How good are you at giving?

And just how open are you to receiving?

It is important to learn to receive as well how to give – and to become really good at both.

Do you look to help others in any way you can?

Or do you tend to look out just for yourself?

Most cultures and religions emphasise that life is all about giving. You reap what you sow, and by being generous and sharing your goodness is how you become happier.

We have a choice in how we behave towards others – we can be generous, considerate and caring to the people around us. Or we can be mean, self-centred and petty.

Every human interaction is an opportunity for giving and receiving a gift, such as love, friendship, honesty, support, thoughtfulness, generosity, humour and fun.

When you give to another, you receive the blessings of what you have given them – such as pleasure, satisfaction and joy.

What goes around comes around, and once you put the balance cycle of giving and receiving in action, you will receive as surely as you give.

Receiving is just as important as giving.

At the same time, be open to receiving. If everyone was giving, and no one was receiving, to whom would we be giving?

Recognize that by being open to receiving, you are giving the other person an opportunity to be blessed by their giving. It is a great thing to give… and to receive.

I recently heard a wise guru called  Sadhguru Vasudev explain in one of his discourses that it was far important to receive than to give.

We have all this goodness around us – and if we don’t acknowledge and accept it, what’s the very point of our existence?!

Most people are better at giving than receiving – and from today onwards, learn to receive openly and graciously. If someone gives you a gift or even a compliment, just say thank you.

There is so much you can do every day in terms of receiving and giving.

For example, every time you meet someone, ask yourself – what can I do for this person? A sincere compliment or even just acknowledging their presence can make a huge difference to them – and you.

Do not confuse giving compliments with flattery. Compliments should be positive, sincere and focused on achievements. For example – “You look radiant today. You must really be taking good care of yourself”.

In any situation, ask yourself – how can I help? How can I contribute here?

In the same way that bees contribute to the pollination of flowers, what can you do to help others blossom?

Here are some simple ways you can begin to contribute to the people you meet every day.

1. Just smile!

Smile – and see how others respond.

Give someone the gift of your smile and kindness. It is amazing how easily you can uplift someone with a smile.

2. Help someone lost or in some trouble.

Look for the proverbial damsel in distress. Even giving directions to a lost tourist will lift your spirits.

In our society today, it’s come to a point when we are almost too scared to even ashamed to get involved.

Remember the silent people – and why you should not be one of them.

3. Help someone just to make their life easier.

For example, next time you are in a traffic queue, give way to other motorists. Count the number of times each day that you do something for others simply to help them.

4. Make a monetary contribution to a good cause.

Nowadays there are so many worthy causes clamouring for our loose change, such as the Haiti earthquake or the Pakistan flood appeals. But you will be surprised how far a little change can go.

Know that whatever you give does ultimately make a difference. And you have a vast number of charitable organisations to choose from – do your research and choose the one that appeals the most to you.

5. Say something positive to at least 3 people every day.

This could be your neighbour, a work colleague or the newsagent.

The opportunities of brightening up someone’s day are endless once you begin to look out for them.

6. Recommend someone’s services or products.

Help other people grow through your recommendations and look for opportunities for connecting people.

A lot of business is done through personal recommendations and we all know someone who is excellent at what they do. Recommend that plumber or decorator who did such a great job for you.

Or simply get like minded people together. Hook up people who you feel may have some synergies.

7. Talk in glowing terms about someone to a third person.

Instead of gossiping and “bitching”, stop and get in to the habit of only saying positive things about other people.

I recently found myself gossiping about a neighbour to a friend and stopped myself just in time. Clearly I still have some way to go too.

The trick I have learnt is to imagine that the person being talked about can actually hear what I might say about them!

8. Acknowledge at least three people daily.

This could be by sending them a greeting card or a “thank you” note, telephoning or emailing. Perhaps a text message. Do something for them which you know they will appreciate.

Three people might seem like stretching it a bit, but once you get into the habit, it does get easier – and becomes fun too.

Saying thanks is for everyday!

Remember, you are a gift bearer and a gift receiver in every relationship. And the key to creating the life you love is contribution.

Make today be the day when you truly begin to contribute and give.

Make contribution to others a life long mission – your life will change dramatically and your interactions with other people will become more satisfying, enjoyable and fun.

Now please share how you give and receive in your life.

Have a wonderful life of giving and receiving!

Love and blessings

Arvind

(This article was previously published on Arvind’s blog)

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What has been your history with handling money?

What’s shaped your relationship with money?

Here’s my story about how I was useless with money – you may relate to some of the things I am about the share.

About a week before I was due to take my ‘A’ Levels at school (quite a while back now) I had a surprise visit from the ‘Careers Master’. He was concerned that he had never once seen me in one of his lessons (I use the term “lesson” generously).

Scarey, but he was the ‘custodian’ of this mystical thing called ‘our future’.

He was a dark, stumpy man with a permanent scowl etched into his wide face. It always seemed to me that something had sucked all the joy out of him at some point and he hadn’t yet noticed. Moreover it seemed a strange choice to have someone of his nature as the ‘custodian’ of this mystical thing called ‘our future’.

He had made the ‘Mother’ of all choices.

It appeared that he had made the ‘Mother’ of all choices with regard to his own future. There was no trace of inspiration or wonder emanating from his days at work.

Looking me square in the eye, “De Angolus, it’s come to my attention that we need to have words,” he said in the kind of tone that didn’t have any other option built in.

“It’s De Angelis, Sir,” I said.

Ignoring my correction, he started to lecture me on the importance of planning for a proper job. Apparently it had somehow come to his attention that I was applying for Art College and he wasn’t at all happy (and by his bench-mark of happiness this was very grim).

In fact, not only was he not happy, my form master wasn’t happy (who, incidentally, was a hunched, wafer-thin and largely joyless being) and the Head Master wasn’t happy (a kind of resigned, lost being).

Even my Art Master wasn’t happy!

The rub was this: The school wanted it’s A Level students to get this strange thing called a proper job – a job that paid ‘good’ money and had a ‘future’.

I can assure you that this wish of the school was NOT out of love for their pupils. Generally speaking they did not have a wish that all who passed through their gates would be happy and live wild, fully alive lives

No, it was something far more basic: Statistics.

Specifically, statistics which reflected students getting jobs and going into full time employment. Or students going on to further education in a suitable subject that would of course lead to good ‘prospects’, leading to a full time job.

An application and possible entry into Art College didn’t wax well in terms of statistics. In my Headmaster’s words, artists were suicidal lushes, impoverished homosexuals or miserable spongers. These were they days before political correctness of course.

A strong instinct that this whole bunch of ‘rules’ was basically bull.

The subsequent conversation (I use the term loosely) that ensued between the Careers Master and me was both unremarkable and at the same time pivotal.

You see, even though prior to this unremarkable meeting I had a strong instinct that this whole bunch of ‘rules’ was basically bull.

On that day I was gifted a clear, beautiful and illuminating message:

“Don’t do anything that kills your inner sense of wonder and inspiration!”

Call this a message from the vast stillness, or simply a crescendo caused by an accumulation of observations of those who had either ignored or never received such a communication. Whatever, it downloaded into me like a bolt of lightning.

I knew with every ounce of my being that I would fall sick if I ignored this message. I’ve tested this theory and yes it is true… my friends and wife in particular will testify to it.

How does all this relate to being useless with money?

So getting to the point…. How does all this relate to being useless with money?

Well I must confess the title of this post is a little misleading. In fact I would say that I’m useless with money in a ‘Conventional’ way.

Basically that strong instinct never to do things that killed my spirit, so to speak, meant that it was impossible for me to look at money in a conventional way.

In other words I was gifted with NO CHOICE in the matter if I wanted to stay healthy and vital.

Freedom is never having to choose.

The Taoists said that in fact freedom is never having to choose, and I get this on a deep level even though it runs totally counter to our entire culture.

As I saw my school friends getting jobs and some of them becoming very adept at earning money, I noticed my intense lack of interest in ‘money’ for the sake of accumulating ‘things’.

For me, money was only good for one thing: enriching the experience of being alive… period! In my case this involved less ‘things’ and more experiences.

Without it being endowed with the ability to enrich our spirit, I saw money as a dead force – an impotence. And really if you look at it, the way money is used and the way we are taught to earn money is largely in service of this joyless dead force.

Throughout my adult life, I’ve been what can only be described in conventional terms as reckless, stupid, clumsy and downright useless with money.

I’ve walked away from ideas that had the potential to earn millions because I stopped believing in them.

And I’ve spent a small fortune on investigating the question ‘Who am I?’ I found no answers worth holding on to but the journey has been miraculous.

I’ve had lots of money come and go and I’ve also experienced scraping along on benefits at the lowest points (from a conventional viewpoint).

Funny… I met some of the sweetest and most generous people in the dole queue! Perhaps because I was looking out for them.

My life has fallen apart, come unravelled, so many times I’ve lost count.

And yet it has always woven itself back together into an even more exquisite tapestry. I’ve no idea how this happens. I’ve just learnt to let go of things having to be a certain way.

I’ve stopped trying to change people and instead know that whatever I may see wrong with them is only ever about what’s going on inside me.

I’ve come to a point of peace with the fact that I will go to my grave carrying most of the neuroses that I’ve spent a large portion of my adult life trying to get rid of.

In other words it’s not my business to get rid of them or keep them: I’m powerless and paradoxically in this, I feel the flow of power streaming through my mind and body.

But all the way through, I’ve used money to enrich this strange, beautiful and sometimes difficult thing we call life.

Money can be used for amazing things…. ONLY when it’s gifted the breath of life through our creativity and our sense of play – our ability to love.

Money is like clay before it’s been turned into a beautiful ceramic. It is transformed – fed a dose of life force – only through us enriching it first with our spirit.

We don’t ever have to do anything that doesn’t feed our inner sense of wonder and inspiration.

The other thing I know with every ounce of my being to be true (please test this for yourself) is that we don’t ever have to do anything that doesn’t feed our inner sense of wonder and inspiration.

And before you say…. There are some things we simply must do…. Go inside to where your radiance emanates from – your core – and see if this is actually true.

You may be surprised!

In the new world, that’s currently manifesting before our eyes the only ‘safe’ choice is to be unsafe in how you approach your work, your dreams, your interactions.

The only investment that will yield a dividend worth having is your investment in life.

This investment may well involve spending money on what would conventionally be considered stupid.

It may involve saying no to earning more in favour of spending time with people you love – eating beans on toast and not having the heating on for too long.

And – before I get a stream of emails saying that you must take care of the essentials, what I’m suggesting doesn’t mean that you don’t put food on the table! It means that you actively participate in the adventure of finding inspiring and joyful ways to do that.

We must learn to trust our bodies and relax.

Of course sometimes we’re just exhausted and can’t even begin to find a way to do this. Then we must learn to trust our bodies and relax enough so that we can again pick up the scent of aliveness, and follow where it is leading us.

It won’t always work out the way you want or expect, but you will discover that you are deeply present for your life and those you love in a fundamentally different way than convention would allow.

In a sense the ‘Career Master’ is always hovering around us – only now this presence of playing safe can help us take the risk of living, really living!

From today onwards, take the risk of creating something you actually love with all your hearts.

So what will you create in your life from now onwards?

Please share below in the comments section.

Blessings

Davide

2012 is now here and it is time to start planning for this New Year. Just what do you want from the coming year? How sure are you to achieve your New Year resolutions?

There has been so much talk of 2012 being a year of major shifts in the world with a lot of talk of doom and gloom.  Whether or not that happens, it is up to you to make the best of your life this year and indeed any year.

Getting a fresh start with the New Year is an artificial custom – you can begin to get the life you love and live it at any time you choose. But let the first couple of weeks of January 2012 be the starting point for a new you.

Envision yourself at the end of the year and describe at least 3 achievements you would like to have achieved to make you feel that 2012 had been a successful one.

Maybe this year you are going to find work that you love. Or you may want to excel even more at the job you love. How about getting a good balance between your work and leisure time? What about galvanising your financial situation? How about finding and committing to a dream relationship?

How can you make the most of your life through the so-called credit crunch?

Get motivated right now to make the most of 2012 and indeed the rest of your life. Believe in yourself. Know that you can do and have anything you want. Ooze with self belief and others too will believe in you. Go all out for it in 2012!

Here are some tips to help you achieve your goals and to make 2012 your best year ever.

1. Spend some quality time on your own and reflect on your goals in all areas of your life – short, medium and long term. Write these down – you increase your chances of materialising them, once written down. Be very specific, and as descriptive as you can.

2. Write down your three main goals in big bold letters and hang up next to your bedside, in the kitchen, by your pc, etc. Having them visible like this keeps in the forefront of your mind exactly what you need to achieve by when, and what you must do to make it happen.

3. Identify quickly the key steps in the first three months of 2012 to move you towards your goals. Make the steps realistic for the time frame, but ones that stretch you at the same time. Track your progress on a regular basis, maybe on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

4. Create an action plan and take regular action. Start today and if possible, start right away. Take that first step – you will immediately generate a lot of enthusiasm & confidence in this and other areas of your life. Do not wait around to be inspired – just get on with doing things, even if it is a small step and that will lead to further steps.

5. Look at your life in a new way. For example, plan to make all the money you need in 2012 within the first six months. Develop a new theme for the year such as making it “debt free” or “most chilled out ever”. At the same time, ensure you give yourself enough nurturing time – book your holidays right now and plan to spend quality weekends with your loved ones.

6. Let go of things that drain you. Look at those situations, places, people or anything else that drain your energy, and eliminate them gradually.

7. Establish a support team around you. Make yourself accountable to someone who resonates with your goals and will support you in achieving them. Find like minded people – and develop powerful, supportive and energising relationships. This may require you to upgrade your friends and build new relationships.

8. Learn from your role models. Emulate those who have already achieved what you are aspiring to. Apply their lessons and principles to yourself, and thereby fast track your achievements in 2012.

9. Spruce up your image. Look at everything about you such as your clothes, haircut and other things about your personal brand. Start giving the impression of being successful and you will be during the course of 2012.

10. Keep your cool and chill out. You may get overwhelmed at times and find that there is just not sufficient time for everything. Review your commitments and priorities and refocus on the most important steps.

11. Celebrate your successes. Acknowledge yourself and know that you are doing really well. Reward and pamper yourself. Choose to celebrate in the best way for you.

12. Find ways to excel and to improve yourself. There are numerous self help resources around you such as books, magazines, websites and so on. Make 2012 the year that you evolve, grow and fulfil your potential.

Most importantly remember at all times to be kind and gentle with yourself in 2012. Have patience and let your life unfold like a budding flower. Laugh a lot – after all life is meant to be fun. Develop a sense of humour and do not take life so seriously.

It is never too late or too early to have a great year. Start 2012 the way you want to carry on during the rest of the year.

I wish you all a fabulous New Year. Make 2012 your best year ever. Get the life you love and live it – you know you deserve it.

Here are my final words for you to inspire you in 2012 – and for the rest of your life:-

“Remember that your life counts – and make it count. You are unique. There is no one like you on this planet. Never has been and never will be.

Do not sell your self short. Do not sell the world short. This is your life – love it, live it. One life, one chance – grab it.

Get the life you love – and live it.”

There have been a few occasions in my somewhat turbulent relationship with money when I’ve literally had a substantial amount of it dangled in front of my nose.

One such occasion took place at the birthing point of the digital revolution. Way back in 1995, along with my then business partner I had established one of the first ‘Multimedia’ companies in the UK.

Back then ‘Multimedia’ was a strange, enticing and sexy new breed of company.

We were young, dynamic and embodied a kind of ‘visionary’ approach to delivering images and words to an audience. This translated into us producing graphics work that could open people’s minds to an entirely new way of seeing and interacting with information and ultimately life in general.

Anyway, that’s what we thought back then.

As it turned out, we were so naive and wrong when it came to the greater aspects of human nature.

And we were so naive and mostly right in our belief that something very significant was taking place around how we see ourselves through the eyes of technology.

However back then, this enticing, sexy new breed had not quite learnt how to sell itself. In other words, we didn’t quite know how to fend for ourselves in the big world.

One day I was sitting in my ‘arty’ office wondering how all this visionary thinking was going to pay the rent when I received a call from a large and very prominent entertainment company.

On the end of the line was a woman with a very charming voice. She explained that she had caught sight of our work and would be extremely interested in speaking to us about various possibilities.

I almost fell out of my credit card-funded designer chair (which on their interest terms would take me literally years to pay off).

Two days later I was sitting across from the same woman who was flanked by several men in expensive suits.

“Firstly we want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come here today,” said the woman.

Little did she know I was heading for Skid Row and I had nothing else that looked financially promising to do. At least they had promised me lunch, I thought.

So… to cut to the chase…after several more meetings with the woman and the suits, it was established that they had a high profile project for us to look at.

And… and…. if this project should work out well … there was a bigger conversation on the table regarding them acquiring my company, where in due course it would morph into a groundbreaking ‘Multimedia’ division.

I remember going home that night with a cash register ringing in ears. And within the month we had climbed into bed with this corporation.

The following six months turned into something I’m certainly not proud of.

I would find myself compromising practically every value I held dear just to keep myself close to this Cash Cow.

I increasingly saw myself as someone who didn’t believe in what I was doing.

After all, I was someone who was willing to sacrifice what was most creative – what was best – so that a product could squeeze a bit more money out of people it was supposedly there to serve and improve the lives of.

To this day I don’t know why it took me six months to wake up and pull the plug on this rather abusive relationship.

That said, maybe I had to go that long to really get a taste of what it was like to compromise my highest values to the point where I was willing to end up with only one value – MONEY!

In short I was deeply unhappy and spent most of the money I made on trying to fix my lack of inspiration.

Why do I share this story, and why is what happened back then significant for this New Year 2012?

It wasn’t that anything I was doing was illegal, and in this I was different from the MP’s who claimed fraudulent expenses as our health system crumbled through lack of funds, or the rogue traders and financial people who took tax payers for a ride and were happy to break the rules to ensure they came out on top.

I don’t know those people and yet I know what has happened to them.

It’s no mystery; we can all clearly see what happens when our personal and collective values are shrunken down to just one value – MONEY.

Instead of a vibrant collection of values that light up our being, we end up accepting and existing on just this one value.

This one value gives rise to a kind of ugliness – even if it’s dressed up in glitz and drives around in a car that costs more than most people make in years of hard work. It’s really very ugly when this one value defines everything.

In many ways, we are being shown the way by those of us who are most trapped in this powerful trance.

And in many ways this is the death of money, as we know it.

It’s the death because this single – once seemingly solid – value is now being systematically exposed as a fraud. It is indeed hollow and cannot sustain us in the times ahead. And I believe this exposure will keep going until everything that doesn’t serve us is naked in the light of our awareness.

So I invite you to allow your true values to shine out brightly in 2012 and beyond.

Allow the things that add real value to your life and others to be the gatekeepers of your life in 2012.

Money is nothing more than an idea… but now it’s got nothing to back it up any more: no gold or anything that we can touch.

And in this there sits an opportunity for us all to redefine what money is – to literally turn money into something that can serve us all in yet unimagined ways.

I don’t believe we need to do away with money – we simply need to do away with it being the way we define the value of a human being.

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with having a system of value and exchange as long as we remember that that is basically all it is.

Money needs to serve us instead of us serving money and the few who have a disproportionate amount of it!

If the one-value system predictions are correct then 2012 could be a tempestuous year: a bad year, a year of gloom and scarcity.

And yet if you place the things that actually give meaning to your life – be it creativity, courage, integrity or whatever you choose – this year has the potential to be the real turning point that many wise beings have signaled.

We allow our values to be compromised at the cost of being truly alive and present for each miraculous moment.

Every single one of us is a Money Shaman in the sense that this is a collective opportunity to contemplate and take part in creating another kind of world: a world where caring for each other and the beautiful world we have been gifted rises above all else.

A world in which WE determine what this idea of money is and how it will serve us.

Wishing you a miraculous and abundant 2012.

Davide

Can it really be true? Christmas is here again!

There’s no doubt that Christmas is a time of mixed emotions and feelings.

It can be a time of great joy and delight, with sharing of delicious food and gifts with people you love. It can also be a time of tremendous stress and pressure to conform.

Having time away from our normal work routines sounds fantastic – that is until we actually have that time away.

For many people today, Christmas is a time that brings up challenges that their normal life tends to hide. It can expose a deep loneliness, and conversely for others, it highlights an overwhelming desire to be alone, away from people.

Christmas is a time when we tend to embark on a review of the past year – and this is fine if you can use it to bring new inspiration and energy to create exciting possibilities. However, these yearly reviews tend to hover over what we haven’t done and what we feel hasn’t worked.

To what I’ve just described, add all the Christmas hype, the constant advertising and thought of facing your credit card bill in January, and Christmas becomes something to survive rather than enjoying.

With this in mind we at TheMoneyShaman.com would like to offer you a really precious gift this Christmas:-

“The Money Shaman’s Guide to Thriving Christmas”

The aim of this very special 52 page guide is to give you some amazingly powerful ideas to ensure that you THRIVE Christmas instead of struggling to survive it.

Moreover the ideas contained in this guide will open you to the possibility of 2012 being an extraordinary year for you – your most powerful and inspiring year yet.

The Money Shaman’s Guide to Thriving Christmas is totally FREE and is our way of thanking you  for being part of this growing community of abundance.

Download your Free Guide now

Please feel free to share this with everyone as you wish. Help transform other people’s Xmas and New Year as well as yours!

We wish you the most spectacular Christmas ever and a miraculous and healthy New Year.

The Money Shaman Team

(Davide De Angelis and Arvind Devalia)

Just how authentic a life are you living?

Most people do not live their truth. Let me tell you my own story first.

The sun was radiant – it was a glorious summer’s day in 1997.

Insects hovered over voluptuous blooms and fluffy white clouds floated lazily in a bright blue sky. I could hear children joyfully playing in a distant garden.

It was the kind of day to make you feel good to be alive.

And yet I sat in the garden with my head in my hands.

At my feet sat a pile of unopened letters and various scrunched up pieces of paper. I didn’t need to open the letters. I knew exactly what they contained.

Just a few short months before this day, my finances had been akin to a champion triathlete, but now, on this glorious summer day they were clutching a zimmer frame!

I had a growing feeling of doom.

The combination of two companies hitting the skids owing me a lot of money, a growing feeling of doom that seemed to erase my mind of logic and good choices, and the mounting cost of maintaining a lifestyle that I could realistically no longer afford, had drained me dry of money.

So on that beautiful summer’s day, I sat feeling vulnerable and afraid. All the bills on my apartment were overdue and the gas and electricity were on the verge of being disconnected. There was no money even to buy food!

How could money make me feel so low and afraid?

I looked deeply into my mind to find even the most miniscule glimmer of joy and couldn’t find any. How could money make me feel so low and afraid? I mean… plenty of people have no money. Indeed, I had been through life several times with no money.

So what was different about this time?

After thinking it through, the difference was that this time I couldn’t see any possible way out. When I was younger, I had always been able to sweet-talk a bank or credit card company into extending my credit limit. Now they were not playing ball.

I felt I would be exposed!

However, when I really looked deeply, the real truth began to emerge from within the gloom. This time I would have to be SEEN: I would be exposed!

I would have no choice but to admit to people that my business was on a greasy slope, and all my creative ideas and projects were yielding a big zero.

My feeling of worth was based on a story.

I realised my feeling of worth was based on a story. And in the past, I had always had some way to keep this story together.

I realised that I had invested so much energy in being seen as a gifted, creative success that the thought of this façade falling down really sacred me. I had spent a lifetime nurturing and shaping this image!

However, now I totally understood why, when people told me how talented and successful I was, I always had this inner flatness… surely they can see this is not really true? I actually wasn’t the person they were describing!

Supporting an image.

This isn’t for one second saying that my gifts and talents were not real. But rather my natural gifts and talents had somehow become enrolled into supporting an image, instead of simply being expressed and enjoyed for what they were.

It occurred to me that if I was really the person that the story was effectively projecting out into the world, then my inner feeling of joy and power could never be rocked by circumstances such as not having money.

And yet circumstances were finally showing me just how flimsy this image was.

Life taught me one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learnt.

The truth sets us free!

Over the course of that summer, my life was transformed!

Moreover, I discovered that when I shared the truth with complete integrity, when I stood in complete vulnerability and was willing to be ‘seen’ just as I really was, strangely and quite miraculously, I became the powerful, creative success that all the previous stories had desperately tried to create.

Only this time it didn’t feel flat inside.

I discovered just how much energy it took to maintain an image: being who you truly are flows; it doesn’t need to be pushed. I discovered how much of my vitality was draining away in my attempts to cover up the truth and keep up an appearance.

I shared my circumstances fully and openly.

Eventually with no more energy or will to keep up appearances, I shared my circumstances fully and openly with the people I owed money to.

Most of them thanked me for being so straight with them.

One business I owed quite a lot of money to actually offered me some incredibly valuable help and advice. They also gave me time to sort things out without any pressure. This was even though my not being able to pay them caused considerable inconvenience to them.

The whole world seemed to open up.

Of course, losing the roof over my head was a very real possibility (fortunately it didn’t happen). However as I shared in total honesty and committed to doing only what I knew I could deliver, the whole world seemed to open up and become more flexible and accommodating.

I discovered that admitting to being vulnerable in fact made me more powerful.

I discovered that removing my energy from propping up a story about who I was meant more energy became available to be creative, imaginative and inventive.

I discovered that some money problems could actually be solved without money. There was this previously ‘mysterious’ thing call ‘exchange of skills’. I could offer something other than money – something of equal value.

I discovered that in a society that teaches us to always keep ourselves hidden and protected, being open revealed opportunities and possibilities that had previously been hidden.

By opening up and being vulnerable, I also connected to people on a very intimate, human level.

Most people have been taught to be afraid of really being seen. By dropping my defences they were somehow able to relax and deal with me in a far more loving way. Even if I couldn’t pay them straight away, we all felt better as a result of working things out together.

I discovered that without the story about who I was, I was free to become fully expressed.

So how does all this help you in your quest for great abundance and joy in your life?

Allow your true power and creativity to shine through.

See where your need to maintain an image ie a story about who you are, is getting in the way of you living fully and openly. See the need to maintain this story – and understand that behind this story sits something far more amazing.

Make a simple commitment to drop the story whenever you notice it, and begin to allow your true nature – your creative, imaginative nature – to shine through.

Find your inner power and courage by telling it as it is and only promising what you know you can deliver when things are challenging.

And watch how your life unfolds with greater joy and ease.

I wish you the best of luck.

Davide De Angelis – aka The Money Shaman.

Image courtesy of xlordashx

Help to Spread the Word

Do you want to manifest more abundance in your life?

You probably answered yes – but there’s already so much abundance all around you – you just have to notice it.

When was the last time you noticed and appreciated a sunset?

Do you live in a world of abundance?

Or do you come from a place of scarcity and lack?

Abundance is a lot more than just money or material things. You live in a very rich and beautiful world – you just have to open your eyes. Just think about the beauty of the sky, the greenery all around you, the grace of animals, the love in you, and the sheer miracle of this life.

You choose to see the world through the eyes of abundance or lack. It is a choice that you make, based on your conditioning and beliefs. So change your perception, and you will not only be aware of the abundance around you, but even more will flow into your life in the form of love, money and other worldly goods.

Here are some simple things you can do to manifest even more abundance in your life.

1. Begin to appreciate the abundance all around you

Count your blessings and be thankful for all the goodness you already have in your life.

Just for today, show gratitude to every living thing. And then do the same every day from hereon.

2. Be generous, without being wasteful

Always remember that what goes around comes around. Share the abundance already in your life and it will be reflected back to you by the people around you. Openly share your home, skills, goods, time and love, without any expectations of having anything in return.

Plant seeds of abundance all around you. Think of tithing a certain percentage, say 10%, of your income to charitable causes. Do this anonymously, and without expectation of recognition.

3.  Simplify your life in all ways

Begin to enjoy the simple things in life such as walks in nature, play time with children and sharing special meals with your loved ones.

Check out these 20 questions to simlpify your life forever.

Get present to just how much joy there already is in your life.

4. Let go of any habits of poverty

Start giving away your loose change to charities and people in need. Start cultivating being prosperous.

Stop yourself from thinking thoughts such as “I cannot afford that”.

5. Expect the best from everything and everyone

Pessimistic people who are always moaning keep having negative experiences and bad luck.

That’s because what you focus on most is what you attract – so focus only on goodness from now on. Think of the things you love and desire.

6. Take time to be still everyday

Meditation, yoga and walks in the park will all help to keep you grounded and calm.

Find what works for you and stick to it.

7. Forgive yourself

Never beat yourself up for slipping into any old habits of negativity or lack of appreciation. Simply forgive yourself and move on.

8. Always be kind and loving towards yourself

Pamper yourself with lots of little treats such as a glass of your favourite wine, a bubble bath or a solitary meal at your favourite restaurant.

9.Remember the good times

Recall a time in your life when you felt a deep sense of richness and completeness. Remember how you felt, and get present to these feelings once again.

Know that you can recreate those feelings of abundance anytime you wish to do so.

From today onwards, consciously think, feel, and identify with happy thoughts of abundance.

Begin each day by being thankful for everything you can think of.

And you will soon be attracting even more good things into your life.

I am resurrecting The Money Shaman.

My journey with money had been nothing short of diabolical.

To put it mildly my journey with money had been nothing short of diabolical for most of my adult life. You see I didn’t have a ‘Rich Dad’ (as in the books Rich Dad Poor Dad) to point me in the right direction. My Dad was more of an ‘In Debt Dad’ or ‘Hire Purchase’ Dad. Relatively speaking he did remarkably well considering that he had arrived in the UK from Italy in 1958 with only ‘two shillings’ in his pocket (about 10p sterling).

We had accepted a dance from a gorilla. 

Unlike my Dad, I arrived into the ‘adult’ world of money just as the whole credit phenomenon was being birthed. Much to our surprise – considering how bleak things had looked when we were finishing school – my generation discovered that it was really quite easy to get our hands on money. More accurately, banks were falling over themselves to lend to ‘young people’. At the time most of us had no idea about things such as ‘compound interest’ etc. Unwittingly we had accepted a dance from a gorilla and we were only going to stop dancing only when the gorilla said so.

I found myself in a deep financial hole.

And so started years and years of debt-ridden living and stressing about money. Eventually of course this whole wobbly edifice came crashing down around my ears and I found myself in a deep financial hole. The tendency had always been to keep digging, but when that was no longer possible life quickly became a very grim affair. I understood that I had no choice but to change: money and all it represented had become my nemesis. It triggered huge amounts of anxiety – far more than made any rational sense – and in many ways made my life quite miserable.

I made it my passion to find ways to live abundantly.

Finally, as the wolves hammered at my door, I set fourth on a journey out of the financial mess I was in. I made it my passion to find ways to create money doing the things I loved. I made it my passion to find ways to live abundantly without the nagging fear of scarcity always stalking me. It wasn’t easy to step outside of such entrenched belief systems. The more I discovered about creating a life of abundance, the more it made sense to share what I had discovered.

The Money Shaman was conceived in the February of 2005. And it took its maiden voyage on the Internet in September of that same year. It became a huge learning experience and a successful venture for me. I’m pleased to say it helped literally thousands of people to embrace a very different way of working with money and attracting opportunities.

However by the end of 2009 I absolutely thought I had said everything there was to say about money and abundance. Having delivered countless talks and workshops on the subject, and having created some amazingly powerful products, I decided to put the whole venture on ice and pursue other interests.

I underestimated just how many people were searching…

Little did I know at the time just how radically the financial landscape of the world would change in just a few months. And in many ways I underestimated just how many people were searching for a far more inspiring, empowering and abundant way of living: a way of living that unplugged them from a system based on fear, scarcity, domination and endless complexity.

The Universe was telling me that it wasn’t over.

In 2010, almost every event that I attended I would be asked about The Money Shaman. People told me how much they missed the daily Money Shaman Mantras. And the amount of communications asking me to once again offer up inspiration and wisdom around money and abundant living has continued to increase. The Universe was telling me that it wasn’t over. And the more I looked at what was going on the more I realised The Money Shaman still has a lot to say and a lot to give.

The Money Shaman has therefore returned. I’ve remastered and transformed how much of the material is presented based on the challenges that we are now facing. I believe with passion that you will greatly benefit from connecting with www.TheMoneyShaman.com on a regular basis.

It’s great to be away, but it feels good to be back home.

The Money Shaman

Those with true power have no power. Yes it sounds like a complete contradiction, but let me explain.

How can we walk this world with true power, not the sorry excuse for power that we are sold by governments and the media?

Power is found when you connect with your own true nature: living with truth and passion right by your side. Living with the possibility of failure and disappointment right by your side.

True power is when you have nothing to hide, when nothing is your enemy because you see clearly that everything that appears in this world is in fact inviting you to recognise your greatest truth. This doesn’t mean that you are undefended; instead it means that you are in fact invincible. Living your truth in each moment with an open heart – the willingness to venture into the shadows with an open heart – is the true meaning of power.

But here’s the thing… to walk this world with true power means that you know – not intellectually – but you know, from the deepest part of your being, that you possess no power of your own. You have surrendered all your perceived power to the Great Mystery of life – to Nature. You know that your nature and everything that appears in your experience is granted life through ‘Grace’.

When you have no power – when you have surrendered your power over to the good of all – you step into the wonderful paradox: you become powerful. You see that there is never anything to lose or gain in this manifest world. You fall in love with this world with all its sadness and pain. You fall in love with those who appear to want to destroy you. And you fall in love with your own death. You die to the old separate self and live immersed in the miraculous connection of all.

To live this way is a deep meditation. I’m not for one second saying it’s easy. It is life lived as a meditation. There will be good days and bad days. You have to want to be free of all that isn’t true. This is the first step: to desire to be free of what is not true for you. Next comes the desire for all humans to be free of what isn’t true.

And yet, once you have tasted the delicious possibility of freedom, there is no longer any choice. Surrender into the flow of the unknown, the unknowable is the only thing you can do.

Step by step we move on. There is no rush: we have the rest of eternity

Blessings

Davide