Creating Wealth and Prosperity

I define success in a different light. Success is not a matter of how much money you have, how many possessions you’ve collected or what type of lifestyle you choose to live; success can be measured only by the degree to which you have a state of completeness within and, no matter the circumstance or situation, can remain peaceful, calm and happy. On one of my trips to New York City, while watching TV, I heard Oprah say this: “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.” This is what my parents taught me, to always be grateful and build on that gratitude.

I know what you may be thinking. Being calm and peaceful doesn’t pay my bills or put food on the table. But that’s where you may be mistaken. Wealth and prosperity begin inside YOU. Believe me when I say I speak from experience.

In the ten years before I started my consultancy business more than 30 years ago, I had decided to do everything possible to maximize the potential of my life and to live the most positive life possible. I read books and attended lectures and workshops about wealth-creation and prosperity and about investing, resolved to keep my cool whatever happened, focused on gradually building my investments and on doing all could to be fit and healthy, and, after a while, I finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I want to share with you some of the things I have learned about creating a prosperous life.

First, it’s important to realize that your thoughts and beliefs do affect your level of wealth. Do you feel worthy of being wealthy? Do you wish for wealth and, at the same time, worry about how you’ll pay your bills? Do you even believe that there’s enough money to go around? You will attract to yourself what you believe to be true. Have your beliefs and thoughts closed the doors to prosperity? If they have then now is the time to change the situation.

For me, choosing to open the doors to prosperity also involved being aware of all the wealth and abundance around me. Just look at nature—the oceans, the clouds, the sky, the mountains and rivers, the stars; there couldn’t be a better lesson in abundance. I asked myself, “From where does all this come?” When I acted from this awareness, my attitude about wealth and abundance changed and my level of prosperity started increasing.

You see, the point is, the source of your supply is not outside you. It’s within you. Everything you need to be happy, to be prosperous, and to live without lack, is inside you right now. When you feel the power of love within you, you draw this love into your consciousness, and then love is made evident in your world in the forms of wealth, health, happiness, prosperity and a peaceful mind. You must know that and feel it. And if you think in terms of scarcity, you will manifest limitation. Similarly, if you think thoughts of wealth, you will manifest sufficiency, success and happiness. It was Emily Dickinson who wrote: “I dwell in possibility.” Stay anchored in this fount of love and unlimited possibility that always resides inside you and is guiding you every step of the way.

So what are your personal thoughts about prosperity? Albert Einstein wrote, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” And Émile Coué, a famous French psychologist and pharmacist, in the early 1900s, observed, “When the imagination and the will are in conflict, the imagination invariably gains the day.” That’s a wonderful message to me. He’s saying that no matter how much we may will something, if we consistently harbor mental pictures undermining that desire, we won’t get what we will. Émile Coué built a whole therapeutic practice based on this simple affirmation: “Day by day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.” He had hit upon an important idea, which the psychological community has generally accepted in our day: the real direction of our lives is contained in our habitual state of mind, despite what we say to the contrary.

Your imagination is what counts. The imagery you use to envision your dreams, goals, desires and hopes is the key to self-mastery, to creating a wealthy and successful life.

At least once a day, I incorporate creative visualization into my schedule. Creative visualization is a tool for using your imagination more consciously. You must practice it with feeling, thanksgiving and acceptance. If you want greater health, see yourself, in your mind’s eye, as radiantly healthy and energetic. Whatever those mental pictures are for you, make them vivid and real. If you want more peace, visualize yourself as a peaceful person. The same with prosperity, creativity, happiness, relationships and anything else you might want. See your ideal vision and feel the joy and thanksgiving you would have were the vision your current reality. Don’t let your ego get in the way. Your ego is where your fears reside. Creative visualization should be no-limit thinking and feeling. Stay open to your possibilities. What’s life without your dreams?

It was James Allen, a British philosophical writer, a pioneer of the self-help movement and author of As a Man Thinketh, who wrote: “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.” And Albert Einstein said: “Your imagination is a preview of your life’s coming attractions.”

Now in conjunction with creative visualization, I encourage you to also use positive affirmations. Keep your words sweet in case you have to eat them, as the folk wisdom admonishes. Words, especially those with feeling, have power. Speak only words that are loving, true, kind and helpful. Always speak from your highest self and let your words express the truth of your being. Be enthusiastic about the words you express which will translate into being enthusiastic about your life.

Using affirmations is one of the great developmental techniques of our time. Affirmations offer an opportunity to speak the truth about who we are and what we want to create. They encourage us to be true to our words and to our imagination. Soon we are doing more than just saying the right words, thinking the right thoughts and visualizing our goals and dreams. Soon we have adopted a whole new way of being. We have aligned what we think, feel, say and do — and that’s a very powerful place to be where you can begin to create and live your highest potential.

Next, in relation to important prosperity principles, it is also important to love what you do. Do you feel passion and enthusiasm for your work? Do you get up every morning eager to get started? Or do you dread how you spend your day? A recent national poll revealed that 95 percent of people working in America do not enjoy what they do! It’s probably a similar percentage in the UK. This is a staggering statistic.

For years, I have done extensive research on people who are very successful, and I have been, and continue to be, a consultant for many of them. It’s clear to me that achievements and financial rewards are directly related to the enjoyment they derive from their work, the service they provide to their communities and the world, and how much enthusiasm they have for their life and the world around them. Ralph Waldo Emerson brilliantly wrote the following: “Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever accomplished. The successful person has enthusiasm.” How enthusiastic are you about your work or career?

Right livelihood is predicated upon a conscious choice. Yet, too often, we live our lives according to what others value. When you consciously choose to enter into your work, you can participate fully and know you are making a difference. Sometimes this takes courage and perseverance, but your life will be enriched.

I have a friend who went into dental school right after college because his parents had always wanted him to be a dentist. Although dentistry wasn’t his calling, he followed their wishes. After he graduated from dental school, he went into private practice and for almost 25 years was quite successful by society’s standards. He married and had three children, built his dream home and traveled. Still, he never really loved his work; he never felt a great passion for how he spent his days. In one of the consulting sessions he had with me about his business and creating a happy, wealthy and prosperous future, he told me how much he loved to work in his garden. He even said that if he had to do it all over again, he would go to college and learn to be a landscape architect. So I asked him what was stopping him. He said he could never afford to keep up his current lifestyle if he gave up his dental practice. I asked him what was more important—happiness or keeping up appearances? I also reminded him that prosperity is an inside job and taught him the principles that I am sharing with you here.

He began taking night classes in horticulture, gardening and landscaping and, after three years, got his degree. With a partner, he opened a landscape business. At the same time, by entering into a partnership with three other dentists, he was able to cut back his dental office time to just two days a week. He discovered that working twice a week as a dentist made him look forward to his work; he knew he was offering a valuable service to his patients. Meanwhile, he put in two to three days a week at his landscape business, experiencing joy and thoroughly loving being outdoors, creating beauty and having more time to spend with his family. What’s more, he was bringing in more money than he had in his full-time dental practice.

It was Goethe who once wrote: “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” He also said this, which resonates deeply in my heart: “Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it’s the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.” Isn’t that fantastic? Are you molding your life the way you want it to be?

Maybe it’s time to take a close look at your line of work. Do you look forward to going to work each day, or do you wish you were doing something different? Sometimes it just takes a change of attitude to make your current job more fulfilling. Listen to your heart. Talk to the ever-present power that’s always inside you and ask for guidance. Pay close attention to the answers you get, and be willing to respond and take action.

In other words, listen to your heart. I’m sure you’ve heard this cliché hundreds of times, but there is profound truth in these words and this practice. What is your intuition, your heart, telling you about your work and your life? Know that you deserve to be prosperous and that everything you need to live at your highest potential is within you right now. Claim and accept it.

I’d like to close out this visit by giving you some positive affirmations. These can be a simple one-sentence affirmation such as…

“Day by day, in every way, I am getting healthier, wealthier and happier,” or
“I bless and prosper everyone in my life and everyone in my life blesses and prospers me” or
“I am connected to an unlimited source of abundance and share my prosperity with others.”

It can also be a longer affirmation. If you wish, write it down and memorize it. Remember, what you put your focus and attention on, you get more of the same in your life. In other words, the more grateful you are every day and the more you bless and celebrate your life, the more opportunities will come into your life for which to be thankful.

When you create these affirmations for yourself, keep in mind that they need to be in the present tense and always positive. For example, instead of affirming… “I’ve always struggled to pay my bills on time and hope that it will be different in the future,” instead affirm your positive goal as already achieved, and with feeling, like this: “I am a prosperous person; I pay my bills on time easily and effortlessly; I am connected to an unlimited source of supply; I rejoice and give thanks for blessings great and small; and I always invest my funds wisely to multiply my earnings.”