Archive for Self-Belief
Who Wants to be Rich, Anyway?
If you speak with the average Joe or Josephine on the street, you’ll pretty soon uncover quite a few beliefs about ‘rich people’.
According to most of us, wealthy people are:
- lucky
- greedy
- stingy
- elitist
- wrecking the planet with their hyper-consumption
- unethical
- unkind
- unloving
- non-deserving
And that’s not the half of it.
Do these beliefs sound familiar? Popular culture loves to vilify rich people through TV, books, movies, online media… there was even a fun series of ads that aired here in Australia a few years ago, mocking the stereotype of rich ladies.
So, if you say you want more money, but you believe these things to be true about rich people, then why on Earth would you want to be rich?
An interesting discussion point here is: what does being rich mean to you? Does it just mean having enough money for your immediate and future needs and wants, and money to share? How do YOU define ‘rich’?
If we turn to dictionaries, ‘rich’ is defined as having a great deal of money or assets. This implies that to be rich is to have substantially more money or assets than is normal.
I believe there’s consciousness shift happening around the world, with more and more of us realising that money can be used for good, and that rich people can actually be GOOD people.
So even if your current radar is tuned to seeing the negative traits of some rich people, you can choose to turn your focus to rich people who are doing good in the world.
What about Oprah? What about Richard Branson? What about Anne McKevitt? What about Bill Gates?
Even if you don’t always agree with the way Oprah, Richard, Anne and Bill spend their money, their intentions are great and they’ve positively affected the lives of millions of people.
And you can choose to be one of those people who does do good with money. Hey, why not?
As a rich person, you can choose to be:
- caring
- generous
- compassionate
- kind to the planet
- ethical
- warm
- kind
- loving
Isn’t it exciting to think that we can be part of a new paradigm, a community of rich people who inspire and uplift, who are decent human beings, and who know how to use the energy of money to best effect for people and the planet?
(Although, there have always been rich people who’ve given back and helped others… it’s just that we don’t always choose to notice them.)
YOU get to decide what sort of rich person you’re going to be. You don’t have to conform to any stereotypes – you can choose to live authentically and use money as a tool.
Remember, there are just as many greedy, stingy and unkind poor or middle-class people in the world – we just buy into the myth of poverty being somehow more righteous and upstanding.
You can help the world a whole lot more when you have access to money, and your own quality of life can be enhanced by having money – and that’s OK. You’re allowed to enjoy your life.
But listen, I, too, have concerns about hyper-consumption and its effects (I’ve even created a decluttering program to help you shed items that you don’t really need!). I know we need to care for the Earth, but I also see so many brilliant people coming up with inventions and processes that help neutralise our carbon footprint and, in fact, give back to the planet.
So I think we can enjoy material items and travel, as long as we’re giving back to the planet and aren’t looking for happiness through hyper-consumption.
In the end, our meaning in life comes from connection and love, and our relationships with people will always win out over material possessions and external experiences.
So, do you know what kind of rich person are you going to be?
Leave a comment and let me know!
Do You Love What You Do?
Love is in the air this month because of that special, somewhat schmaltzy, celebration known as Valentine’s Day.
I LOVE that there’s a day dedicated just to love. Do you, too?
Here’s a thought! Why don’t we use the Valentine month as a reminder? Not just about the importance of loving people, but of loving what we do in this world?
Do YOU love what you do? Really?
Do you love your work? The food you eat? The places you go? The sports you play? The hobbies you have?
Or are you just going through the motions, doing activities that you may once have loved, but now leave you feeling a little flat?
I probably don’t need to tell you that the universe responds to our vibration, and when our vibration is high (that is, we’re doing what we love and we therefore feel great), we receive experiences that match that vibration.
Maybe you could use this beautiful month of love to check in with yourself? To question how you feel about the activities that make up your days?
How do you feel about your job, for instance? Is it still fun? (Or was it ever fun?) Do you feel that you’re using your talents, and the skills that come easily to you?
I had an office job in my early 20s, and after the initial fun of starting something new, I began to feel as though I was dying on the inside. I was drifting, having deferred a university journalism degree. I thought that this job, which was in the finance industry, might be interesting and secure (and well paid).
Boy, was I wrong. I tried all sorts of things to gain a promotion (well, not EVERYTHING), but it just never happened. My colleagues were heaps of fun, but the work itself was sapping the life out of me.
I’d been planning to take a year off to go overseas with my then-boyfriend (now husband) Darren, and to come back to that job when we returned. But I remember the day when I decided that, instead, I’d go back to university after our trip. I remember sitting at my desk and feeling absolutely elated, and with such a sense of purpose, clarity and certainty. I knew I was back on the right path, and that I’d be studying something that I loved.
Thank goodness I didn’t ever receive a promotion in that office job, because otherwise I might never have taken the time to think about what I LOVED. Now I get to do work that I love, every day!
I still keep letting myself be pulled towards things that I love. I believe that our intuition – that ‘knowing feeling’ – guides us beautifully. If we listen to it.
Look, it’s OK to outgrow something. You don’t need to love the same job, food or places your entire life. Don’t hang on to an activity just because you’ve ‘always done it’.
Letting go leaves room for the things you really want to do.
So, on 14 February, why not instigate a new Valentine’s ritual, and do a ruthless ‘love review’ of your life’s activities?
This could just be a Valentine’s you’ll never forget…
PS I’d love for you to tell me what you’d love to do! Leave a comment below, or email me at joanne@richradiantreal.com. Just putting it ‘out there’ will show the universe you’re serious about doing what you love.
How to Bring Back Your ‘Bubbly’!
You know, sometimes life can seem pretty darn hard.
Everything can be going along swimmingly, and then you realise you feel completely overwhelmed. Or you have a few disappointments, and you start spiralling down into a real slump, finding it hugely difficult to summon the energy and enthusiasm to get back on track.
So, how can you bring back your ‘bubbly’? Your sparkle, your fizz, your joie de vivre?
Just wait it out and hope things will get better? Or summon up the strength to start taking positive action?
Well, you can bet that I’d recommend taking action! Yep, waiting has its virtues, but taking action will make things happen waaay faster.
Here are three powerful ideas to help you ‘course correct’, and start an upward spiral that puts you back on track. These have helped me, and I hope they help you, too.
1. Start with your health.
Often, we get stuck in a rut because we’re exhausted and overwhelmed (this has happened for me more times than I care to remember). All we really need is more sleep, more water, fewer junk foods and a bit of a breather from the number of activities or obligations we’ve taken on. So, let’s do that!
To avoid feeling that implementing healthier, empowering habits is going to add to your overwhelm, try a ‘just for seven days’ commitment – do one small, positive ‘thing’ for your health for just seven days. Believe me, you’ll notice the difference, and you may well be ‘on a roll’ and want to continue with this fabulous, healthy new habit.
2. Become all ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ and think of tomorrow as a brand new day. (Because it is.)
You don’t need to live a ‘groundhog day’ type of existence. Every day has the potential to be fantastic, even if, from where you are now, you can’t even imagine that.
Tomorrow, as soon as you open your eyes, smile and think to yourself: ‘today is going to be a good day, and I’m going to look for evidence of that!’.
Oh, a word of warning. When you do this, you may well notice that your usual ‘programming’ pops up to sabotage you. After all, your subconscious mind wants to keep you safe, and if you’re trying to implement change (even if it’s positive), it may be fiercely resistant. Just thank your subconscious for protecting you, but swallow hard and keep acting as though you absolutely expect positive results.
3. Gain a fresh perspective.
This is so effective. I even find that this technique works when I’m struggling to go to sleep (I’m a ‘night owl’ by nature, so if I haven’t done sufficient winding down before bedtime, I find it difficult to get to sleep). I sometimes notice that I’m lying on one side of my body, going over and over the things I want to remember, analysing situations… it’s exhausting, and keeps my mind spinning!
So, when that happens, I remind myself that I can change perspective and break the loop. I roll over onto my other side, jot down notes that I want to remember, and let myself recognise that I’ve chosen to break the cycle. Lying on this new side, I can start afresh and choose to start relaxing my body and mind.
When it comes to getting back your ‘bubbly’ and feeling positive about life, what if you went for a drive in the country? What if you lay down on the floor (or sat on a hill, surveying what’s below you) and thought about your life from that perspective? What if you did your grocery shopping in a different store? Or started your day with a slightly different routine?
My friend, it’s going to take a bit of a ‘push’ to get over a hump. Be gentle with yourself, but very firm. Your happiness depends on it!
If you’ve been stuck in a slump, I hope that just one of these ideas propels you back along the track to ‘bubbly’!
Note: if you try all of the above and still can’t bring yourself to a state of positivity, you might well need the help of a counsellor or psychologist. Or if you’re utterly, physically exhausted and can’t seem to regain your energy, take yourself off for a health check – see a doctor, or a natural health practitioner (such as Dr Ritamarie Loscalzo, at www.drritamarie.com).
You Wear It Well!
Although, if you currently DON’T wear it well, you might want to join me this Thursday, when I interview Briony Croft (that’s Briony, in the pic above), personal stylist and owner of Alla Moda Styling.
Briony will be spilling the beans on how to ‘dress well’ – because when you feel good in your clothes, you beam out a powerful, supremely confident vibration.
Our interview is called ‘Looking Good, Feeling Good: Dressing to Boost Your Vibration & Attract Success’ (sounds amazing, doesn’t it?!).
It Really Does Pay to Make a Decision
Have you ever had trouble making a decision?
Yeah, me too.
Those of us with perfectionist tendencies often experience pain when faced with a decision that needs to made.
The thing that paralyses us is ‘what if I make the WRONG decision’?
So we hem and haw and go back and forth. We meditate, ruminate and vacillate.
We put ourselves through pain, and when we finally force ourselves to make a decision, we worry about it, and sometimes backtrack and undo the decision.
Living with indecision means that we live in a constant state of uncertainty.
And, really, that’s just not pleasant, is it?
Well, what if there was no such thing as a wrong decision?
What if every decision you took was ‘right’, for where you are right now? Even if ‘the worst’ happened, and everything blew up, backfired and bit you on the bum?
I’m here to tell you that you’d still be OK. You’d get through it. And you’d come out the other side with some valuable information, a life lesson that would help guide you further along your path.
The universe loves clarity. It responds well to clarity. It follows strong, bold, powerful energy, and when you make a firm decision, the universe responds and starts drawing to you what you need.
It’s also important to remember that if you get too emotional when making a decision, and you create a lot of angst, the law of attraction works to bring you more of the same.
A good approach to making a decision is to be thoroughly proactive, to be in your power. To be strong, and bold, but smart.
Step 1
Gather information and really think about the pros and cons of each decision you could make (but don’t agonise).
Step 2
Give yourself a little ‘chewing time’, if you need it, but don’t let that process drag on.
Step 3
Hold your hand on your heart and ask for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, paying attention to what your stomach feels like. Intuition often reveals itself as a ‘gut instinct’.
This ‘head + heart’ process works for me. Would you like to try it? Be warned that your subconscious will try to hold you back, to keep you safe (that’s it’s job, so thank it for trying to look after you!), but if decision-making is a problem for you, then you need to start being very bold, to start overriding your subconscious programming, and to start thinking of yourself as a good decision-maker.
Once you’ve made a decision, stick with it, unless evidence overwhelmingly shows you that you should make another decision – but give it time. Sometimes you just need to ‘take a deep breath and jump’, to make a decision, to see how it plays out.
But don’t ever think of your original decision as being ‘wrong’. It was just a stepping stone to get you where you needed to go, to give you feedback.
You know, I often find that people who have trouble making decisions also have trouble with clutter. This makes sense, when you think about it, because you have to make decisions about what to keep, and where to keep it. If you don’t make decisions with your ‘stuff’, then everything builds up, overwhelm kicks in, and nothing gets dealt with. You see the piles of clutter lying around and you feel worse, and your home starts to gather negative, stagnant energy around that clutter.
So, I’d like to invite you to be part of a very special program I’m running this month. It’s all about decluttering, so you’ll be getting to practice your new decision-making skills and get rid of your clutter at the same time!
If this highly supportive program ‘speaks’ to you, then I’d encourage you to make a decision about whether to join us.
To discover more about this program, which is called The Living Rich Declutter, simply head here…
Wishing you clarity and decisiveness, and all ‘the good stuff’ that is naturally attracted to you when you live this way.
Your Invincible Summer
I came across this beautiful notecard over the weekend, and just had to share it with you.
It reads:
In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Although penned by the king of existentialism, Albert Camus, I just love this quote.
It really is true that we have our ‘invincible summer’ within us at all times. We just need to choose to access it.
It involves stopping to reflect and truly, truly appreciating all the riches that we currently have in our lives. And we really do have them. Letting yourself have the paradigm shift of gratitude and appreciation is like bringing that beautiful, invincible summer into sharper focus.
Will you allow your invincible summer to shine through today?
PS Why not have a permanent reminder of this, and spread the word to friends, by indulging in a pack of these notecards? I think I will, too, if I can find them in Australia!
Becoming the Powerful Pilot of Your Life
Last week, I watched a fascinating documentary on the ABC TV channel here in Australia.
It was called The Young Ones – it’s a BBC TV documentary. I think we were watching the final episode?
Anyway, I found it absolutely fascinating. It looked at ageing, and how we can stop ourselves falling into the usual patterns of behaviour that often come with it.
It showed that our attitude and belief in ourselves plays a HUGE part in what we can actually do!
‘Yeah, yeah,’ I hear you saying, ‘we all know that’. Well, yes, we do know it intellectually, but do we really apply it?
There were heaps of fascinating studies in this documentary, but one interesting test that really stood out for me was when they took a group of people and gave them an eye test (without telling them why they were testing them). Then, they dressed them as pilots and told them that they were now pilots – and then each ‘piloted’ a plane via a flight simulator.
The participants were given the eye tests again, and in nearly all cases, they recorded markedly better results in the second eye test. The researchers concluded that the participants ‘saw’ themselves differently when they were pilots; that is, they had more belief in themselves because they’d taken on the persona of a pilot and had succeeded in ‘being’ a pilot.
That reaffirmed for me just how important self-belief really is. If we think we can do something, we stand a fantastic chance of really doing it! If we think we can’t , then, of course, we can’t.
Has this caused a mindshift or ‘a-ha’ moment for you? What would happen if you saw yourself as absolutely able to do something that you’re a bit (or a lot) afraid of doing? Has there been something you’ve been thinking about doing, but keep putting off because, deep down, you don’t think you could pull it off?
This documentary has opened the door for me, revealing a few areas in which I now realise I’ve been holding myself back (and here I was thinking I had everything ‘handled’). What a gift to have seen this show!
The power of our beliefs is truly incredible – they create the vibration that we emit, and they start the creation process in the universal field.
So why not decide that you really are capable, despite any past evidence to the contrary? Do you feel that swell of courage, conviction and exhilaration rising in your chest?
The sky (and your self-belief) really is the limit, my friend. Are you ready to take the controls, to fly your own life’s plane?
Wahooooooo!
Joanne's coaching was exactly what I needed to help me focus my precious time and money on finding work and making money! What I like most about Joanne’s coaching is that it's gentle, supportive and empathetic, rather than pushy and 'ra-ra-ra'”
...if there’s something that you’ve been putting off doing, because it’s so big and overwhelming, then by coaching with Joanne you'll definitely find a way to do it, to finally reach your goal.”
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