By: Melissa Kitto / Source: Self Growth

Many people who live a spiritual life have challenges with money. You may have deep-rooted concepts about money that are holding you back. With the ups and downs in the economy this past few years, I’ve noticed that concepts that were completely subconscious for people are now coming to the forefront. That’s great! It means it’s time to HEAL.

False concepts about money have been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. In the same way that you pick up beliefs from the people that raised you, certain concepts about money have been passed down through our culture. Long ago the churches controlled the structure of society. In Europe the poor peasants were the majority, and the church leaders needed a way to keep them poor, or the whole structure of society at that time would have collapsed.

So beliefs such as “money is the root of all evil” were spread to keep people poor and in their place. They lost their desire to change their lot. Add on to this with beliefs such as “money doesn’t make you happy” (is that money’s job??) and spiritual leaders preaching poverty, and it makes for some deep-rooted concepts within you that can be tough to change.

I have been doing some work recently about allowing more money and abundance to come into my life, and I’ve learned it all comes down to beliefs. I’d like to share with you some common beliefs about money in this article and then offer you an alternative belief to replace it with. As you read this, notice if you get cranked up by anything. If you do, just take a deep breath and be patient with yourself as you consider looking at things in a new way. If you’ve had certain beliefs for your entire life, don’t expect everything to change overnight.

Practice affirming new beliefs for yourself.

Old Belief #1: Money is the root of all evil.

If you feel guilty about receiving a lot of money, or tell yourself that you don’t care about money or need a lot of it – you have this belief in some form. How would you feel telling a family member that you were going to earn a million dollars this year? Listen to the thoughts that come into your mind as you imagine this scenario. That will tell you what you REALLY believe about receiving a lot of money.

If you feel any form of guilt or undeserving, you are pushing abundance away from you, even if you think you want it.

New Belief #1: Money is Energy.

Money is really an energy exchange. The more you can be of service to people by providing products and services that they need in a leveraged way, you will receive more money. If you are employed by a company, you are still offering a service to that company. Money needs to flow, and you need to be willing to receive the energy that comes to you for offering your service.

Old Belief #2: I don’t need much money; I have enough to survive.

This is sooo common among spiritual people! This belief has also come from past lives where you were involved in spiritual service. You felt that if you had more, others would miss out. Did you make a vow of poverty in a past life? Release yourself now from that bondage and guilt.

New Belief #2: I deserve to receive riches and abundance.

Realize that you having more does not make anyone else miss out. In fact, it helps people. Look at how many people Oprah can employ and help because she is wealthy. Appreciate the beautiful things you have in your life and enjoy them. If you are just trying to get by and pay your bills, I can tell you that you are not living your life purpose. Not having enough money is too much of an energy drain for you to fearlessly embrace your gifts and purpose. It keeps you stuck in fear and worry, not in the place of service and joy that you need to be in order to give your purpose to the world.

Old Belief #3: People who have a lot of money are greedy and selfish.

This belief was such a great way to manipulate people back in medieval Europe! If rich people are greedy, horrible people, of course you don’t want money! A belief formed that in order to be a nice person, you have to be poor. Well, I’ve met many extremely nice, caring people who have a lot of money.

Sure, there are some selfish people in the world. But there are rich selfish people and there are poor selfish people. The amount of money you have is not a factor in whether you are selfish or not! So if you are a nice, caring person, that’s not going to change when you have more money. In fact, you will be able to be even more caring and giving because you will have abundance to share with others.

New Belief #3: Having more money enhances my positive qualities and allows me to be of greater service to others.

Think about how having more money will allow you to be of greater service. When I did this exercise myself, I realized that if I have more money available to me, I have the resources to rent larger rooms and do more advertising so I can be of service to many more people in my workshops. I’m here on the planet to share a message and help people connect with their angels. When I have more money, I can help so many more people!

Have fun integrating these new beliefs into your daily life. I would love to hear your progress!

 

By: Mike Zimmerman / Source: Success

On his 14th birthday, Deepak Chopra’s father made a small, yet purposeful,
gesture: He gave his son some novels by Sinclair Lewis and W. Somerset Maugham as a birthday gift.

Chopra’s father was a doctor in their native India, and he wanted his son to become a doctor, too. Chopra, however, dreamed of becoming a writer. He ignored biology and chemistry in school.

“The people I most admired were journalists and other writers who were friends of the family,” he tells SUCCESS. “I had no interest in being a physician.

But my father knew two things: that I had a fertile imagination and that those books were all about doctors and healers. At the age of 14, you’re very pliable, so after reading them, I went to my father and said I wanted to be a physician.”

Imagine the knowing smile on dad’s face. Chopra went on to America to become a respected endocrinologist, a medical school professor and, eventually, one of the foremost proponents of mind-body medicine, or the combination of Western medical knowledge with ancient Eastern philosophies.

He is also the author of more than 50 books, including Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, in bookstores now.
And today, when you consider that our culture’s standard definition of success is money, fame and influence, Deepak Chopra
indeed has collected them all.

But that last sentence cheapens his accomplishments. He didn’t just become successful. He fulfilled his own definition of
success. That’s a far richer accomplishment. The fact that he fulfilled the fame/fortune/ power success trifecta along the way (what
he calls the “restricted” definition of success) is almost a byproduct.

“I define success as the following,” Chopra says.

“No. 1, the progressive realization of worthy goals.

No. 2, the ability to love and have compassion.

No. 3, to be in touch with the creative source inside you.

And No. 4, to ultimately move from success to significance.”

That last part is crucial. It’s what creates people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett—people whose material success becomes great enough that they can concentrate on more humanistic and satisfying endeavors, or “significance,” as Chopra says.

Through that work, they become greater than their success, and ultimately, when they’re alone, out of the spotlight, that’s what drives them.

“Material success by itself without significance to the common good ultimately is not fulfilling,” says Chopra, and he speaks from experience.

In short, folks like Gates, Buffett and Deepak Chopra are not the type who think about making enough money to “retire by 40,” or some other target age. They don’t think about retiring at any age. They’re at war with dissatisfaction, which keeps them fine-tuning their A-game and their long-term goals. Money is simply the byproduct of that process.

Now, Chopra warns, that’s not to say that material success isn’t exciting. “Oh, in the beginning it’s very exciting,” he says with a chuckle. “Though, over many years of soul-searching and observing people, I have discovered to my own amazement, actually, that being extremely wealthy is meaningless.”

(Related: Deepak Chopra’s Secrets to Reverse Your Age)

He cites a close friend of his, a multimillionaire, as proof. “This man’s level of happiness or misery depends every evening on an
e-mail that informs him what his net worth is, based on what the stock market did that day.

What kind of life is that? He’s a classic example of millions of dollars not making a person happy.”

“Material success by itself without significance to the common good ultimately is not fulfilling.”

So the secret is to forget all about money? Not at all. “Financial security is very important,” says Chopra, for the freedom it allows. However, the secret to real success goes deeper. Don’t pursue happiness, he says. Especially don’t pursue excitement, like the kind provided by making and spending big numbers.

Pursue excellence. Pursue fulfillment. And Chopra has done that by fulfilling not society’s definition of success, but his own. It’s real. It’s meaningful. And the best part: It’s all his.

“True wealth comes from creativity,” he says. “Somehow, in modern society, wealth and money have become equated. Money is not wealth. Wealth in its true sense is success,” as Chopra defines it for himself.

How does creativity impact success? Creativity is all about its root word: Create something of value that wasn’t there before. Creativity is also freedom of thought directed toward your goals. Very few people embrace this, Chopra says

Oh, they talk a terrific game about life goals and potential business models and cool new ideas to increase income streams. But true creativity requires an open mind and curiosity, two phenomena that have become rare these days.

Why? Today, people don’t have open minds. Many of us are closed off to even the slightest deviation in mindset, even though most people would probably consider themselves “creative” and “curious.”

They’re liars, says Chopra, and two factors—the financial crisis and Sept. 11—prove it.

“Curiosity and open-mindedness mean being aware of what’s going on in your world,” he says.

“What has happened in the last few years with our economic disaster is the result of not having full awareness of what’s really happening around us. We were forced to do that after 9/11.

Now we know more about the rest of the world, and we also see the context in which violence arises, in which power arises, in which ecological disasters occur.”

(Related: Discover The Healthiest and Happiness You With Deepak Chopra)

You might ask, What does that have to do with fulfilling my potential? Well, being locked up in your own mindset means being locked out of the world around you.

“Creativity, imagination, insight, intuition, conscious choice-making, love, compassion, understanding— these are the qualities of a core consciousness that we come with into the world as children,” Chopra says.

“But then we get programmed into the hypnosis of social conditioning, which says instant gratification is the way to be happy. That’s sold to us every single day.”

Chopra suggests several ways to break open more creativity and curiosity:

Adopt a growth mindset. Chopra says research over the past five years has shown that when adversity strikes, happier people tend to see creative opportunities, while unhappier people see, well, adversity. “It’s programmed through childhood through a phenomenon called mirror neurons,” he says.

“If you saw people complaining all the time when you were a kid, that’s what you do. Your neurons mirror the behavior.” To change your mindset, step back and ask yourself, How can I turn this into an opportunity?

Engage the “unfriendlies.” This is not the same as “sleeping with the enemy.” It simply means make an effort to connect with those you have the least in common with, or even flat-out disagree with, and dissect their point of view until you understand its inherent value (it’s there, alright).

This, Chopra says, is the hallmark of the creative, curious, open mind. “There has been a lot of literature on emotional intelligence,
social intelligence, and how they’re all linked. We have a person who is now president who, on some level, knew all this.

He bonded with America in a way that was amazing, despite the fact that his middle name is Hussein, and he transcends in many ways the definition of identity: Is he black? Is he white? And yet, he beat all the odds and became president.”

Read. Such a simple concept, but a hallmark of learning that’s, again, ignored by many (even with pride by some). But reading is
what allowed Chopra to fulfill two life dreams. The boy who wanted to be a writer instead became a doctor… who has written more than 50 books.

Indeed, you can fulfill multiple destinies. Chopra could not have done that without reading and more reading. To facilitate his addiction, he recently bought a Kindle. “I’m now traveling with the equivalent of 100 books, and I read them all simultaneously,” he says. “Books have always infl uenced my life. I get a strange sense of joy boarding a plane knowing I’m carrying 100 books.”