A Spiritual or Financial Life?
Why is it that so many people on a spiritual path struggle financially? And why are so many who undergoing a life transference by forgoing a career in a traditional job to begin an alternative life style or job in alternative health, live life broke? It all comes down to conditioning, misconceptions and personal values and beliefs. Spirituality does not mean poverty.
So often when talking to others working in a healing capacity, I find that they are struggling to make ends meet. Generally they have come from a traditional job and for one reason or another had been or are now working for a pittance, underselling their services and abilities and denied themselves the luxuries of life that they richly deserve. Believing that to be spiritual they cannot charge more than the minimum of fees or in some cases even giving their services away. Unlike the allopathic practitioners, they may not be able to have the support of providing Government Health Care deductions to their clients. And, in many cases, the general public doesn’t have the same level of belief in alternative methods as they may have in mainstream practices. To add to their situation, some practitioners are also often quick to condemn another practitioner who charges higher fees, hence making themselves a further product of their own conditioning and dissatisfaction.
I have worked with clients with terminal illnesses – cancer, failing kidneys, long-term depression. I witnessed them turn their conditions around and I began to question my beliefs about what my services were worth. What did the results these clients achieved mean to them and what value did they put on my part in their process? The questions I should had been asking were – what value did I put on my part and what were my beliefs around wealth and my chosen path? What were my unconscious beliefs and how had I been conditioned to accept this life purpose I was drawn to - and live it less abundantly than I should have?
What value do you put on your services and how do you measure a spiritual life?
I, like many, had an earlier view that we could be either spiritual or wealthy – but not both. My earlier examples were of great people who forwent their comforts to provide great humanities. Biblical references, the monks, indigenous people who still follow their traditional ways were my measure, all of whom had and or were living a life of meagre means. On the other hand there were the rich, enjoying an opulent life style. The opposite of a spiritual life I thought. But then I started to think; if we were all spiritual then by definition we should all be broke. Who would then help the needy? Who would feed, cloth and house the poor?
I started to look at the wealthy and realized there are a lot of wealthy people doing just that; providing “fish” and also “teaching people to fish”. At first hand, and due to the ways I filtered my view of the world, I was only seeing the wealth and not the deeds.
So many affluent people are very much spiritual beings. Brandon Bays, who after a major mind shift and enhancing her spiritual beliefs, recovered from a tumour the size of a basketball to go on to enjoy a grateful and affluent lifestyle as well as creating an organization dedicated to help others recover from illness and unhappiness.
Sir Richard Branson is another example. He has created business after business and lives a very fruitful life – a family man and businessman. While Christopher Howard teaches the skills of NLP after he himself went through life changing events and realisations.
All three are presently involved in altruistic works, developing school in third world countries and working towards healing our planet. They are but three wonderful examples of countless numbers who have learnt to balance their spiritual and everyday lives.
Being poor is not spiritual as spirituality enriches ones life – it never takes away from life.
What are your beliefs about yourself? What values do you have and what values have you put on money? Money is nothing more than an amplifier as we can see in the three examples above. It doesn’t corrupt what isn’t already corrupted – it only amplifies and puts a spotlight on what already exists. If you are a spiritual person, loving and caring, it will give you the means to bring benefit to others and more freedom to you to have balance in your life and follow your life purpose. Being poor is not spiritual as spirituality enriches ones life – it never takes away from life.
The conditioning was already in place long before the individual starts to question his or her life. And this restrictive mindset is not isolated to just those on a spiritual path. It affects everyone in one-way or another throughout his or her life.
I also teach the tools of Forex Trading and more importantly the Psychology of all Trading. One of the many things that hold Traders back from successful results is their relationship to money and their beliefs about themselves - an attitude that has been developed from their earliest experiences. Beliefs and values are always at the centre of our issues. The answers are right there for these Traders, just as they are for the person on a spiritual path.
Our beliefs rule our lives and in turn will determine our outcomes. If you are not realizing the outcomes you aspire too then your beliefs are primarily the cause of your situation. We see things as we are and not as they are.
To be wealthy, to be spiritual, to be happy you have to understand just what are your beliefs about yourself, others and your world. And how do these align with your understanding of your purpose. Otherwise how do you know if what you are doing is good for you, others and the planet? And isn’t that one of the test we place on evaluating our spiritual worth.
Is it good for me, is it good for you and is it good for the planet. Only when there is a balance across all areas of ones life can this test be met. Spirituality is wealth and abundance, and wealth and abundance includes a financial aspect too. As a spiritual being you have a responsibility to be financially wealthy.
Realise your full potential.
About the Writer
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Alan Stevens Alan, after 20 years in telecommunications as a Principal Technical Officer and Communications Consultant, and in various management roles in other industries, he left the corporate world for a vastly different life. Alan is an example of this teaching, having learnt to blend his spiritual and physical world and over the following 20 years has become an International Trainer, Teacher and Guide to people from both a spiritual and material viewpoint. Alan consults internationally to individuals and corporations alike to bring out their greatest results using skills that include Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Quantum Linguistics, Neurological Repatterning, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Performance Coaching and Business Consulting, MBTI Personalities, Reiki and Seichim Energy work, Massage, Aromatherapy, Sound and Colour Therapies. Alan can be contacted through either email: |