Archive for the Attracting Money

Given the success of my last blog entry: "Moneyball or the Power of Focusing on what You have Power over!" and all the feedback I have received, I thought I would write a follow-up blog entry giving you a step-by-step guide on how you can create your own "Moneyball success story".

My philosophies and teachings are pretty straight forward and easy – and because they are so simple, I keep saying "it's easy but not simple; and simple but not easy". Why am I using this mantra? Well it seems that people fall off the wagon because they simply cannot believe how simple the process is – so they try to either overcomplicate things by adding steps to or altering the process or simply not getting or believing in it. And then they wonder why it doesn't work. Those who do understand the process and have faith reap tremendous results.

Allow me to outline the process in as clear and straight forward manner as I possibly can to you:

1) Step one: Identify the precise problem – what is the actual challenge, what is the issue at hand? (Believe me, in 99% of the time money, or the lack of it, is not the issue!)

2) Step two: What would be a perfect solution for the problem? Create a solution in your mind. Visualize an ideal picture of how you would want things to be.

3) Step three: Work consistently at it. You have got take steps that take you to your ideal place. Your actions must be congruent with your vision.

4) Step four: Believe that it will happen – you must have unwavering faith that results will show up when the time is ready!

For the above steps to work, two statements have to accepted as fundamental laws of the universe:

1) Everything is energy – literally. From bricks to computers, rivers and airplanes to thoughts, emotions, speech, and planet earth. Since everything is energy then that means that everything is oscillating at at specific frequency. Thus, to change something, anything, one only has to change the frequency of bring about almost instantaneous change.

2) We are all connected. Actually, everything and everyone are connected through an invisible net of energy: from humans to nature and the animal kingdom to the universe at large. Precisely because of this connection we have an impact on everyone and everything else and thus can alter the course of our fate.

Good luck with creating the best life for yourself ever!

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I just watched the movie Moneyball while visiting Sydney. When I saw that a movie about Billy Beane had come out, I simply had to go and watch it. Not because Brad Pitt plays the lead role or because I am a baseball fan – mind you, after so many years in the US, I still do not understand the rules completely – but because I heard about Billy Beane's achievements. Apparently he was able to convert a bottom of the barrel team into one with the most consecutive wins in baseball's history. Quite a remarkable achievement. I know that there is a lot of controversy about whether he really is a genius or even a successful GM or not but I will not get into any of this as this blog entry is not about baseball or sport per se, but rather about shifting of one's paradigm and focusing on what you have control over as opposed to worrying about things that you have no control over – in his case, the bigger budgets and better players of other teams in the franchise.

Since in my life it is all about the Power of our own Thoughts and how we can Change the set of Paradigms we are in, Beane's achievements quite naturally were rather intriguing to me so I wanted to learn more about him. Beane is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, a baseball team operating without the mega budgets of the big name teams in the league – his team’s budget in 2002 was less than $40 million per year compared to say $140 million of the NY Yankees. With no money to buy championship talent Beane realized he has to look for a different way of doing things. His challenge was how to put together a team that was able to compete with the best of them while staying within the constraints of his low budget.

He had no clue as to how to go about this but he knew what the challenge was and that he had to do things fundamentally differently to how they had operated before.

Dismissing all of his team’s management efforts and suggestions to simply continue with the way they knew best – the old way – he eventually – (I do not believe in luck only in the power of creation!!) – stumbled across Peter Brand, a young economics graduate working in the back office of a big name competing team in the franchise who was convinced that certain sidelined players had a hidden value. It is this hidden value that Beane and Brand went to use to build a winning team.

They shifted the focus of the game from pitching and batting to whether a player was simply able to get to first base, period. This philosophy is called sabermetrics. Without getting too much into detail, this system is able to identify players that get the job done, i.e. make it to base one, irrespective of their other qualities or inadequacies.

He had the vision that this system could beat the big boys, persistently pursued his goal and had the belief that he would get there. I am sure this was not an easy task at all for him – persuading the management and his team to follow his vision and to buy into a model that no one else had tried out before must have been very draining on him. His system didn't work out right away either. Constant changes and some fine tuning throughout the season gradually helped create the team that beat the record for most consecutive wins in the game's history.

Billy is a prime example that even when you are really down and your livelihood and reputation and future are at stake that you can come out as a winner by simply focusing on areas that you have control over. And if you do not know what it is that you have control over then ask yourself over and over again until you do.

Given what we can learn from Billy I would highly recommend everyone to watch the movie – you might find inspiration in it.

Basically, when it comes down to it, I did the exact same thing when I hit rock bottom two years ago – what are my skill sets and what is it that I know? By changing the frequencies that I was vibrating at the mind frame I was in and focusing on a future that I desire I was able to create the lifestyle I am enjoying today. If I can do it, I am sure you can, too.

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Money – the constant struggle, battle and challenge in life! We never seem to have enough of it. And if we are in the lucky position that the amount of money that we have is not the challenge then for many it is the fact that earning it comes at a price – more than we are willing to pay for it: we feel exhausted, stressed and burned out.

Believe me, I know what it means to own a lot and lose it all. I was born into a wealthy family and as a child I was used to getting almost anything that I wanted. I grew up in an environment knowing that I was 'privileged' (without having a clue what the word actually means). Even though I was very young, I knew that I was treated differently than other people. At the tender age of eight a revolution swept through Iran and we had to flee the country and leave everything behind – everything. All of a sudden, I was not the privileged kid anymore, but the 'immigrant' in class who didn't speak the language too well. From then onwards it was not dad who provided for us but mom – it were rather confusing times I am telling you, my world not only had collapsed but was also turned upside down.

As a teenager I started to earn my own money and this is when I realized that money came to me rather easily. I don't mean that I did not have to work for my money – quite the contrary, I even had to work very hard for it at times – but I could clearly see that I landed summer and part time jobs that paid a ton more than those my peers were landing – which of course put a big smile on my face.

Long before I realized that everything in life is merely energy, created through the frequencies that we exude, it hit me that making money had little to do with who you were and whether you had a degree or not but rather how you 'felt' about money. When I had money in my wallet I felt, amongst many other things, 'cooler', 'bigger', 'older', and more self confident. With the influx of all these emotions life became more delightful – for example it was almost effortless to chat up girls, and otherwise not so enjoyable aspects of my life, such as exams and school, were easier to deal with. And as an added bonus, I would attract even more money: grandma would slip me a bill, I would find money on the sidewalk or an opportunity would present itself where I could earn extra cash without having to kill myself for it.

This simple but very powerful equation – money in my pocket means a better, smoother life – burnt itself into my mind and stayed with me throughout my entire life in good times as well as in hard and challenging ones. A few years ago when I was faced with my company's collapse, I remembered those carefree times in my teenage years and started to reprogram myself from the ground up about how I felt about and perceived money. Even though my self esteem had hit rock bottom and my stress levels sky high, I knew I had it in my power to ultimately change my life's trajectory. Remembering how I felt as a kid when I had a (large) bill in my wallet I put a couple of $100 bills in my wallet and went on walks. I would go on a shopping spree and everything that I saw and liked I would pretend to buy making myself believe that I could afford it. I would often say thank you that I can afford this or that and that money was coming easily to me. This exercise helped me to change how I felt about money and helped me shift my paradigm from victim in life to money is coming easily and in abundance to me. Admittedly, the exercise did not prevent me from having to file personal bankruptcy a couple of years ago but it helped me to get to where I am today: in 2011 I have made more money than ever before and it is still coming in in droves. Don't get me wrong, I have to work hard for it, but it practically comes to me on a silver platter, all I have to do is to "service it", i.e. guide my groups through Europe, coach my students or manage the business I am a partner in. And I am doing so with a big smile on my face – despite all the stresses that I am exposed to due to my rather busy (work) schedule – as I simply know that money lies out there waiting for me to be picked up. And with this mindset I end up earning my money easier and easier and with more joy than ever before.

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As already indicated in last week's blog entry, I am 110% convinced that no matter how dire or helpless the situation or seemingly grand and 'impossible' a wish, through the power of our mind and the miraculous force of creation and visualization teamed up with an unshakable belief that our vision will become reality, we are able to create the most amazing life for ourselves and others.

Just a few years ago I lost a lot – my dad, my girlfriend and financially I lost literally everything. My situation looked dire and I admittedly started to doubt in my own magical powers. But I continued to do my routine exercises and brushed off every attack of doubt that crept up in my mind and continued to focus on what it is that I truly wanted – complete financial independence so that I only had to work because I wanted to work, a flexible work schedule so that I could have a lot of quality 'me' time to do sports or yoga or travel or simply do absolutely nothing at all.

Well, within a couple of years my life has totally changed – I am now looking at an annual income that will provide me with my financial independence within the next few years – my income is growing at an exponential rate without me really feeling that I am working as what I do really gives me pleasure. I am leading an almost completely flexible life style so that I can indulge in 'me' time and do nothing at all or travel to a foreign destination just as I had envisioned it a few years back.

Having gone through a complete financial collapse has allowed me to experience first hand that really the only difference between utter success and complete failure is how I think about and perceive life – our thoughts and belief systems pre-generate our experiences. In my search on how to overcome how I felt about money, I came across the following exercise which I consciously practiced for a very long time. At that time I had to count practically every penny that I owned and so $20 or $50 were a lot of money to me. As I hated how it felt not being able to afford anything anymore I focused my energies on how to make myself feel that I indeed could afford most, if not all, things that I desired. I started to put a $20 bill in my wallet and walked through the streets with open eyes and an open mind, making sure to tell myself that whatever item that I came across that cost up to $20 I could indeed afford. So by the end of the day I had literally hundreds of things on my list that I theoretically could have bought I chosen to do so. After a while I put a $50 bill in my wallet and started to do the same exercise only increasing the price tag to fifty dollars. I was really amazed how much more I could have bought had could afford. And finally I put a $100 bill in my wallet and roamed the streets and the web in search of things that I could afford.

What a powerful exercise that was. I did this for several weeks and even though I could not see an immediate result I knew that eventually my mind would create me the reality that I wanted. Lo and behold, a year after I did the exercise I started to make good money again and now I sometimes earn several thousands of dollars per day!!! How crazy (cool!) is that?! I am not wearing a suit, I do not have to show up in an office at 7:00 in the morning and I do not hate my job – quite the contrary I love what I am doing: coaching people in lifestyle and mental attitude, guiding people through Europe, as well as help running a business, leading it to it's IPO in a few years from now. It is simply jaw dropping how things have turned out for me in such a short period of time – sometimes I cannot believe my own 'luck'. (Even though I know that I created this 'luck' myself through the power of my mind).

Today my tip to you is pretty simple: put a bill in your wallet and start focusing on what it is that you can afford as opposed to what you cannot afford and before you know it things will also start changing for you. Good 'luck' ;)

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Many of you know that I wear several hats: I guide people through Europe during the summer months, I co-own a multimillion business in the travel industry and I coach people in mindset, attitude to life and self-healing.

During a recent tour I had a chat with a very smart gentleman from Australia about how fast people draw conclusions and judge a person or a situation based on only one or two facts, far from even grasping the part of the picture. At the end of our conversation, knowing that I am history buff and of course to also get his point across, he asked me the following questions which I thought would benefit my blog readers greatly.

Question 1: 
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? 
 
Question 2: 
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote 
counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates. 
Candidate A: 
Associates with crooked politicians and consults with astrologists. He has had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 Martinis a day. 
Candidate B: 
He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening. 
Candidate C: 
He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never committed adultery. 
 
He then asked me which of these candidates I would choose? 

I wasn’t quite sure what to answer, as I was certain these were trick questions and for sure they were! Because when I heard the answers, my jaw dropped!
Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Candidate B is Winston Churchill, and candidate C is Adolf Hitler. 
 
And, by the way, regarding the answer to the first question: since I had answered YES, I had just killed Beethoven ;))

This small conversation helped me to remember to never judge too fast anything and to make sure to dig deeper and to learn more about any situation that I am facing.

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Just a few weeks ago I had to fly to England for a business trip. I seized the opportunity to fly up to Birmingham to not only visit one of my oldest and best friends but also my former university I used to study at for a couple of years – the University of Wolverhampton.

Revisiting my former stomping grounds made me very melancholic and I found myself overwhelmed with emotions several times during my visit. And quite frankly had I not had my mate Gabe with me I would have shed many tears, that’s for sure

Walking through the town and the campus and revisiting the dorms and the house we used to live in brought back wonderful memories of simple and joyful times. Mind you though, simple times compared to now that is – then of course we also had our worries and concerns, such as: Will I be able to pass my next exam? Will I be able to secure my summer internship? Where will the next party be? Will I be able to ask her out for a date? Hopefully I will be able to change classes and get rid of the lecturer I do not like, etc, etc.

These concerns and worries seem so innocent and naïve from today’s point of view – but boy o boy were they real and all encompassing then.

In the 15 years since I first moved to Wolverhampton everything in my life has changed and so have of course the town the the campus. Physically being were I used to live so many years ago allowed me to slip back into the person that I was and relive my dreams and wishes again, only to realize that most of my dreams have dramatically changed and that what was important then to me has become tertiary now.

All day and many days thereafter I kept on pondering about where those 15 years have gone? What have I done with my time? If my life ended tomorrow could I truly say that I led a self-determined and fulfilled life, living to the max and experiencing life at its fullest glory or would I have to admit that I fell short of achieving my highest potential? These questions have been gnawing on me since and I have not been able to shake them off yet – maybe because I have to admit that despite a truly amazing life that I have had the luck of having I continue to feel that I am falling short of my highest possible potential. There it is out on the table – just to verbalize this makes me breathe easier and freer. Despite all the growth that I have gone through and all the self-improvement and (self-)healing work that I have done, I am still not where I would want to be – actually far from being where I would want to be…sigh…

Time is so precious, time is so dear – and the more I make myself aware of this simple but fundamental fact, the more I am able to let go of the unimportant daily crap that eats away my energies and focus more and more on what is important to me as well as society at large. Whenever something has bugged me in these past couple of weeks and I catch myself getting tense and allowing my ego to take over I think back of the sadness I felt when I was in Wolverhampton and the realization that time is traveling by far faster than light and that I have no time to waste on stupid, ego driven crap if I really want to make a difference in this world – and as soon as I realize this, tension goes away, ego gets put back into its place and I can think clearly again and thus overcome the challenge swiftly and as painlessly as possible.

The more I think about our purpose in life the more I have to admit that I have no clue, but I believe that, at least in part, we are here to pro-actively create our life and see it blossom so that we can enjoy the fact that we are spiritual beings temporarily put in a physical body.

Time is too short to waste on the small stuff – brush it off and move on so that also you can create and lead the life that you truly want.

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On my last trip I came across another “Kate and William” fairy tale that I simply had to share with you.

I had the honor of traveling with Bob and Marj through Switzerland. Bob is 94 years old and Marj is 82. They have been married for four years, yes, you read correctly, just for four years. Bob is from California and Marj is from New Jersey. They met on a trip through Australia and New Zealand four and a half years ago.

They clicked immediately at the beginning of the tour and spent the rest of the trip glued to one another. After the trip, Marj flew to Bob and spent a couple of weeks with him. And then Bob came to New Jersey to visit Marj. When Marj flew to the West Coast to visit Bob again, they started to talk about the constant back and forth, so Bob suggested to simply drive to Las Vegas and get married. Marj thought it was a joke but went along. Only once standing before a justice of the peace she realized that Bob really meant it and so they got married; in Las Vegas, four months after meeting for the first time on a trip through New Zealand and Australia.

If this were not remarkable enough, I want to point out that Bob was 89 and Marj was 77 when they met halfway across the globe. To travel such long distances at such an age would sound incredulous if not crazy and impossible for most people (at that age). To get married at their age and only after knowing one another for four months might also be considered a ‘little outside the box’.

And I haven’t even started to share Bob’s and Marj’s life story, which both were very open to share with me. Bob was married for sixty-two years and Marj for forty-five in their first marriage. Bob’s wife got very sick during her final years, so Bob stayed home for two years to tend to her. He barely left his house during these two years and even had their food delivered to his house. He was there for his wife until she died. He was eighty-five when his wife died and it took him a couple of years to overcome this shock, but then he started to go amongst people again and eventually started to travel as well.

Marj’s husband was taken from her in an accident; she was seventy-five when her husband died. While Bob has a very outgoing personality, Marj is a little more reserved, but not much, I should say – quiet waters run deep as they say. Bob was an engineer who ended up starting a few companies in his lifetime which made him financially independent. Marj was a teacher her entire life. She reluctantly retired at sixty-five only because she voluntarily wanted to give a younger teacher a chance to teach.

Since Bob and Marj got married they have traveled internationally at least four times per year. They have seen seventy-two countries since they got married. And my trip with them was their second this year, but also their second to last major trip. They have one more trip planned later on in the year and then they will call it quits. They say it has become too cumbersome to travel long-distance. You should have seen them on our train trip through the Swiss Alps: always on time, they partook in all excursions, even took the gondola all the way up the Matterhorn, always smiling, always holding hands – it was so delightful and heartwarming to travel with them as well as very inspiring.

To celebrate their journey together we presented them with a gift and asked them to share their story with us. Bob immediately got up and delivered an ad-hoc fifteen minute long speech about how they met and what they have done together since they got married. And at the end he said: believe in the magic of life, there is always hope, there is always an opportunity around the corner, there is always a surprise waiting for you, as long as you believe in magic, it will happen, no matter who you are, where you are and how old you are.

I am sharing this real life story with you to inspire you to believe in the magic of life and the power that your own mind has in creating a wonderful and fulfilled life for you – create it, will it, believe it, and you will experience it…

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Life is beautiful – and it is beautiful because I make it beautiful. We all have it in our hands to make our own life as well as the lives of our family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances as well as our fellow humans beautiful or turn them into a living hell. Turning 40, for the first time, made me consciously aware of my mortality. Never before have I thought about death on such a fundamental and deep level and never before have I felt in every fiber of my being the inexorable march toward my physical end. And I must admit that for the first time in my life I could feel the icy grip of panic around my throat. When I say for the first time, I truly mean for the first time. When I wrestled with cancer in my late teenage years I of course did think of death and dying several times, but I never really believed that my journey on this planet would be coming to an end any time soon. And when I had my car accident some ten years ago, I, practically a second after the crash, knew that I would not only survive but fully recover from this accident – and the thought of my mortality never even crossed my mind. When my father passed less than two years ago, my heart and my soul dived into a deep sea of sorrow where they remained for many months to come. Even though I grieved about the loss of my own father and naturally also thought about death in general and my own eventual funeral I never ever felt the icy grip of death on a fundamental level as I have been these past few weeks. Finally, when the multi-million dollar business that I built up from scratch collapsed without me being able to do anything to avoid its “death”, I was stricken by stress, depression, and fear for my future, but I again, never wasted a second on how much time I still might have left on planet earth. But now, alas, turning 40, the impact and the knowledge of my own mortality finally hit me like a sledgehammer. Now I KNOW that my time here is limited. This knowledge has made me think a lot about what it is that I do and how I spend my time and what it is that I would like to see happen. I am finding myself scrutinizing more and more everything that I am doing as I would want to make sure that what I am doing is serving a higher purpose and is getting me closer to my ultimate goals in each and every aspect of my life. To be in the KNOW has helped me to get even more clarity about where I would want my journey to go. Bundling your energies and focusing on what is truly important and not worrying about anything else will ultimately create a most fulfilled, balanced, happy, and healthy life. 

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1. You Are a Physical Extension of That Which is Non-physical.

All-That-Is, or that which you call God, is not finished and waiting for you to catch up. You are the leading edge of thought, here seeking more: more of all that feels good to you, more of that which is fresh and gloriously uplifting. (You are, in essence, bringing heaven to earth.)

2. You Are Here in This Body Because You Chose to Be Here.

You chose the opportunity to experience this delicious contrast in time and space, and with great anticipation you came to co-create with other joy-seeking Beings, to fine-tune the process of deliberate thought. (What, where, when and with whom you create are your choices, too.)

3. The Basis of Your Life is Freedom; the Purpose of Your Life is Joy.

You are free to choose to discover new avenues for your joy. In your joy you will grow; and in your growth you add to the expansion of All-That-Is. (However, you are also free to choose bondage or pain…but everything anyone chooses is only because they believe it will help them feel better.)

4. You Are a Creator; You Create With Your Every Thought.

By the Universal Law of Attraction, you are attracting the essence of whatever you are choosing to give your attention to — whether wanted or unwanted. And so, you often create by default. But you can know by how your emotion feels if what you are attracting (creating) is what you are wanting or if it is not what you are wanting. (Where is your attention focused?)

5. Anything That You Can Imagine is Yours to Be or Do or Have.

As you ask yourself why you want it, the essence of your desire is activated, and the Universe begins to bring it to you. The more intense your positive feelings, the faster it is coming to you. (It is as easy to create a castle as a button.)

6. As You Are Choosing Your Thoughts, Your Emotions Are Guiding You.

Your loving Inner Being offers guidance in the form of emotion. Entertain a wanted or unwanted thought, and you feel a wanted or unwanted emotion. Choose to change the thought and you have changed the emotion — and you have changed the creation. (Make more choices in every day.)

7. The Universe Adores You for it Knows Your Broadest Intentions.

You have chosen to come to earth with great intentions, and the Universe constantly guides you on your chosen path. When you are feeling good, you are, in that moment, allowing more of that which you have intended from your broader perspective. (You are Spirit Incarnate.)

8. Relax into Your Natural Well-Being. All is Well. (Really It Is!)

The essence of all that you appreciate is constantly flowing into your reality. As you find more things to appreciate, your state of appreciation opens more avenues to more for which to feel appreciation. (As you think, you vibrate. As you vibrate, you attract.)

9. You Are a Creator of Thoughtways on Your Unique Path of Joy.

No one can limit where you can direct your thought. There are no limits to your joyous journeys to experience. On the path to your happiness you will discover all that you want to be or do, or have. (Allowing others their experiences allows you yours.)

10. Actions to Be Taken and Possessions to Be Exchanged Are

By-products of Your Focus on Joy. On your deliberately joyous journey your actions will be inspired, your resources will be abundant, and you will know by the way you feel that you are fulfilling your reason for life. (Most have this one backwards, therefore most feel little joy in their actions or their possessions.)

11. You May Appropriately Depart Your Body Without Illness or Pain.

You need not attract illness or pain as an excuse to leave your body. Your natural state — coming, remaining or leaving — is that of health and Well-Being. (You are free to choose otherwise.)

12. You Can Not Die; You Are Everlasting Life.

In grace, you may choose to relax and allow your gentle transition back into your Non-physical state of pure, positive Energy. Your natural state is that of Foreverness. (Have fun with all of this! You can’t get it wrong, and you’ll never get it done.)

P.S. It is not necessary for even one other person to understand the Laws of the Universe or the processes that we are offering here in order for you to have a wonderful, happy, productive Life Experience — for you are the attractor of your experience. Just you!

(*Taken from: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/about_hicks.php)

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