How to be rich

Hi again,

I hope the new year has started in a great way for you! I was surprised how different the feel of 2018 is compared to the year we leave behind us. To me, 2018 is much more open and light so far – while 2017 felt dense and hard to work my way through. Maybe you noticed a shift as well. With the start of a new year it is tempting to set new and fresh goals and to see them develop over the year.

In this blogpost I want to share a book I recently have read, about one of the wealthiest men in modern history – who must have been true master of manifestation. And as usual, towards the end there are a thing or two I hope will tickle you into self-discovery mood!

There are many great books available how to create the life we want to live, how to transform every day into a fulfilling experience, how to make our wishes and dreams come true. If you feel drawn to my blog you have probably read a few of those already.

We find books on how to make “it happen”, how to draw what we wish for into our life experience by affirmations, by visualisation, by prayers or by staying hopeful. other books go in the opposite direction; if we stop wishing, accept our life as it is, we will be happy with what we have. Our life will evolve from there, towards a point of contentment.

Personally I find both these two schools of thought valuable. It just depends on where we are at, of what type of person we are and which way we feel attracted to at the moment (or even fear the most).

Last summer I had the opportunity to visit The Getty Museum. It looks like a shimmering, white castle on the hillside of northern Los Angeles. I spent an extraordinary day there and enjoyed the fantastic museum, its beautiful collections and the garden surrounding it. I was surprised by the generous atmosphere. The only thing I paid for was the parking, my cup of coffee and my shopping spree in the gift shop (one of my many weaknesses…). Everything else was free – no entrance-fee, no locker-fee, I was even provided with a headset for additional information to get the most out of the exhibitions for free. Everyone I came in contact with were so helpful and service-minded, and they had the same vibration of generosity about them.

 

In one of the exhibition halls a huge portrait of Mr Getty himself hang on the wall. I remained there for a long time, wondering about this man who for a while was the richest persons in the world. A man who felt inspired to use such a large portion of his fortune to build a place where I, many years after he had passed on, could admire some of the world’s masterpieces and finest art. What on earth made him do that?

 

 

It is a little embarrassing to admit how limited my knowledge was before my vistit to the  Getty Museum. A very rich man who built huge a museum. When I found a book in one of the gift shops I decided to let he himself tell me who he was.

The book HOW TO BE RICH contains a series of articles he wrote between 1961 and 1965, published in a magazine. (He has a quite interesting reason to why he chose the magazine he did – guess which!) I expected a handbook in how to produce as much as possible at the lowest cost, how to succeed in the stock market and a lot of practical advice in economics. Some of the content really is financial advice, and he shares his journey to monetary success.

What was surprising to me was all the personal thoughts Mr Getty is sharing about the responsibility that comes with money. How to make money work, how to think about money, the ethics around money.

Most of all, though, I find this book to be one about how to manifest whatever it is you want to bring into your life. To be prepared to work for your dream, be thorough, be patient and most of all trust your own inner knowing and be true to yourself. It was as if I could hear his voice between the lines and feel his determination to share what he had found to be true during a long and adventurous life.

NOTE: If you decide to read this book, please take into account it was written almost 60 years ago, by a man who spent his professional life in a very male-dominated field, and in a time when the balance between women and men was very different. Do not let the wisdom he shares get lost only by his address to a masculine audience. I am convinced that had he been writing it today, he would have put his words very differently.

And now here are a few things to mull over, if you feel up to it. Money is a very interesting topic for a little field-trip in your inner world.

Many have proposed that money, in and of itself, is just energy – it behaves like a chameleon. It takes on the proprieties and the importance we give it. So it is a perfect mirror of ourselves.

In the world we live in, money is first and foremost a mean for survival. By exchanging it for goods and services it can give us roofs over our heads, food on our tables, it can sustain our living and keep us safe. For many people all over the world, there is not enough Money and each day is a struggle to stay alive.

It can be a measure of our self-worth, freedom and power. It can be a golden cage which keep us from speaking our truth or it can be a way to pursue our dreams and desires. Money can be our reference point for where we are on the social ladder – top or bottom.

How much money someone else possesses triggers our feelings around financial resources – kinship, competition, distrust or generosity. As I learnt about John Paul Getty, it can also create a longing to share the personal wealth with the public, to cultivate our inner philanthropist.

It tells us about our level of idealism and shows us our ethical boundaries.

Many of our beliefs regarding money come from the values surrounding us when growing up, adopted from family and peers, cultural patterning, society and shaped by our own life experience. How difficult or easy we think this energy will come to us determines what kind of education, work, partner, friends we choose and the decisions we make. What we spend money on and what we choose not to spend money on.

Sometimes our attitude towards money is driven by our greatest fears. Fore sure there are many more aspects, not listed here, that you might think of if giving the matter a bit of thought.

A really interesting question to ponder is – what would you do if there were no money at all in the world and you could do whatever you wanted? Or if there were no financial limitations, if you would have as much money as John Paul Getty when he was considered the wealthiest man in the world – what would you do?

We imbue these pieces of metal, these bills of paper or the zeros and ones flying around in cyber-space, with symbolism that is a reflexion of who we are, what we believe and what we think about life. We fill them with dreams and obstacles, beliefs and assumptions. It is an interesting place to go if you want to do some self-discovery, and it will tell you a lot about your beliefs regarding your own ability to manifest things in your life (not just money).

What you find out, might help you clear out some beliefs which do not serve you, reinforce the ones that are helpful. A change that might make it easier to fulfil your new year’s resolution 😉

To know your position on the map, makes easier for you to reach your destination!