Serenity of heart precedes wealth of mind
A lot of people, especially in today's society where there are so many opportunities for becoming wealthy, WANT to get rich or, at least, become financially independent so they can enjoy life.
Now, financial independence means different things for different people.
Some only need net passive income of $50,000 per year (aftertax) to live their favorite lifestyle while others need $200,000. The exact number really depends on each person.
Yet, no matter what the "magic" number is, most people (19 out of 20) are NOT financially independent. They have to work hard for a living. That is, if they don't show up for work Monday morning (and every other weekday morning), their finances will take a plunge leading, ultimately, to destitution.
It is of UTMOST importance for everybody to first calm down. Second, it is important to learn how to STAY CALM at all times. This means developing a serene and peaceful attitude toward life.
It is helpful, whenever you feel negative emotions, to stop thinking and start focusing on your breathing. Feel the diaphragm (underneath your lungs) moving up and down, thereby enabling you to inhale and exhale.
Focusing on your breathing will automatically empty your thoughts, and bring a sense of calmness to you. You will be focused on the present moment, without thinking about the past (regrets) or the future (fears).
Only when you are in such a state of peacefulness, can you concentrate your energies and imagination toward the creation of solutions which, eventually, will liberate you financially.
The challenge for most people seeking financial independence is that they have not yet learned how to master their mind. And it's not people's fault at all, since there is no course in high school or college called Spirituality 101!
Yet, learning how to master your mind from a higher level -- the spiritual level -- will give you TREMENDOUS POWERS. You don't need a formal business education, nor an MBA, nor a university degree, to achieve financial independence. But you need to master your mind and your emotions.
Fear, self-doubt, feelings of unworthiness, low self-esteem, etc. have no place in your life nor in your mind.
All of those negative, disturbing emotions arise because you focus on your ego. Your ego is like a shadow, and every person on this planet, by virtue of having a physical body, has a shadow.
The good news is that there is also the sun. So at any given point in time, you can either look up and face the sun, or you can look down and focus on your shadow (or ego).
Notice that your ego or shadow is always on the floor, so if you focus on it, you will be at the lowest level possible!
But if you focus on the sun and let its light shine on your face, you will feel serene, peaceful, grateful -- to be alive!
One thing you cannot do is focus on BOTH your shadow and the sun at the same time. It's simply impossible.
My point is that at every moment, you can choose to focus on a positive emotion or a negative emotion.
If, for any reason, a negative emotion like fear or doubt or frustration arises, just let it pass by. Smile. Remember what the famous Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: "The source of a smile is a truly awakened mind."
(Just don't smile too much in public or people might think you're crazy!).
So the strategy for spiritual empowerment is quite simple: if you feel negative emotions, let them pass by until you get to a point where you feel zero emotions. If you feel positive emotions (joy, enthusiasm, excitement, contentment, love, friendship, etc.) then express those emotions through art, poems, a gift, a nice compliment to someone, etc. You will then enhance the positive emotions, and they will propagate throughout your being and will be transmitted to people around you.
Why do I talk about emotions so much?
Because you can't use your mind properly, no matter how smart or educated you are, unless you learn to master your emotions first.
We live in a world that is unstable and dangerous because the elite is mind-smart but heart-dumb. We are evolved intellectually but unevolved emotionally.
We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the planet several times over, yet emotionally and spiritually, we have so much to learn.
But let's get back to your financial independence.
You can only begin to use your mind strategically, in a way that benefits you and your family, after you have learned how to master your emotions.
When we look at great people who have positively impacted millions of lives, we notice how they were in control of their emotions: Pope John Paul II (who engineered the liberation of the Soviet people from communism), Mickael Gorbatchev, Gandhi, etc.
My point is that once you learn to calm yourself, in any situation, you will be able to access powers within that you never knew existed. Your imagination and creativity will be enhanced, and you will be able to create lots and lots of solutions that other people will pay good money for.
But you've got to learn how to move from negative emotions to "no emotion", and from "no emotion" to positive emotions.
Some of you will say, "Well, I'm a positive person but there are so many negative people around me!" I will handle that in an upcoming post since it's not simple to explain, although there ARE specific techniques to handle negative people that you simply cannot avoid.
Look at it this way: Success (or happiness or wealth or well-being) = Potential - Interference.
The interference here is your negative emotions, which arise due to your ego.
The potential is the sun I was talking about. You can either focus on your unlimited potential, or you can focus on the interference within you.
I say "within you" because the interference is not external to you. It's not your husband, your kids, your unsupportive friends, your siblings, etc. It's not the government, politicians, the news media, etc. You are the only one who creates your reality. Nobody else.
Life, as you experience it, is like a dish.
It's not how many ingredients you have that matters most, but how good your cooking skills are.
In the same way that cooking requires basic skills and lots of practice, spiritual/emotional mastery (which creates a good, positive life) also requires basic knowhow and lots of practice.
The only difference between cooking a dish and creating your life experience is that in the case of cooking, you turn external ingredients into a dish that you then ingest.
In the case of creating a life, you take both external ingredients (circumstances, opportunities, people, events, etc.) and internal ingredients (emotions, intellect) to create your life experience, which is then "tasted" by you.
The bottom line is that only by training yourself to master your emotions will you achieve peace. And peace is the foundation upon which you learn to wield your mind masterfully in order to create wealth in all of its forms: products, services, solutions, happiness, goodwill, positive and harmonious relationships with other human beings, generosity, friendship, etc.
Now, financial independence means different things for different people.
Some only need net passive income of $50,000 per year (aftertax) to live their favorite lifestyle while others need $200,000. The exact number really depends on each person.
Yet, no matter what the "magic" number is, most people (19 out of 20) are NOT financially independent. They have to work hard for a living. That is, if they don't show up for work Monday morning (and every other weekday morning), their finances will take a plunge leading, ultimately, to destitution.
It is of UTMOST importance for everybody to first calm down. Second, it is important to learn how to STAY CALM at all times. This means developing a serene and peaceful attitude toward life.
It is helpful, whenever you feel negative emotions, to stop thinking and start focusing on your breathing. Feel the diaphragm (underneath your lungs) moving up and down, thereby enabling you to inhale and exhale.
Focusing on your breathing will automatically empty your thoughts, and bring a sense of calmness to you. You will be focused on the present moment, without thinking about the past (regrets) or the future (fears).
Only when you are in such a state of peacefulness, can you concentrate your energies and imagination toward the creation of solutions which, eventually, will liberate you financially.
The challenge for most people seeking financial independence is that they have not yet learned how to master their mind. And it's not people's fault at all, since there is no course in high school or college called Spirituality 101!
Yet, learning how to master your mind from a higher level -- the spiritual level -- will give you TREMENDOUS POWERS. You don't need a formal business education, nor an MBA, nor a university degree, to achieve financial independence. But you need to master your mind and your emotions.
Fear, self-doubt, feelings of unworthiness, low self-esteem, etc. have no place in your life nor in your mind.
All of those negative, disturbing emotions arise because you focus on your ego. Your ego is like a shadow, and every person on this planet, by virtue of having a physical body, has a shadow.
The good news is that there is also the sun. So at any given point in time, you can either look up and face the sun, or you can look down and focus on your shadow (or ego).
Notice that your ego or shadow is always on the floor, so if you focus on it, you will be at the lowest level possible!
But if you focus on the sun and let its light shine on your face, you will feel serene, peaceful, grateful -- to be alive!
One thing you cannot do is focus on BOTH your shadow and the sun at the same time. It's simply impossible.
My point is that at every moment, you can choose to focus on a positive emotion or a negative emotion.
If, for any reason, a negative emotion like fear or doubt or frustration arises, just let it pass by. Smile. Remember what the famous Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: "The source of a smile is a truly awakened mind."
(Just don't smile too much in public or people might think you're crazy!).
So the strategy for spiritual empowerment is quite simple: if you feel negative emotions, let them pass by until you get to a point where you feel zero emotions. If you feel positive emotions (joy, enthusiasm, excitement, contentment, love, friendship, etc.) then express those emotions through art, poems, a gift, a nice compliment to someone, etc. You will then enhance the positive emotions, and they will propagate throughout your being and will be transmitted to people around you.
Why do I talk about emotions so much?
Because you can't use your mind properly, no matter how smart or educated you are, unless you learn to master your emotions first.
We live in a world that is unstable and dangerous because the elite is mind-smart but heart-dumb. We are evolved intellectually but unevolved emotionally.
We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the planet several times over, yet emotionally and spiritually, we have so much to learn.
But let's get back to your financial independence.
You can only begin to use your mind strategically, in a way that benefits you and your family, after you have learned how to master your emotions.
When we look at great people who have positively impacted millions of lives, we notice how they were in control of their emotions: Pope John Paul II (who engineered the liberation of the Soviet people from communism), Mickael Gorbatchev, Gandhi, etc.
My point is that once you learn to calm yourself, in any situation, you will be able to access powers within that you never knew existed. Your imagination and creativity will be enhanced, and you will be able to create lots and lots of solutions that other people will pay good money for.
But you've got to learn how to move from negative emotions to "no emotion", and from "no emotion" to positive emotions.
Some of you will say, "Well, I'm a positive person but there are so many negative people around me!" I will handle that in an upcoming post since it's not simple to explain, although there ARE specific techniques to handle negative people that you simply cannot avoid.
Look at it this way: Success (or happiness or wealth or well-being) = Potential - Interference.
The interference here is your negative emotions, which arise due to your ego.
The potential is the sun I was talking about. You can either focus on your unlimited potential, or you can focus on the interference within you.
I say "within you" because the interference is not external to you. It's not your husband, your kids, your unsupportive friends, your siblings, etc. It's not the government, politicians, the news media, etc. You are the only one who creates your reality. Nobody else.
Life, as you experience it, is like a dish.
It's not how many ingredients you have that matters most, but how good your cooking skills are.
In the same way that cooking requires basic skills and lots of practice, spiritual/emotional mastery (which creates a good, positive life) also requires basic knowhow and lots of practice.
The only difference between cooking a dish and creating your life experience is that in the case of cooking, you turn external ingredients into a dish that you then ingest.
In the case of creating a life, you take both external ingredients (circumstances, opportunities, people, events, etc.) and internal ingredients (emotions, intellect) to create your life experience, which is then "tasted" by you.
The bottom line is that only by training yourself to master your emotions will you achieve peace. And peace is the foundation upon which you learn to wield your mind masterfully in order to create wealth in all of its forms: products, services, solutions, happiness, goodwill, positive and harmonious relationships with other human beings, generosity, friendship, etc.
posted by Super Peter at 6:55 PM
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