There may be no more loaded topic for me than that of money. My mother tells me that as a very small child I used to hold pieces of glass chandelier against my ear lobes and fancy them enormous diamond earrings. I spent most of my life wanting money because it was so often in short supply, and then feeling like I was a bad and shallow person for doing so.
Here's the deal with money. It may not make you happy, but it makes life easier. Gretchen Rubin has a great post on The Happiness Project. Without a doubt, when debating leaving my job, money was my #1 anxiety. I was the primary earner in my marriage. I felt secure seeing those numbers appear in my checking account every week. More than secure, frighteningly, I felt validated and approved by those numbers. They proved my value, my worth, and my currency in the world. My salary showed that I had "made it." A primary reason why my career in cheese was a "dream job" was because I had created a career writing, talking, knowing and educating about cheese, something I'm really passionate about, AND got paid well for doing so.
The six months after leaving my job were fraught with fear about money:
First, I had to justify: I worked very hard and saved a lot so I could build a responsible cushion for this time off. Second, I fretted: what if we couldn’t pay the mortgage? What if my cushion ran out and I couldn’t find another source of income? Third, I self-flagellated: our country was in a recession and millions of people can't get work. I threw a perfectly great paycheck out the window to “follow my heart.” Fourth, I tightened like a sphincter: I will micromanage my spending and eat brown rice 3 meals a day for 5 days because it saves money. Fifth, I coveted: from a kid's allowance to someone's lottery winnings to my best friend's inheritance. They all had what they needed and I didn’t.
Now, if money were a person, would it want to hang out with me? Hell, no. Because I was a defensive, worrisome, berating, tight-ass, jealous person. If money were a person it would go out of its way to avoid me at a party. And the thing is, it will work that way if I work that way.
Then, I performed this manifestation ritual for financial abundance.
This ritual is incredibly simple. All that I am required to do is have faith. Shift my thinking. Have fun with money. In other words, simple and potentially impossible.
Money can be acquired in 2 ways. It can be earned. It can appear by methods other than your work. I desire both kinds of financial abundance.
Name the number. How many dollars? How many cents?
Name the date. By when do I want to manifest this money?
And then, get myself, energetically, in the place where money would want to monopolize me at a cocktail party. Where I think money is fun, delicious, and available. Where money flows easily, in and out of my life like ocean waves. Where I have deep, unwavering trust that the Inner Me can get with the Outer Universe and make this thing happen. The main way I've been accomplishing this is through a series of affirmations at night before I go to bed, or when money appears in my life, or when money goes out of my life. Some of my favorites are:
I will always have plenty, and some to spare.
The effortless way of life is the best.
I can have wealth, everything I need, and plenty to spare.
Wealth-Success.
The feeling of wealth produces wealth.
By day and by night I am being prospered in all of my interests.
Wealth is mine, and always creating in my life.
I like money. I love it. I use it wisely, constructively and with gratitude. Money is constantly circulating in my life and I release it with joy. It returns to me multiplied in a wonderful way. It is good and very good. Money flows to me in abundant avalanches. I use it for good only, and I am grateful for my good and for the riches of my mind.
And then, of course, comes Gratitude. Gratitude for the flow in. Gratitude for the flow out, which is not a loss of money but a gain of important things that I value, that bring me joy, that improve my family's life. Gratitude for all that I already have. And, gratitude to myself for believing, for participating, and for honestly naming my desires.
My financial manifestation ritual covered a four month period. Money, in fact, appeared as if from the air. The total manifested was within $20 of a number I had named in a fit of daring and seeming insanity. It did not feel like luck. It felt inevitable.