{"id":1407,"date":"2009-01-18T06:31:49","date_gmt":"2009-01-18T11:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=1407"},"modified":"2012-01-31T07:23:21","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T12:23:21","slug":"media-spin-bankruptcies-business-closings-hope-springs-eternal-we-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-attract-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/media-spin-bankruptcies-business-closings-hope-springs-eternal-we-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-attract-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Media spin; credit cards, bankruptcies, business closings; hope springs eternal; we don\u2019t have to attract that"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of the news I get comes from whatever AOL flashes before me as I check email.\u00a0 They ask provocative questions like:\u00a0 \u201cRecognize This Singer?\u00a0 Even Country Fans May Not Know Her Without Blond Locks<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I note immediately that it\u2019s Taylor Swift since it looks exactly like her and the only way I even know who she is is that AOL has been flashing her name and pic on the main screen for the past few months.\u00a0 So, as a journalist, I recognize this is just promotion at work, designed to look like news.
\nKind of like articles that are really advertorials; they pay to run the ad to look like an article, or it\u2019s simply a news\/press release.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong with that.\u00a0 I just take notice how the media is designed to manipulate my perception.<\/p>\n

Some major stores and franchise chains are closing and filing bankruptcy.\u00a0 The headlines are written as though it\u2019s a crime.\u00a0\u00a0 The Cash In the Attic<\/em> host just filed bankruptcy.\u00a0 The media faults Lorne Spicer<\/em>, known as a BBC debt expert<\/em>, for not following her own advice \u201cMake a budget and stick to it. Putting the numbers down on paper will show you just where all the money is going. Set a limit on how much you are going to spend and stick to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, like anyone else, just because Lorne knows the constructive thing to do, doesn\u2019t mean she does it.\u00a0 I know a lot of things that I don\u2019t put into practice.\u00a0 I am not one to budget, but I am not a prolific spender.\u00a0 I am not a recreational shopper.<\/p>\n

I learned years ago to use credit cards only for emergencies.\u00a0 Having said that, I usually have a hundred dollars or so on my Office Depot<\/em> and Home Depot<\/em> accounts that I pay on each month.\u00a0 I always pay 2 – 3 times the minimum payment.\u00a0 I have one business card that has about $5,000 on it but that is all the business debt I have to deal with.\u00a0 I did that on purpose.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, working at the law offices, clients began asking for referrals to file bankruptcy, so I got to hear a lot of their stories.\u00a0 Granted, most of them had wives who were recreational shoppers, but some of them were just regular under-educated folks who just couldn\u2019t manage to earn sufficient income to provide for their family, so things like weekly groceries would be charged to their Visa.\u00a0 And it added up.<\/p>\n

I had the good sense to think, \u201cthere, but for the grace of God, go I\u201d and made a conscious decision to not use my cards for incidental purchases.\u00a0 If I need a water heater, yes.\u00a0 If I need bagels, no.\u00a0 If I need eyeglasses, maybe.\u00a0 If I need a fluffy red sweater, no.<\/p>\n

I use my debit cards instead.\u00a0 This was a real yoga for me in the beginning because it then meant that not only did I have to keep track of how much I spent, I had to actually make sure I kept enough money deposited in the account to draw on \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

This meant I had to sit down and make a list of what my monthly bills were and when they were due.\u00a0 That meant I had to put a note on my calendar when I would need to have X amount of dollars in the account on a regular basis.\u00a0 That gave me a goal to work toward.<\/p>\n

Now with online banking, paying bills is simple and quick.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to transfer funds between accounts.\u00a0 It saves paper.<\/p>\n

Bt the biggest change for me came when I made the decision to use my credit cards only for big and necessary purchases and emergencies.\u00a0 Some other decisions were:<\/p>\n

When I bought my home at age 31, it was the first time I\u2019d thought about \u201chow old will I be at the end of this 30 year mortgage?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d be 61.\u00a0 I wondered if I\u2019d still be working for law offices at age 61.\u00a0 My mom was working full time at 62 with no thought of retirement, so I figured I would be, too.\u00a0 I wondered how much money I\u2019d be making.\u00a0 I looked back on my vast 13 years in the professional workforce and noted that my income was constantly on the increase.\u00a0 I figured I would make at least what I was making then, in 1983, when I was 61.<\/p>\n

I recalled a client who told me her mortgage payment was $185.\u00a0 I loved the idea of that.\u00a0 The idea of that tickled me, and I wanted to be like her.\u00a0 So I liked the idea of my mortgage payment being under $500 a month.\u00a0 (Hey, I still like that idea.)<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t thought about it before contemplating the 30 year mortgage – just what I would be doing 30 years later.\u00a0 So that also gave me some goals, to be able to keep working at a good paying job until I at least paid my mortgage off.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have too many goals at age 31 other than day to day living and working, so it felt good to have a goal.<\/p>\n

Then several years ago I got a second mortgage, which I purposely kept separate from the first mortgage.\u00a0 Instead I opted to pay it off in five years and the payment was again under $500.<\/p>\n

And my car payment is also just under $500.\u00a0 There is something, for me, about being under that $500 mark that makes it feel so easily manageable.\u00a0 Like, I know that every few days I will need $500 to pay for one thing or another, and so I need to earn $500 every few days.<\/p>\n

Now, sixteen years later, it\u2019s down to a formula and practically on autopilot.\u00a0 I know that\u2019s both a blessing and a challenge.\u00a0 But I also know that no matter what changes come about, in the world or in the economy or in my life, that I will without a doubt be guided to do something that allows me to meet my financial commitments and gives me supreme personal satisfaction as well.\u00a0 I could, frankly, happily do what I do now for the next 20 years and love it, but I am also not so na\u00efve as to be unprepared for change as it comes.<\/p>\n

I like looking ahead and feeling hopeful about my future, even if I don\u2019t know how it will play out.\u00a0 I know, I know, I say that every lifetime, but it\u2019s true<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned to be prepared for change.\u00a0 To pre-pave into my future that I will feel hopeful and have deep faith, belief and expectation then as I do now, so that my happy tomorrows will be there waiting for me, they will take on lives of their own and call ME to THEM \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Now if I listen to the media spin on the economy, that doesn\u2019t give me thoughts of a hopeful future.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t watch it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t listen to it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t read it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to vibrate there for a moment. <\/em> Which is what you are doing when you watch the gloomy news.\u00a0 Let\u2019s put it this way, to the extent you want to attract into your today and tomorrow a financial downswing, to that extent you should watch the news<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The media is smart.\u00a0 They know if they can draw enough attention to a particular thoughtform, that thoughtform becomes strengthened and takes on a life of its own.\u00a0 What this amounts to is self fulfilling prophecy.\u00a0 The weatherman talks about gloomy skies and rain and we all get bummed out and attract more gloomy skies.\u00a0 The news anchor talks about everyone pulling out of the stock market, so everyone starts pulling out of the stock market.\u00a0 Someone publicly proclaims a certain ethnic group as terrorists and\u2026 you get my drift.<\/p>\n

Everyone has their own agenda for how they want the world around them to work.\u00a0 The media knows the best way to get people to think and act a particular way is to proclaim publicly that people already think and act that way.<\/p>\n

Let people hear it and see it often enough in print that they begin to believe it\u2019s true.\u00a0 An amazing number of voters believe that what they see in print is true and accurate.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ve learned to stay away from the news, simply because I don\u2019t vibrate there.\u00a0 As a journalist, I recognize the hype.\u00a0 Journalists, by definition, put information in their own words and make it creative in their own way so it will draw attention.\u00a0 Personally, my attention is never drawn to doom and gloom.<\/p>\n

My attention is drawn by the most hopeful \u201cwhat if?\u201d<\/p>\n

My attention is drawn by demonstrations of unwavering faith in the face of adversity.<\/p>\n

If, as a journalist, it is my choice as to what I wish to draw the reader\u2019s attention to, then this is it:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What I\u2019d like is for everyone to realize you are a soul encased within a body, a body which is your vehicle to use for this lifetime,\u00a0 This means keep the vehicle running efficiently. You\u2019ll save on repair costs and get a longer run.<\/p>\n

A soul encased within a body also means you have control of the mind, and it is yours to use and command.\u00a0\u00a0 Your mind operates outside the physical brain and survives it after physical death of the body.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019d like is for everyone to realize is keeping the vehicle running efficiently also applies to keeping your mind active with interests, goals and curiosities.\u00a0 You bored?\u00a0 Unmotivated?\u00a0 Oh, so you’re the one? Well, yeah, we all are, just get over it and do something about it.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019d like is for everyone to realize they participate in creating the reality they experience.<\/p>\n

This means you.\u00a0 You create and attract into your own experience.\u00a0 Not that of your mother or your father or your ex or your mate or your children or your coworkers.\u00a0 Just you.\u00a0 Stop wasting energy thinking about what\u2019s going on with them and begin to delve deeply into getting your own act together.\u00a0 They will then miraculously also fall into place.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019d like is for everyone to realize is that no matter what is going on with anyone around you, you can have a different experience.<\/p>\n

No matter what the media says is happening to the economy, you can have a different experience.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019d like is for everyone to realize is that if you simply keep your attention focused on what is going RIGHT in the world, in your community, in your neighborhood, in your home, you will bring more of that to light and you will help it increase and grow.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nThis is what is meant by participating in creating the reality you experience.\u00a0 Look for the positive aspects, think the more hopeful thoughts, daydream the most fanciful, fun \u201cwhat if\u201d best case scenarios.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about what anyone else is thinking or doing.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tall order but you can do it\u00a0 You\u2019re up to it.\u00a0 You have nothing to lose and a great happy life to gain.\u00a0\u00a0 The best is yet to be.<\/p>\n

Visit http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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