Wednesday, December 22, 2010

How kids learn to handle Money

Recently a home school forum I belong to posed the question - what do you do to get your kids used to handling money?

Here's my reply - which I thought may be a little in line with this particular blog
(On a personal note with the kids - today my eldest kept asking the little one to be quiet - which of course she wouldn't - eventually he turned to her, when she asked WHY???? and he replied "For goodness sake, I am at my Wicks end with you" (notice the Wicks and not Wits!)
Luckily I was driving and looking straight ahead and they couldn't see the cheesy grin I stifled)

We have always tried to get the kids to assist with everything we do as a family.
I'd like to say it is quite altruistic, however in actuality, I really need a hand most times (as I have so much on my plate with travel, writing, lecturing, etc, etc)
Sometimes I think we ask a little too much of them, however, my DS (Darling Son) 11 & DD (Darling Daughter) 6 are both quite able to collect up the washing, put it in the machine and get it going correctly by themselves, then able to fold (not quite as neat as I'd like - but hey - who's to complain over help) the wash and put it in the rooms and away.
They can both dust the entire house and the eldest can vacuum.

We have made it a bit of a rule that they don't get paid for these things and say "that's all part of living together with other people" we all have chores to do to create a harmonious living environment.
However, if they want pocket money, there's always things I need a hand with at work (home office) ie - shred all the scrap paper, fold some brochures, stuff items into bags, roll up bubble wrap into manageable sizes, etc, etc and if they do anything over the household stuff - ie - wash the cars, clean the windows, vacuum more than once a week - then those are considered additional duties and they get paid for them.

I pay for clothes, food, necessities and occasional treats, if they want more - ie - latest fashions, speciality sunglasses, lollies, etc, then they use their money for those things.

They compare prices when we shop & I have to stifle a giggle sometimes when the eldest exclaims in horror to DD6 "are you out of your mind wanting that, have you seen the price tag"

Sure, we all doubt what we do at times, but lately I notice that when I spend $65 yesterday on buying them movie tickets, they are really grateful and understand how I need to work to raise the funds.

Sometimes I will say - I can't play more games with you as I need to answer emails to earn some money as we have been doing things together all day and they understand and go about getting themselves ready for bed.

Lately, they love to collect the chooks eggs and boil them up by themselves with toast for lunch.
Doesn't sound a lot, but I think at least they can cook boiled eggs when they leave home (hopefully skills will improve - but hey - I'll take that now!)

Lately I have let them pay for items at the checkout / restaurants with my money / credit card and they are getting a good idea how it works.

We love op shops - not necessarily because they are cheaper - however, more to the point - it appeases my sense of recycling.
I love the thought of things NOT being tossed out, the benefit for the children is that they are learning to repair things (ie - an old bicycle that just needed new chains for $5) and build and create. I feel in a world that they are entering, these skills will be more necessary than ever.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

How blessed you feel atttracts blessings

Today began much as any other day does, but then the wheels turned.....................
Pa announced he had 1 more day of meals on wheels deliveries and would take eldest son with him.... OK - 1 down!

Darling husband (DH) sets the alarm for 7.30am, why ? To catch some early bird special a local store is having that he just has to have - OK - 2 down!

Daisy after her (wiggly) haircut

Darling daughter (DD) gets up, happy to spend the morning with me but decides as it's the last day of meals on wheels she must go too ........ OK - 3 down!
Just me and the baby dog at home (who had a wee haircut, well OK she wriggled so much DH says she looks like she fell into a tank of piranhas who bit chunks out of her - but now she is OH so tiny......)
 
The children had worn her out so she begged for a lap and promptly fell asleep - all 5 inches of her.

So there I am, crazy busy lifestyle, people everywhere all the time, a million things to do and the house goes silent............. Well there's always things to do, buuuut.......... oh the joy, the bliss, the peacefulness of quiet time, just for a little while.

I snuggled into the couch and looked out down the valley, the chooks were loudly announcing they had laid another "biiiiigggg errgggg", the peacock was cawking (well it's kind of hard to describe the noise a peacock makes) out to the chooks, the sun was out. You know that feeling of "my world is just fine".

There's something great about kids and chooks

The cheque I was telling you about (from a written off debt) arrived yesterday and was laying on the bench winking abundance at me and from last evenings Qi Gong class break up and the Spiritual development circle break up our benches were heaving with gifts, home made chocolate truffles and well wishes.

I realised in this moment the wonder of abundance, there wasn't a single thing more in that moment I would have wished for.

It wasn't the money, it wasn't the food and treats, it wasn't the beautiful location, the happy pets, the sense of self sufficiency, the letters blessing us for the healing and teachings we had brought into students/clients lives, it wasn't the Christmas cards and candy canes from the kids friends, it wasn't the photos of friends in exotic locations travelling the world with us that adorned the walls, not even the worm farm which removed us from sewerage, the fruit trees that are flourishing along the worm farm run off pipes, the solar panels blazing on the roof pumping back into the grid, it wasn't any one of those things.............. It was all of them!

True abundance comes in many forms but I realised it never comes in only one.

If we focus on attracting money to the exclusion of all else, life becomes unbalanced. If we focus on self sufficiency but don't create a cash flow so we are unable to join friends at a cafe, life becomes unbalanced.
If we focus on OUR family and forget to give back to the community - life becomes unbalanced.

In order to achieve true abundance we need to create ABUNDANCE - which means "to have everything that is important to you"

I thought about my list of what is important to me, here it is (this is mine, but just to give you a guideline I would like to share it with you, it would be really helpful if you wrote out a list of what was important to you in your life so you may begin achieving it), not in order of importance, just as the thoughts appear:
  • Peace & harmony
  • Travel
  • Feeling loved
  • Having someone (or many) to love
  • A beautiful home that is comfortable and relaxed with enough space for all & the necessary requirements to be comfortable, space to create / work / be artistic
  • Privacy and a garden
  • Basic self sufficiency - including eco awareness and living in harmony with the earth, lowering our carbon footprint, creating our own energy and food supplies
  • Gorgeous healthy food, including fresh fruits and vegetables
  • enough money to do what ever we want whenever we want
  • Lovely, well running cars
  • Technology
  • Staff Support, a successful business
  • The ability to share and give back to the community, service to others
  • Healing work
  • Sharing classes, information, communing with others
  • Entertainment - movies, TV, Theatre when we want it
  • Music - instruments, the ability to pick up and play
  • A sense of community
  • Freedom to live our life the way we want to
  • The ability and choices to school / home school our children
There's probably a few more in there, but that covers the basics and hopefully may point you in the right direction to get your own list started.
Once you have worked out what it is that is important to you, write a list, this is your next step in creating all you want.
The universe cannot provide what you want if you do not know it yourself. By creating a list you are loudly and clearly stating "this is what is important to me, this is what I want"
The universal energies can then support you by saying "OK, sure, glad we got that clear, lets set about manifesting that list then - let's go"

It is really interesting to see how quickly these things can formulate, once you write them down, do this today - grab a piece of paper/book, write out your list of "necessary for abundance" items.

Back to my day....... there I was surrounded by all the things that mean true abundance to me and I realised in that moment how truly blessed we were.
I sat down and gave thanks to the universe for creating this wonderful space and sent blessings out to all those who were open to receive them.

By the way - if you wish to be included in these blessings each day add your name in under this post - many people read these posts (I know as I can see the numbers that log on, but very few so far have taken the time to add in to them), if you have someone else that you would like included in these blessings, add them in too.
We can generate a Qi Field that includes peoples names in this blog, let us know when changes start to happen for you too.

I realised that we had managed to include all the things that meant true blessings for us.
In realising this and giving thanks the door is opened even further for more blessings to enter.

So today - I have 2 tasks for you:
  1. Create your true abundance list
  2. Look around and recognise the blessings you have already created and give thanks for them
Happy Manifesting..............................

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The wonders of prayers


Gabriel praying at Wat Doi Suthep - Thailand

Although I have always understood and experienced the wonders of prayers, my daughter has taken a fond passion for them to her bedtimes.
She says they make her sleep better and she just loves them................ so what is any good mother to do............. OK, then we'll do prayers every night!

Our prayers consist of 2 parts, the first part is:
"Dear God (feel free to insert your choice here: Jehovah, spirit, the Tao, heavenly being, angel guides, what ever works for you), thank you for............................."

Then the 2nd part is:
"Please bless................................"

As we have been praying together, things have become a little streamlined and are moving in different directions as we grow together.

 A few months ago, she was having awful concerns with a mother of a child at her school.
That night, when we got to the "please bless" part, I named this mother, she opened her eyes wide and asked why on earth we were blessing HER????
I thought about it for a moment and then shared that in order for someone to treat another so badly, they must be in emotional or mental pain, so then if we pray for them, perhaps it will alleviate some of their suffering and perhaps they will become more peaceful.

She thought about it for a moment and then added "yes, good idea, perhaps then she'll leave me alone too......... I'm pretty scared of her".
So it was done, every night for several weeks, she was included in our "please bless" part, 3 weeks to the day later, she comes up to us, looking very embarrassed and sheepish and starts chatting away, being quite nice as if nothing had ever happened.
Amazing!

Don't you love those synchronicities, the ones where you know if your heart they always work, yet are still amazed every time they do.

For the past month we have been saying our prayers every night.
One evening Emma prayed for a sick client, the next morning we had an email saying they had miraculously healed overnight - for no apparent reason and were coming home from hospital today.

Another evening we were discussing debts and energy debts. I shared with her a story of a past client had borrowed a large sum of money around 12 years ago and we assumed they would never be in a position to pay it back and allowed it to flow through the universe.
She brought them into her "please bless"

The next evening, I received a phone call saying there had been an inheritance in their family and a request for our banking details so the entire amount could be placed back in tomorrow.
Amazing!

Every day there are little miracles and I have decided to share snippets of them with you in this blog each time I can, rather than save up for huge long winded chapters, I hope they may have you coming back here regularly to hear what has transpired and perhaps inspire you to make some regular changes in your life too.

Giving gratitude is something we are especially big on in our family, we have taken the children to remote countries around the world, including Pokkara (in the foothills of the Annapurna ranges of Nepal) where they witnessed small children cooking dinner in fires in tin cans and sleeping on the streets.
For us, it is not a remote thought, it is something very real and every day of our life we are eternally grateful for the blessed life we lead.
Hence the "thank you" part of the prayers is a small reminder of the blessings that we have received every day.
This week, we have been busy making up many gifts for the "wishing tree" in Kmart, where the gifts are handed out to those less fortunate and perhaps unable to afford them. We always make sure we include some gifts for mums, dads and the elderly as well as the children.

This year we were beautifully blessed and in a position where we were able to gift around 50 gifts for the tree, as we were wrapping them up, my son came and asked "Mum, you always do this each year, why do you feel the need to do so".
Thinking about it for a moment, we shared a discussion on how many people may suddenly have life take a less comfortable turn and may find themselves in a financially struggling position.
I shared with him, how grateful I was that this year, this was not our experience and I also shared how if I ever found myself in a position where I could not afford to give my children a gift, I sincerely hoped someone else may step in and offer them something to make their Christmas special.

Gifts in arms, we set off for the shopping centre and one by one the children silently placed each gift under the (very pleasantly heavily laden) tree.
Each one placed, they said a prayer that it would get to the person who would most love it.

That night in prayers, the please bless naturally turned to the homeless, the people on the street, the mummies and daddies that couldn't give their children gifts, the people that felt unloved in the world.
We ended with a visualisation of love flowing around the world and filling the peoples hearts with warmth.

Phew - so much for a short note here - this one turned into a lengthy tale too. I'll wind it up here, the reason this blog started this evening was due to tonight's prayers.

We tucked up in bed (said our prayers) as we were doing so I thought about Renascent winding up for the year, about not teaching any regular classes for 6 weeks, about no income in our business and whether I needed to do anything different. I know we are always fine, but sometimes these little financial worries slide right in there surreptitiously before you realise it.
I pushed the thoughts aside and we offered our blessings to all those parents who may experience financial difficulties at this festive time of the year.

I glanced at the clock, left Emma's room and went to tuck in Gabe.
10 minutes elapsed as I glanced at a clock and settled into the computer to complete some work.
The first email I opened said it was delivered exactly 10 minutes earlier (as we were wishing financial blessings on others), it was a paypal notification of $1300.00 from an unexpected web sale that had come in at that exact moment.
Amazing!

With a lovely warm smile, I offered thanks to the universe, to Emma and her wonderful powers of manifestation and to the lovely customer that had slipped in at the exact moment of blessings with their own beautiful synchronicity.