Hi and welcome to the Dream Big And Bloom Podcast Episode #24
I’m Mardi Lynn, certified DreamBuilder Coach and I help women over 60, who are disappointed and frustrated because this season of their lives is disappointing. They’re tempted to settle for just good enough but there’s a deep longing within them for more fulfillment, financial freedom and fun.
The DreamBuilder Program that I teach, is a proven, reliable system for creating vibrant health, loving relationships, sharing your wisdom and experience through work, or volunteering, and feeling happy, rich and free.
And soon, I will be offering you a really useful tool that will help you see all the steps to DreamBuilding in one place AND learn where you, personally, need to focus, in order to achieve results. It’s a Guidebook with a Scorecard and will be available soon. It’s called Living Happy, Rich and Free after 60, The Guidebook and Scorecard for Achieving Your Dreams. Does that sound good to you?
What would “happy, rich and free” look like for you? I’d love to see your ideas in the comments.
Everybody’s idea of “Rich” will be different but manifesting financial abundance in general, is a dream for many, if not most, women in our age group; and the current state of the economy may be causing concerns as well.
But no worries…the DreamBuilder Program is a proven, reliable system for overcoming any challenge and achieving any dream, no matter how big it may seem and today I’m going to share the principles and practices for living “happy, rich and free.”
1. First, you need to believe and accept that there is a power within you greater than any situation, circumstance or condition and that you can manifest prosperity in your life no matter how challenging it may seem.
You are rich with unlimited possibility and you must believe this in order for prosperity to come into your life.
There is more than enough. Poverty is a distribution problem, not an abundance problem. We have not made it a priority to get surplus food to the poor.
The truth is that we live in a lavish and abundant universe in which everything we could ever want or need can and will be provided to us. And if we don’t take it, that’s our fault.
You are a divine being, a person who deserves to have every good thing that life has to offer and you need to stand up and acknowledge who you are and claim your birthright.
This might be a very foriegn idea to you or might feel real resistance to it, based on how you were brought up. This may be a radical, new way of thinking for you and so it will take practice. That’s why we use affirmations and write down our wins every day.
You will gain momentum with practice — like a river that starts out small, slow and meandering and then transforms into a large, fast moving, powerful force.
Think of yourself as a force of nature.
It’s all about
- having faith in the spiritual laws of success,
- being clear about what you desire,
- taking consistent action,
- Having and abundance mindset
- managing fear and failure
- Forgiveness of yourself and others so your energy is freed up to focus on the positive. This releases you from any chains from your past, and it’s also a daily practice in dealing with people and situations in your life that aren’t the way you would prefer.
#2 is being clear about what you desire.
Do you have a clear vision for what financial abundance would look like for you? You must have that written down. You don’t need to know the how, just the what. Podcast Episode #9: part 3 of my Power of Vision Workshop will give you all the details and walk you through the process.
Two important considerations when you create your vision.
Be Sure It’s What YOU Really Want
First, be sure it is what YOU really want and not what someone else has. When you listen to your heart you may find that you are closer to financial prosperity than you thought. When it comes to writing down specifics, you may find that you don’t need as much as you thought you did. Or maybe you used to believe that wanting financial prosperity is greedy or immoral and now you are finally, allowing yourself to admit what you really want and you are stepping into a very expanded version of prosperity. In any case, you should feel really, happy, joyful and inspired to take action. And you need to read it twice a day.
Money Is Love In Action
And second, know that money is a means to an end and not the end itself. Simply having money’s not the goal. The goal is to use it to do whatever your heart leads you to do and to do that which fulfills your purpose in life.
Sometimes we think money will provide things that it won’t. Money is a tool to support you in living your best life. It’s not the source of your happiness. You can choose to feel prosperous at any time. It’s a matter of choosing…a matter of shifting your perception by focusing on gratitude, and appreciation for all the good in your life right now.
You Are Safe
If you want a certain amount of money in order to feel safe, then you might want to look at your thinking…to rein in that primitive part of your brain that is always looking for things to be wary of. In this present moment you ARE safe. And since your thinking creates your reality, you will continue to be safe. You can desire to have more money but you can feel safe and secure now.
You might desire to have more money so that you can have more fun. But you can start having more fun right now. Commit to having fun every day. Schedule time to do something you love to do for fun everyday? What would that be for you? Spending time in nature? Working on a hobby or crafts? Playing music? Dancing? You can be visioning other ways to have fun AND having more fun right now.
And remember, that which you think, about, talk about, and focus on, expands. So you want to focus on living as if your dreams have already manifested AND enjoy all the abundance in your life now.
Many of you are building a business, or expanding a business or creating a side gig, You don’t have to wait until the business is where you want it to be or until the income is what you desire, you can find reasons to feel happy, prosperous and fulfilled right now and you will enjoy the process of building your business. You won’t be feeling urgency and pressure and impatience.
That’s why we do a gratitude list every day. That’s why we live as if our vision has already manifested. It can be fun. And the more you feel it and believe it, the faster you will see results.
It’s a matter of choosing to be happy in each moment. Check in with your thinking frequently. Mary Morrissey, the creator of the DreamBuilder Program uses doorknobs as a cue. There are lots of doorknobs in life and that provides lots of opportunities to check in with your thoughts. Are you feeling happy and fulfilled? What thoughts do you need to think in order to feel the way you want to feel. You make it up anyway, so choose to feel happy, rich and free.
The next practice is related to “living as if”– it’s being a person of increase. You act like that prosperous person that you envision. You share your awareness of abundance with others.
This includes tithing — giving 10% or your income to a person or organization where you are spiritually fed. Faith expands when you give. The more you give, the more results you will see and the more faith you are going to have.
You will discover that what Emerson said is true, “You can’t outgive God.” There is a Law of Compensation: The more you give, the more you receive. God/The Universe will provide.
The Importance of Tithing
Tithing is a tough one for many people. One of the best resources on the subject is a book by Edwene Gaines, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity. Edwene’s mission is her 100% commitment to the transformation of the abundance consciousness of the world. She was ordained as a Unity minister in 1979 and she was the owner and director of Rock Ridge Retreat Center in Valley Head, Alabama. She is also president of The Masters’ School in Valley Head, Alabama, where she has trained over 500 Master Prosperity Teachers. She travels extensively to present Prosperity, and Commitment workshops.
In her, book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, Edwene says, “Faith is a choice. You choose whether or not to have faith. People always come to me and say, ‘gosh, Edwene. I wish I had your faith.’ Well then, choose to have it! I choose to have this faith’ it doesn’t just happen. You make a choice about it. I choose to believe that the law of tithing is true. I choose to believe in God, and I choose to believe that God is my source. Besides, what do you have to lose? You haven’t been tithing so far, and you haven’t been doing brilliantly, have you” Don’t you want a life of riches and prosperity? At least be open-minded and willing to give tithing a try. Make a six-month contract with God, as I did. You have nothing to lose, and absolutely everything to gain.”
Yep, Edwene is a woman of conviction for sure. And she goes on to say,
Once you have proved it in your life, you’ll discover that you love to tithe. You’ll find that you cannot wait to get some more money in so you can send some more out.
Edwin tells a story of when she was on a speaker’s program with Tom Costa who was a Religious Science minister in Palm Desert California and he said that he decided instead of tithing 1/10 of what he received he would tithe one tenth of what he wanted to receive. He started on January 1st and at the end of the year his income had caught up to the level of his tithing. Then he led Edwine outside to show her his new Rolls-Royce.
Wow! That really expands one’s idea of possibility doesn’t’ it?!
She shares a lot of amazing stories like this in her book and I highly recommend it.
Test It For Yourself
In any case, you don’t have to take her word for it, or Mary Morrissey’s or mine. Test it for yourself.
Now, another way to be a person of increase is to bless everyone you come in contact with. You can bless others by giving something to everyone you come in contact with. It may be a smile, or a compliment, or taking time to listen with compassion and non-judgement.
These practices of giving are the way you work with The Law of Circulation – circulating joy, and abundance in our lives and in the lives of others. We keep wealth circulating in our lives by giving and receiving not only money, but appreciation,caring and love.
Practices like tithing, require you to step outside your comfort zone. And brings us to the skills of managing fear and failure.
And as DreamBuilders we look at failure as feedback. There’s lessons for us in everything if we look for them. Sometimes we can’t see the benefit until much later but we trust that everything is working for our highest good.
Failure Is A Wonderful Teacher
Edwene says, “Failure is a wonderful teacher. When we fail we learn that we can survive and then we don’t see it as something to be feared any more.
She suggests that it’s “Often it’s helpful to ask ourselves what is the worst thing that can happen? When you look at the worst case scenario straight in the face it loses much of its power to frighten you. A lot of times, the worst case scenario is simply that we’ll fail and be socially humiliated. Well being embarrassed isn’t fun but it’s never actually killed anyone as far as I know. we can say oops that didn’t work. Oh well I’ll just have to try again.
Do you ever do that?
There are a lot of very successful people who succeeded at a very high-level after failing several times first.
As you get proficient at managing fear and failure, you uncover your true strength within and you become the powerful and unstoppable person that you were born to be.
When you expect the best and take the first step, the rest will flow naturally. As Thoreau said,“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” I’m sure he meant “she” also.
Mysterious Power of Forgiveness
And the last practice for living happy, rich and free is forgiveness. As Edwene says, “ Many people find practicing forgiveness almost as difficult as tithing — some may even find it more difficult but we have to do it.”
Edwene calls it “the Mysterious Power of Forgiveness.” And she says, Why should we forgive the people who have done us wrong? After all, isn’t there something satisfying about turning your back on someone who has behaved badly? Something powerful about cutting that person out of your life? Something comforting about knowing that he or she is really to blame for what’s wrong with your life? The truth is, no matter how good these emotions feel in the moment, they can not and do not bring true or lasting happiness.
Harboring a grudge completely blocks our ability to have peace of mind. All sorts of studies indicate that negative thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors affect our mental and physical health, our success, and our self-worth. An unwillingness to forgive is like stabbing ourselves with a knife and expecting the person who did us wrong to feel the pain. Forgiveness is not something we do for the sake of another person. Forgiveness is something we do for ourselves.
Think of forgiveness as emotional house cleaning. (I love that analogy.) It lets us make room for the good we desire. It also lets us go as far as we can on our spiritual journey and receive all the universe has to offer. If we refuse to forgive, we are clinging to self-defeating feelings such as guilt, shame, blame, hurt, and resentment and when we do this, we cannot feel truly worthy of having the best God can give us; we cannot – and will not accept God’s gifts
And I particularly love this, “part of our problem is that laying blame is a cultural norm in today’s world. We live in a society where we are constantly slapping each other with lawsuits. Anyone who watches the news will agree that whenever there is a story about something that’s gone wrong, one of the first goals of the media is to find out whose fault it is, who’s to blame, who’s responsible for the mess. But I believe on our spiritual path we must learn to ask new questions. INSTEAD OF ASKING, WHO’S TO BLAME? WE SHOULD BE INSTEAD ASKING HOW CAN WE SOLVE THIS FIX THIS MAKE THIS BETTER?
INSTEAD OF ASKING, WHO’S TO BLAME? WE SHOULD BE ASKING HOW CAN WE FIX THIS?
Humans are problem-solving critters. It’s our nature to find answers, seek solutions, fix what’s broken. But simple forgiveness is the best possible tool for ‘fixing what’s broken’ in our bodies, in our relationships, in our finances, in our careers, and in our world.
Forgiveness frees us from the endless loop of blame and bad feelings that keeps our minds focused on all the wrong things. With forgiveness, we can let go of the past and turn to other, more important issues in our lives – such as how to be truly happy, to have the things we want, and to thrive with a sense that we are joyfully fulfilling our life purpose.
Edwene herself was sexually abused from the age of 4 months old to 4 years old and she said it almost killed her. And when she and her husband were traveling the world and she was six months pregnant, he told her he didn’t love her anymore and left her.
She said she “lived the next 7 years of her life in a state of complete rage.” She said she became, “mean and bitter and ugly and sick.” And only when she came very close to dying of cancer did she finally understand that she had to forgive that man because it was that or give up her own life. It took several years but she did it.
I won’t go into all the details here, you can read what she calls “the whole soap opera of her life” in her book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Success.
And she’s also written a 70 page book of forgiveness techniques called How To Become Debt Free: Forgive. It’s based on the The Lord’s Prayer and has 13 different Forgiveness Techniques that she has used successfully.
Summary of The Principles and Practices
So these are the principles and practices for becoming happy, rich and free.
- having faith in the spiritual laws of success,
- being clear about what you desire,
- taking consistent action,
- Having an abundance mindset
- managing fear and failure
- Forgiving yourself and others
Your Next Steps:
If you’d like to go deeper and learn more about how the DreamBuilder principles apply to YOUR life, here’s what you can do next.
- Post your questions in the comments section below.
- Listen to the other episodes of this podcast, especially #7, #8 & #9 which is my Power of Vision Workshop as a three part series and will walk you through the process of creating your vision statement. You can find always find them at https://dreambigandbloom.com/workshop/
- Be a guest on the show and receive coaching and you can always go to https://dreambigandbloomguest.com
Now as you go remember…
- You are capable of far more than you know
- You were created to have an amazing and fulfilling life. It’s your birthright.
- You DON’T HAVE TO SETTLE for just “good enough”
- You are more powerful than any circumstance, situation or condition
- You absolutely can create the life of your dreams.
And I’m here to help you.
Here’s to living happy, rich and free!
Here are the next steps you can take:
- Join the conversation in the comments and post any questions you have.
- Listen to my other podcasts, especially #7, 8 & 9
- Be a guest on the show and get coaching and answers to your questions.
- Book a complimentary Discovery Session on my calendar. We’ll get clarity on exactly where you are now, where you would love to be, and the best next step you can take to move you forward.