I had just called in, a few moments late, to a seminar hosted by Heather Madder, and those were the first words I heard her speak. I immediately felt a confirmation that what she was saying was true – that I am not alone, but that there are unseen forces at work helping me.

I am studying to learn about the Internet and how to more effectively market my book and coaching services. I sometimes have thoughts that I am alone, and that it is too difficult, and that I cannot do it. Yet Heather says, “The whole universe exists to support what you want to build,” and tells us that we need to have a clear intention and belief that the answers and help we need will come quickly and easily, and that doors will open to pave our way.

Another thought I have frequently is, “I don’t have time to do all I need to.” Heather teaches that we are constantly scripting our own limitations, and that we need to be aware of thoughts like that, which become ‘programs’ we may be creating in our own lives that are holding us back.

We can change those scripts! I decided tonight as I listened to Heather that my old way of thinking and system of beliefs is not serving me! I am going to take her advice and open my spiritual eyes to the help all around me. I will envision, as she suggested, people all around the world, sitting at computers, making connections to help pave the way for my success. She also suggested there are spiritual beings ready to help us as we request that help.

I believe that. I love the promise in the scriptures:

“I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”*

We are not alone!

I believe each of us has something to give to the world. Longfellow said,

“Time is with materials filled;
Our todays and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.”

If we are to build something worthwhile to share with the world, we need to spend our time creating it – and we will need help. And I believe, with Heather, that it is there.

Open your spiritual eyes – and believe – and keep building!

*Doctrine and Covenants 84:88

I shared how I had recently read Aaron Raymond’s book Double Your Income Doing What You Love, where he gives some suggestions for setting goals for improvement. In our goal-setting session tonight, we discussed four of them, one of which I will address here:

Choose to clean up one mess each month.

Aaron says, “Each mess is a lock on the gate that keeps abundance out.” I found that fascinating – and then I read the following paragraph:

“Messes rob you of vitality. Messes teach you that you cannot handle tasks . . . Messes make you cringe. Messes make you apologize to others. Messes diminish you. Messes do not merely belittle you; they actually have a major impact on your financial well-being.”

I believe he is right. Right now if I think about several areas of my home, I do cringe, because there are messes calling out to me, waiting to be addressed.

Aaron suggests considering messes in the following areas:

Your car; your clothes closet; your desktop; your files; your desk drawers; your garage; your basement; your tools; your taxes; your paperwork; your computer; your last will and testament, even your key chain!

I would add: your kitchen drawers; your cupboards; your laundry room; your fruit room; your storage closets and hidden areas. That room or closet that, when you’re not sure where to put something, you open the door, throw it in, and slam the door closed. (Yes, I really did used to have a room like that!)

He says, “The more messes, the more locks on the gate that keep abundance out.” But then he promises: “Every mess you eliminate, no matter how small, brings relief of enormous proportions.”

I want that relief! I am going to follow his suggestion, and every month this year I am going to tackle one of my messes.

In the Bible, Job talks of a “land of darkness . . . without any order . . .” I feel that darkness when I consider the messes in my life. 1 Corinthians 14:40 counsels us, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

I feel so much better when things are “done decently and in order.” I just haven’t made it a priority – until now. One mess a month – I can do that! And just think how much more light - and abundance – will come into my life!

Join me – we can do it together. Invite abundance; reject darkness: Go clean up a mess!

He was so thrilled to receive, and even though it was a tiny trinket, his heartfelt gratitude was obvious. I wondered, what does it take for me to feel that depth of gratitude?

Especially in times of difficulty, how can we find something to be grateful for?

I’ve been studying the works of Leslie Householder lately. Her two books, The Jackrabbit Factor and Hidden Treasures are full of concepts and truths I’ve been searching for and I am now trying hard to understand and put into practice. One principle she teaches is that our very best position, when we are seeking more abundance in our lives, is one of gratitude. She suggests that we need to feel and express gratitude for how things are right now before we can expect more good to flow into our lives.

Thanks to Leslie, this Thanksgiving I have been able to really feel gratitude for some very challenging situations, knowing that truly, it could be so much worse. I can be thankful that it isn’t worse, and I can be grateful for the lessons I am learning, even though they may be painful ones. Truly, there is something good we can learn from every difficult situation.

As I look at my situation with new eyes, I remember the admonition in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I have determined to do so, and so, today, I say, for everything in my life, even, and especially, the challenges:

“Oh, thank you!”

Preposterous?

Of course, but many of us live our lives following just as preposterous a paradigm when it comes to our money.
We think, “If I’m good enough, I will be blessed with all the money I need.”
It sounds great, but it doesn’t follow logically. There are laws governing righteousness, with their attendant consequences and blessings, and there are different, separate laws governing prosperity. If we want to prosper, we need to learn and follow those laws.

I’ve been reading a book by Leslie Householder, The Hidden Laws of Prosperity. She shares the laws she has discovered that have helped her to prosper through some difficult times.

What is prosperity? One dictionary defines it as “successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respect; good fortune.”
That sounds like a worthy goal. Women, especially women alone, need to be successful in their finances.
So just what are those laws?

In Leslie’s terms, they are as follows:
The Law of Perpetual Transmutation – Transmutation is the state of changing from one form to another, moving toward a physical form or moving out of it. Example: vapor turns to rain, then to ice. Perhaps what you desire has not manifested itself in the physical world yet, (just as vapor is not yet rain) but the circumstances required to make that situation a reality are beginning to gather, as a cloud gathers in the sky.
In our lives, circumstances and things are perpetually moving toward manifesting or moving away from it, according to our thoughts.
Example – non-existent to idea to spiritual to physical
An idea held in the mind for a long enough time begins to move from invisible to visible. Hold the idea in your mind until you see fruition!
The Bible tells us to “ask in faith, nothing wavering…” – we must not waver in our righteous desires!  Continue to think about and visualize what you desire.

The Law of Relativity – Our situation is not fundamentally good or bad until we compare it with something else. If we are in a bad spot, we can compare our situation to something much worse, and then we will be able to find something in our situation to be grateful for.  The old adage, “Could be worse!” is true!
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The Law of Vibration – Science tells us that everything on earth is in a state of vibration, and that similar vibrations are attracted to one another. Your thoughts control your personal vibration. Change your thoughts, get emotional about them and you will change what is attracted to you. The more we control our thoughts and bring ourselves into the same vibrations as that which we desire, the more our circumstances will actually reflect the worthy desires of our hearts.

The Law of Polarity – Everything has its opposite. A bad situation also holds good. Look for the good, and more good will come into your life. James E. Faust said, “There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.”
Napoleon Hill said, ‘Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”
As we face our challenges, we must send our fearful thoughts away, find the good in any situation, and know that our desired results always follow a trial of our faith.

The Law of Rhythm – Nature’s movements are cyclical. There is repetition in everything. We see it in the economy and in our daily lives. When you feel down, be assured that an upswing is coming.  This does not mean, however, if you are experiencing a good situation that you have to look forward to a worse time. You will more likely come to a place where you are no longer content to stay where you are, and you will be propelled  – most likely through a challenge – to greater heights.

The Law of Cause and Effect – Action and reaction are equal, in opposite directions. Whatever we send out and give to the world will, by natural law, return to us. We are wise to focus on what we can give. As we seek prosperity for the purpose of doing good, for helping others, for providing the necessities for our families, for paying all of our obligations in a timely and honest manner we will see abundance begin to flow into our lives.

The Law of Gender and Gestation – For life to perpetuate, seeds must be planted, and then they must be nurtured. We cannot rely on the media and the culture surrounding us to plant prosperity idea seeds in our mind. We must choose carefully that which we allow into the garden of our minds. We need to plant our own positive, creative idea seeds, and then be patient.

Gestation refers to the time we must wait to see the fruition of our idea seeds. Don’t uproot the seeds with doubt! The greater our faith and intensity in seeking that which we desire, the sooner we will find it!

How do we increase our intensity?
Pray more fervently
Fast –replace eating with meditation and pondering
Focus our efforts. Work with a purpose and a clear goal.

How do we increase our faith?
Study the scriptures, and
Obey the principles.

The Vacuum Law of Prosperity – Nature abhors a vacuum! Make room for the thing you desire by giving away that which you do not like in your life. When we remove the old negative, doubting thoughts, and fill the vacuum they leave by thinking new, faithful, creative thoughts, we open the door for prosperity! Create a vision to fill that vacuum.

Bob Proctor tells the story of going to visit his aunt. She kept apologizing for her curtains, saying she hated them but couldn’t afford to replace them.

Bob responded: “You don’t hate them! You love them! Subconsciously you are in complete harmony with them. If you hated them, they would be gone. You don’t need new curtains- you don’t have a place to put them if you had them!”

He convinced her to take them down, clean them up, and give them away. The next time he visited her, new curtains hung in her home. She had found a way to purchase new ones once she released the old ones.

So, can we rightly say, “As long as you obey the speed limit, you can shoplift without consequence”? Or, “As long as I’m good enough, I will prosper”?

No.
But we can say, “As I come to know and obey the laws governing prosperity, I will prosper.”

My great hope is that we each may learn these laws, and prosper-in every way – from this day forward.

I listened to Richard Paul Evans’ seminar, The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth, and I learned that only 5% of Americans save up enough during their lifetime to retire comfortably. This, in the richest nation in the world!

Obviously, as a nation we are missing something. There have to be principles that, if followed, can put us – any of us – up in that five percent. So, I am making a study of the “principles of prosperity” (try googling that – I came up with over seven million results!)

As my time is limited, I am studying only the classics of the genre, and those I feel led to read. I’ve started with Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, picking up other books and gleaning from them what I can while working through Mr. Hill’s program.

As I read last night, I was reminded just how vital it is to have a clear goal in mind as we begin any venture. As a matter of fact, that clear goal is the very first item on the list  Napoleon Hill gives of the steps to success:
1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire.
2. Determine what you intend to give in return for the money.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money.
4. Create a definite plan and begin at once(and I thought this next part was fascinating:)whether you are ready or not to put the plan into action. (!)
5. Write a clear Concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire; name the time limit for its acquisition; state what you intend to give in return for the money; and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As you read—SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

He reminds us that our burning desire will help us to visualize and convince ourselves that we WILL acquire the money.

Some of my burning desires?  I want to be self-sustaining throughout my life. I want my children to be able to enjoy having me around, without having to worry about my care and upkeep as I age. I want to be able to help them when needed, with a down payment, with medical needs, with funds for missions for our church, and to have the funds necessary to be able to travel around and visit them and stay close to the grandchildren. (At present my children are spread from Utah to Washington, D.C. – my desire at some point would be to have them all close enough that we could interact regularly, and I could have ‘grandma time’ with the grandchildren weekly – but that is a completely separate topic!)

I would love to have the funds to be able to help support my community, my nation, and the world. My daughter served in Africa last year, and became acquainted with a man running an orphanage/school for seven hundred orphans.  They desperately need new buildings to house them and food to feed them. (see Timothy’sOrphans.org.) My heart aches to hear of their deprivation. Yet his concern is always for others. We recently received a text from this man when he heard of the recession in our country and he wrote: “Are you suffering terribly?” I don’t think I have ever suffered as those children do daily.
I want to help him. To do so, I need to build wealth. To do that, I need to learn the principles. And so goes my quest. For now, I know step one. I need to answer the question: What is my goal?
Perhaps you, too, are seeking a change. It could be greater prosperity, as is mine; it could be healing, it could be a hundred different things. I invite you to join me in setting a clear, definite goal, and to learn from those who have achieved wealth, so that together, we can make this world a better place.

May we all follow these steps – and begin to see the results of our burning desires!

Seeking to bless lives,

Roslyn