Dear Gaye,
“Where your attention goes, your energy flows” is a personal mantra of mine. It’s a foundation principle for us all, because we really do create success or failure depending on where we put our attention.
As you say, avoiding pain is built deep into our fight-or-flight response mechanisms, but if we become focused on what’s causing us pain, we simply create more of it. The trick is to shift our attention from what is causing disturbance in our lives to a desired outcome. Doing this directs our thoughts away from the negative and moves them into an arena where they are free to play and have fun instead.
That sounds really simple and it is, but it’s not always easy!
Most of us have friends or relatives who direct our attention (and therefore energy) toward the negative. Most of us pay attention to the news bulletins on our radios, television sets or Ipads/phones; and the more attention we pay to those things, the worse we feel. We can even make ourselves “sick with worry” about “how bad everything is”.
So we have to get strict with ourselves and those around us. We have to step in and stop something when it becomes obvious that it’s putting our attention toward something that is dragging our energy down.
With friends it can be a simple process of redirecting the conversation towards something else. With the media, it’s a case of tuning out, switching off the endless stream of debilitating words, images and sounds that makes up 99% of all current-affairs/news items.
Just starting with those two simple shifts in behaviour will make a big difference.
On a wider level seeking out sustainable forms of wealth means broadening our approach. In our definition of wealth, we include money, health, love, perfect self expression and spiritual wellbeing. Those are the five elements of Natural Wealth that you and I talk about at www.resonancewithlife.com. It’s important to put our attention equally to all five, because that leads to being fed and nurtured in a truly balanced way.
To answer your specific question about how we deal with coming changes and possible collapses of whole banking systems: my personal view is that although things appear to be calmer right now, we’re on course for hitting a major ice-berg.
We’re already seeing a systematic devaluing of the dollar and euro and this process will continue. It could be that both currencies have to be completely scrapped and re-started (as the Deutschmark was in Germany last century) which would mean a huge re-adjustment for us all.
Something major will have to happen. Western banks can’t continue to add billions to the coffers, because those billions don’t really exist. It’s a confidence trick: nothing more, nothing less. At some point the “toxic” derivative issue will rear its head and then a real panic could set in.
How to deal with this? As ever, do what few people are doing. Buy what is being sold off and sell anything that ties you to any potential banking collapse. To me this means putting attention towards “real” wealth builders, such as gold and silver and rare metals. Real estate in some places will be a good bet too (again, thinking outside the box, and keeping an eye on where China and Russia are putting their money will help).
Aside of that, shifting the emphasis of wealth from being simply about material gain always helps. Keeping our bodies fit, allowing our creative sides to find expression, spending time with loved-ones: all these are just as important as the pursuit of money – and will set us in good stead should our currencies be devalued.
Think of it this way: money is just one form of currency. Health, love, friendship, creation and laughter are also forms of currency. They’re similar exchanges of energy. And they pay us back in ways that are equally nourishing (if not more).
How do we measure our lives? What are our yardsticks of success? Is what we are currently paying attention to adding to our vitality or depleting it?
Those are questions for each of us to answer. As we seek those answers we can remind ourselves that wherever our attention goes, our energy will flow. So, it pays dividends to pay attention to what we are paying attention to!
And I think it also pays to remember that: “Not all the gold of the richest kings is worth the memory of happy things.”
Until next time,
Best wishes,
Richard.
Check out http://www.resonancewithlife.com for our full Natural Wealth Course and other products!
