Financial Integrity

Well, my office revamp is still not finished – I am still searching through boxes in the garage every five minutes for things I need (that I genuinely thought I wouldn’t need for weeks…). However, one more weekend should see it done. All the materials are in place, all I need is a couple of handy, strong people (I am not very practical and I have spaghetti arms!) and we’ll be rocking and rolling. I can’t wait! This should mean that I have a lovely space from which to coach new and fabulous clients. I have 2 one to one spaces available starting in August. So, if you have been thinking about getting some one to one help to get you living the life you were born to live, get in touch now.

This week’s article is an excerpt from my ebook – “110 Steps to Heal your Money” – to buy it, Click Here – it is available in various formats for your e-readers, palm pilots or computers.

- Financial Integrity -

How is your financial integrity? Do you owe money? Do you cheat? Steal? Perhaps not in a ‘Great Train Robbery’ way, but financial integrity runs through your whole life, so even pinching a bic biro from work counts here. I am not the police, and I don’t care if you steal the entire stationary cupboard, or I wouldn’t, except that I know that being out of integrity hurts your financial health.

When you are out of integrity in any area of your life, there is worry, stress, fear, shame – and if that is being suppressed, you are putting a huge amount of energy into not feeling bad. Often, you don’t even realise the amount of bad feeling your energy is going into until you start getting back into integrity. Coaching clients often deny any bad feeling to do with past money stuff that is out of integrity but when they do this exercise, they invariably find something that has been mithering them, and when they take action, they feel 100 times better.

It really is true that the person transgressing suffers most. The good news is that once you take just one step in the direction of renewed integrity, all that bad feeling starts to be released and the energy which had gone into ignoring, suppressing and denying the bad feeling is freed.

Here are a few real life examples from myself and people I have worked with:
- not repaying a loan from your parents
- stealing pens from a shop when you were 15
- keeping quiet about an overpay or undercharge
- not paying a friend back for a gig ticket she paid for (even though she forgot about it)
- deferring payment of your student loan
- always being behind on the rent
- paying an employee too low a wage
- my-round-o-phobia (not standing your round in the pub)
- taking money from a boyfriend, even though he didn’t notice and could spare it
- a loan from a friend that was never repaid (and never asked for)

You’ll notice that in many of these examples, the other party didn’t notice or care…but it still felt out of integrity. My friend forgot about the gig ticket and never asked me for the money…but I remembered it regularly, and when I did this exercise it came up again…2 years later. A good rule of thumb for items that “might” be out of integrity is: if you still remember it, it’s still bothering you; therefore it is out of integrity for you.

- Something to Play With -

List anything that feels out of integrity for you. And start to put them right. If you can’t put it right immediately, find a way to get back in integrity – for example one of my clients gave a donation to a charity rather than repaying the company they felt out of integrity with. Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave a comment here.

Love

Donna.x
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The Best Financial Advice You Will Ever Receive

An Excerpt from “110 Ways to Heal Your Money” by Donna Higton – remember this is available at half price until 7th April with the code HH33V. Tell your friends.

So, what’s this ‘best advice’ then?

Spend less than you earn.

Simple eh? So why on earth are so many of us in trouble financially? Simply because we don’t take this advice. Instead we believe the advertising that tells us to have happiness, we need a big television, 2000 DVD’s, weekends in exotic locations, gadgets, shoes, clothes, books, and so on. But have any of these purchases actually made you feel better in the long term? (I know about the rush that comes from buying a pair of shoes I don’t need and won’t wear – that high is VERY short lived, then I just feel naughty.)

Have you ever gone into debt to buy something and then found that your desire for that ‘must-have’ item is replaced almost instantly with another desire for a ‘must-have’ item? I watched a program about a young lady in a large amount of debt because of her desire for designer handbags…which she never used, never even looked at – they sat in a cupboard where she couldn’t see them because they made her feel bad about the debt she was in.

This is insane. Frankly, if I’m going to spend £4000 on a bag, I would want to use it constantly. It’s a common insanity – I used to buy all sorts of junk I didn’t use. I managed to wean myself off buying junk by saving for it – it’s amazing how often a ‘must-have’ item is no longer a ‘must-have’ at all when you’ve spent 3 months saving up for it. This technique also helped me to see when I was buying things and not enjoying them. When it’s on credit, somehow you ignore that little dissatisfaction…but when it’s come directly from your savings, you can really see how actually it was not worth it.

People have said to me “But I deserve the very best in life.” YES, I agree, you do. You deserve the best from yourself. You deserve to be able to enjoy the money you earn. You deserve to be free of the ball and chain of debt. You deserve to feel secure. You deserve to be able to open your bills without fear. You deserve to live a stress-free life. You deserve to have confidence in your own worth – whether you are dripping in diamonds or not. You deserve to be the very best you that you can possibly be. How can you be your best you when you are weighed down by debt, fear, stress and shame?

Love

Donna.x

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The First Step Towards Healing Your Money

Many of us have issues with money, many of us have limited education and knowledge when it comes to managing money, and many of us have no clue how to move forward into a life of financial ease. One of the contexts I live by is the idea that we already have all that we need within us to find the answers we need.

As a coach, I help clients access that inner wisdom, gain confidence in themselves and share some development resources I know have helped others that might assist them. Even without the assistance of a coach, you can access your own wisdom, gain confidence and find resources that will assist you. (this article, for example!) Ultimately though, it is you that will do the work, it is you that will find your own answers, and it is you that you will turn to.

I hope you already have faith in your own wisdom and ability to find what you need to get what you want. Even if you don’t, know that you do have wisdom, you do have ability, and you are absolutely capable of changing your financial health for the better. So, the first step towards healing your money:

Ask yourself this question: What do you know you need to do to heal your money? And what can you do TODAY to take ONE step in the direction of what you know you need to do?

We often blame fear, procrastination, self-sabotage, laziness or some other negative trait for not doing what we know to do…but more often in my experience it is simple lack of knowledge that stops us moving forward. If you know the very first step you need to take – be it paying a bill, setting up a direct debit, balancing an account, or just finding out what you need to know – you can do it. So do it.

Often we miss this vital step – because we don’t know what we need to do overall to fix our financial situation, we fail to act on what we already know. The irony being that if you do what you already know to do, you will gain some forward momentum. If you do a few things that you know to do, you will gain even more forward momentum.

And when you have done what you know you need to know, most of the time another action presents itself to you as an idea, so you can keep moving forward with increasing momentum…and before you know it, your life has changed. This one is the one question to remember – because you are the one who knows what’s going on in your financial world. If you do nothing else, at least remember to ask yourself this question often and essentially, ACT on the answer to the question…and that alone will help you heal your money.

This article is taken from the “110 Ways to Heal Your Money” ebook – to find out more, and buy the book click here.

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Bills, Beautiful Bills

An excerpt from “110 Ways to Heal Your Money” by Donna Higton

When you see bills, how do you feel? Do you feel great that you can pay them, and that somebody trusts you enough to bill you, knowing that you will pay them? Or do you feel anxious, fearful, stressed, shocked? Many of us complain bitterly and endlessly about our bills. We dread seeing them, we ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’, we wait as long as possible to pay them, and we stress about them and generally feel bad about bills.

Bills are a fact of life, unless you live on a commune, and it is a terrible shame if we allow something that will always happen to get us down. A few years ago when I went self-employed, I would panic and stress whenever I saw a bill – I hated bills. Now, I see a bill, I pay it as soon as I can (usually the same day I receive it), I am grateful than I can pay it and I do it with ease. The difference in experience is profound and wonderful.

Often we think the only answer to the misery of bills is ‘more money’ but I am talking here PURELY of a change of attitude. It is amazing how much a change of attitude and perspective will change your experience. Picture it: you have in your hands all your bills. Instead of your usual reaction, you are happy to see the bills, know that you can easily pay them and are grateful to have the goods and services they represent. When my friend Claire gets her mortgage bill, she points to the bricks on the wall and says “paid for that one and that one and that one over there”.

What difference would this make to your life, your happiness, your energy if this was your regular experience with bills instead of the usual worry, stress and fear? If you can usually pay your bills, this scenario is well within your grasp. Even if you struggle to pay them, this is a possibility for you…I know, I did it without significantly changing my income.

Do you ever stop to appreciate the ease with which you pay your bills? (Once you’ve stopped bitching about them!) Maybe you are too used to seeing your money go out hand over fist, or have got into the habit of making bill-paying a difficult, grudging process. Remember why you are paying those bills, the services and goods that you’ve received, and remember to appreciate that you can pay them.

To find out more about this downloadable ebook, click here.

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110 Steps To Heal Your Money

Do you have a fabulous relationship with your money? Do you have more money than you need? Do you enjoy your money? Do you think of money and smile? Is your financial health in tip-top, six-pack, marathon-runner shape?

If your answer to any of the above questions is ‘no’, then go check out my brand new ebook “110 Steps to Heal Your Money”. This ebook contains 110 action steps you can take to get your financial health in GREAT shape! Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And in true ‘Donnaonthebeach’ style, it’s a lot of fun!

I created this ebook because I found myself having the same conversations with clients and friends over and over again – that lack of money, lack of financial health was stopping them from listening to the voice of their intuition. So use this ebook to help you gain strong financial foundations so you can move on to the life of your dreams! Buy it here.

Love

Donna.x

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Creating Money by Sanaya Roman

Creating Money by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer is a positive book about creating wealth – not just financial wealth, but happiness too. It shows the clear link between being relaxed and happy and enjoying your work, and money coming in. Their style is very gentle, encouraging, inspiring and along with the ideas they present, there are specific exercises for you to do to bring more money into your life. If you’re not satisfied with your financial health at the moment, this is a great book to start changing your experience with money.

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Worry When it Happens (And Not a Moment Before!)

With all the uncertainty in the financial world at the moment, there is a lot of worrying going on. The news programmes seem to be doing their absolute best to provoke panic, fear and stress. From what I can tell they are succeeding in this aim with a lot of people. However, some of us have a memory…and I remember this year that the stock market has ‘crashed’ according to the news 57 times. Actual number of crashes…zero.

Whenever someone (even a highly respected newscaster) says ‘this could happen’ or ‘this could mean’, I always think ‘and the sky COULD fall in, Chicken Little’. Forgive me, but I am not going to worry about something that could happen…for a start, the possibilities are endless, I’d be in the nuthouse by the end of the week! Worrying about something that could (and equally, could not) happen is a total waste of energy…and if you ask me, is part of the problem for the financial markets because everyone is panicking!

If the current news makes you think ‘hmmm…perhaps my finances aren’t as secure as I thought – I am going to educate myself and make it better’ THAT is all to the good. But if you are watching the news, and believing that the sky is falling…how is this helping you? Don’t get me wrong, of course the sky COULD fall down. But I shan’t be worrying about it until it happens (and not a moment before!)

Love

Donna.x

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