This list represents a compilation of resources that I’ve personally found useful over the years and often recommend to my clients. With the exception my own book, Graduation Rule$, I’m not selling or promoting these resources nor do I receive any compensation for listing them here. It is simply my hope and intention that if they’ve helped me, they might also help you.
Affirmations
Ever since a good friend of mine gave me a copy of Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, I have been using affirmations as part of my daily practice. They are intended to help replace the near constant negative self-talk in our brains with more positive statements in an attempt to lift our spirits and allow us to make better choices, not just related to our finances, but in all areas of our lives. Here are some of my own that I use every day:
My inner vision is clear and unclouded. My life is a success. I am at peace.
My decisions are always perfect for me.
I trust that all my needs and desires are being taken care of.
My business is constantly growing and my income is constantly increasing.
I have a healthy, balanced relationship with money and abundance flows freely to me and through me.
I gratefully receive prosperity and generously share with others.
I radiate love and love fills my life.
I choose to learn through wisdom and create harmony and love.
I choose to respond to life’s difficulties with compassion and love.
Books
The Art of Extreme Self Care by Cheryl Richardson. For control freaks like me, this book is a huge wake-up call to practice self-care on a daily basis. The first chapter, “End the Legacy of Deprivation”, sets the stage for a book loaded with good advice and real life examples of how we sabotage ourselves by not honoring our true feelings and desires. If you find yourself overwhelmed with trying to please others or take on too much at the expense of your own well-being, this book is for you!
The Courage to be Rich by Suze Orman. I love and respect everything that Suze Orman has written but this stands out as one of my favorites for her ability to mesh the concepts of spiritual and material abundance and it’s jam packed with practical advice and heart warming stories of real people overcoming financial challenges.
Graduation Rule$ by Melissa Sweet. This book was a labor of love that I wrote for my nephew in 2008 as a high school graduation gift. Written in the back drop of what I refer to as “The Great Correction”, it is filled with practical financial information that I believe every young person should know by the time they graduate from high school. Inscribed copies are available individually and as part of my “Graduation Rule$” consultation package.
The Inside Out Revolution by Michael Neill. While this book does not focus on finances specifically, it’s an easy and understandable way to introduce the concept of the power of thought and how we can change our lives simply by changing our thoughts. “We don’t need to create abundance, because abundance is already there. We don’t need to create love, or well-being, or happiness, because love, well-being, and happiness are part of our essential nature…The return to this ‘original grace’ of life is always available to us, and takes no particular effort to attain because it is in fact a return to our natural way of being.”
Money by Arnold Patent. This little book can be read in one sitting and explains the how the beliefs we have around money create our reality. He writes, “Around the pure loving energy that money is, we have wrapped beliefs such as shortage, obligation, hard work, loss, manipulation, security and survival. We have then wrapped layers of emotional consequences such as fear, frustration, anger and shame. When money is seen and felt as love, we enjoy using it to express our naturally loving qualities of generosity and appreciation. The more we use money to express appreciation, the more money flows in support of this expression and our natural state of abundance becomes more of our reality”. If you are ready to explore the underlying issues and beliefs that create financial disfunction, this is a great place to start.
Sacred Success: A Course in Financial Miracles by Barbara Stanny. This is one of my most recent reads and already one of my all time favorites. Barbara’s personal story will fascinate, educate and motivate you all at the same time as she incorporates her study of A Course in Miracles. It has one of the best chapters I’ve ever read relating to the basics of investing and it’s jam packed with inspirational quotes from a wide variety of sources. I especially love her use of the term “metafiscal – that which blends financial know-how with metaphysical principles; a melding of the spiritual and the practical in regard to money.”
The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav. This is one of the few books that is always available at my bedside and definitely has the most signs of wear and tear. Every time I pick it up I find a hidden gem. Gary does a wonderful job of explaining how we are evolving from “five sensory”, beings where we focus on what can be seen and touched, into “multi sensory” beings where we incorporate experiences of the spiritual realm into our physical world. He writes, “the experiences of the multi-sensory human are less limited than the experiences of the five-sensory human. They provide more opportunities for growth and development and more opportunities to avoid unnecessary difficulties.”
Guided Meditations
Getting into the Vortex Guided Meditations by Esther and Jerry Hicks. This is a collection of four 15 minute guided meditations on: General Well-being, Physical Well-being, Relationships and Financial Abundance. It is available in CD form or as an APP that can be downloaded onto your phone or tablet. I try to listen to one of them every single day. They always produce peace of mind.
Tapping (EFT)
I find tapping to be a wonderful way to acknowledge the thoughts that keep us stuck by bringing them to the surface and then releasing them as you “tap” along certain points. Tapping can be used with any difficult situation but I’ve selected the ones here that are best suited to deal with financial difficulties as well as procrastination. Often times we know intellectually that we need to make financial changes but are unable to follow through and this will help you to take action. These two tapping audios are from Nick Ortner’s web site. He is the author of The Tapping Solution.
Websites
Words of Wisdom
These are some of the notable quotes that I have posted around my home and office that inspire me on a daily basis.
A Cherokee Legend:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. ” A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Marianne Williamson:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”