I'm astonished to read so little on the forum about becoming financially independent - perhaps we are a virtuous lot and MONEY is a dirty word?!
I just wanted to take this opportunity to wax lyrical about financial freedom seeing as it is just about to become my reality. Yes, we are on the brink of being financially independent. I have no feelings of desperation, wanting it to happen right now, it is just an exciting emotion to know that it will come when the universe (and the right buyer) decides to deliver.
I want to describe what owning the concept of financial independence did for me. Being financially independent, or to use another even more hard-hitting word, being rich, means I can leave my money to generate so much income that I NEVER have to worry about my financial security in the future again. If we wanted to, we could live off the interest generated. Does this sound nice? It is. It takes all my worry-fear-focus off the future leaving me 100% free to concentrate on the present. Focusing wholly on the present was one of the most powerful affirmations / positive pictures I have ever generated.
I have often noticed that worry and fear are two emotions that make us - oops, sorry just speaking for myself here - make me live in the past or the future, denying me a life in present time. However I know that the only place I can really live is in the present.
Owning the reality of financial independence meant making some changes in beliefs for me (Joe Vitale would say I eliminated some counter intentions). One counter intention I nursed carefully over the years was that poor people like us could not become wealthy - I mean, how do you become financially independent if you are living in a place where there is no employment? So we changed our geographic location, and with it my mindset gradually began to alter (I would call this almost imperceptible change).
What other changes did I make in order to discover a plan that resulted in financial freedom?
1) Changing perceptions. Marianne Wlliamson (A Course in Miracles) defines a miracle as "a change in perception". I agree. I was caught in a tunnel vision trap. I was insisting our money come by specific logical routes (that were pre-determined by me, of course). I imagined, fantasised, visualised, pushed, forced and finally ended up DESPERATE. No, no, no. Not the way. Time to release the "How it's to happen" and get myself out of the way so the Universe can deliver.
2) Releasing tunnel vision. Letting go the method by which my money was to come enabled me to lift my head higher and be open to higher, greater inspiration.
3) Getting knowledge. For someone who could claim I was interested in using ES to gain access to more money, I knew surprisingly little about money. So I dug out a set of 10 CDs I bought years ago and never listened to. It is called "Millionaire Mind" I think. It is sort of ES but with total focus on generating financial independence. [Note a second subtle change in perception = the real miracle. I have had the CDs for years, but never listened to them as I could not imagine making millions out of nothing. That single limited belief (= I have no money) led me to reject precisely the information I needed to gain access to my financial independence plan.]
4) Seeing the light. Listening to the 'how to make money' CDs made me change a lot of my thinking. Suddenly I got 'the idea'. Sell our glorious home of our dreams. This was a radical change in perception. Both my husband and I felt thrilled and joyous at owning such a landmark property. It is a magical, wonderful house built in 1600 and 1822. There is nothing like it anywhere. It is one of a kind. We loved our home and have spent every minute of the past 17 years, every cent we earned, on painstakingly restoring the house. We knew we were doing the right thing and were gratified to win several architectural conservation awards. Therein lay the seeds of my tunnel vision. I refused to contemplate selling our dream home, the place that we have sweated for, loved, adored. It took a year, a new life in France, and ES to let us let go of owning this house for ever, and ever, and ever. See, it is all about changing perceptions.
5) Trusting and releasing. For the past year there has been zero interest in the house. Amazing to us as people used to drive up when we lived there and try to buy it! Only as my perceptions changed, and I had sufficient knowledge of money-matters (investing, compound interest, cash cows etc.), did the idea come. I could quickly convince my husband. And we wanted change: financial independence in exchange for a house. We let the house go. That was about 4 weeks ago. Suddenly our two agents inform us that there is a flurry of interest in the property.
6) "...... or something better". I've heard of this before, but Joe Vitale has drawn it to my attention again. When I visualise becoming financially free (note: I am not visualising selling the house ONLY), I link it simultaneously with the phrase "or something better". This stops me from falling into tunnel vision or predetermining a specific outcome, and reminds me to leave space for the Universe to deliver something even better!
7) Acting 'as if". Do you think I am mad to write this as if we were already financially free? Well I don't. Take this as evidence that I am already acting the part of a financially independent person. I'm trying it on for size. Savouring it. Tasting it. Planning all the wonderful things we can manifest with the gift of financial freedom. I am going to do marvellous things with the income generated, things that are of service to us and others. A win-win situation.
I'll tell you about those things in another posting. Right now, I sincerely hope I can stimulate someone out there to believe you are worth..... dare I say..... millions.
Lets see how many financially free people ES and this forum can generate. Want to walk the walk?
Wishing you boundless prosperity from a French Claire who is learning to spend more and more of her time in the PRESENT.
