Info for Your Potential

On Friday, June 6, 2008, oil’s price went up $10.75 to close at $138.54 per barrel. At this point, I am going to state a correction. I almost always use FutureSource charts to see what’s up with the price of oil. I trade options on stocks, EFTs and Indices and my account is not set up to trade futures. I don’t care to trade futures, find there’s a little too much “good old boy” issues in futures and commodities and prefer to stay away from that arena.

I discovered that I can view a chart of Light Crude Oil contracts without having to set up my account to trade futures and here is what I found: FutureSource’s charts (which are from Quote.com) show the previous day’s Volume and Open Interest under the daily candlestick at which I am looking. This is confusing, but it does, in one sense, make sense. It seems that some charting services wait to close of market to calculate Volume and Open Interest in a sort of time delay and chart it under the next day’s candlestick. Why they do this is a mystery to me, since my trading account charts are in real-time and show volume and open interest in real-time.

On June 9, 2008, I found it hard to believe that volume and open interest went down with the price of oil climbing to a new record high, so I decided to see if I could use the charts in my trading account to view Oil’s July contract and compare it to FutureSource charts. The chart I looked at in my options trading account shows Light Crude Oil July 2008 contract had a direct relationship in volume and price, but open interest (according to the FutureSource chart) did go down. Not much, but it did go down. Usually, with such a climb in price, open interest goes up in direct relationship to volume and price. Looks like a sell off. Nothing to write home about, but worth noting.

I was also told that the price of Oil went up due to the fact that a minor Minister in Israel announced that they were going to attack Iran due to growing concerns over Iran’s rhetoric on it’s Nuclear power. It’s always a fact that any news of war or eminent attack causes concern with supply and demand in oil, so it is safe to assume that the price of oil climbed on June 6 due to concerns over possible Israeli retribution on Iran and supply and demand in oil, but the fact still remains that oil is over-bought and over-priced due to speculation.

Oil prices, traditionally, rise and fall based on supply and demand. According to William Engdahl, 60% of oil’s price today is purely speculation and has nothing to do with supply and demand. The reason for this: unregulated oil exchanges. Read Mr. Engdahl’s article. It’s a real eye opener!

Here’s another little eye opener that will make you see why some folks swear the price of oil is going up due to a true supply and demand issue. When a trader or speculator buys a Futures contract, they are literally buying oil, corn, coffee, etc. In other words, they are buying oil and will take delivery of that oil, unless they sell all contracts before the contract expires. Most traders will sell all open contracts before they expire. When a trader/speculator has no intention of actually buying oil, but is instead buying to invest in oil futures contracts for the sole purpose of making money, then they are creating what I call speculation demand and are creating a pseudo-supply and demand.

So…who do we thank for all this pseudo-supply and demand? The latest controversy is ICE (InterContinental Exchange), an energies trading exchange. From everything I have read and heard about ICE, it is unrestricted and traders are virtually anonymous. Only the “big boy” oil trading banks know who is trading oil contracts. It’s only one of several energies or oil trading exchanges, but it seems to have the most influence on oil speculation.

In May of this year (2008), Congress questioned the Executives of the five top oil companies and basically asked (and I paraphrase), “Why do you keep setting oil prices higher and higher?” Their response was, “It’s not us…honest!” To be perfectly honest with you, I knew it wasn’t oil company Execs who were causing oil prices to climb. It was nothing more than trader speculation brought about by all the hype created by analyst, brokers and unregulated oil exchanges. If I knew it was trader speculation, surely Congress knew this. If they didn’t they didn’t know it, that’s not saying much for common sense intelligence of Congress!

Personally, I think Congress questioned the Oil Execs due to pressure from the public. A majority of the public knows very little to absolutely nothing about oil, how it’s priced, what speculation or a speculator is and how the stock and commodities markets work. Since they know very little about oil and it’s price, it’s much easier to blame the obvious offender - oil company executives. Who is the real offender?

In September of 2000, a 15 year old high school junior was accused by the SEC of running a “pump and dump” campaign on stocks that he had bought, knew were virtually worthless, hyped them on Internet message board and sold them to unsuspecting investors. This 15 year old was doing nothing more than what most brokers and stock and futures analysts do: convince (con) you, me and professional traders into buying a certain stock or futures contract.

Why am I telling you about this? To show you the real offenders. Two years ago, every time I went to the mailbox, I would receive brochures hyping an energy crisis and how I needed to buy energy futures before it’s too late. I called it the “pump and hype” campaign and it was very obvious to me what was going on. Shortly after that, the price of Light Crude Oil started climbing creating a speculation bubble.

Why didn’t I buy oil futures? First, common sense. I knew of no supply and demand (S&D) issues with oil or natural gas and couldn’t imagine why all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there is this shortage of oil and natural gas. I knew it had to be a fictionalized issue with supply and demand, so I did some research. I didn’t find anything that told me that there was a S&D issue with oil, so why would I trade oil futures? I wouldn’t and I didn’t! Am I sorry that I didn’t buy oil futures? No! Not one single bit!

Second, I have a conscience. (1) I realized that I was being conned into believing there was an energy shortage and prices were going to go up due to “hyped” S&D problem with oil. This creates panic buying. It also creates economic turmoil. (2) I wanted nothing to do with prices going up beyond S&D pricing. Something as sensitive as oil pricing has an effect on the economy. Whether it is by truck, train, plane or ship it has a direct effect on Goods and Services. Don’t think so? I used to pay $80 a week for groceries for a family of 3. I now pay $160 to $200 a week!

Third, a price and speculation bubble were eminent! Don’t you just love the word bubble? Mortgage bubble, oil speculation bubble, stock bubble… Makes one wonder what “bubble” is next, but like all bubbles, they eventually pop! In the 90s, Microsoft was the hot ticket. Traders couldn’t buy shares fast enough, but even I knew the bubble would burst at some point. While Microsoft was not a “pump and hype” campaign by analyst or brokers, it’s the same problem with any stock or commodity that climbs higher and higher in price with no correction or retreat in price. At some point it will go down and it usually goes down hard and fast.

BTW, if you are thinking about buying future contracts in Light Crude Oil, you may want to think again! It’s been on a steady climb almost straight up and it’s due for that hard and fast drop in price. It’s creating the very same trend as a the mortgage bubble and stock bubbles of Microsoft and Enron. The price starts with little or no trading action, suddenly takes off like a rocket, peaks to a new high, to very suddenly and very quickly drop like a rock creating a major sell off and correction before settling at normal price (Microsoft) or dying completely (Enron and AmeriQuest). The bubble is due to burst!

It is a sad fact that the dishonest behavior of “pump and hype” by brokers and analyst is what drives the stock and futures market. It’s now driving oil futures and it is just as bad, if not worse, as the mortgage crisis. Lately, it seems we go from one financial crisis to another and one thing that creates it is greed; another is lack of regulation. Isn’t that interesting! The mortgage industry crisis was created by greed and lack of regulation and now it’s the oil exchanges! When will Congress and the powers that be ever learn.

Not one speculating trader, not one unregulated oil exchange has stopped to think about the consequences of driving oil prices to 60% speculation. This careless, unethical behavior by speculators and exchanges is reeking havoc on the world’s economy and they don’t care and what is worse is that Congress and law makers allow it to go on and on.

I saw the very same behavior by Congress concerning the mortgage crisis. Actually, from everything I am reading about the mortgage crisis, Congress created it and allowed it to happen. Mortgage company CEOs lobbied and donated campaign funds in return for Congress creating lax Federal laws that literally let mortgage companies do business totally unrestricted creating a financial crisis. These same laws took presidence over state laws which were much more strict and protective of homeowners rights and property. I hope that’s not the case with oil, but we do have a president in office that has a lot of cronies in the oil (energy) industry.

I was told that the SEC told ICE to clean up their mess with the price of oil or they would find themselves under strict regulation with all anonymous traders revealed. Personally, and this is just my opinion, but I think we may be seeing the start of the clean up. From May 22 to June 5, price and volume were falling and open interest is falling. Are speculators selling off their open positions and starting to develop a conscience OR is it fear of coming under scrutiny and regulation by the SEC and US Congress? I think the clean up has started.

It would be great to see speculators become responsible traders and develop a conscience. Do I honestly believe this will happen? NO! It would be great to see Congress and the SEC close all of these wide open loopholes by creating trade regulations for oil in order to protect the World economy. It’s going to take an act of Congress with new oil trading regulations to bring things under control and it needs to be done soon.

This is unregulated speculation at it’s worst and I hope that speculators and oil exchanges do something about it soon before Congress has to step in to create laws to make them bear the responsibility of ethical trading!

Have you ever wondered why in the world banks have so many fees?

Actually, it’s very very obvious! Banks earn 1/3 of their revenue from fees. They fee their customers into debt…literally. Most of us are the “working class.” I know I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth and I work for my money. Some folks live paycheck to paycheck, yet the banking industry targets these very people with their unethical, unscrupulous and irresponsible robbery because they know these folks are easy picken’s. Banks know that the working class keeps very little to no extra cash in their checking account and are quite obviously easy targets for unethical banking policy. I don’t care what a bank’s policy is. I know one thing it is not, it is not law and while major banks get away with it because they are not breaking the law, their policy is unethical and deviously unscrupulous. Banks make the Grinch look like the tooth fairy.

For those of you who keep extra money in your checking account, why? Are you like most Americans and fear the inevitable? The day will come when you will make a mistake in your check book register or someone you paid with a debit card has decided that you are their next target for debit card fraud? It is my opinion that having extra funds in a checking account does not make good financial sense and if banks practiced ethical banking policy, it should be totally unnecessary. That money is better served in a money market account, mutual fund account, saving account, Certificate of Deposit (the original CD, LOL!) or some other investment, not for padding your checking account in the event that your bank drains your account by unethical banking practices because you made a simple mistake or were the victim of debit card fraud.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you saying, “But, all I have to do is prove debit card fraud and my bank will refund all NSF fees.” Go ahead, and by the time you finally prove it, your bank will have fee-d you to death. Do you honestly, think the bank will refund all their NSF fees?

Think again. My neighbor told me about her experience with debit card fraud. It took over two weeks to get the bank to realize that she was a victim fraud even after she filed a police report. The bank did NOT refund all the fees. Why? They told her that she should have researched the company she did business with more closely. The bank manager told her that she allowed herself to become a victim of fraud. She closed her account that day and sued the bank. They settle the day after the attorney’s letter arrived announcing she intended to sue.

Let’s look at four of the most popular unethical schemes by banks to rob you of your money.

1. Posting transactions in descending order. Every major bank posts in descending order, largest transaction to the smallest. Why? They can get more NSF fees! Most people find that they on occasion will make mistakes in their checkbook register: a miscalculation, a missed debit card transaction, a missed automatic payment, etc. This happens all the time and banks count on it especially from the hard working middle class who have very little money in their accounts. I had a retired bank manager who told me that since Debit Cards have become so popular, banks count on consumers forgetting to deduct Debit Card transactions from their checkbook registers, because they know they can make a killing in NSF fees. Banks literally have no scruples.

Example: This is what happened to me. I transposed two numbers on a debit card transaction in my checkbook register. I posted $17.10, it should have been $71.10. Here’s what happened: I had four transactions post one day in February, $54.20, 24.31, 5.60 and 4.32 and they posted in that order, largest to smallest. My balance was $47.56 on this particular day. Since my bank’s policy is to post in descending order, which is a very unethical scheme to make more money in NSF fees, I was charged $120 in NSF fees for all four transactions . If the transactions had been posted in ascending order, I would have only been charged one NSF of $30. I was more than willing to accept $30 as punishment for not being more careful, but $120 is ridiculous!

2. Banks approve debit card transactions even when there is no money in the account to cover it. It is the worst of the four schemes listed and shows how determined banks are to generate income in the form of fees from their customers.

I know everyone should know the balance in their checking account and I am particularly anal about knowing how much money I have in my account and not going over that amount, but s**t happens. I recently received a notice from my bank that I had a NSF. I checked my register and should have had $60.98 in my account. I went online and checked my account only to find a transaction for $59 that I did not authorize, but what bothered me more was the fact that my bank had approved a debit card transaction when I had no money in my account to cover it!

How obvious can it be that this bank was using every scheme in the book to make money on unethical banking practices? Even when my balance was only $1.98, my bank approved a $5.10 transaction and then proceeded to charge me $30 for a NSF. This is not only unethical, it should be illegal! If it had been declined, I would have known that something was wrong and could have corrected immediately.

3. Banks post transactions before deposits. This has to be the most obvious as to why it is done and it too should be illegal.

4. Low balance fees on savings accounts. This is the ultimate in ridiculous! It’s a savings account for goodness sake. Some folks work hard to save a few dollars a month and the banks are going to take it away because their customers are not stockpiling money away like a Rockefeller. My bank currently takes $10 a month for a balance below $100. Give me a break! Better yet, Mr. Banker, give your customers a break!

I worked for credit union and we posted transactions in ascending order (smallest to largest), deposits and credits before transactions and debits and if a customer was $5 or less short, we paid the transaction with NO NSF fee and we never charged a savings account fee.

Every bank should do this, but these days it’s a game of brainstorming to see who can come up with the next latest and greatest of unethical schemes to rob consumer’s of their hard earned money. To make matters worse; banks, credit card companies and mortgage companies lobby congress to get unscrupulous laws in their favor with the only intention being that of making millions of dollars in revenue. Greed has happily made it’s home in banking.

It’s disgusting and I decided that I had had enough. Writing my congressman was out of the question since banks literally have congress in their pocket. Credit unions are great, but I am seeing a trend with credit unions becoming mutual savings banks (MSB). How do I know? My bank was a credit union and became a MSB. When it was a credit union, I never had one problem. After the change, I didn’t dare take my eyes off my account for one second.

So, what do you do? Well, private banks and credit unions are great! Credit union customers are actually shareholders in the credit union; therefore, credit unions wouldn’t use unethical schemes to bilk their own shareholders. Private banks are far and few between, but are less likely to resort to unethical means to create revenue.

Then there is what I call a “stand-alone” Visa debit card. It is attached to an account with a routing number, but it is not a full service checking account. There are many of these stand-alone cards, but I like Wired Plastic and All Access (Netspend) Visa Debit cards. No, I am not getting any money for promoting them. I am sure there are others that are just as good, but these are the two with which I have had experience.

Here’s why I like them:

• Direct deposits are free
• There is usually an affordable monthly fee, which gives you unlimited free transactions
• Transactions post as they come in (not in descending order)
• Most, if not all, do not charge NSF fees
• All will decline debit card transactions if you do not have the money in your account
• Some charge a decline fee of about $1.00
• Some offer text messaging daily of your account balance, declines, etc.
• Most offer online services to track your account
• Most offer free online bill pay

Here’s what I do not like:

• If you want to buy gas at the pump, you will need to have at least $50 available on your card
• Most hold transactions in authorization for 30 days or until the vendor posts the transaction. This sometimes results in a double debt. The authorization is deducted and later the vendor post the actual transaction in a different amount. This is usually seen when dining out. The restaurant does an authorization for your total tab, BEFORE the tip. Later the actual transaction comes through as a separate transaction. This will require calling the Visa debit card company and/or the restaurant to get the authorization credited.
• Maximum daily or weekly deposit restriction. Most allow unlimited deposit amount by direct deposit.

A little aggravation out-weights the benefits of not being taken to the cleaners by being fee-d into debt by the bank.

Before those of you who think you are so wise make any comments about how people need to be more responsible with their money, let me point out that many banks set up these schemes to bilk millions of dollars from unsuspecting working class every day. Yes, banks are in the business to make money, but not by taking advantage of the very people who work hard for every penny they make. Yes, some folks have to live paycheck to paycheck. For some, that is their reality, but banks should not take advantage of these folks by getting more fees from posting transactions in descending order, approving debit card transactions when there is not enough money to cover the transaction or by posting transactions before deposits and credits. All are extremely unethical and it is very obvious the intention of these so-called policies.

Take control of your money and tell all the major banks to take a hike!

This LOA tip is one in a series of tips that will look at why LOA doesn’t work for some folks. In Tip #3, we’re going to look at self-limiting beliefs about having money and being rich and why being rich is good.

“Money will not make you happy.” How many times have you heard that statement? Did it give you the impression that doing without money and living in poverty would make you happy?  What it really means is…if you are unhappy, having money and being rich will not give you the happiness you seek. Seek happiness first, then becoming rich will be a benefit of your happiness. Having money and being rich is good! You can do whatever you want with your money and it should make your feel that you are doing the right thing.

Self-Limiting Beliefs About Money and Being Rich

• Having money and being rich is wrong.
• Rich people need to give their money to the poor.
• The poor are poor because the rich have all the money.
• The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

I was confronted by a lady who insisted that the rich were responsible for the condition of the poor and insisted that the rich had the responsibility to give their money to the poor. I was amazed at the irrational reasoning behind this statement.

I have personally seen what happens when I gave money to the poor, they just become more dependent on me giving them more money. Over 15 years ago, when I was working in town, several co-workers and I decided that we wanted to help poor street people by giving them money. We went to the local shelter and talked to the counselors.  To our disbelief, they recommended donating to the shelter or any other philanthropic organization and advised us not to give money directly to the poor.

Needless to say, we didn’t listen.  I think we all had been listening too much to those folks who condemned the rich and insisted they give to the poor. What we learned was a very valuable lesson. We discovered to our horror that word had gotten around that we were handing out money. The last day we went to the shelter, we were mobbed. The shelter counselors had warned us, but we found out for ourselves why it’s not a good idea to give money to the poor.

The money we gave out didn’t help the poor find a job and it certainly didn’t teach them how to handle money wisely. We became enablers. We enabled several people to continue to be poor. They simply waited for us to give them money and progressively needed more and more. They had no ambition to get out of poverty and improve their lot in life. Their only ambition was to wait for us to show up and hand out money.

Giving money directly to the poor doesn’t help them. They realize that it is much easier to have someone give them money, than to have ambition and earn it themselves. There are programs to help the poor, but they first need the ambition to use them and second, need to know they exist. It’s what counselors at the shelter called the “Too poor to care” syndrome.

The poor are poor because:

1. they have no ambition to rise above poverty

2. do not have the ambition to use programs provided to teach them how to get out of poverty or find out what it takes to get out of poverty

3. think that someone “owes” them something (welfare)

4. they were born poor, have been taught by generations of poor family members that since they were born poor, they will always be poor and need to depend on others for money or

5. simply prefer being poor.

No one “owes” anyone anything. This is irrational thinking at its worst. We owe it to ourselves to make our lives our reality. I love this quote, “If it is to be, it is up to me to do it!” I just wish I knew who said it. My research didn’t reveal the person who said it.

The rich do not owe the poor anything. We live in a nation of welfare babies who think they do not need to support themselves because their government “owes” them. That is one of the most self-limiting, self-defeating beliefs of the 21 Century and has given rise to generation after generation living on welfare. The elderly, disabled and mentally challenged are a totally different issue. Most need assistance and there are programs to help them pay utilities and buy food which is usually paid for by philanthropic organizations.

If you think you are too poor to become rich, let me give you an example of rags to riches. Some of the poorest people in the world rose above poverty to become very wealthy. Andrew Carnegie was very poor. He rose above his poverty, became very wealthy and gave most of his wealth to charity.

Then there are the wealthy who give generously to charities. John D. Rockefeller, although he was not poor, he most certainly was not born into a wealthy family. He started as a clerk and revolutionized the oil and gas industry by founding Standard Oil. He was known for handing out dimes to folks he met on the streets (at a time when a dime was considered a lot) and he tithed 10% to his church every payday. He was the United States’ first millionaire and went on to become a billionaire. The Rockefellers, even to this day, are known for their philanthropy.

Bill Gates, born into a wealthy family, gives generously to charity.

And the best for last, Christopher Gardner. His life became a movie, The Pursuit of Happyness. A homeless father who became a self-made millionaire. He is the model of ambition and rising above poverty. He is a philanthropist who sponsors Cara Program and the Methodist church where he and his son received shelter.

The argument that it is wrong to be rich because the rich make the poor poorer is a lame excuse most people make when they themselves lack ambition and/or money. It’s easier to blame someone else than to blame themselves for not having the ambition to attract their desires. The key to success and wealth lies in ambition, self-discipline, knowing what you want, the vehicle to get it and having the faith to achieve it. This is the exact idea behind the Law of Attraction.

If you want to be rich, then you deserve to be rich! Being rich has its responsibilities. It’s what you do with your money and your mind-set that makes being rich a good thing. Buy what you want and need when you want and need it, help family and friends in need, donate to charity, invest in quality investments, put money in a savings account for unexpected emergencies and have money left over.

Life is meant to be enjoyed. Enjoy your life to the fullest. Be happy, be rich and be wise.

This LOA tip is one in a series of tips that will look at why LOA doesn’t work for some folks. In Tip #2, we’re going to look at how being happy will manifest your desires very quickly.

Happiness is a state of mind that you create with your actions, words, thoughts and feelings. You first need to find what makes you happy (Changing self-limiting beliefs is an excellent start!), get happy and stay happy, then attract your dreams and desires. It’s not the other way around, “I’ll be happy went I get what I want!”

This is true for anything you desire – a better job, the love of your life, that beautiful red sports car. If you are unhappy, attracting your desires will not make you happy. Only you can make you happy. If you are happy, attracting your desires are a complement to your happiness. If you are unhappy, then attracting your desires will clash with your unhappiness and you may find yourself even more unhappy when you realize that that beautiful, red sports car didn’t make you happy at all. You may have a few days of excitement, but you will not be truly happy.

Let’s get very clear on two ideas of being happy or happiness where getting what you want it concerned.

1. Contrived happiness.

2. Being naturally happy.

Contrived happiness

Contrived happiness is a thought process that says, “I will be happy when I get what I want!” This is a very negative, self-limiting belief. Remember, happiness is a state of mind. In other words, if you think you are unhappy, you can just as easily think you are happy. It’s all in your mind…your thoughts.

For some reason, today’s society has convinced people that it’s wrong to be happy. There is so much suffering and misery in the world; therefore, we all need to be unhappy. What a load of crap! Pardon my language. To make matters worse, it’s become such a materialistic world that social attitudes have taught people that in order to be happy, one must have everything they want and it has even gone so far as to tell us what we want that will make us happy – it’s called advertising.

What has actually happened is the fact that people have realized that they have become very good at getting what they do not want and that is what makes them unhappy. Let’s look at the opposite of these dilemma.

If more people would be grateful for what they have in their lives at this moment in time and be happy for it, then there would be less unhappiness and misery. Yes, there are they who suffer in abject poverty or misery at the hands of others, but even they can rise above their situation with help from others. For the whole world to feel pity and unhappiness at their dilemma only makes their plight worse and makes it seem as though we are responsible for their situation in life.

One of the 12 Universal Laws is called the Law of Polarity. The Law of Polarity states that everything has a range and an opposite. The opposite of unhappy is happy; therefore the opposite of lack is abundance and each has it degree (range) of unhappiness, happiness, lack and abundance. Another of the 12 Universal Laws called the Law of Vibration and it states that everything and everyone moves in a circular pattern and it applies to our actions, words, thoughts and feelings. What you give out, you will get in return. If you are unhappy, you’re sending out negative vibrations and you will get them sent right back to you in the form of what you do not want. What do you really want? Do you want to be happy? Do you want all your desires fulfilled? Then think yourself happy!

There is a literary work by James Allen, As a man thinketh (1902), based on a quote from the Bible. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” If you think you are happy, then you will be happy. LOA senses your happiness, which is a positive vibe, and you will get what you want. Is it that simple? Yes, fortunately, everything is that simple. It’s people that make things difficult.

Naturally happy!

When you are happy, you give off a very high positive vibration level (the Law of Vibration). High positive vibration levels attract your desires very quickly. Your desires manifest themselves much more quickly when you are happy, grateful and joyful.

Let’s go back and look at James Allen’s literary work from 1902. This man knew about LOA. He knew that if you think you are happy and have plenty, then you will get more of it in return.

His book opens with a poem…

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:—
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.

Quotes from his book…

• A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
• Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these, if you but remain true to them your world will at last be built.
• The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.
• Every action and feeling is preceded by a thought.
• Right thinking begins with the words we say to ourselves.
• If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

LOA is not prejudice. It will give you the focus of your actions, words, thoughts and feelings. The old saying that money will not make you happy is true. The only problem with this saying is that it has been distorted to benefit those who are against having money and being wealthy. What the old saying is trying to point out is, if you are not happy before you become wealthy, then becoming wealthy will only clash with your unhappiness and may make you even more unhappy. Having money, being wealthy, finding the love of your life and having the car of your dreams are all positive and very good, but your life will lack meaning if you think getting those things will make you happy when you are unhappy to begin with.

So…how do you get happy? Change your thoughts, change your mind-set!

Tips for how to get happy!

1. On a piece of paper, make a list of all the things you have in your life that you think you are not grateful for. This is your Ungrateful List. [Pretty negative, huh?]

2. On another piece of paper, create a new list by taking each item on your Ungrateful List and find a good reason to be grateful for having it. Example: You’re driving an old car. You want a new car. Be grateful that you have a car at all. You could be riding the bus or walking. This is your Gratitude List. [Much more positive!]

3. Add to the Gratitude List those things for which you are currently grateful. Example: your spouse, your children, your friends, your pets, your clothes, your furniture, anything for which you are grateful. Gratitude is a very positive vibration and helps you realize that you have a lot to be thankful and happy for.

4. Look at your Gratitude List everyday to remind yourself that you have a lot to be grateful for. Feeling grateful creates happiness!

5. Listen to music that makes you feel good.

6. Dance to your favorite music. No one has to see you dance. Dance like it’s the most wonderful thing in the world to do!

7. Watch movies that make you feel good.

8. Watch funny movies and laugh out loud.

9. Do not dwell on things that make you fearful, doubtful, mad or unhappy. Give yourself 5 minutes to fret and fuss, then get over it and immediately get happy. Think of something that makes you happy. Example: Christmas with your family. Vacation with your family. A funny joke or story. Teach yourself that it is OK to let go of negative situations and return to being happy.

10. Forgive people who you think have done bad things to you. Did you know that 90% of the time, the person you blame for hurting you doesn’t even realize they did something wrong. Let go of the need to tell them they did something wrong. It will only make the situation worse for you. You may need to realize that you may have been overly sensitive to something they said or did, when they honestly meant nothing by it. This is called “getting over yourself.” Try it! It works!

11. Develop the enthusiasm of a child. Get excited about your dreams and desires. “I want one of those!!!!!!”

12. Dream big! Want a new car, instead of a two year old used car. This another reason LOA doesn’t work for some folks. They have forgotten how to dream or they let fear and doubt slip in and to keep from being disappointed, dream small.

13. Enjoy daydreaming! This is visualization at it’s best and will manifest your desires very quickly because it creates happiness.

14. Enjoy the simplest things. A spring day. Watch bees, birds, kittens or puppies play. Notice the details of a flower. Enjoy life!

15. Laugh often, laugh out loud and laugh at yourself!

16. Let go of trying to control and manipulate everything and everyone in your life.  Let people and things be who or what they are meant to be.

17. Learn to be a good listener. It will actually make you happier!

18. Dedicate three hours a day to doing something you really enjoy.

19. Learn to relax. Do yoga, meditate, daydream.

20. Make it a point to donate at least a dollar everyday to charity. That’s $365 a year.  Expect nothing in return.  Being charitable is a very positive action.  Remember the Law of Vibration?  Everything and everyone vibrates in a circular pattern.  It’s that old saying, “What goes around, comes around!”  When you give to others, it comes back to you.  Donating is convenient. McDonalds has Ronald McDonald House donation boxes in each restaurant. Firemen collect for MS (Fill the Boot) at major street intersections at certain times of the year.

21. Eliminate self-limiting beliefs. Remove don’t, can’t, won’t, no and not from your words and thoughts.

22. Add 8 more ideas to this list. Create your own ideas for things that will make you feel happy.

Remember, get happy, then attract your desires!

There are so many reasons the Law of Attraction (LOA) does not work for many people. They make the mistakes of interfering with the allowing process of LOA, don’t get clear on exactly what they desire, have doubts and fears and fail to be grateful for what they have at this time in their lives or they simply do not believe that there is a Universal Law that explains why we get what we get in our lives.

Many people have trouble with giving positive focus and attention to their desires. They let doubt slip in by means of their negative words and thought processes, otherwise known as Self-Limiting Beliefs. LOA is a multiple step process. Within each of these steps is an even more complicated process involving human nature. Each of us is different. We are nurtured differently; therefore, our cognitive abilities are just as varied.

Throughout our lives, we develop certain thought patterns that are formed from our positive and negative life experiences. It’s the negative experiences that give us negative thought patterns that keep us from achieving our potential. These self-limiting beliefs are irrational, self-defeating and given time, become so second nature, they no longer require conscious thought.

Do any of these sound familiar to you? If they do, then you will never get what you want. So, what do you do? You work at changing your thought patterns. It can be done, anyone at any age can do it. All it takes is simply making a conscious effort to pay attention to your thoughts and feelings.

Negative thoughts give off low level vibrations. Negative vibrations will not attract what you want. They will attract more of what you don’t want. Positive thoughts give off high level vibrations and can overcome negative vibrations. Positive, high level vibrations invoke LOA and attract your desires. Self-limiting beliefs are negative vibrations. Now you can understand why self-limiting beliefs will keep you from attracting your desires.

Steps for Changing Your Self-Limiting Thoughts

1. Take a piece of paper. Draw a line down the middle making two columns.

2. In the left-hand column, make a list of your negative, self-limiting beliefs.

3. In the right-hand column, write a believable positive statement that is the opposite of each of your negative beliefs.

4. This is very important! Cross out all the negative, self-limiting beliefs in the left-hand column.

5. Carry this list with you, look at it several times a day and read the positive beliefs to yourself or out loud.

6. You are no longer concerned with the negative beliefs in the left-hand column. You will not read these.

7. Any time a self-limiting, negative thought or feeling enters you mind, gently push it away and then read and say to yourself the positive beliefs you wrote in the right-hand column.

It takes 3 weeks to become comfortable with a new habit and 6 weeks to 3 months for it to become permanent. Change is good, but change is excellent, if it is positive and builds confidence and self-esteem.

Examples of negative self-limiting beliefs and their opposites.

Change your words, change your thoughts (thoughts are just words), change your life and attract your dreams!

Law of Attraction Tip #2 - Get Happy!

Everyday, someone tells me that the Law of Attraction (LOA) doesn’t work. I had one lady tell me it was a scam. For something to be a scam, it would have to defraud you of your money. Fraudulent business schemes are a scam, so LOA itself is not a scam.

I had a gentleman tell me it was a sham. Actually, LOA is one of 12 Universal Laws that tells us why things happen in a predictable manner. LOA is not a sham. It’s quite real. Many folks simply fail to understand it fully and do not follow its rules in order to make work for them. Human natures says it’s much easier to blame someone or something for our failure instead of realizing that it’s what we have done that has actually caused the problem.

I’ll go over several areas of LOA that give most folks the most problems when using LOA to manifest their desires. My example, again, is money, since that’s what most folks are concerned with, but it applies to anything you desire that you want to manifest.

1. Watch your focus

Problem: The Law of Attraction responds to the subject or focus of your words and thoughts and the feelings they create. For example, if you say or think, “I don’t like being broke!” then LOA says, “OK! Be broke!” After all, LOA responds to your focus and in this case, the focus is “being broke.” The words don’t, not, can’t, won’t and no mean nothing to LOA. It’s your focus that LOA responds to.

Solution: Now let’s change your words and thoughts. “I want plenty of money!!!!!” LOA says, “OK! Plenty of money coming your way!” After all, the focus is “plenty of money.”

BTW, there is this idea that if you use the word “want” or “desire” that you are reminding yourself that you are still in a state of lack which is a negative vibration. Well, let’s set the record straight.

a. It’s all about the emotions your words create. Say and think your words with child-like enthusiasm, “I WANT THAT!!!!!” and, by golly, you will create the emotion you need to send out positive vibrations to LOA to attract what you desire. Let’s say you see a red sports car you’ve always wanted and you say, “I WANT THAT!!!!!” Say it with all the enthusiasm of a child who is excited about a new toy! What kind of vibration do you think you would be sending to LOA? Positive with a capital P!

b. Your words and thoughts must be believable to you.
My husband come home the other day saying, “I am a money magnet!” I asked him, “Do you believe what you’re saying?” He said, “Well, no. Not really.”

“Then why say something you do not believe?”

“Because that was what I was told to say.”

“By whom?”

He tells me about a book he read on how to attract money. So I said, “I see. Well, how about saying something you believe?”

“Like what?”

“Let see, how about ‘I am so happy to know that I’m in the process of having plenty of money!’”

I could tell by the look on his face that this was much more believable. I then said, “Why not just say, ‘I want plenty money!!!!’” and I said it like I knew without doubt that I would have plenty of money…with child-like enthusiasm!

He said, “The book says not to use the words “want” or “desire” because it implies lack and not having what you desire.”

“OK, but do you have what you want? No, but you are in the process of attracting it to you. It’s the emotion or feeling you create with your words that invokes LOA and attracts your wants and desires.”

I had him read my favorite book on the Law of Attraction by Michael Losier and he has changed how he talks about money.

c. There are only two kinds of vibration in LOA – positive and negative. Thoughts of lack create negative vibrations, but thoughts of abundance and plenty create positive vibrations. Negative vibrations vibrate on a lower level than positive vibrations. Higher level positive vibrations over-take and change negative vibrations. Now, if you said, “I want plenty money, but I know I’ll never get it.” then guess what? You will never get it! BUT…if you say, “I want plenty money!” with a ton of enthusiasm, then you will get it!

It’s all about the feelings and emotions you create with your words and thoughts. Change your words and thoughts, create deep, strong emotion and you will get what you desire.

2. Just allow it!

Problem: Just like with Nike’s ad campaign, Just do it! LOA has it’s own ad campaign, Just allow it! Many people think they need to find or fix the problem.  If they want money, they try to find a way to get more money or fix the problem that is causing them to need more money.  If they want the love of their life, they go to every bar, church group meeting or online dating service they can find.  They make it much harder than it actually is.

Solution: Do nothing!  Do not intervene in any way. Allowing is letting LOA handle the how, when, where and how much.  I will admit, this is very hard to do. You do not need to do anything. If you want more money, you do not need to get a better job, work more hours or start a business. LOA will do one of two things: (1) spontaneously send the money to you without you doing anything to get it OR (2) you will get an idea known as an inspired thought and then (and only then) do you need to take action.

How will you know it’s an inspired thought? You will feel it in your bones. You will get chill bumps.  It will just feel right!  It will be something you thoroughly enjoy and it will come to you easily and effortlessly. Also, the action you take to on this inspired thought will be just as easy and effortless. It will literally make you feel excited!

3. Do I need to visualize?

Problem: Many people cannot deliberately visualize something they have never experienced. How do you visualize a car you’ve never owned or driven or the love of your life? I personally found that deliberately trying to visualize what I wanted had no effect on getting what I wanted. It did nothing to create intense feelings of happiness and excitement. As a matter of fact, when I tried to deliberately visualize what I wanted, I was so focused on trying to visually see what I wanted, it was next to impossible to feel any intense emotion other than frustration. I had no problem visualizing the thing I wanted, it was getting the intense emotion needed from the visualization that simply didn’t happen.

Solution: For me, it was all about the strong emotions my words and thoughts created. I created affirmations that created strong feelings. I read them and either say them to myself or out loud everyday, twice a day!

“I am so excited that I will have plenty of money!”
“I am in the process of attracting plenty of money!”
“I love knowing that I will have an excess of money!”
These statements were true and created excitement and enthusiasm for me. I also found that looking at pictures and brochures of the things I wanted created feelings of excitement and happiness. Spontaneous daydreaming creates very strong feelings of excitement and happiness, so the next time you catch yourself daydreaming, enjoy it because you are invoking LOA and attracting what you want!

4. Gratitude for what you have at this time

Problem: Are you grateful for what you have at this very moment in time? So many folks are not grateful for what they have because it’s not what they want. Don’t forget to be grateful for what you have right now.

Solution: Make a list of everything you are grateful for. Even if you want a new car, you need to be grateful for the car you currently drive, because it gets you to work, takes you shopping and to do things you enjoy. Make a gratitude list. I think you will be surprised at how happy it will make you feel and LOA is all about feelings, remember? Feeling happy is a very high positive vibration.

5. Be Happy!

Problem: Something that amazed me when I first learned about LOA was the fact that I and everyone I knew seemed to wallow in unhappiness. Why is it human nature to remember only the bad instead of all the good? Who really knows, but I know one thing, it will get you nowhere fast. I was expected to wallow in self-pity over every failure in my life according to what I had been taught by parents, family and friends. I never really understood it. Why do some folks fail while others succeed? Why do some people spend days and years living in abject unhappiness and misery? I don’t honestly believe that this is what they want in their lives. It certainly doesn’t get them what they want. Life is not meant to be a lesson in self flagellation. Life is meant to be enjoyable and filled with happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. We can literally choose to be happy or unhappy. It is up to each one of us to create joy and happiness in our lives.

Solution: LOA responds very quickly to positive vibrations. Happiness and joy have very high vibrations, so the answer is to get happy! Listen to music that makes you feel good. Sing, dance and laugh. Watch movies that make you laugh or feel happy. Find something (anything) good in someone you don’t like. Forgive someone who has done something bad to you. Try to be happy and positive everyday, all day.

Yes, I know it is next to impossible to be constantly happy, but when something happens to make you feel sad or angry, think about it for 5 seconds and then forget it. I know certain things cannot be forgotten after 5 seconds. A death, a funeral, being hospitalized or cancer is definitely not going to fit this rule, but even in these situations, try to put yourself in a more positive state of mind as soon as possible. Immediately think of something makes you feel happy. Listen to your favorite CD, watch a funny movie. Do whatever it takes to get happy. Happiness has the highest positive vibration and LOA loves it!

6. Change your thought process

Problem: Let’s face it. This is the biggest problem where manifesting desires is concerned. Many of us are very negative. We learned it from our parents, peers and co-workers. We say negative words, we think negative thoughts and it all creates negative feelings. Feelings of lack, hopelessness and despair. Despair will get you nowhere.

Solution: As you have already learned, LOA responds to strong emotions created by your words and thoughts. To get what you want, you must focus on what you want, not what you do not want. LOA is not easy for many people. It requires changing their negative thought patterns to be more positive in order to change their lives.

The more effort you put into LOA, the more effective it will be. You will find your life will improve almost immediately. You will feel happier, less stressed, more centered and focused. You will pay attention to your words and thoughts and you will create strong emotions with them. Spontaneous daydreaming is an excellent way to create very strong emotion, so enjoy daydreaming every chance you get.

Eliminate the words don’t, won’t, not and no from your vocabulary and thoughts. Make a deliberate attempt to be very positive with your words and thoughts everyday all day long. The following statements are very positive. When you say them, say them out loud to yourself and say with a LOT of ENTHUSIASM!!! And…say them every day.

“I am in the process of having a plenty of money!”
“I have decided that I will have plenty of money!”
“I am so excited to know that it is OK to have plenty of money!”
“I love the idea that I will have plenty of money!”

Now it’s your turn. Make up some very positive statements for your desires that are true to you. It takes time to change old habits. It takes anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks to feel comfortable with change and 3 to 6 months to make a 100% complete change in behavior. Negative or limiting thought patterns are learned, self-defeating and will never get you anywhere except nowhere.

I love the word nowhere. It’s made up of four words, yes, four! Now, here, no and where. See! I am nowhere, but I know when I arrive at my desire, I will be now here.

A two word sentence thought for the day: If it is to be, it is up to me!

If you want to manifest your desires, if you want LOA to work for you, then it is indeed up to you!

May all your desires be fulfilled!

There are 12 Universal Laws that state how our words, thoughts, feelings and actions relate to why things happen in a predictable manner. By learning these laws, we can improve our lives, our relationship to others and our relationship to everything around us. These laws tell us why we get what we get. If we literally change our words, thoughts, feelings and actions, we can change our lives. If we don’t change? Well, we will at least know why we got what we asked for.

The Law of Divine Oneness
I call this law the Law of Unity. The Law of Divine Oneness says we are all connected to everything and everyone. Everything we say, do, think and feel affects everything and everyone around us.

The Law of Vibration
This law involves how everything and everyone vibrates or moves in circular patterns. The idea of vibration in physics (for example: sound) applies to our words, actions, thoughts and feelings. You’ve heard the old saying, “What goes around, comes around.” It’s true! Everything you do, say, think and feel vibrates either positively or negatively. You send these vibrations out to the Universe and they will come back to you with the same vibration you sent out.

The Law of Action
Our words, thoughts and feelings are actions. We are speaking, thinking and feeling; therefore, action. By using our words, thoughts and feelings, we “allow” the Universe to attract our desires. If we effectively learn how to “allow,” we will in return either receive what we want with out taking any action whatsoever or we will receive intuitive inspiration in the form of an idea that we can take action on in order to attract our desires.

The Law of Correspondence
The Law of Correspondence relates to energy and how it corresponds to the result of that energy. It explains unhappiness, failure and lack. If you think you are unhappy, then you will be unhappy. If you think you are a failure, then you will be a failure. If you think you are poor, then you will be poor. Change your thoughts and you will change your life.

The Law of Cause and Effect
Nothing happens by chance. There is no fate, luck or coincidence. For every action, there is a reaction. If you push a ball, it will roll. Be-cause you pushed the ball, the effect was the ball rolled across the floor. Be-cause you think you are a failure, the effect is that you will be a failure. Be-cause you think your are a winner, the effect will be that you will be a winner. If you are positive, you will get positive; if you are negative, you will get negative.

The Law of Compensation
This is the physical reward of our words, thoughts, feelings and actions given to us in either abundance or lack. It relates to the vibrations we create. If your words, thoughts and feelings vibrate positively and match your actions, you will be compensated with the manifestation of your desires.

The Law of Attraction
Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. It relates to why we get what we want and what we do not want in our lives. It explains why we commit ourselves to the same mistakes over and over. Positive attracts positive and negative attracts negative. There is an old saying, “Keep doing what your doing and you will keep getting what your getting.” It certainly applies to the Law of Attraction.

The Law of Perpetual Transmutation of Energy
Wow! All that just to say we all have the ability to effect change in our lives. In other words, we have the energy within us to change the circumstances in our lives. This law also refers to the effect of higher vibrations. Universal laws states that higher vibrations over-take and change lower level vibrations. Positive vibrations are at a much higher level than negative vibrations. In order to effect positive changes in our lives, we need to vibrate at a higher level. Positive vibrations over-take and change the negative vibrations; therefore, the effect is a change for the positive.

The Law of Relativity
This law refers to how someone relates themselves to something. Depression is a good example. Negative thoughts (limiting beliefs) create depression which leads to more negative thoughts which leads to more depression. We compare everything by how it relates to us.

The Law of Polarity
The Law of Polarity states that everything has a range and an opposite. The opposite of negative is positive. Good, bad. Lack, plenty. Very good, a little bad. You get the point.

The Law of Rhythm
Everything and everyone vibrates or moves to certain rhythms or patterns. Seasons, cycles, years, hours, days…

Law of Gender
This law states that everything has it’s opposing, yet complementary characteristics. Women have male characteristics and male hormones and men have feminine characteristics and female hormones. They are opposing, yet complementary.

Every day I learn the lesson of, “You don’t know everything.” In my 40+ years, I have never heard of the Tao Te Ching (pronounced Dow De Jing). Never! I’ve heard of the Tao of Pooh and never really read it or took a look at it, but let one celebrity, doctor, author or guru write a book about it while making life-altering changes and everyone and their dog joins the bandwagon.

The latest life lesson bandwagon is from Dr. Wayne Dyer and his total immersion in Taoism. I bought his book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, read the first three chapters, watched his program on PBS and realized that Dr. Dyer hasn’t changed one bit! Don’t get me wrong. I like Dr. Dyer. He’s a good man; I just find him a bit eccentric. I decided it was time to do some research on the Tao and find out what all the hubbub was about. Needless to say, I was not happy with what I found.

When I finished reading the Tao Te Ching (as translated from Chinese characters, not an interpretation of the Tao), my intuition was screaming at me that all this minimalism and nothingness and fits right in with communism. It reminded me too much of teachers who want Johnnie on Ritalin. Be quiet, be still, be good and there will be peace and harmony.

Even Lao-Tzu, legendary author of the Tao, admitted, “Some will think me lazy.” I have to admit, he was right. It was my first impression of him. My second impression of him was one of pacifist. The Tao Te Ching is the perfect philosophy for those who are deeply spiritual and have no desire to have material possession or think for themselves. Confucius and Buddha are contemporaries of Lao-Tzu; therefore, the inspiration for minimalism in Confucianism and Buddhism.

It’s a philosophy that says: say nothing, do nothing, think nothing, have nothing, do not value education over wisdom, have no pride in yourself or others and there will be harmony and happiness. While this may be agreeable to some folks, in most it will feel unnatural. There may be harmony and peace, but at what price? Happiness! I think all this mindless nothingness goes against nature.

After several days of thinking about what the Tao was teaching, I realized that my gut feeling was telling me that certain parts of the Tao philosophy were not right for me and it certainly didn’t fit a majority of today’s society. Even my husband was not impressed. He, like I, researched on the Net after watching Dr. Dyer’s program. My husband became concerned when Dr. Dyer talked about living the Tao and moved to Maui after closing his office and selling everything in the office. Living in Maui is not cheap. Living in Maui is not my idea of minimalism. When someone tells me they moved to Maui, I pretty much know they have plenty of money, so his speech about closing his office, selling everything in it and moving to Maui was not quite ringing true to the minimalist lifestyle, so he’s not 100% Taoist.

I like the idea of humility and kindness and I have to agree that too much education gets in the way of wisdom and common sense, but I don’t like the idea of minimalism and mindless nothingness for the sake of peace and harmony. In my opinion, both philosophies go against human nature and the laws of the Universe. To give up one’s free will just for the sake of “Don’t rock the boat” to keep the peace is unrealistic.

My least favorite quote from the Tao is, “If you want everything, you must give up everything.” It reminded me of Hari Chrisna in the 70’s. “Give all your worldly possession away, come live with us and find happiness, harmony and peace.” I had a friend in high school who bought into this philosophy. He sold everything he owned, including his clothes and moved to California. He was not happy and there was no peace and harmony. Everyone was unhappy, bickered over who was in charge, who was going to work in the fields to bring in food that was literally rotting in the Earth and lived daily trying to find food and clean clothing. He hated begging strangers for money and hated even more the looks on their faces. He came home after three months when he realized that Hari Chrisna was not what he had hoped. He learned a valuable lesson.

It is my opinion that we are not here to suffer and live a minimalist life in mindless nothingness. We are here to learn what it takes for each of us to succeed, achieve our desires and be happy. In other words, we are here to find our purpose in life. It takes ambition to find one’s purpose. It is a natural process to find this purpose, but for some, it is just too much pressure and they look for a religion or philosophy to justify their lack of ambition. In this case, the Tao fits that purpose.

It is natural to see opposing views. That’s how we know what beautiful, bad, slow or dark is. Without it’s opposite, we wouldn’t know and appreciate the difference. It is natural to think for ourselves (free will) and make judgments, for judgments come from intuition and give us insight. Judgments that come from intuition or a gut feeling are rarely wrong and help us to make the right decision. It is judgment from narrow-mindedness that is wrong – it’s known as prejudice.

It is natural to be ambitious. Without ambition, we would wither and die. Human beings need obstacles or challenges in their lives to give them a reason to live. It is the ambition to get past those obstacles that is a natural part of life. It is not natural to have nothing. Having nothing, saying nothing and doing nothing is just…nothing. Happy is the man who has, says, thinks and does nothing? That doesn’t even sound right! It sounds like what a communist government would want from it’s people.

There is a time to say something and there is a time to be silent. Knowing which to do involves desire and knowledge to know when it is wise to say something or nothing.

There is a time to take action and a time to do nothing. Again, it involves knowing which to do and that takes desire and knowledge to know when it is wise to take action or do nothing.

Some say having no ambition is laziness. I think a lack of ambition comes from a fear of money and/or success which leads to despising those who have money and wealth. Many folks with no ambition wrongly thinking money is bad because they don’t have any. These same folk work on the assumption that people who have money are bad. This shows ignorance about money. Money has no ego! It’s neither good nor bad. It shows no prejudice as to who should have more of it and who should have less. It’s an inanimate object.

People who do bad things with money give the impression that money is bad. This is an incorrect correlation between money and people who do not use their money wisely. The money didn’t make them bad; they could have just as easily done something good with their money. We need to change the way we think about money. For some, it’s easier to blame their lack of money on an inanimate object or they who have plenty.

I don’t know how many times I have heard someone tell me that people who are rich are bad. This all encompassing statement is irrational. It includes everyone who is rich. There are just as many rich people who do good things with their money as those who use money for bad intent. The only thing we hear about is the bad people and how it relates to money. It’s the only thing that makes the news and that’s usually all the media cares about.

To think that living a minimalist lifestyle will get rid of the bad that people do is like saying, you don’t need to brush your teeth if you don’t eat sweets. People will become desperate and tire of having nothing. Desperation creates even bigger problems.

Money should not be used for power against one’s fellow man or for hoarding in excess. Money should be used to buy the things we want and need, to help friends and family in need, to donate to our favorite charities, to invest for the future and to leave an inheritance to our children and their children. There is nothing wrong with being rich. There is nothing wrong with wanting possessions. It’s hoarding money, being greedy and collection possessions in excess that are wrong.

I talked to a car salesman at a Ford dealership the other day. He told me that his brother was a salesman at a Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar dealership. He told me that his brother told him that 90% of his customers were buying high-end cars to impress someone else. Rarely did he have a customer who was buying a MB or Jag because that was what they truly wanted. One customer told him that he didn’t like Jaguar, but he was expected to drive a high-end luxury car and his boss insisted that it be a Jaguar. This type of behavior is not fulfilling and serves no purpose. It will certainly not create happiness.

I say buy what you want and to heck with trying to live up to what others think you should have. I say donate to charities, help friends and family in need, invest for the future…do good things with your money. If you really, really want a Jaguar because you think it looks good, has quality and is the most luxurious car you’ve ridden in, then by all means buy one. It’s all about what makes you happy. It’s the mind-set behind money without the emotional attachment to it that makes one happy. Happiness is a frame of mind. You can choose to be happy or not. If you have the wrong mind-set, then money and possessions will not make you happy.

Other interpretations of the Tao Te Ching do teach some excellent values, but it’s not the literal Tao, it’s another author’s Tao. I love The Tao of Pooh. I’ve only just recently read it and it’s cute, creates a very valuable message by taking a negative and making it a positive and it fits today’s society. It’s the child-like idea that Life is Great and I love it! Some interpretations stray so far from the literal translations as set forth by Lao-Tzu, I had to make sure I was still reading an interpretation of the Tao. They make the Tao into something very positive. I say, “Bravo!”, but that means it is someone else’s philosophy, not Lao-Tzu’s.

Some suggest that Lao-Tzu was being sarcastic. Some say there is no proof he even existed. Let’s assume he did exist. All I know is that there are many versions of the translation and all seem to be similar, but there are 100s if not 1000s of interpretations and that alone leads to confusion. Some assume the Tao is a religion. Tao Te Ching is not a religion. It is someone’s philosophy on life. I love philosophy, it is very fascinating to me and it has it’s purpose…to give us insight and reflection into our self.

As for Lao-Tzu being sarcastic, I doubt it seriously since I found one website, www.marxist.org, that quoted all 81 verses of the Tao in similar translation. For a Marxist website to embrace the Tao, I think that pretty much puts to bed the idea that Lao-Tzu was being sarcastic. I think he was a literal idealist with visions of a Utopian society that lived in complete and total harmony by saying and doing nothing to disturb the peace. There is a passage from Verse Three that reads like a communist manifesto. This is a literal translation, not an interpretation.

The master leads by:
Emptying their minds,
Filling their bellies,
Weakening their ambitions,
And strengthening their bones.

If people lack knowledge and desire
Then they can not act;
If no action is taken
Harmony remains.

You or I may take that passage, bend, twist or distort it to mean anything we want, but literally Lao-Tzu was very clear: think nothing, have no ambition, knowledge, desire, or action and there will be harmony. In one sense, he is right! If nothing is done, said, thought, and there is no ambition, knowledge or desire, then of course harmony remains, because there is NOTHING to cause disharmony, but it’s not very realistic, either.

Lao-Tzu’s harmony comes at a price – an individual’s free will. It oppresses by convincing that there is no need: for knowledge, to express an opinion, to have an differing opinion from your fellow man (uniqueness), to think, to speak, to do and to have all for the sake of constant harmony and peace. That’s a rather unreal, boring existence, not to mention you would have to watch everything you say for fear of disrupting the peace. Goodness knows, someone may misunderstand what it is you are trying to say and you would be accused of disturbing the peace. “Hold your tongue! The master is coming!”

Isn’t that exactly what every good dictator and communist leader wants? Just imagine Karl Marx jumping with joy after reading Verse Three of the Tao. For all we know, he may have! At some point rebellion sets in. Not all people are so easily led. To think that there would be a benevolent leader who is egoless and would lead such mindless, benevolent people is idealism gone extreme, not to mention it’s considered oppression. Rising above one’s ego is difficult enough as it is. If one has risen to the position of master, then it is very likely that he has a massive ego.

I found some positive virtue in the literal Tao and it would do today’s society good to embrace it, but I also found what one needs to justify a lack of ambition and responsibility. I think Lao-Tzu was a pacifist and I understand and respect it’s place for those who are deeply spiritual, have no need for material possessions and their only ambition is to devote their lives to spiritual enlightenment.

To interpret the Tao any other way, other than literal, is only to make it fit a more positive agenda. I am all for being more positive, but I have a problem with taking someone’s philosophy and straying far from it’s literal meaning. I have read many interpretations of the Tao. I love the optimistic spin in many of the interpretations that the Tao teaches humility, kindness, benevolence and flexibility, but I can also understand and can agree with the literalist, in other interpretations, that Lao-Tzu was a pacifist. The question remains, what exactly was Lao-Tzu’s message in the Tao Te Ching about life as it applies to everyone? Who knows, but I can tell you that there are many interpretations of the Tao and every one of them is different.

Wouldn’t be easier to learn the virtues of humility, kindness, generosity, charity, compassion, empathy, fairness, faith, forgiveness, gratitude, tolerance, courage, humor, respect, loyalty, courtesy, patience, self-reliance, self-motivation, responsibility, honesty, self-discipline and being flexible to change without all the confusing Eastern philosophy double meaning? Why make it so difficult? Life isn’t that difficult. People make it difficult. For some folks, I think they’re just looking for someone to live their life for them. They want someone to tell them all the answers instead of looking for the answers themselves.

To know the “why” of life is to find your purpose. It requires ambition, knowledge and action. Try looking at the 12 Universal Laws. I found more answers about life, instead of more questions. There are 12 Universal Laws and 21 sub-laws and each interacts with the other. The Law of Attraction is one of the 12 Universal Laws and I can tell you, it has done my hear