Money For Nothing
Remember the 1985 Dire Straits song, “Money For Nothing”? The song’s repetitive stream of conscious lyrics didn’t do much for me, but a line from the song popped into my head yesterday: “Now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it.”
On our anniversary, Tim and I talked a lot about money identities and working for money vs. aligning for money. The line from that song kind of sums up the conclusions we reached.
For the week leading up to Tim’s and my anniversary, I’d been thinking a lot about Greg’s new money magnet status. Having reached a conclusion similar to mine—that you must have the identity of the person you want to be in order to become that person, Greg took on his new identity of a favored, successful businessman, and his “what is” reality has been matching that identity ever since.
I took on the identity of a successful writer, wife of a happy lottery winner, and my “what is” reality hasn’t shifted at all. This has prompted me to blurt out the mental question, what’s up with that?
After a little pondering, I became aware of one important difference between Greg’s identity and mine. His is an extension of someone he already is in his “what is” reality. Mine is not.
Greg wants to have an abundance of money. He wants a successful business.
Before he took on the identity of the successful businessman, he already had a business. It’s the business he wants to do. He isn’t doing it just to make ends meet or to keep him going until his real desire comes along. It IS his desire to succeed with THIS business.
I, on the other hand, am not doing anything at all like what I want to be doing. I haven’t done anything I truly wanted to do since I found out that we were in dire financial straits. (Well, what do you think of that? What are the odds that these words I just chose without thinking about them reflect the name of the group that sang the song I mentioned above? … I didn’t do it on purpose. Cue Twilight Zone theme.)
With the exception of this blog and The Joyful Springer, every action I’ve taken since last August 12 (the day my financial world fell apart), has been about “trying to find a way to keep us afloat.”
And how has that worked for me?
Well, we’re still afloat. But barely. And quite frankly, I want to do a lot more than keep my sputtering mouth above water. In fact, I’d like to get out of the water and climb up onto a nice, comfy yacht, thank you very much.
In other words, my current “work” is not the work I would be doing if I was indeed being the woman I want to be. With all respect to my coaching and editing clients, I wouldn’t be coaching or editing if I was who I wanted to be. I wouldn’t be selling an informational product online if I was who I want to be. I’ve taken all these actions as knee-jerk (possible emphasis on jerk) responses to my “what is” situation. And in fact, I’ve been doing this for four years, since Tim’s head injury. I embraced the “what is” reality that the publishing world moves too slowly to count on selling a book to make money, so instead of writing books, I tried to build a business I don’t want to do.
Unlike Greg, I don’t have a base upon which to build my desired identity. In order to be that woman, I would walk away from the “logical” things I’m doing to attempt to create money (coaching and selling an e-book/audio package and doing freelance editing or ghostwriting) and instead do the wildly “illogical,” i.e. write what I want to write. The illogical actions, but the ones that feel good, are to keep writing blogs that bring no income and work on my own projects, which, because of time constraints, have little hope of bringing me any money before our current funds run out.
Greg and I have actually exchanged e-mails about this topic, and we’d concluded that I need to “do what’s in front of me to do.” I interpreted that as continuing with coaching etc., but I’ve become aware that whenever I’m doing that work, I’m acutely aware of the misalignment of it. It doesn’t feel good, and try as I might, I can’t seem to find thoughts that truly move me up the emotional guidance scale. Any thoughts I come up with feel more like smiley faces over the gas gauge sort of thoughts.
Doing Nothing
When Tim and I talked about this subject of money and identity and alignment, I asked him how he saw himself. “What is your identity?” I asked.
He said, “I’m Hugh Grant in About A Boy. I do nothing. My life is filled with units of time I fill with things I enjoy.”
“Even your job?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’m not working because I have to. I’m working because I knew it was important to you to see money coming in, even though I know we don’t need it because we have millions.”
If you haven’t seen About A Boy, Hugh Grant plays a man who lives off the royalties of a song his father wrote. He does “nothing” except what he wants to do. In the movie, he’s generally thought of as a worthless, mindless, immoral lazy bum for his lifestyle choice; but I can remember thinking, when I watched it the first time, and the next two times (I love the movie), “What’s so wrong with doing nothing?”
The idea that we must “work for a living” or, as many so-called law of attraction “experts” advise, “provide value” in order to receive money, is a belief system that’s been perpetuated by alignment with that belief system. In other words, because we give our attention to the concept of working for money, it becomes our “what is” reality.
We think about getting a job to receive money. We look for jobs. We talk about selling and think about marketing. And the law of attraction, as always, brings us a match to the things we’re thinking and talking about. It brings us the “reality” that in order to get money, you have to earn it.
On Friday, in beautiful vibrational response to my wanting clarification on the subject of work and money, Karen posted an excerpt from her book, Soulsongs: “Free Money.” She said, “… the Universe has countless plans up its sleeve for delivering abundance. Sometimes it’s through work, sometimes it’s a far cry from work. One thing is certain: the work that begets long-term prosperity will be work that consistently brings me joy.”
This last sentence brought up mixed emotions. I agree with it, and yet, all the work I’ve done in joy in the last three years has brought me no money. Only the work I’ve done because I feel like I have to do it has brought me a little money, emphasis on a little.
What gives?
Another part of Karen’s post may answer that question: “Prosperity simply awaits me to regularly envision it, happily expect it, and then take easy action when opportunities arise. And when new income starts to trickle in – it can start this very day – I’ll appreciate and savor it, even if it’s a penny I find on the ground.”
Friday, I found a penny on the ground, and I didn’t savor it at all. I’ve done little savoring of the “dribs and drabs” of money I’ve received in the last few years. I’ve been too busy freaking out about how to get more.
And that, I believe, is why I haven’t received it. Too much logical action. Not enough savoring.
A Base of Identity
Since Tim’s and my conversation on Friday about Greg and his results and our identities, I’ve come to realize that my identity base IS in place. I’m writing this blog and The Joyful Springer. Now I just need to build on that.
Instead of busting my butt to promote my sites, as I’d planned, instead of seeking out new coaching business or more sales of my writing program, instead of looking for freelance work, starting today, I’m living the life of a successful author/wife of a millionaire.
Here are my “action steps.”
- I’m writing what I’m moved to write without thought about how it’s going to bring me money.
- I’m savoring all the money we currently have and every little penny that comes in.
- I’m doing what I feel moved to do, even if what I feel moved to do is soak in the jetted tub for an hour in the middle of the day.
Once and for all, I’m committing myself to feeling (by embracing my new identity) my way to prosperity instead of working my way to it.
This is an act of faith not logic. The biggest obstacle to my embracing this commitment before now, oddly, has been my beautifully aligned husband. Because his millionaire reality isn’t our “what is” reality yet, I’ve used that “fact” as an indicator that doing nothing isn’t the fastest way to bring in funds.
But I can’t ignore all the messages I’m getting from my own guidance system, messages that tell me it’s time for me to stop doing things I think I must do and instead do things I want to do.
Money for nothing.
Actually, there’s no such thing. It’s not money for nothing. It’s money for alignment.
My new job is to become vibrationally aligned with prosperity.
What do you think? Have I lost my mind or finally found it?
——-
First photo by dborman2 on Flickr.
Second photo by neoellium on Flickr.
Tags: Abraham, Abraham-Hicks, Alignment, Financial abundance, Law of Attraction, millionaire reality, Money, money magnet, prosperity, Vibration, vibrational alignment, Work
May 10th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
This is a tough one Ande. Probably why no one has ventured out to respond as of yet. Hmmmn.
Well, you are right about the fact that my “what is” is already established. I already had a business and it went down because of the recession and other things and my desire was for it to be successful and I wanted to make a lot of money not only for me but to help others. That part is true but its really not what I would want to do everyday. Not if I was completely self sufficient and financially set. No, I would be down at Salt Creek body surfing and Scuba diving and Just watering my plants in the back yard while smoking a cigar. . Now, all of those things I do on a regular basis. That is the confusing part. I am regularly body surfing, scuba diving and watering my backyard plants while enjoying the fruits of Havana. My healer friend Joseph pointed that out to me one day. I went to see him and he said, Greg, you already live the life. What at you talking about Greg, you want to be successful and make money so that can have the life you already have? I didnt realize it.
Back to what I originally was saying, I am not doing what I really want to do everyday…
I think that we all have to work. Right now I am doing what is before me to do. My identity and my thoughts are all about Greg T successful in his business. That business may change in the future to be some other business that I really enjoy more and this business now will help facilitate that.
I guess If I were you Ande, knowing what I know about your situation, I would visualize and feel now how I would then about people giving me opportunities that would give me the income that I need and want. Maybe its not writing a book at this point, maybe you know someone who owns a company and would like to hire you for some other skill that will pay you good money and help you to get your finances more stable until something else happens or gives you the extra time to work on your real passion.
My ? is can you have a base identity as you do now and also go for some outside job. Can you still have the identity of the successful writer and also be open to other opportunites? Opportunites that might not be your first choice but are still opportunities nonetheless and will help get you situated financially The outside job filling all your needs and then working on the Blogs at other times? I dont know. I know that a major identity of mine is as a Snowboarder. I love Snowboarding but havent done it for 2.5 years. Normally every year I take the family to Mammoth twice a year and we also go to Whistler in Canada. Then I have about 10 other 1-2 day trips with my friends to hit the mountain. Even though that is a major part of my identity, I haven’t done it in a long time because of finances. Hopefully, 2011 will be a little more back to normal in that respect.
I know that there is a lot about my job that I dont like. Accounting for one thing. I am just learning it and making huge mistakes. I am getting better at it and once I have learned a few things, I realize its not that bad. Once I learn it and have enough money set aside, I am going to pay someone else to do it. But, it looks like I have to do it now.
You have posed some tough questions. I dont know if I came anywhere near to answering any of them but at least I enjoyed it.
May 10th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Thanks for the input, Greg! I appreciate your playing with the issue a little. The logic side of my brain is with you but I’m not sure, from a vibrational standpoint, that I agree with you that we have to work. If I understand vibration and alignment correctly, we should be able to have a flow of money without having to have a job. But I’m not actually talking about not working. I’m talking about doing the work I want to do, not a job I need to do in the meantime. Of course, I also know that I could choose to get myself in alignment with doing any work, but that choice is not coming easy right now. So, as you say, hmmmmm.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:53 am
Subscribed a while back, and just now catching up on a bunch of blogs… sorry for the disconnect, but your post touched a nerve. So, for what it’s worth, here are my 2 cents…
First, we state the facts:
1. Everything costs money, yes, everything
2. There will always be something ‘better’ that costs more
3. We create (and thusly are responsible for) our own reality
Our assumptions are:
1. Money for nothing is neither evil, nor bad.
2. Money in and of itself is highly addictive
3. Passion is the path to happiness, regardless of logic
As responsible adults we are forcibly trained to believe in logic. We need to work so as to support the family that we obviously want to have. We need to put a roof over our head and food on the table. All of this costs money, so obviously the better your job, the better your life. What is my evidence that this theorem is incorrect? Two words: Tiger Woods.
I’ve had some ‘set backs’ in my ‘life plan’ recently. I’m picking up the pieces and seeing what comes together. It is ultimately important to remember our life is a journey. Some people need checkpoints and a final destination (no pun intended, but funny none the less) and some are just looking for a general direction. If you are passionate about your choice, then neither is wrong and you will eventually find happiness along your journey. We often fall victim to allowing others to influence our choice or make our choices outright.
Wow, this is getting winded… sorry… So, to wrap it up. If you feel passionate about your writing, then you need to write! Money is not relevant to that discussion. Life will find a way to provide. It always does. Now, conversely, if you are ‘more’ passionate about relaxing on a comfy lounge on a yacht in the harbor, then you need to make money. The difference is that writing may or may not be part of that equation. Be passionate about what ever you do, the rest will follow. But it sounds like you already knew that, didn’t you?
kevin´s last blog ..Jesse really hit home
May 11th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Hi Ande,
I loved your Money For Nothing article! I run a website for our family gift store. April & May tend to be our slow months of the year, and this year is no exception. Yesterday was my day off, and my mother- frustrated with web sales, emailed me asking me to do something to drum up sales. I personally hate sites who send you an email every week trying to get you to buy something, and since I had sent out a Mother’s Day newsletter last week, I did nothing. In fact, I deleted her email without responding. I take that back, I did do something~ I intended the sales. That was it. Then I forgot about it. When I woke up this morning, we had beat our orders for the previous week! I need to do nothing more often
May 11th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Thanks, Tracey, for such a great example of intending rather than doing! Your story shows just how the vortex works in a ways far more powerful than our puny actions.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Hi Kevin, nice to “meet” you and thank you for putting in your 2 cents.
You’re absolutely right. It’s about passion, not money. And one often creates the other (but not always–it depends on what’s in one’s vortex). And as I said to Greg, I’m not passionate about “not working:” I’m passionate about doing the what I want to do (write my own projects) and not some version of that work that I NEED to do to make money. I appreciate your input!
May 11th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
I’m with you, Ande (and Karen). I don’t think we HAVE to work at a job to have money. This is a firmly entrenched belief ABOUT reality that’s a hard one to let go of (and that, that it’s hard to let go of, is in itself a belief about reality). And we know that all of reality is simply an out-picturing of our beliefs.
For me, the key is to know that I’m already prosperous, wealthy, and rich. That’s what vibrational alignment is all about. This past Sunday, my daughter treated me to brunch at a popular restaurant called Haleiwa (pronounced “hah-lay Eva”) Joe’s not far from where we live. I’d spent an hour or so that morning laying in bed, getting into vibrational alignment with Source which, on this morning, I called grace. I’m defining grace as the gift of unconditional love that Source is always giving, in the form of the eternally-flowing Stream of Pure, Positive Energy that manifests in accordance with our thoughts, beliefs, and intent. So I’m basking in this wonderful flow of energy and affirming that I am blessed and loved unconditionally and enfolded in this loving energy of grace. This wonderful feeling of alignment accompanied my daughter and me to brunch later that morning.
I confess, I had to work a little at not saying something like, “I know it’s going to be crowded. It’s Mother’s Day and the parking lot will probably be full.” But I just kept my mouth shut, and we found a place to park immediately. And while it was VERY crowded when we walked in, the hostess asked if we wanted to sit at the bar because there were empty seats there. “Sure,” we said, and found a nice little table next to the bar that was perfect.
After a fabulous meal, the waitress brought the check which she was about to hand to my daughter when she looked at it more closely, laughed a little to herself, and mumbled, “Yeah, that would be nice.” She had only added one brunch order to the check, so turned around to go back to correct it. My daughter laughingly said, “Yeah, it WOULD be nice. Bring it back!” The waitress got about half way to the cash register, turned around, came back and said, “Yes, you’re right. It would be nice. Happy Mother’s Day,” and handed us the check with only the one brunch order on it. My daughter was floored. “Oh, that’s awesome!” she exclaimed. She gave the waitress the tip she would have received if there had been two brunch orders on the bill. But the waitress certainly wasn’t expecting it and thanked US profusely.
This is a perfect example of grace, a freely given gift of unconditional love that flowed through our waitress to us. And perhaps it came so easily because we weren’t expecting it. We were simply having a wonderful time, joyfully sharing a meal on Mother’s Day. And while we may not have been expecting it, we were clearly in vibrational alignment with it.
I’m not sure what this has to do with money for nothing. My daughter didn’t actually receive any money, but getting something for free is like receiving money without having done anything for it other than be in vibrational alignment with unconditional love and abundance (there was SO MUCH food to choose from).
So maybe the money we’d like to receive doesn’t flow as well as we want it to because we’re limiting the ways in which abundance and prosperity can manifest (e.g., through a job in the form of money). Perhaps if we paid more attention to and appreciated ALL the ways that we experience abundance and prosperity day to day, the “money” we want would flow more easily.
Tiger Woods plays (as opposed to “works at”) golf and is a multi-millionaire. He’s clearly passionate about what he does and would probably say he works hard at it. But I’m thinking, because of his passion, the work is joyful and akin to play and really isn’t “hard” in the sense of being difficult or something he has to put a lot of painful effort into. That painful effort is probably needed because you’re doing something you don’t want to do, and you have to “force” yourself to do it. In other words, you have all that resistance to doing it and have to force your way past it in order to do the work.
So those are two aspects of “money for nothing” that come to mind for me. And in both instances, vibrational alignment is key, IMHO.
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
May 11th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
What a great story, Patrice. Thank you for sharing it. It’s a lovely example of money for nothing because, as you say, getting something free is like receiving money.
I also love this sentence: “I’m defining grace as the gift of unconditional love that Source is always giving, in the form of the eternally-flowing Stream of Pure, Positive Energy that manifests in accordance with our thoughts, beliefs, and intent.” Beautiful!
I agree with you about Tiger Woods. I always know when I’m doing something in the flow of grace, as you define it, vs when I’m forcing something because in the flow, the “work” flies out of me at some superhuman pace. Words appear on the page. When I’m forcing it, the work is slow and difficult. I’ve decided to stick to the flow instead of the force.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:07 am
“We create with our minds and enjoy those creations with our bodies.”
-Abraham Hicks.
I believe this as I sit at my desk at work ( that does not pay well, but I enjoy). I took a lesser paying job so I could feel good while I align. I have made such progress with my clarity and ability to quiet my mind over the last eight weeks. I feel good everyday now and know that these feelings will lead the the abundance I am so ready for.
There isn’t one way to get there for everybody. You have to feel your own way, don’t you agree?
If this is an emotional journey-I am there. Leaving the manifestations out of it and simply focusing on the feeling of what you want is amazing. I finally got to the point, after two years, that it doesn’t matter when ,how or how much. I already have the feeling of abundance.
It feels wonderful……..:-))))
January 14th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Thanks so much for sharing this comment, Maureen! You’re so right that we each have to find our own way. And when you do take the manifestations out of it and just feel it, it does feel wonderful. And I’m discovering that another aspect of that is celebrating every little bit of movement in the right direction, down to the pennies you find on the ground. Attention to positive evidence creates more positive evidence. So glad you joined the discussion. I’d love for you to join in at Up From Splat, my new blog, which is about morphing the splats (what doesn’t go according to plan) in life into spectacular life experiences!