Stuart Fleming – Teens and Money

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of interviewing Stuart Fleming – the guy who teaches your kids how to handle their money. Enthusiastic as a cat with a goldfish bowl, he’s on a mission to turn your teen into an independent, money-respecting, success-creating individual. And how does he do it? I wanted to know the answer to this very question.

“I’m like a kid in a candy store” Stuart tells me. Whilst I’m wondering how this translates into a message that encourages young people on how to handle their money, it’s not long before Stuart’s infectious enthusiasm for teen independence brings a whole new level of clarity to our discussion.

He tells me about his uncanny ability to see the potential in every young person or situation. And you can see why. His years of experience with the National Scout Association have been a fabulous opportunity for connecting with young people and discovering how to help them realise their potential. In particular, Stuart’s ability to get teens thinking about money management means that they have the solid foundation in life to enable them to chase their dreams and not the dollar.

Stuart has built a wealth of life experience building up a toolkit of interpersonal and communication skills, and particularly refining his personal formula of how to manage money in a modern world. He recommends that positive wealth habits are encouraged early, and he’s just the one for the job. His natural curiosity and zest for life (like being a kid in a candy store) gives him the edge to share his message effectively to where it is most needed.

Stuart doesn’t just support young people in New Zealand. Having launched a CD set on helping parents to help their children, a portion of each sale provides school supplies for an underprivileged child in Peru. His ability to make a difference on a global level is thanks to Buy1Give1; a simple system that matches inspired businesses with worthy causes – making sure that every cent goes directly to where it is needed.

So what one thing should parents be doing to support their children to become independent? Stuart asks us to ponder the question: “What are you doing that they could be doing for themselves?”

Find our more about Stuart at http://moneymindsetmob.com/

Goal Setting for Success

So you’ve done the preparation for setting goals by reading the post Preparing to Set Goals here

You’ve got your Wheel of Life and have written in the centre circle, you six life priorities/areas of life that are important to you.

Step 1: Consider your vision of Success

Take each life area and reflect on what ultimate success and happiness would mean to you. What would this area of your life looked like if you couldn’t be any more fulfilled or satisfied? Close your eyes and visualise ultimate success. Consider what you would be doing, seeing, feeling, sensing, saying..

Write your vision of success in a notepad or your favourite journal, then write down an actual event that would occur if you had realised your vision. For example, in your family and relationships section, you might have visualised having a happy and harmonius time with your family. An actual event might be to take an hour’s walk with your daughter, sharing thoughts and time together without arguing. If it was health – perhaps enough energy to not be exhausted when you take a dance class. If it was wealth perhaps you’d be able to pay all of your bills on time, and have enough left over to cover your basic needs.

Summarise this vision in the Final Goal section of the Wheel of Life by writing a few words or thoughts. If you can name specific details like timescales or numbers to measure success this would be great, if not, it doesn’t matter – it’s the visualisation and target for success that is important.

Do this for each of your life areas.

Step 2: Consider your level of Satisfaction with your Life

Now you are going to rate how satisfied you are with each of your life areas. This is your level of satisfaction (not your level of achievement) with where you are in that area right now. This is a measurement of your feeling of satisfaction. Let us say your overall wealth vision was to be completely debt-free and you knew how much money it would take to be so. You might be a long way off with reaching your final vision, but you may be completely satisfied with what you are currently doing to get you there and give yourself a score that showed you were totally satisfied.

It’s ok to not be very satisfied – when this exercise is first done; you may feel overwhelmed with how dissatisfied you are. This is ok. The good news is that we are going to work on improving this.

Use the following scale to rate your satisfaction:

0 = worse it could be/totally unsatisfied
10 = best it could be/totally satisfied

Write each satisfaction number anywhere inside each slice so you can easily see the rating. Don’t spend a great deal of time doing this. Work quickly going with your first feeling or thought.

Draw a line across each slice depending on your level of satisfaction for that area. So for example, if you have rated something 0, you will draw a small line just going over the very tip of the slice, if you have rated it five, you will draw a line halfway across the slice – I imagine it as having a piece of pie and deciding how much I am going to cut off from the tip, a small piece or a larger piece. Do this for each of the slices, and you will have something that looks like a spiders web.

So now, you have your Wheel of Life, divided into segments, one for each area of your life that is important to you and each slice has been labeled with these areas. You have your ultimate vision for success and you have also rated each area on a scale of 0 to 10.

Step 3 : Choose an area of your life to work on

Now from your six life segments, choose one area of your life you’d most like to see some improvement, or would like to work on that isn’t a 10.

Your plan for achieving your vision of success is to take one small step at a time. You only know what is in the ‘here and now’ so we not going to try to plan the future out. One small step towards your vision, whilst maintaining your vision, is all you need to do. Small steps in the right direction will be much more effective that many steps in the wrong direction!

Step 4: Consider your Options

On a piece of paper, write down all the things that would take you one step closer to your vision. If you decided that you would like to have one vegetarian meal a week you might think of all the ways to go about doing this – eat out, buy sushi, cook for yourself, ask someone to help you etc etc.

Decide on what you want to do from your list of options, and what you will do within the next 24-48 hours. In the First Journey Goal section, write down your action(s). This is very important. It requires you to demonstrate to yourself that you can and will take action to work towards your vision. For example, phone a friend or book an appointment, go to the library and find some books on the subject you are interested in. Consider all of the things you could do, and select the one that you want to do, and will do.

Take a look at what might prevent you from achieving your action. Do you need to schedule some free time? Do you need support or advice from someone else? You’ll need to manage these barriers and perhaps set yourself some additional management actions that will ensure you complete your intended action. You can write these actions in the Barriers section of the Wheel of Life and take action to manage them!

Decide on when you are going to take action and commit yourself to doing it. Self-discipline and demonstrating to yourself that you can take control is very important. Don’t set yourself actions that are too large or unrealistic for you to achieve. Small steps.

Step 5: Take Action!

Do whatever it is you planned to do!

Step 6: Review your Vision

Over time you might find you vision of success changes. Often we find we do things and then find ourselves on a different route! This is a journey. You have the freedom to seek out your ultimate vision and to change it. It’s your life. Refine your vision and your vision will become stronger and clearer with each small step you take. As your vision becomes stronger, so will you, and your ability to get there. You can do it!

Preparing to Set Goals

If you haven’t done so already Create your Vision by reading this Post .

So you’ve now got a rough idea of what it is you desire in your life. Before we move onto creating some actions, let us take a look at your strengths. You will have many. Your strengths will be so natural to you that you may not be consciously aware of them. You do have them. We all do.

Think about one thing you have done that you feel a sense of achievement. This is something you have done well, or a challenge that you have overcome – physical, emotional, spiritual doesn’t matter.

What did you do?

For example:

• You helped someone in need
• Escaped a dangerous situation
• Created a loving and harmonious home under financial constraints
• Hosted an excellent party or event

What personal strengths did you use in this situation? Based on the items above, your strength might have been:

• The ability to listen, communicate and show empathy
• The ability to take action at the right time, courage, ability to overcome fear, independence
• You are resourceful, responsible, caring, reliable, positive role-model
• You are great planner and organizer, fun and social, a natural host and entertainer

You have far more strengths that you realize. Strengths come easily to you, that’s why it can be difficult to identify them. Strengths are things that other people would say about you, they are things that make you different, things that make you the person that people would say – oh, we need to get so and so to do that.

Write down your top five strengths and consider how you have used them. If you prefer, write down the top five strengths you are working on developing, or would like to have more of.

Why do we need to focus on our strengths? When we focus on what we are good at, and what brings us joy, the rest disappears. If we do not invest in our weaknesses, they do not have energy. If we do not give our weaknesses energy, they will not be attracted into our experience.

Goal Setting for Success

Copy or print out the PDF document  Wheel of Life

Step 1: Idenify your Life Segments

Using the Priority/centre section of the Wheel, write down six areas that make up your life today, that are important to you. Think of your life as a pie, and each slice, represents an area of your life. So for example, some of the things that you might include are: 

• Meaningful Work/Career
• Time for Self
• Service & Contribution
• Health
• Wealth
• Love & Romance
• Family & Friends
• Personal Development (Mental, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical)
• Enjoyment and Excitement
• Travel & Freedom

Step 2: Refining your Vision (optional)

So you’ve got your long list of Be, Do, Have’s from the Create your Vision exercise. Now you are going to consider each one on the list and ask yourself whether it positively contributes to any of your six chosen life segments. This is an optional exercise, but it can help you to think a little more about your immediate priorities. If the items on your list do positively contribute to your life segments, then give it a tally mark.

So let us look at an example:

Let’s suppose that Frank considered the following Life Segments are important to him:

• Family
• Career
• Wealth
• Time for Self
• Travel & Enjoyment
• Health

Frank’s Be, Do, Have List (part thereof..)

1. Have a Harley motorcycle
2. Play Golf every week
3. Be an excellent father to my children
4. Write a book on Leadership in the workplace
5. Be debt-free
6. …….and so on

So starting with number 1 on the list. Have a Harley Motorcycle. He gives a tally mark against this item for each area of his life this positively contributes to. He decides: Family (No), Career (No), Wealth (No), Time for Self (Yes), Travel & Enjoyment (Yes), Health (Yes). He gives this item 111 tally marks.

Item 2. Golf every week. Frank decides that he has little time for his self and if he could give one thing to himself each week it would contribute to all areas of his life. He puts six tally marks against this item.

He looks at item 3 which is about being an excellent father to his children. He decides: Family (Yes), Career (Yes), Wealth (NoYes), Time for Self (No), Travel & Enjoyment (Yes), Health (Yes). Frank decides that his career would improve if he made sure he was home for dinner every evening and learnt to delegate responsibility. He originally thought that being a good father might drain his bank account, then he thought that if they spent more time as a family then he might not feel the need to spend so much money on them out of guilt! Whether you agree or disagree with Franks choices, this is a subjective exercise – it’s just a way to get you thinking!

So go through your Be, Do, Have list and compare it against your life priorities. Once you have done this, you might want to rank your list starting with those with the most tally points. This excerise helps you to focus on what is really important to you and what you want to make happen!

What’s your Vision?

People who create a life of their dreams, usually have some sense of knowing what their dreams are. I say this loosely because there are many ways to go about creating what we desire. As human beings we are multifaceted. We have physical, emotional, spiritual and mental intelligence and if we go deeper, there is a universal intelligence running through all of us – call it the intelligence of Life, if you like.

You may have an intelligence that takes the driving seat – some of us prefer rationale and logic, some of us primarily use a feeling-based intelligence. I have met people who have no vision for the future, yet are perfectly content and at ease with the present moment. I have also met people who are passionate about creating change, and have a clear vision of the world in which they want to live. Whatever is most natural for you, and brings you great joy is right. Don’t let anyone tell you to be who you are not. Who you are, is just fine.

To explore your other intelligences can bring you much awareness and balance into your life. Goal setting is a structured way to create change. It can help to know where you are going, or where you desire to go – otherwise you’ll end up somewhere else and say “how did I get here?” When you create a vision, your mind instructs your subconscious to ‘go fetch’.

Create your Vision

Creating your vision is about examining what’s in your heart. Creating your vision can involve the question “who am I and what am I here for?” This can involve a journey that extends beyond the realm of the mind. Creating your vision can involve examining the purpose of your life. But there is a simple exercise you can do right now that will get you started..

Your Be, Do, Have List

Ask yourself:

• Who would I like to Be? 
• What would I like to do?
• What would I like to have?

List every single thing you want to be in your life, everything you would like to do, and have in your life. No rules. Be honest – if you are after that Porsche then put it down, we are not filtering or prioritizing or judging at this stage but consider yourself a whole person, consider your wants, desires, your feelings and thoughts.

Consider what you want from your relationships. Let’s say that you want to be a good parent, or friend. How you want to spend your time. Let’s say you want to visit the Great Wall of China. What experiences you want to have. Let’s say you want to experience the thrill of a bungee jump. How do you want to feel?

Don’t exclude something that you want because you can’t work out the how. These are all personal thoughts and they are not what you think you ‘should’ do, these are things that you ‘want’. It is so important for you to draw this distinction.

So – write what comes into your mind. These are dreams. Look backwards and imagine you were reflecting on your life. What is it that you will want to have achieved or be remembered for? Aim for at least 30 items on your list.

You might want to consider the following life categories:

• Meaningful Work
• Time for Self
• Service & Contribution
• Health
• Wealth
• Love & Romance
• Family & Friends
• Personal Development (Mental, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical)

Now that you’ve given yourself permission to open up possibilities, you will find that ideas will come to you over the course of the next few days. Keep your Be, Do, Have list with you and keep writing. It doesn’t matter if this list changes tomorrow, just go with what you know today. Aim for at least 100 things on your list!

Consider your Vision

Once you’re satisfied that your list, sit quietly and review it. Is there a vision emanating from your list? For example, my list included details of writing, sharing, travelling, learning, and expressing. Over time, as I focused on what I wanted from my life, I realized that I wanted to be a student, teacher, healer and philosopher. I wanted to learn about connecting with the Divinity in life, to live a life of passion and free expression and to share it with others.

It doesn’t matter why I have this vision, and it matters not why you have yours. You need not justify yourself. The ‘how’ doesn’t matter. So when you’re working on your vision, you don’t need to be concerned about how you will realize your vision. Your job is to set one.

Write: It seems that I have a vision to…

Your vision can change. It doesn’t have to feel complete or accurate. Just do the best you can in this moment.

Build your own Website

Times are changing. Gone are the days when we have to find a professional website developer and handover hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars to have a good simple website presence. It is time for self-empowerment and that includes being empowered and in control of your business exposure. Website designers do a fabulous job – you’re likely to need them for anything more than a basic website. There’s a whole science behind the design of an information system that is user-friendly but if you’re a small business with a requirement for a few online pages then you can do it yourself.

I’ll soon be adding my thoughts and experiences on getting your business cards, newsletters and online advertising up and running so watch this space and leave a comment on what it is that would be helpful for you to know..

Take our website, Life Academy Online - yes I have an IT background but my website development experience is self-taught. It just requires time, patience, persistence and the ability to work through some logical steps. Ignoring the vast amount of time required to design the site just as we wanted, the actual money handed-over was $20 upfront and then about $10 per month hosting. There have been fees for images used but this is an optional extra.

I feel a little hesitant sharing with you what I know, only because I don’t want you to get ‘in a pickle’ and then I’m not around to help you out. However, it’s worth giving it a go and if you come unstuck then you haven’t lost a huge amount of money, perhaps a little bit of time and you just might need to book some chillout-time to get over the frustration. I’m also going to share with you my formula using the products and services that I know and work for me. This is not the only way, it may not be the best way, but it’s my way. If you are happy to work independently, happy to ‘suss’ things out for yourself and feel at ease at the thought of learning as you go along then you might just do it! 

1. Get yourself a Website address (optional – please read)

So – the first thing is your domain name. This is the website address you will use for your website. Choosing the best name can be a lengthy discussion in itself but bear in mind what you want people to search on, and are then matched to your address. You’ll need to decide whether your website address is the name of your company or a description of the services you offer. For example: I could set up a website called yourpurposeconsulting.co.nz which is the name of my company or I could call it spiritedbusiness.co.nz which describes what I do. What are people most likely to search on? It all depends on how you will market yourself and how you want to be considered. I once set up a website with theemergingpath.com – I liked the name of it but who thought to search on that when looking for coaching services? With The Life Academy of New Zealand we knew we wanted our website address to represent our company name in some way and people do search on ‘life academy’ now that the word is out.

One very useful tool to help you decide is Google’s Keyword Selector Tool. You can type in a word or phrase and you will be told how many people have searched on that term and what the competition is. The more people that search on a term, the greater you’ll find the amount of website results being returned. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 

Another thing to do is to google the words you are thinking of using in your address and see what else is being returned. It’s an interesting exercise as these are the websites you’ll be planning on joining if you use these search terms. The bottom line is go for what makes you feel good, what sounds good and you’ll be proud of shouting about! I also do a numerology check on the phrase to see if it vibrates the intent that is behind our business. I’ll hopefully get some notes on how to do that, up soon, and link from here.

Another thing is deciding whether you go for a .com or .co.nz extension. This will depend on whether your business is primarily international or New Zealand based. So once you’ve got some ideas you’ll need to see if it is available and purchase it. Google ‘register domain’ and you’ll be given plenty of choice. I’ve used freeparking.co.nz for NZ addresses and domain.com for international ones. I’m a creature of habit. Once something works for me, I don’t change if I’m happy with the service I’m getting. I purchase the straight address with no hosting add-ons or extras and pay about $20.

Alternatively, your hosting provider can obtain your new website address for you at the same time as setting up your hosting. This will remove steps 3 & 4. I tend to keep things separate so I retain full control – there’s probably not a great deal of extra benefit but I since I purchase more than one domain name and only have one hosting account this is why I do it separately.

2. Get yourself some Hosting.

So you’ve got a website address! The next thing you need is a home for your website. This is called hosting. Hosting is basically the equivalent of having your website stored on someone else’s computer that can be seen on the Internet and is secure. Now – there will be loads of options on this. Hosts generally provide a range of services including unlimited email addresses based on your new website address, automated website builders and all sorts of things to help you manage your own site. Website design companies usually provide hosting as part of the design package deal and may provide you with direct access to your site for modification or may not. Since we are doing the D-I-Y thing you’ll need to set-up your own.

I use Dot5Hosting www.dot5hosting.com in the US. I’m all for using New Zealand based services where I can but I know my way around dot5hosting and at about $5.00 USD a month hosting fee it works for me. Please note that I have no incentive to recommend any service to you. Sometimes the support offered by dot5hosting is excellent, sometimes it’s not. On the whole, I’m a happy customer.

Whatever hosting company you use, you will need to make sure they provide support for installing/using ‘WordPress’ as part of the package. We’ll talk about WordPress later but basically this is the website platform you will be using for free. Google ‘website hosting’ and take a look to see what’s on offer.

3. Point your website address to your hosting account

If you bought your website address separately to your hosting, you’ve got a website address and somewhere to ‘house’ your website. You’ll need to let your website domain provider who has the authority for your domain name. This is called updating the Domain Name Servers (DNS). Log-in to your domain account you purchased your address through e.g. freeparking and go to the part of the account where you manage your domain. Find the area for updating the ‘Domain Name Servers’. Your hosting account will tell you what the domain name servers (DNS) need to be changed to – if you can’t find out, ask the support team for your hosting account. For dot5hosting you change DNS 1 to : ns1.dot5hosting.com and DNS 2 to : ns2.dot5hosting.com This basically gives the authority to dot5hosting for your domain name.

4. Add your Domain name to your Hosting account

In your hosting account, you’ll need to add your domain name. Depending on which hosting provider you use, you may be asked your domain name when setting up or they might offer to  In dot5hosting this is ‘Add Registered Domain to Account’. You’ll just need to type your website address in. In Domain Pointing Manager your website domain address should be pointing to your Home Directory. Your Home Directory is the home/public_html folder. In file manager you’ll see a filing structure – your wordpress will be installed to the public_html folder.

5. Choose a WordPress Template

This step could be done later and it might also be a good idea to do this before step number 1 so you can decide whether you like WordPress. WordPress is an open source (freely available) blogging platform. Blog is short for Web Log – meaning a number of journal entries (posts) that are regularly updated on the internet – a bit like an online journal. Blogs usually include:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organised into categories
• An archive of older articles
• A way for people to leave comments about the articles
• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.

WordPress is a blogging platform that enables you to create more permanent pages of information such as details about your services, your contact information etc and a series of blogs (posts) where you can regularly update your website with interesting and relevant information. There will be inbuilt functionality that will enable your visitors to interact with you by leaving comments to your posts.

Visit www.wordpress.org and read up about having a wordpress website. Go to Extend > Themes Directory and choose a template that you would like for your website. Once you have selected a site, download it to your computer by pressing on download.

WordPress is free because it is open source. This means that people have developed the wordpress technology and made it available for public distribution. You have no exclusive rights over the template you use (as others can choose it also) and have no authority if you find an error. However most developers are so keen to keep improving their work that they are always improving and fixing faults. Having said that, WordPress sites are tested and approved before going live and I have never had a problem.

5. Install the WordPress platform

Hopefully you have got a hosting account that enables automatic install of wordpress. In dot5hosting you’ll find it under Scripting & Add-ons > Install Central > Blogs > WordPress. If not then you’ll need to read up on how to manually install WordPress on the wordpress.org site – Good Luck – that’s unknown territory for me!

You’ll be asked to give your Blog a name, create a username and password that you will use to log-in to your wordpress website and choose the domain name that the wordpress will install to – you’ll only have one option which is your website address. Leave the installation sub directory field blank and tick the box ‘yes install to this directory’. By leaving this field blank wordpress will install at the highest level of your home directory (public_html). Select ‘create a database automatically’.

Note: If you completed anything in this installation directory field you would be entering the name of a subfolder i.e. public_html/nameofsubfolder. I tend to install to a subfolder because I have more than one website in my home directory (public_html).

Follow the onscreen instructions and wordpress will install. You’ll be told that your wordpress installation was successful and the name of the URL. If you go to this URL you will see the default wordpress theme installed. Note that at this stage, the www. is missing from the URL.

If you go back to vdeck > Scripting & Add-ons > WordPress you’ll be given the URL address of the admin screen to start making changes to your site. It will be your URL (minus the www.) with /wp-login.php at the end.

For info: take a look in your file structure in the public_html folder and you’ll see the wordpress install files there.

6. Add the www. 

Two important things to share. Login with your username and password (the ones you gave when you installed wordpress) and go to Settings. In the Blog address (URL) field add the www. to the name of the URL.Update. This means that you can now type the full URL including the www. and get to your website.

7. Very important – Prevent Spam

The next thing you should do it Activate the Akismet plugin which protects your website from Spam. Since your website enables comments, there are many people out there automatically spreading rubbish and linking to inappropropriate websites. If you don’t activate your Spam filter you’ll wake up with 20 comments you won’t want to display and might get banned by google. Protect yourself.

Go to Plugins and follow the instructions for activating Akismet. This basically requires you to create a free account at wordpress.com and obtain a key (passcode) from your account details. You enter this key when you activate Akismet.

8. Upload your chosen theme

You can use the file upload on file manager to upload your theme folder inside the wp-content/themes. You’ll need to unzip the downloaded theme folder or at least open it and copy the contents to a new location. If you upload the whole zip folder you’ll find it won’t open. It’s best to download some free FTP (file transfer protocol) software which allows you to quickly transfer files from your computer into your hosting account. Google ‘free FTP software’. Once you’ve got some software then in your hosting account you’ll need to create an FTP account or use one already created. This provides you with a username and password to enter into your FTP software to create the secure connection to your hosting account. It’s worth taking the time to do this so you can quickly transfer images and other files across in future.

7. Control User Registrations

Another basic thing I do is go to Settings > General and make sure the following box is not ticked ‘anyone can register’. If this is ticked, people can create their own accounts and publish blogs on your site. I retain control of this and for the Academy, we invite people to blog and we create accounts for invited guests.

8. Display your new theme

Log-in to your wordpress account, go to find the Themes section – if you’ve uploaded the complete theme folder inside ‘themes’ then you’ll see it there and all you have to do is click on it.

9. Have a Browse

Take a look around your wordpress admin and get to know what is there to play with. Full suppport documentation is available on www.wordpress.org

Final Words

Without my explanation, if you get yourself a good hosting account that uses WordPress www.wordpress.org then the documentation and support will help you get there by yourself! I hope I have shown that it is do-able. Once you’ve done it once, you’ll be able to do it again and help all of your friends!

Signs of Life

The world is made up of sounds and symbols. Sounds and symbols are expressions that are loaded with a message or meaning. This meaning can be transitory – that is, this meaning can change to us each day as we are a forever moving, changing system. We are subjected to symbols everyday but unless we are open to receiving a deeper meaning then they may go unnoticed.

Numbers and letters are symbols and if you’re studied Numerology you will have looked at the symbols and meanings in your name and date of birth. Sounds are external expressions of meaning and is a potent force in our lives, that like symbols, can be used to bring much awareness and healing into your life. For example, the “AH” sound, in whatever key or tone feels comfortable for them is an extremely powerful sound–particularly useful for generating peace and compassion. Connecting with the symbols present in our everyday life can connect us with a level of understanding and meaning about our existence and experiences.

We are all familiar with the concept that dreams are symbolic of what is happening deep within our psyche and our daily life is no different. We are bombarded with more information than we are actually aware of  – therefore by taking notice of our observations, especially when events or ‘things’ appear unusual or out of the ordinary, we can become an active observer of who we are in this dream called ‘life’.

The 5 Signs of Life

Here is a simple exercise to discover where you are in your life right now, using symbols. The exercise is based on the excellent work and fantastic book by Angeles Arrien – Signs of Life – The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them. I first did this exercise myself at a Development Group not knowing of its origin, later coming across the book by Angeles when I was reading one of her other titles. I imagine her work is spreading across the globe, and I am sure you will find it insightful.

Angeles discovered that there are five basic shapes that appear in all cultures, and that all people give similar meanings to these shapes. There is a connection between the preference we have for certain shapes and our inner-state. That is, shapes are external symbols for what is going on inside us (our worldview). To undertake this exercise is to help awaken and further your understanding of yourself.

Let’s make a start..

Important: Go through each of these steps in sequence. Do not read ahead.

Draw the above shapes in order of your preference starting with your most preferred and finishing with your least preferred. Don’t think about it too much – this shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds.

A brief meaning of the Shapes

Circle = wholeness
Square = stability
Triangle = goals and dreams
Cross = relationships
Spiral = growth

Meaning of the Preference Position

Preference 1. Where you think you are. Your most preferred position. What you are most aware of right now. Where you are most comfortable. BUT. This does not mean where you actually are

Preference 2. Your strengths. Whether you know it or not, this is the strength that you demonstrate without effort. This is part of your nature that is currently strong and that you are using to assist in the growth of preference 3.

Preference 3. Whilst you have ranked this as your 3rd preference, this shape is very significant. This is where you actually are right now. This is what is going on for you right now, most likely subconscious and without knowing.

Preference 4. Your motivation. Past challenges, tests and circumstances that have motivated your current process of change and brought you to where you are right now in position three. You may have resolved or moved beyond the things that are in this position.

Preference 5. Old, unfinished business. Least preferred. That which you have outgrown, dislike, resist or judging. Unresolved issues that you now wish to put aside. You will reclaim at a later date, this is not what you need to work on in the present.

Analyse your Signs of Life

Circle

The circle is about wholeness, independence, seeking identity, standing strong in who you are as an individual. Need for space, love and respect. Fear of entrapment. If you know someone going through this, give them space, let them contact you.

If the circle is:
Preference 1. Your desire for independence currently has your attention.
Preference 2. The journey of individuality is effortless to you.
Preference 3. The process of individuation is happening right now for you.
Preference 4. A past journey of finding your individuality has motivated you to become self-reliant.
Preference 5. You may be resisting or denying this process. What areas do you need to be more courageous? What would you do if you had a strong sense of self?

Square

Stability and security, process and hard-work. Four corners, four directions, four seasons, the foundations for life. Actions speak louder than words. Great for getting things done but a tendency to control and be impatient with others.

Preference 1. Stability and authenticity are important to you right now.
Preference 2. Your inherent strengths are responsibility and the ability to be fully committed.
Preference 3. Stability is occurring at the core of your nature right now.
Preference 4. Past issues around accountability and responsibility have led you to where you are now.
Preference 5. You may be denying the process of stability and responsibility. How can you integrate stability, responsibility and process into your life without compromising what is important to you right now?

Triangle

Goals, visions, dreams. Those of you in this process will feel loved and accepted when others share your dreams and goals. The triangle is the shape for attainment and new possibilities.
Preference 1. The process of setting a vision and goals is important to you right now.
Preference 2. You carry the gift of vision naturally.
Preference 3. This process of envisionment is central to your current development.
Preference 4. Your own process of following dreams has motivated you to make meaningful changes and moved you to where you are now, as designated by the symbol in your position three.
Preference 5. You may be resisting the process of honoring your dreams and setting goals. Why is this? Do you know how to set goals?

The Cross

Relationship. The sign symbolizes the process of relationship and integration. It is about balance. This sign carries the need for connection – to a project, to another person, to yourself. Honor time for shared activities. Fear of loss and abandonment.

Preference 1. Relationships is what is most important to you right now.
Preference 2. The shared journey is effortless. You build relationships easily, you communicate well.
Preference 3. The relationship process is occurring right now.
Preference 4. A past shared journey has inspired you to become more attentive to partnership and teamwork
Preference 5. You may be ignoring the importance of partnership and relationships in your life.

Spiral

Growth and evolution. You will see the same things in a different light. Strong need for variety, novelty and change. Dread routine. Capable of doing multiple tasks well. Flexibility is important. Creative phase.

Preference 1. Process of growth is most important to you
Preference 2. Easy and effortless for you to handle change
Preference 3. You are currently engaged in the process of change
Preference 4. Challenged in the past to make significant changes in your life. Doing this work has prepared you for what you have placed in position 3.
Preference 5. You are unlikely to show interest in growth and change at this time.

Consider and Reflect

Consider the relationships between the shapes and the preferences you have given them.
Tensions exist between the processes of 1 and 5. For example a spiral in 1 and square in 5 shows that you may yearn for change, but part of you is attached for stability and security and as a result may feel unwilling to make the change.
Preference 3 is the key to resolving the conflict between the positions 1 and 5. For example, if you have a square in position 1, and a spiral in position 5 and a circle in position 3, your desire for stability (square in 1) is in conflict with your unacknowledged need for change (spiral in 5), the key to resolution is in supporting your current need for independence (circle in 3).

It is an interesting exercise to do with your partner or close friends. Share with one another what you have and see if there are areas of compatibility or conflict. If you are currently needing time alone (circle) to find yourself as an individual, and your partner yearns for connection and companionship then you’ve got some talking to do about honouring your needs!

If you are in the field of coaching or healing (or any role where the question ‘where are you right now’ is pertinent) then this can be a simple exercise to get the discussion going.

All credit has to be given to Angeles Arrien so look out for the book Signs of Life, to learn more!

The Radical Change in Business

Masami’s own story might help you answer that question.

Discovering the missing connection
As a child growing up in Japan, Masami found herself unexpressed within the conservative Japanese culture. Whilst

she talks fondly of her cultural heritage and the beauty of the Japanese people, her own experience of ‘disconnect’ at school and within her family environment left her with a desire to discover her own sense of independence and individuality. Masami longed to find the deeper sense of connection and joy in life that she had been missing.
At the age of twenty, with Japanese as her only language, Masami left Japan for Canada. Despite the language barriers she encountered, she continued to travel across the world, spending time in developing and developed countries, connecting and communicating with all whom she met on her path. 

Over the years, Masami transformed from someone void of self-expression and connection into a highly successful social entrepreneur with a deep sense of purpose and passion. She seems to naturally empower, influence and lead and she does that now with ease both one-on-one and when addressing audiences of 3000 people.

Giving creates more
As she speaks to me during our interview, her words express humility and gratitude for life and her enthusiasm naturally emanates with a heart-felt message of connection through creating community. I was eager to find out what Masami had learnt from travelling so extensively and what it was that led her to discover the joy that resulted in the creation of the global giving movement known as Buy1GIVE1™. She expressed it this way:

“I realised that having a sense of connection was everything in life. For me, it is more important to care for the people in my life than anything else. As soon as I realised this, my life started to fill with joy and happiness. Amazingly, I started to attract more opportunities in life as well. I wanted to share this with other people and in particular, how important it is to give to other people beyond our direct family, seeing us as one big global family where we give and receive with each other.

As parents we give to our children – acknowledgement, love, care, and attention. When we start giving those things freely, including to our wider sense of family and community, we experience more joy. The real sense of joy and happiness actually comes from giving, caring and contributing not from getting things. We do so many things in life in order to get something, however, what follows after getting the thing we want is often the feeling of emptiness or desire to have more.

Giving more is the secret of having more and experiencing more. It actually creates more abundance, more fulfilment in our life ”.

During Masami’s travels, she worked as a chef. This enabled her to nurture her passion for creating a sense of community and connection through the enjoyment of food. This passion led to her creating a national frozen gourmet food production company in Australia which was founded with one of her current Buy1GIVE1 business partners, David Anttony.

“We wanted to create a business model that contributed back to society and be in touch with people’s lives every day. We realised that even though we had this big vision, as an independent business it would take many years if we continued working on our own. With our food company, we realised we could give from every single transaction by feeding a child every time a meal was bought. At the moment we decided to share this concept with others around the world, Buy1GIVE1™ was born.

Transaction-based giving – Buy1GIVE1™

So Buy1GIVE1 is a giving programme that is creating a new giving movement around the world, converting every single transaction into Buy1GIVE1 based giving. Every time somebody buys something, something positive happens around the world. For example, imagine that every time we went to a restaurant and had a meal we fed a child, every time we bought a book we planted a tree, or every time we went to see a doctor a child receives healthcare. This is Buy1GIVE1.

 

 

 

 

Buy1GIVE1 is about making a difference. The only way to making dramatic change in the world economy or environment is for us all to give more everyday. And because consumerism is everywhere the easiest way to tie that together is to make every transaction about giving action. Whether you are a business owner, a worthy cause, or a consumer, there is a way for you to connect with Buy1GIVE1”.

Transforming the world through joy of giving
Masami has relocated to Singapore to operate Buy1GIVE1 with her business partners David Anttony and Paul Dunn; a high successful multiple-time business entrepreneur and mentor. After just 18 months in operation, Buy1GIVE1 has spread t 12 countries around the world. Now that Buy1GIVE1 is established, I asked Masami what her personal mission is today.

“What is really behind Buy1GIVE1 is about creating joy. We seem to want more and more in our life yet we are missing something inside whether that is a sense of purpose, a sense of connection, or sense of contribution. Buy1GIVE1 brings in that sense of connection in every single activity as opportunity for us to be grateful for what we have in the world. Buy1GIVE1 can create joy in everyone’s lives. It’s about making a change, and it’s about making that change within ourselves

Our mission is sharing this way of doing business with many others to see the world where every activity of our life gives back. I would like to see every business on the planet to become a giving business working together with its customers and team members to make a difference together every day”.

Masami’s journey is one of finding joy through the release of the old, of finding gratitude in everything we do and everything we have. Her story reminds us that whilst we are called to connect with a sense of vision and purpose that leads us in business, we are not to become so focussed on creating change in the future that we miss out on the joy that we are experiencing today. As Masami said to me “the world is going to change anyway. But we can only choose to experience the joy of life now”.  Visit Buy1GIVE1™ online at www.b1g1.com and start to share in the joy of giving.

“The real change happens from simple joy of giving and caring” Masami Sato, the founder of Buy1GIVE1™

Survive the Financial Crisis and 2012

An Interview with Barbara Goldsmith

Barbara Goldsmith (M.B.A., CeFA, CeMAP, Cergi) is an Astrologer and a qualified professional Financial Advisor who works with clients all over the world. Her combination of skills, knowledge, experience and passion makes her an extremely attractive person to interview and I was delighted that Barbara took me up on the invitation.

In order to preserve the integrity of her message, I have chosen to present it as a transcript of our conversation.

Welcome Barbara. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. I’ve read about you on your websites, but tell us about what you ‘do’.

I’ve been doing Astrology for the last thirty years. I had my first reading when I was 19 and then went on to study it in detail. I run workshops; I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of readings and have recently written a book about Astrology. I’ve got another three books I’m working on at the moment.

What attracted you to Astrology?

Astrology for me has the scientific bent as well as the artistic side, so it really stretches me. I needed to understand mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, psychology and the planets. It brings together so many different disciplines. Astrology can be studied on so many different levels: medical astrological, financial, relationship, mundane- which is looking at world events and what’s happening now. Cycles very often repeat themselves and Astrology can help us be a little bit more prepared in our personal and global lives and prepare for what’s really coming ahead.

You’re a qualified financial advisor – to what extent does this merge with Astrology?

The financial part started about 10-12 years ago when I had my own property investment and financial business in London. It was successful and I undertook all of my financial exams: my financial advisors, mortgages etc and got all the qualifications I thought I needed to drive people, including studying stock markets. I’m fascinated by everything to do with finance and how to help people avoid it ruling their lives. So we’re not a slave to finance but we can be the master of our finance both on a personal and a global level.

I can do astrological finance, which combines the two disciplines, so I’m accomplished at helping people on an astrological basis in a financial way. My other hat is being purely a financial and business advisor and very much keeping my eye on what’s happening around the world. I help to protect people’s wealth and also advise people who don’t have so much finance as to what they can do, so the global financial change isn’t a whole doom and gloom thing for the planet. It doesn’t have to be that way – that’s how I see it anyway.

How are finding the take-up of Astrology in business? Are there many businesses using Astrology to inform their business?

It depends where you are and who you talk to. Very small businesses certainly have an interest, particularly in the UK. There seems less resistance there and in the US and Canada. With regards to large Corporates’ using astrology, I wouldn’t know as that isn’t my area of focus.

From a global perspective, let’s talk about the financial crisis. From an astrological perspective, can you see why and how this is happening?

Absolutely. Most definitely 100%. We had Pluto in Sagittarius for the last 13-14 years. Pluto was only founded in 1930 so it hasn’t done its full orbit yet. It will take 250 years to do its full orbit right around the sun so we’ve only had certain cycles so far. However, this planet is very significant to do with global events. It’s the slowest moving planet in our solar system that we are aware of. Because of that it tends to have a global effect. Planets like Mars and Venus affect us more personally.

Looking at Global Astrology, this is the time the atom split, we realised we had the power to destroy ourselves if this energy was not used in a productive way. Pluto is the planet that can utterly destroy, to build anew. In the last 13 years we’ve had Pluto in the sign of Sagittarius. Sagittarius is very much the energy of going over the top, of over-doing everything, of putting rose-tinted glasses on and saying “everything is just fine” and creating all of these bubbles: the housing bubble, the real estate bubble the debt bubble – all of these various bubbles have been created during the reign of Pluto in Sagittarius.

November 26th last year (2008) everything changed. The vibration changed when Pluto moved into Capricorn. The vibration of the energies of these planets always happen a few months before they actually move into the sign, so the whole banking system worldwide around September 15th was a significant date in Astrology. This was when the whole world banking system was in danger of utter collapse. Astrologically, for the next 16 years until 2024 we are in a period where integrity comes to the fore. For example: what has happened with Bernard Madoff – all things that have been sick have to come out to the surface and honesty and integrity have to prevail.

This period is about pulling your horns in – no more extravagance, no more mad debt, becoming more self sufficient. We’re coming to this age now where we’ve also got an interesting configuration of two planets. For the last year Saturn has been opposite Uranus. Saturn is currently in Virgo, opposite Uranus in Pisces. This is two extremely different energies.  Saturn is about government, world business, banking, structure of our world economy, and of our governments in general. This energy is about how the world is run. Opposite that we’ve got the planet Uranus. Uranus is all about change and everything to do with revolution, the new, bringing in humanitarianism, everything to do with your life design system. All of these things that you’re doing (The Life Academy of New Zealand) is about the planet Uranus which is ruled by the sign Aquarius – which is everything about bring fairness and a sense of community to our world.

Uranus tends to do it in shocking ways. In ways that are so different and so new so that very often the old – the governments, the people, the powers that want to put their stamp on it say “no you can’t do that”. So we have this strong opposition from the government and powers that want to keep the status quo and you’ve also got this uprising of the average people – and there’s going to be more uprising. I’ve been saying it for a while.

Within the last three months we’ve had over a million workers in France go on national strike. Throughout America we’ve had various demonstrations in various cities – we’re going to see much more of this.

Come August 2010 we have a very big configuration astrologically and this is going to be when Pluto in Capricorn is making a square aspect between the Saturn and Uranus opposition. This is a very, very powerful aspect. Nothing similar has been seen since around the time America came together in 1776. This is massive, massive global change. I’m not a doom and doom person but there is going to be massive natural disasters such as massive earthquakes, massive volcanoes – nothing like we’ve seen before.

What’s the way through these changes?

The way through this is that people will come together in communities; get more self-sufficient and those that do remain will be creating a whole new world. In a way it is incredibly exciting, and in another way, incredibly frightening. Again represented by Saturn which represents people fear, opposite Uranus which is the new, the exciting, the technologically advanced. We’re going to find whole new answers to medical issues, breakthroughs that we never thought we could do. I think we’ll go to a whole new level with healing the body that we never thought we could do and I think much information is going to be available freely in every way for people on a massive basis. But before we get to that, there’s quite some pain and issues that need to be resolved because of the mishandling of the situation so far.

Do you think that people are picking up on the need to be self sustaining by longing for a sense of community that we’ve lost? I wonder whether our self-survival mechanism is kicking in…

By 2012, by all looks of things (which is why 2012 is a key date with the Mayan Calendar) and this is the build up that you are seeing at your community building , as we’re not far off 2012, there will be a critical turning point in the awareness and then the large majority of people will become aware. Yes, people are longing for it. It has been in our dreams but it hasn’t been our reality.

You must be noticing it in Tauranga but here in Christchurch, we’re starting to come together in communities where I live. There are 320 people coming together to try to create something – we’re trying to grow our own food – we’re helping each other. It’s amazing. It’s happening in England, in transition towns – its starting.

There are far too many people who are not aware. In New Zealand what concerns me more than anything, financially, is that I feel the average New Zealander is unaware of the severity of the financial crisis here. When I speak to the press, when I speak to the media, they don’t want to hear what I have to say. I’m not popular.

What’s the main thing you want people to know?

I really want people to know that the banking system in New Zealand is really, really unstable. The press that is being put forward is that its ‘okay’ and we’re not printing money yet like the US – and suddenly because the banks have gone around the world, and our banks are in the top 15 of the world, I feel there is a lot of misinforming going out to the general public. I feel very frustrated about this because people need to know how unstable this system is.

I feel its going to come under severe threat. It will happen suddenly and it will have a Uranian feel and people could lose incredible amounts of money, incredible amounts of pension and I feel its terrible vulnerable. I would say to people – at least have some cash on hand, not in a bank. And if you do have your money in bank, spread it around. I don’t know which ones are going to go, but they are not all going to be standing. I know it sounds drastic but I don’t know how to get it through.

Considering the average person doesn’t have access to the knowledge and expertise that you have, on what basis do you feel, understand and know how unstable the banking situation is? 

You can’t quite compare the two but looking at what happened to Iceland, and looking at the size of the country and looking at New Zealand, there are certain similarities that can be drawn. Look how suddenly the entire banking system, in what was a prosperous country, just went suddenly down. To give you a small example, their interest rates was coming down to 2-3%. Now only a matter of months later Iceland is at 16% interest rate. Right here in New Zealand, various companies are offering bonds – they want people to buy debt so they can borrow more money and they’re offering something like 6-7% which looks fabulous today, doesn’t it? So I can see many people in New Zealand, potentially losing money.

If NZ gets downgraded as a country, downgraded in terms of its viability to buy debt from overseas, (to trade money overseas if you like), which it could do, then we are potentially going to be in a similar position as Iceland was.
It may not be as bad, as I do feel New Zealand has huge advantages over Iceland in that we have arable land, rivers, agriculture, we have animals, and so I do feel we could be very self-sufficient here. I’m very positive about how I feel about New Zealand. I do feel that New Zealand has really come together and I’m hoping that when this time comes, which I don’t think is far off; we’ll have had the opportunity to be prepared.

I’m concerned about people who have saved all of their lives such as pensioners, people investing their money and then finding it worthless. I want people to be warned in advance and know in advance so they’ve got a chance to salvage some of their futures and not feel they’ve worked 20 – 40 years in vain.

Have you considered writing some sort of survival guide such as a community survival handbook (thinking I’d like to read it if so..)?

This is the handbook I’ve written called ‘Surviving the global financial crisis’. It’s a tiny book that covers what has happened, how I think things are panning out, what you can do to protect yourself, a bit of survival ‘stuff’ and then some hope for the future – how I see that there is hope and how it is not doom and gloom.

When you are looking at things astrologically, is it always from a global perspective? Can you see how New Zealand differs from other countries or is that where you financial knowledge of systems and how one system influences another comes in?

 There is a form of Astrology where you do look at the country. You can look at when it was founded, you can look at what’s happening astrologically for that country – I do it frequently for the United States because the US is the world power at the moment and what is happening there affects the rest of the world. So yes you can and I have looked at New Zealand astrologically but for the most part I’m drawing my conclusions financially through my knowledge of financial markets.

Daily, I am keeping up with what’s happening around the world in every area such as the currencies, commodities, in the gold and silver markets, in China, Asia, the G20 countries – they are coming together and they will change the rules. We are in are in Venus retrograde – Venus rules finances – not only personal finances but global finances so when it goes retrograde there is the power to change it and to do something different.

What about small New Zealand businesses that are concerned about the recession? How much of a positive mindset to create a business with a higher purpose – one  that is honest, integral and is service-orientated will help survival?

We are in a global depression (I feel), not recession. Depression – a severe time of contraction. During these periods there will always be people who can make money – who can survive and do very well. They are in the minority however. People like Richard Branson, people who can try different things, people who are able to adapt to the varying circumstances. However during this downturn I feel there is going to be certain industries that will thrive better than others.

If you are in the food industry, agriculture, growing and food I would think this is a growth – especially if you are local. I would also think a growth industry is related to the tax system which is going to be more and more complex. Anyone who is good at book keeping, who likes figures and wants to do bookkeeping and accounting – I don’t think they will be out of work. Certain businesses involving technology can do well. It’s just going to be dependent on what is happening around us, so anything that is sustaining, that can be bartered.

We’re going to have different barter systems (and its already happening) where we are not dependent on world currencies. We will have a new reserve currency. The US will not stay the reserve currency of the world. This will change. Within that, within our communities, we are going to have complimented currencies. That is, currencies that we use within our communities that are outside of the tax system – and outside of government. It’s already happening, particularly in the UK and to a small extent around me here but only a little bit. It’s about using peoples time. More and more people are unemployed. In the UK, a client I spoke to a couple of days ago was telling me about 4000 people applying for one janitor’s job. What are the 3999 people going to do? We need to find ways in which they can contribute in terms of hours – its very exciting and having looked at your website I think it ties in a lot with you are looking at and where you are going.

At the Life Academy of New Zealand we have an alternative exchange system where people can give of their time in exchange for a class. The exchange involves a Business Sponsor who covers the costs of the class. So in future, based on your model, we might see more ways of exchanging…

Yes and I think you’ll probably have a mixture of both (money and time) and of being much more adaptable and reaching out more to people around us. For example: not having food flown in. Let’s grow our own – what’s the matter with us? There are some simple solutions and we need to relearn how we come back to being a community which I feel many people want.

With regards to personal development, would you advise people not to focus on skills just to get a job and making money but to learn how to contribute, learn skills and knowledge that will sustain them and allow them to be given in exchange?

Very much so. We’re going to need to live by the ‘seat of our pants’. The change is going to come so rapidly. The days of staying in the job for 20 years have gone. The more skills you have and the more adaptable you are, the more you are going to survive in this environment. Yes, I agree with you entirely – widen your horizons.

How can we become better a managing our resources? What vital ingredient have we lost in our lives?

This is a time now as we move into the Age of Aquarius. We’re on the cusp of the New Age. This is now about taking personal responsibility for your life, for your decisions, for everything. This means no longer allowing governments and people in power to do it for us, and to trust them. This is not the age for it. This is the age for us to do our own thinking, and to take responsibility for that thinking. We’ve allowed the government to take our power away (this is how I see it).

What role do you see organised religions playing – will it come back into our community or will we see more personal self-realisation.

I want to see much more of the self realised people. What we are also going to see is that huge discontent and uprisings in the religious areas. This is because we are coming to the end of the age of Pisces which is all about religions. It’s already happening in the US since President Obama has now granted federal funds for stem cell research. I don’t know if you realise quite how much discontent and discord in the United States. Particularly right-wing, fascist people are coming out with guns and are going to be very violent.

I think we will have the extremes of the people. If you look at the glyphs for the sign of Aquarius there are two waves – there will be people who will live on one wave – the self realised people who live for community and want to create a better world and connect with the higher consciousness and you have the other portion of the populus on the other wave which is a very destructive and a powerfully violent wave.

How do you see your role in the future?

To the best of my ability, my skills definitely lie with simplifying the world of finance for the lay person, making it understandable and reachable. It’s the same with Astrology, making it personal and approachable to the every day person. I do feel the earth changes are coming and I feel as though I’m here to help and give guidance as I can, as I am sure you are too. Many, many of the predictions have happened – there was an event only yesterday, what just happened off the coast of Tonga where the volcanoes erupted – to me this is a very serious sign that we are now into the massive earth changes.

On a lighter note, on April 9th, we are going to have a moon meditation (with the Full Moon being April the 10th). It’s our first at The Life Academy of New Zealand. Any advice you’d like to share?

The full moon in Libra is a time of harvesting all the energies you’ve been putting out and bring them to a culmination so with a full moon in Libra it’s all about sharing. Sharing and talking about ideas, socialising and having some fun.

Great – we’ll make sure there is time for socialising! Thank you so much Barbara for your time. It’s been an extremely fascinating discussion!

You can read Barbara’s blogs on our website!

Time to Build Community

It’s our world, our opportunity. The Life Academy of New Zealand has been inspired by Barbara’s interview. Where ever you are, if you are interested in joining a community of people, that together, will learn how to survive and thrive in self-sustaining and self-empowered ways, complete the form below and we’ll keep you informed of our plans.

1. Your Name(required)
2. Email Address(valid email required)
3. Contact Telephone Number
4. Any Questions or Comments

 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Live your Life Purpose

Let’s look at some definitions of Purpose:

• An anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
• The reason for which something exists
• To set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself
• To intend; design

These definitions, for me, create two thoughts. The first, is a little more subtle and suggests that there is a reason for our existence, and in that reason, lies our purpose. You are a master of your own destiny – yet there is a guiding purpose that you have been born to fulfil in this lifetime.

Finding purpose, and living it, does not guarantee a life of free of pain and worry. The physical world as we know it one of duality – of two sides: light and dark, good and bad, cold and hot. According to Neale-Donald Walsch, the purpose of duality is to set a context for our experience. How do you know joy, unless you have known pain. The feelings and emotions we experience is a physical feedback mechanism that reports to us our experience.

So to live with purpose doesn’t mean you need only to be ‘good’ and that you need ‘fixing’. You don’t. Good intentions, good thoughts, good deeds, only showing good, only doing good, only being good, only having good is only one part of the whole. You cannot have good, without evil. You cannot have light, without dark, you cannot know peace, unless you have known fear. You cannot experience joy, unless you have known pain. At the highest level of our being, we are source energy that just IS – it is neither good, nor bad, but to experience the physical sensation, we need context.

This universal energy that drives the whole of creation is pure. It can be described as Love, God, Source, Life, the Divine – and so many others. This energy cannot die, as shown in Science by Quantum Physicists. Energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. You are energy, you cannot die, you can only be transformed. You have a body, you are not your body.

Whilst we are ‘powered’ by this Source, we are also experiencing the physical reality of what it is to be human. We have to deal with the reality of this illusion, and part of that, is accepting within our humanness, there exists the dual potential for both light and dark. Part of finding out who we are, is discovering the wholeness and duality of who we are.

So, finding purpose is about finding what is driving you from a greater universal perspective, and part of that means accepting that some things are out of your control. There are universal laws with which you need to work and allow if you are going to fully manifest the purpose in which you have intended.

Quite often, we can be drawn to defining the outward ways on which are purpose is to manifest, which actually is not our business. To know purpose, is to know how insignificant we are, yet how significant we are, to know how nothing is in our control, yet so much is in our control.

So moving on, and looking a bit closer to home, let us look at purpose from the perspective that we have the ability to design our lives, as we would dream of. Within the hands of fate, we create purpose through our intent, our desires. We ask ourselves, what purpose do I have? What need within me is driving me in this direction? What are my intentions? What are my goals that I would like to achieve? How can I serve? What would I choose to be, do, or have if there were no constraints?

Our purpose is found in doing what it is we love to do. It becomes deeper than that – it turns into what you are inspired to do. You were given a combination of talents and qualities for a reason, and that reason was to express them, and to experience the joy of creating.

To know purpose, is to ‘let go and let god’. This doesn’t mean that we become lazy or disillusioned about life because it’s not in our hands. It means that we have a wonderful ability to use our intent to create, and allow the universe to bring it to us. This can be quite scary, especially when we don’t know how the future will unfold to us. You’ll get to love the work you are doing and the life you are living, planning only when planning is called for and let your purpose evolve and manifest. When you are expressing yourself and contribute to others in a way that brings you great joy; the universe will take care of the how. If you get stuck, it’s because you’re dictating and controlling how you want something to manifest.

From a numerology perspective, each number within your chart is an archetype, meaning an expression of yourself that can be found in everyone, and by their nature, they have both positive and negative aspects. Finding purpose is about understanding yourself to the extent that you know and understand the main archetypes that are playing themselves out through you, and reconciling and transforming those aspects that are causing you difficulty, and holding you back from expressing the entirety of who you are.

How can you find your Purpose?

The question about finding your particular purpose; is about finding out what makes you unique from other people.

Let’s look at finding purpose from the perspective of a few questions.

Your self – who am I, walking this path? What are my strengths, my challenges, my motivation and inner-most heart’s desire?

When we connect with our self, we see ourselves for all that we are. We accept and love ourselves; both our light, and our dark side. We learn about what brings us pleasure, what we would choose to do, rather than should do, we give ourselves permission to express ourselves in a way that serves our needs, and in doing so, serves others.

Connecting with self, is also about reconciling those sides of our self that do not serve us in a way that is for our highest good. As a child, and moving into adulthood, we created parts of ourselves to help us deal with the challenges of life. All too often, these sides of ourselves create us trouble, by not responding in a way that is always helpful.  By lovingly accepting all parts of who we are, and transforming those sides of us that have not been given the opportunity to mature, we can move forward, having liberated those parts of ourselves that hold us back.

Your journey – what path am I walking in this lifetime? What is my goal? Where am I going, where have I been?

When we connect with our path, we feel in control of our journey. We start to plan for what’s ahead and equip ourselves accordingly. We are also able to enjoy the path, drawing our gaze away from the horizon, and not looking behind us to the road that has been travelled. We stop still, and take in all that is around us.

Your experience – what talents can I bring to this experience we call ‘life’? What lessons will I learn that will enable me to grow?

We do not travel, for travelling sake. We travel because we want to be enriched by the experience. We travel because we want to find ways of connecting with our inner most being, to experience joy, happiness, and excitement of bringing our talents out into the open. How many times have you had a holiday where you gave yourself permission to express yourself in a way you wouldn’t ordinarily? This may have included singing around a camp fire, dancing, relaxing and absorbing the sounds, doing something adventurous. Notice how people’s true natures shine, when they give themselves permission to ‘take a break’.

How many trips have you been on, when you have been challenged in some way, and have responded by saying “well next time I’ll remember not to….” Life is a journey, in which we travel, and learn along the way.

I’d like to share with you the Prayer of St. Francis. I feel is encapsulates my life purpose in its highest possible sense.

Make me a channel of thy peace;
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.

To me, dying refers to the end of our blindness, and awakening to the eternal source that we are.

How close are you to discovering your purpose in life? Do you feel you are living with purpose today? Share your thoughts by leaving me a comment.

Cycles of Life

The universe runs through 9 year cycles, 1 through to 9, each one being a cycle of birth, growth and release before

starting a new cycle. In 2008 we started a new nine year cycle (2 + 0 + 0 + 8 = 10 = 1). Whatever news things were sown last year will flourish (or decay) in this next nine year period. I have shown the 9 year cycle with a simple business analogy to demonstrate:

1 – Inspired ideas, new projects, leadership (conceive of an idea to manufacture a new product and plan with the key stakeholders – people with ideas and leadership required e.g. an Inventor/CEO)

2 – Nurturing those ideas, gentle persuasion and co-operation (Working with others, negotiating and making agreements, setting up a project group and identifying resources needed – people with diplomatic, planning and negotiating skills required e.g. Project Manager)

3 – Expression, expansion and creativity (Designing the product using creative talents – people required who can take an idea and expand it through creative design e.g. Designer)

4 – Laying the foundations, hard work, structure and process (Specifying, installing processes and systems, manufacturing, financial planning  – people who can do the hard work to make it happen plus putting necessary e.g. Manufacturer and Accountant)

5 – Change and diversity, freedom and flexibility, Communication (Obtaining interest from the market not knowing at this stage who will buy – sales people who can communicate ideas)

6 – Nurturing growth, tending to domestic affairs, marketing (taking the product to market and actual sales, establishing good customer service to ensure life of product  – people who can advise, teach others, nurture and protect assets e.g. Customer Service or Financial Advisor)

7 – Retreat and reflection, analysis, research and seeking answers (allowing the product to sell and withdrawing to the project board to review and analyse performance – people who are interested in seeking ‘truth’ e.g. Performance Analyst or Statistician)

8 – Abundance, finance, attention to business matters (reaping the financial benefits or losses depending on what has been sown in the earlier cycle, the actual physical outcome resulting from the original inspired idea)

9 – Completion, forgiveness, wisdom (closing the project, accumulating lessons learnt to be applied next time, letting go of old systems or processes that didn’t work, making room for the new – people who can gather the intelligence and wisdom gained e.g. the original key stakeholders/leaders of the project)

In business, you can see how this cycle repeats with new projects. Each time a new project is started and completed, the people involved are growing in experience. In life, you go through the same cycle and you achieve personal growth. Our lives are cycles within cycles: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, lifetime cycles. In numerology we can track these cycles and attune ourselves with the energies of the cycle in order to ‘go with the flow’ rather than against it.

If you personally experienced the universal 1 energy in 2008 then you will feel the definite shift in 2009.

This year has a universal energy of 11/2 (2 + 0 + 0 + 9 = 11 = 1 + 1 = 2). Two is the number of partnership and co-operation. 2009 will take the plans and news ideas conceived in 2008 and through gentle persuasion, diplomacy and co-operation with others will take them forward. The shape of the 2 is like someone on bended knees in a prayer position so this is a time for humility, gratitude and finding a firm foundation and grounding in order to cope with the turmoil of events around us.

We remember that the 2 was an 11 prior to its final reduction since it is a Master Number (11, 22, 33, 44..) This is the year for listening to your inner voice which of your plans to carry forward. This is a year to nurture and protect those plans in order to ensure their survival. Out of balance i.e. without grounding or tangible goals, the 11/2 can bring turmoil and emotional vulnerability due to its extremely sensitive nature. The 11/2 is an opportunity for inspired partnership and co-operation.

Talking of world-events and diplomats (the number 2) it is interesting to note that many of our world leaders and politicians have the 2 prominent in their charts. The 2 is the two-sided, two-faced (personal and public) peacekeeper and diplomat. Both John McCain (born August 29th, 1936) and President-elect Barack Obama (born August 4th 1961) have the Life Path of the 2, which we calculate by adding up the total of the numbers in their date of birth. We’ll take a closer look at Barack Obama’s chart later in this newsletter.

Your Personal Year

Your life goes through a series of epicycles each one being nine years in length. 9 is the number of wisdom having gathered all the experience from the others. If you add all the numbers together 1 through 9, you will reach 45. 4 + 5 = 9. The 9 is the sum of life. If you calculated all of your personal years and looked back on them, you would be able to track your personal events through the 9 year cycle – seeing new beginnings, changes and completions.

To calculate your current Personal Year add the number of the month and day of your birth to the current year. Reduce (add) until you reach a single digit. For example, my birthday is March the 10th so my personal year is calculated as 3 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 9 = 15 = 1 + 5 = 6. I am in a Personal Year 6 which is the year for career advancement and attending to domestic affairs. If you are single, 6 is the year to find love.

Your Personal Month

You also exist within a monthly and daily cycle. The energies are much more subtle than yearly influences but they are there all the same. January is a 1 month. This is the time to make plans and conceive ideas that form the foundation for the rest of the year. If you are feeling ready for action, this month is the time to make it happen. The universe supports you. Go for it!

To calculate your Personal Month, add the number of the calendar month to your Personal Year. For example, as calculated above, my Personal Year is 6. Add the number 1 for January and my Personal Month is a 7. This month is a good time to relax, meditate and spend some quiet time alone.

Daily Cycle

Once you have calculated your Personal Month, just add the current day to your Personal Month number and this will give you your daily energy number. For example, my Personal Month in January is 7. My daily energy for January the 1st would be 7 + 1 = 8 – a day of reaping what I have sown, a good day for business and sales.
 
By reviewing the example of the 9 year cycle above you will get a feel for the energy of the numbers that are influencing you this year.

Calculate your personal numbers and feel a greater connection with the energy around you! Do let me know what you find.

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