What do you really need?

Societies tell us that our ability to accumulate wealth is often directly related job and career options. Jobs viewed as "dangerous" supposedly pay more than jobs that aren't.  Stressful jobs are supposed to compensate people for their specialized skills, and being willing to put their own life on the line.  Take a closer look a your reasons for choosing certain jobs. Knowing that you create your beliefs and perceptions, notice whether job choices are really that you seek.     

From the perspective of a country or givernment, skilled labour is viewed as an asset or form of wealth.  Consider many Western nations are desperate for more tradespeople.  These nations are hiring more foreigners for mining and other areas where they note a shortage in their labour force. What does this say about desirable career choices, other kinds of wealth, and job markets?

Ironically perhaps, trade schools have been virtually phased out of Western education systems. High schools still offer some technical courses, but structured apprenticeships became harder to find to train for paying jobs.  The status quo and governments believed more people should have opportunities to attend university, and it became a business. More students were lured into colleges on the premise that jobs would await them upon graduation. They accrue debts only to be disillusioned. Job markets are changing and students must still find work to pay their debts.  

Attitude can be a form of wealth or it can undermine your efforts to create wealth.  For example, many people develop an attitude that trades are "beneath them" and that true intelligence would only be reflected by higher- paying jobs of the moment.  Suddenly, globalisation led many traditionally, higher-paying jobs being outsourced offshore (such as medical tourism, legal services, IT and anything doable over computers, among many others). Material wealth is no longer simply attainable by following routes to key professions. In fact, the larger homes in your city may already belong to tradespeople or people you wouldn't expect.

Sources of wealth can come from unexpected places. Increasingly, you realize qualified plumbers, electricians, builders, mechanics (refriegeration, motor and others) are in demand and thus, choose their prices. Trying to find tradesmen when you need one in Western countries often means long wait periods.  Professionals trained in Western countries are becoming more mobile and moving to where they consider to find better circumstances. They determine what they think they need, ignore shortages of skills in their areas and go where they choose.

The result is changing views on what you need to do to create wealth. Tax bases are shrinking in Western countries. Young people move away and aging populations mean less people are working. The overall picture is governments have less money to use to help people and create infrastructure.  Career paths which were once assumed to be well-paying are not staying that way and career paths that were once low-paid are now gaining respect and higher salaries. Avenues which we once thought were effective ways to create wealth are no longer guaranteed.

So, what are the solutions to these issues? What do we really need?

Maybe we need to change our attitude about how and where wealth can be created. How often do you limit your own options?  The Internet is being used to create wealth in new ways that many of us don't think about.  Should we? Or, should we rethink our whole concept of wealth?

We could also increase numbers of trade schools and promote this career path as a well-paying and respected livelihood, rather than impose value judgments which may deter people from realizing their dreams. Why assume one kind of path leads to the most or the best kind of wealth?

Another idea is to require professional people who train in one geographic location to work there for a certain number of years in order to pay enough taxes to justify the subsidy of their education and reduce stress on the system.   Another idea is to evolve from the current economic-based system into some other more sustainable, global system. 

How can you expand on your ideas of wealth-creation. Does it go beyond work for you? Notice the mind defines what you think you need. The heart  feels all needs are already satisfied.

Affluence

Each of us perceives some things in abundant supply in our lives. However, visible and invisible sources of affluence exist.  Whether or not you appreciate everything remains to be seen.

A writer is never at a loss for words.  Ponder how you express words with and without judgment.  Notice words adopt the connotations you give them.  Alone and quiet, they mean nothing.  The question is, what is the intention behind a writer's words?

An experienced builder offers a wealth of insight to architects and city planners.  The question is, does such a builder acquire knowledge for his own benefit or does he have an altruistic side?

An investor can build a large property portfolio.  The question is, is this investor working purely for himself (i.e. is he self-interested), or does he have a wider vision for whom he is or can help?

A missionary tends to overflow with religious ideas.  The question is, are people always persuaded that his perspective on the world is as valuable as he thinks it is?

You may have more than enough food to eat and consider you have enough to waste. After a dinner party, you may have so many leftovers, you compost for worms, leave some for the raccoons and throw some in the garbage.

A family may consider its pets to be its greatest source of wealth. How many people do you know whose cats, dogs, or other animals have become the centre of their universe?

Parents may feel their primary source of wealth is their children or other family members. The levels of love, affection and compassion shared may seem inexhaustible and unconditional.

Such examples remind you wealth is understood in different ways. It could take the form of money and material possessions. It could be something  measurable or immeasurable.  

In essence, you feel rich when you focus on what triggers joy in life. Wealth begins as a state of mind.  If you desire to create new kinds of affluence in your life, as you visualize it, then you'll be more likely to realize it. 

Crisis is opportunity

Any problem you perceive or experience, even the worst situations imaginable, actually contains the beginnings of the best possible things that could happen.  You can learn to reframe a crisis as an opportunity. Your point of view determines what seems easy or hard. What becomes far more important is whether you evolve to consider your pursuits to be more satisfying and fulfulling.

Consider entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki went through a difficult period where bankruptcy initially forced him to live in his car with his wife for six months.  They readily admit that was the toughest period of their lives.  Yet, knowing hardship prompted them to develop new faith in themselves.  It encouraged them to trust their dreams. They swallowed their pride, asked for help, took friends up on an offer to l live in a basement and 9 months later, they were back on their feet. Kiyosaki recreates his version of success as a best-selling author, real estate investor and financial advisor.

Consider a young man had a burning desire to pursue a musical career but was repeatedly told he had no talent.  He came  to suffer from low self-confidence, and didn't initially see everything he labelled as a problem was really a self-created illusion.  He opted to become a pharmacist, but he never let go of his dream.  When new friends encouraged him to enter the 2006 Australian Idol contest, he never anticipated winning. Funny, now Damien Leith's native Ireland wants him back! Athought in the process of becoming an Australian citizen, he does not forget his roots.

Both these men come to see they couldn't get rid of their problems by getting angry or trying to understand how people felt around them.  Instead, they had to step back and see it is up to each of us to notice and correct errors in our own thinking.  Each of these men discover inner power to reframe conditions, to view all experiences as part of learning curves and view every perception is a stepping stone.  In essence, they show us perceived problems are exercises in character-building. 

One big message stands out:  to doubt and discourage is like standing in our own way.  Each of us is invited to appreciate all experience and accept ourselves as we are.  Though we create our own personal versions of external success, inner success is given.  Intrinsic worth is always here.

Do you love yourself?

Seeking approval is a sign.  Reaching for approval reveals you doubt yourself.  If you decide not to seek approval, you begin to see that what other people think doesn't reallyaffect who you are inside.   Why? You don't have to be what people desire or expect.  Loving yourself unconditionally means you accept yourself and do not seek to change anything.

As you begin to consider things about yourself you might wish to change, reflect also on people or circumstances that may have prompted you to feel this way. Learn to rise above these influences. Tell yourself honesty triggers a fulfilling life.  Denying innate love and acceptance blocks a human being from living physical existence to the fullest.

"How do we love ourselves? One way is by not seeking approval outside ourselves."

-Byron Katie

Gateway of humility

Humans are taught to think life isn't supposed to be a smooth journey. Many of us have "close calls" where it may seem like death misses us by a whisker. Did you have a close call where you felt it wasn't your time to leave? Did you approach the gateway of humility, a tunnel of light perhaps and realize love is the answer? Maybe you feel a bigger plan is at work?

I knew a girl who was hit by a car and put into a coma. She ended up pulling out of it and later, regaining consciousness.  She indicated her deceased grandmother had told her she'd be back another time.  The doctors didn't believe her. Her family wasn't sure if she was hallucinating. She believes her grandmother is now a guardian angel who protects her.

Alison Dubois' life demonstrates the power of guardian angels. She is the focus of a t.v. show called Medium and author of the best-selling book, "Don't Kiss them Goodbye."

When she was six, Allison's deceased great-grandfather supposedly approached her with a message for her mother: "I am okay, I am still with you. Tell your mom there's no more pain." Allison shared his comforting words with her mother and turned to embrace a lifetime of creating connections between loved ones and the those they have lost who are seldom really far away.

Another purpose of her Alison's gifts surfaced while she was an intern in the homicide bureau of a district attorney's office. Curiously, she began to visualize the crime as she handled evidence. She claims to have regular dreams where people contact her from the other side. Allison listened to her Higher Self and gave up law school aspirations to be a consultant profiler on criminal investigations. Her abilities have also been tested in closed research studies and one of the many test subjects she impressed with her readings turned out to be Deepak Chopra.

Alison trusts her guides and surrenders to a power greater than herself.  This enables her to exist at a high level of conscious awareness, to accept and evolve with changes as the observer inside herself.  Her life is a testament to the benefits of trusting love, energy and guardian angels.  She senses these being make themselves available to assist us providing we ask.