(Click here to read part 1/8.)

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(Click here to read part 4/8.)

(Click here to read part 5/8.)

(Click here to read part 6/8.)

Day Six: Creating Money

Discovering the secrets of the millionaire’s mind

When I saw what today’s chapter was about, I rolled my eyes. ‘Here we go,’ I thought, ‘he’s going to do the old write a cheque with the ideal amount you’d like to earn and pin it on a wall above your desk and, send yourself deposits written on slips for amounts you’d like to receive. Keep a wealth scrapbook filled with stuff you’d like, places you’d like to go, your dream house to visualise upon à la the Law of Attraction. Blah, blah, bleugh.’ True to form, he does.

I’ve tried techniques such as the above in my time. So have many of my friends. When The Secret first came out, we visualised like mad, doing the exercises every day: visualise and intend, visualise and intend, visualise and intend. ‘What the mind can perceive, the body can achieve,’ and ‘what you focus on persistently, you get more of in your life.’ Yup, get that. Been there, done it, got the t-shirt.

Now, I know there’s an element of truth to the Law of Attraction — but it’s not the whole story, far from it. For me, he nails it right at the beginning of the chapter with the following sentence:

Real wealth isn’t just about access to money — it’s about your access to resources, whether or not those resources belong to you.

In an earlier chapter (Dreamsetting) he gave an exercise in which you had to Activate Your Resources. In the first category he asks you to list your qualities, gifts and talents. It was this exercise, together with my own recent experiences, which got me thinking about the concept of Giving Your Gift. No matter how much or how little money you have in the bank, when it comes to your qualities, gifts, and talents, you are overwhelmingly abundant and rich beyond your wildest dreams.

Don’t believe me?

Well, when it comes to my particular qualities, gifts, and talents, I’m endowed with an endless profusion of words and an ability to inspire others through the way I string those words together. It’s taken me a long time to accept and face up to that but, whether I like it or not, my writing ability is a fated quality I can neither escape nor deny. Yes, everyone can write. And yes, there are far greater, far more talented writers than me. But the fact remains, when I pull my finger out from up my arse and generously share my gift, my passion for the written word with others, it draws attention. After all, you’re reading me now, aren’t you?

Now, being British, we’re not supposed to blow our own trumpet, celebrate ourselves. But, whether we like it or not, each of us is shaped in a very particular way which is peculiar to us in all of time. Looking back, throughout my entire life I’ve constantly been asked, in one form or another, to write stuff — letters, documents, articles etc. And yet, not once did I see for myself what others have long seen written all over me. Once I did start to wake up to it, and was even approached to be paid for it, I ran screaming towards the hills. In short, I wouldn’t accept my fate. And in denying my fate and trying to find other ways to ‘make a living,’ I continued to deny my god-given inheritance — my inherent ability and gift with words.

And so, I adopted a ‘poverty consciousness’ — ’I have nothing to give; therefore, I’m worth nothing.’ But today, while mulling this piece over, I had a revelation when I hit upon one of the roots this debilitating belief stems from. Some of you may be familiar with my ‘cookie story,’ but for those of you who aren’t, I’ll share it now.

When I was seven, our primary school sent us to baking lessons. One week, one half of the class would go learn how to bake, the next week, the other half would go learn how to bake. One week it was our half’s turn, so off we went. On returning to school at the end of the day the other half of the class looked mournfully at our tins of still warm, delicious smelling goodies. My immediate, most natural reaction was to share my cookies out among them. I didn’t do it with any expectation, but because it felt right.

When mum came to pick me up from school, she asked what we’d baked that day. I told her. She asked to try one. I explained I’d shared them all out among my classmates. She hit the roof, gave me a right bollocking. But — and here’s the thing — what I understood her point to be in my little seven year old way was, ‘If you give what you have, you’ll be left with nothing.’ Now, as a parent, I know she was looking out for me, trying to protect me from being seen as a pushover and a soft touch. So, on one level, she was right. But on deeper reflection, I hadn’t been left with ‘nothing,’ at all.

I’d enjoyed the process of baking. But I equally enjoyed sharing them out. So, although I had no cookies left, up until the moment mum rollocked me, I’d been left with an inner glow of deep satisfaction that everyone had enjoyed my hand-baked wares. I now also knew how to bake cookies, so it made no odds to me to bake myself some more at home. I was sharing my new-found gift with the group. I inherently knew there was plenty more where they came from, because I’d created them in the first place. In short, I was coming from a position of abundance.

But the message I carried forward from that day forth until literally just a couple of weeks ago was, ‘Don’t give what you have, or else others will take advantage of you and you’ll be left with nothing.’ And so, I didn’t. Unless I was guaranteed something tangible in exchange, such as money, I refused to share in my inherent abundance — which, in my case, was my gift of words and writing. The upshot of this is I’ve wound up spiritually, mentally, financially and emotionally bereft on many levels, afraid that, if I give what I have, I’ll end up with nothing. In other words, a ‘poverty consciousness.’ Does that make sense?

I have a great deal more to say on this subject (I haven’t even touched on some of the genuinely useful stuff McKenna suggests), so I’ll revisit this chapter in greater detail in the next couple of weeks. But for now, what I really wanted to say was, Give Your Gift. Because when you face your fated circumstances and generously share your gift with others, you’ll soon discover you’re not so ‘poor’ after all and greater abundance (in all its many guises) will begin to flow more freely through your life.

Give Your Gift.

(Click here to read part 8/8 — Happily Ever After)

UD ~

(To read more about how Thea transformed her life from the bottom-up and inside out, buy her inspiring book here.)