Until you value what you already have, money will be a fleeting presence in your life, says Dr John Demartini, in this exclusive extract from his new book,
The Riches Within – Your Seven Secret Treasures.
"Riches serve a wise man but command a fool."
— English proverb
My debut in the world of professional speaking took place in my own apartment. I´ d invited a group of people over to hear me talk, and I poured my heart into it. At the end, I thought my speech had been inspired and I´d done a great job – and sure enough, everyone congratulated me. "You´ re a natural!" they told me. "Keep it up!" they encouraged. "You´ ll go far!" they predicted.
After everyone left, I went to collect my financial rewards from the bowl I´ d labeled "Love Donations." But when I looked inside, all I found was a lone $5 bill.
In that moment, I realized that even though I´ d been thinking that all I wanted to do was give and spread the love by delivering my message, I´ d also been hoping – unconsciously and perhaps unrealistically – that people would be so moved by my words that they´ d drop some serious cash into the bowl.
All right, I admitted to myself, I guess I would love to make some real money at this.
So the next time I had people over to hear me speak, I put a label on the bowl that said, "Minimum Love Donation: $5." I also placed the bowl in a much more prominent spot in my living room.
Once again, I received wonderful encouragement from the people who came to listen, and this time, there were three $5 bills in the bowl. That qualified as a definite improvement, but it still wasn´ t even enough to keep the lights on in my apartment for the next month.
On the following attempt my label said, "Minimum Love Donation: $10," and the donation bowl remained front and center. At the end of my speech, I even mentioned that I´ d appreciate contributions, and that day I collected a few $10 bills. Only a small number of people had "shared the love" in cash.
So I changed my label again, and this time it said, "Minimum Fee: $20." And that day, almost everyone paid me.
My lesson? Until you value yourself, you can´ t expect anyone else to do so. Declare what you´ re worth.
It´ s now time for you to recognize your worthiness and acknowledge your magnificence. This is the first step to fully revealing your financial treasures.
Your Financial Treasure #1: Inspiration Wealth originally meant "wellbeing"– and there´ s no doubt that all of us would love to be whole and well with our being. Indeed, almost everyone I´ ve met would love to be wealthy, and even those who are already well-to-do usually desire more affluence.
Know that an abundance of wealth resides in you ready to materialize. And know that you have a great service to offer the world – every single person does. When you bring that service to your fellow beings, the reward soon follows. This was another important lesson I learned from my early days as a speaker: Your inspiration – that which aligns with your highest values and aspirations – will lead you to your greatest sources of wealth.
Don´ t minimize yourself by thinking that you don´ t have inspiration, you can´ t bring it out, or you don´ t deserve rich rewards. You do, you can, and you deserve a vast fortune for your unique contribution to the world.
Think for a moment about Bill Gates, someone who clearly illustrates the most powerful way I know to create a fortune: Identify a huge need and fill it. How many people have used or at least have heard of Microsoft Windows? Billions. What Gates created affects how billions of people work and play.
Granted, he´ s deployed a complex business strategy for amassing his money, but initially, it grew from a germ of an idea – from his inspiration. Another effective approach is to focus on serving fewer people with a product or service of a high-dollar value. Essentially, these are the two practical approaches to generating large sums of money: Either serve lots of people with something that carries a moderate price tag, or serve a smaller market with a higher-ticket item. Notice that in either case, it´ s about service – something that inspires you to serve.
You have to put the centripetal and the centrifugal forces together. The latter is the force that generates from the inside; it´ s your personal "axis," the center of you moving outward to serve others. What would you love to bring to the world? Centripetal means the force that moves from the outer periphery in toward you – the center. What would those whom you´ d love to serve desire to receive? What do they want?
The key questions for you to ask yourself are: What is my cause? What is my contribution? What would I love to offer to humanity? and What does the world need, want, or desire? I believe that finding something original deep down inside of you is worth any amount of money you´ d love to have, but you have to draw it out by asking both, What would I love to give? and What do people need? I wonder what would happen if you were to ask yourself those questions and not stop until you came up with an answer that was worth a billion dollars . . . want to find out? Dig deep! Explore until you´ ve found something you know you can contribute that people truly need or want.
Meanwhile, start to affirm yourself with: I am a multimillionaire money magnet! Everything I touch turns to gold.
I deserve the abundance and wealth that surround me. Use the Words of Power at the end of this chapter to transform your automatic thinking about how you relate to money.
At the same time, live every day in a humbled state, asking your inner voice and vision to guide you to ever-greater causes and services.
Watch your inspiration as it creates a higher appreciation of money, an improved evaluation of yourself, and an abundance of money flowing in your life.
Your Financial Treasure #2: The Wealth You Already Have If you´ ve completed the exercise in the previous chapter, then you know what your values are and what ranks the highest. You need to look no further in order to find your greatest cache of wealth – it´ s manifested in your highest value.
This means that you pour your resources into what´ s most important to you; and not only do you honor this value with your time, attention, and intention, but you also honor it with your money. In this way, the value flourishes in your life – you experience richness in whatever value is highest for you.
In what area of your life do you experience abundance, luxury, and richness? Is it in your health, your spiritual life, your intellect, or in your relationships with family members or friends? If you earnestly consider it, where in your life do you already experience great riches?
The amazing wealth you already have – whatever form it may take, including cash – is the direct result of your values.
Remember, you don´ t have to choose between financial treasures and what´ s most important to you. The idea, for example, that you can´ t be spiritually rich and financially prosperous rests on an illusion that spirit and matter are separate – a misperception that I´ ve attempted to put to rest both in the previous chapter and in my book How to Make One Hell of a Profit and Still Get to Heaven.
In fact, unless you highly value solvency or cash itself, you´ ll automatically convert all of your money into whatever is more valuable to you. For example, if your children ranked highest on your values list, that´ s where your money would go: shelter, food, clothing, education, and experiences for your kids. Likewise, if your business topped the list, you´ d no doubt buy equipment, take professional courses, subscribe to trade magazines, and so on – all in order to grow your business.
Here´ s an important caveat: If you don´ t put a relatively high value on ready money or some other form of positive cash flow, then you can quickly and easily purchase your way into debt – a subject I´ ll address shortly.
Let´ s face it: You´ re wise to value affluence in the society in which we live. I´ m not encouraging you to become infatuated with money and financial wealth and become so greedy that you won´ t do anything other than hoard it. Yet this one principle – your values determine your financial well-being – tells you the difference between those who are wealthy in a conventional sense (meaning they have plenty of money for the lifestyle they´ ve chosen, plus have accumulated enough in savings or investments to feel a sense of security) and those who aren´ t. It isn´ t how much money they make, but instead, it´ s how they manage it. And management is all about one thing: values, which determine your priorities for spending, saving, and investing.
There are people who make less than $30,000 a year who save, invest, and wind up as millionaires; and there are people who make $30,000 an hour who go bankrupt. The bottom line is that you can learn all the principles of money management, but until you value what you´ ve already got and place importance on the accumulation of financial wealth, money will be a fleeting presence in your life.
Dr John Demartini is a best selling author and international speaker.
Visit www.drdemartini.com
