (given her bad credit rating) and she maxxed it out on a cross-country trip, a ski vacation, and new sports equipment for herself. She told me thatspending money would bring more money back to her and get her out of debt…except that she just added another $12,000 to her long list of debts. Did she feel crunched? Yes, so when she talked her boss into a hefty raise, she immediately spent the yet-to-be-earned income on a new car and went further into debt.
Yet she and all the others of this group are completely convinced that they can get rid of their debt and have plenty of money by spending more money on themselves, in effect creating more debt.
And that’s the key: it’s the debt that’s flowing back to them in this circuit of money energy, not the prosperity.
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