Creating a Better Life

A Meaningful Thanksgiving Gift

Thanks to a gift from Dave Olsen, I was able to help fund a loan on Kiva.org today, and be a part of someone’s efforts to create a better life!

I’m pretty new to the whole micro loan concept, so I thought that I’d post the email they asked me to send to friends. They can explain it better than I could right now.

Hi!

I just made a loan to someone in the developing world using a revolutionary new website called Kiva.

You can go to Kiva’s website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the business is going. The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva’s loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Orfelina De Jesús Vela Rosales in Peru. They still need another $150.00 to complete their loan request of $450.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!). Help me get this business off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Orfelina De Jesús Vela Rosales too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=24448&_isc=

It’s finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they’re using it for. And most of all, I know that I’m helping them build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

Lyman Reed
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What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

‘Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.’
– BBC

‘If you’ve got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you’ve now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.’
– CNN Money

‘Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.’
– The Wall Street Journal

‘An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity…All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.’
– Entrepreneur Magazine

Thanks again, Dave, for making this Thanksgiving one to remember.

What I learned from the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind Seminar by T. Harv Eker

“You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if your “blueprint” isn’t set for success, you’re financially doomed.” — T. Harv Eker

I watched an amazing video yesterday that I wanted to share with you:

T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Million Mind

A couple of the points about the seminar really struck me:

1. Being comfortable and being rich are two different things. Many people go for comfort - if you do, you’ll never be rich. Put yourself into uncomfortable situations in order to grow.
2. Work from the inside out (where have I heard that before?). It’s all about what’s going on inside. Your mental, emotional, and spiritual self are the root - the physical is the fruit. Focus on changing the root, and the fruit will change.
3. Action is the bridge between the invisible and the visible. No one has ever had a bag of money dropped on his or her head while sitting around meditating. Physical money is a part of your physical reality, so you must to something in the physical word to get it!
4. Everyone feels fear, rich and poor alike. Rich people act in spite of fear, poor people let fear stop them.
5. One powerful way to increase your income is to figure out a way to help 10 times the number of people you are helping now. Your income is a direct reflection of the value you are adding to the world. Rich people solve problems for people, and get paid to do it.

There’s a lot more in the video, but those are the points that really struck me.

You can also listen to a downloadable audio version of T. Harv Eker’s teleseminar by clicking here.

Enjoy!

[Both the audio and video have been added to the Personal Development Audio and Personal Development Video pages.]

Do What You Love - Gift Certificates, iPods, and Books Will Follow

It’s been an amazing 36 hours…

First, I discovered that I was one of the winners in Karen Lynch’s Seven Days contest at Live the Power. Just by doing what I normally do, reading Karen’s excellent blog and participating in the conversation there, I ended up with a $25 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com. She also awarded prizes to Pamm of My Secret Spiritual Dance and Priscilla of Personal Development Demands Success.

Thank you, Karen! And another Happy Birthday to both you and Live the Power. May there be many many more!

Then I got an email from Kirsten, creator of Positive Thinking Day, who let me know that I’d won an iPod Shuffle, loaded with another creation of Kirsten’s… ipopins, which are really neat, one minute positive affirmations set to jammin’ beats! If you’re curious about them, you can pick up five of them for free by subscribing to the ipopin newsletter.

Once again, this was for doing something that I would have done anyway: adding my support to what I think is a fabulous idea… a day dedicated to the power of positive thinking. Kirsten and her co-sponsors are doing some great work with this. Not only are they promoting positive thinking in a world that can always use more of it - they are also using it to raise funds and awareness for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

There are more prizes to come! As of this writing, April Groves (who has a couple of great blogs herself: My Beautiful Chaos and Making Life Work for You) has come in 5th place in the Positive Thinking Day Most Positive Person Contest, and has picked up some neat prizes herself! Four more to go!

Thank you, Kirsten!

You’d think that would be it… but there’s more…

Before I sat down to write this post, I went out and got the mail. There was only one thing in the box - a package from Amazon.com containing the book Open Secrets: The Letters Of Reb Yerachmiel Ben Yisrael, courtesy of my long time blogging friend Nneka of Balanced Life Center!

I’ll say it again - this was for doing something that I would normally do - I participated in Balanced Life Center’s one year birthday celebration by providing Nneka with some feedback on her blog. And she chose to send myself, Rick Cockrum of Shards of Consciouness, and Phil Gerbyshak of Make It Great! a copy of the book.

Thank you, Nneka!

So why am I telling you this?

Partially it’s to express my gratitude to these three amazing women, not only for the stuff, but for all that they do for the world.

But there’s also a lesson here.

I think it was Woody Allen who said that “90% of success is showing up.” And that’s all I really did - I showed up for each of these activities, felt inspired to participate, and did so.

What if I had said “Yes, I’d like to participate in Karen’s 7 Days Celebration, but who really cares what I have to say?”

No gift certificate.

What if I had thought “It would be nice to add a link to support Positive Thinking Day, but my little blog can’t make a difference, so why bother?”

No iPod Shuffle.

Or how about “Nneka’s a much better writer than I am… my feedback doesn’t matter to her.”

No Open Secrets.

The interesting thing is, those thoughts crossed my mind in each of these instances. And the Lyman that used to be would have ran with them and done nothing. But the Lyman I’ve become replaced those thoughts with better feeling ones and took the inspired action that he wanted to take.

It’s good to be pointed downstream.

A Lesson in “It’s OK to Want Stuff” and “The Universe Likes Speed”

A couple of days ago I did a short write up of an abundance game that Pamm of My Secret Spiritual Dance had created: on a weekly basis, she’s sending three random Abraham-Hicks tapes from her collection to the blogger/website owner who sends her the most referrals…

When I first read about the contest, I got really excited. As a still fairly new Abraham-Hicks student, I’m in that phase of getting anything I can that they’ve produced (you’ve been there, haven’t you?). But my financial situation isn’t yet at the point where I can subscribe to their regular subscription program.

So I thought to myself “Why not write up a blog post on the game? That will send her some referrals, which means that I could be one of the winners, and also share with others who may be in the same situation I am.”

Immediately, my protective side jumped in. “Come on, now… don’t be greedy. You don’t really want to share this, you want to win win win… and everyone will see right through you. And it’s wrong to want things for yourself. Maybe what you can do is write up something on it and opt out of the game yourself…”

Then, another part of me, the part that’s getting stronger every day, reminded me of something:

There’s nothing wrong with wanting things. It’s the attachment to the wanting, and the attachment to the things, that get me in trouble.

Then, it reminded me of something else: a quote from Joe Vitale (in “The Secret”):

The Universe Likes Speed.

So I wrote up the post, and was honestly detached from the outcome.

On Saturday, Pamm contacted me to let me know I’d had the most referrals for the week, and the tapes would be on their way on Monday (today)! Thank you, Pamm!

It’s OK to want stuff.

The Universe likes speed.

Manifesting Abraham… Tapes :)

On her beautiful My Secret Spiritual Dance blog, Pamm has started an abundance game.

I’ll let her describe it for you (from the site):

I was introduced to Abraham in 1995 and started the weekly tape program a few years later. Since that time, I have been on and off the program, mostly on. I am on it again. I have a gabillion Abraham tapes. That means lots. It feels yummy when I think about giving them away. So–for the next whatever amount of time, I’ll keep track of the direct referrals to my blog from other sites. I will send the person with the most referral clicks, three random Abraham tapes as my gift. No postage fee required. All you have to do is be your lovely self and receive. I’ll post the weekly winners. No real efforting involved here….let’s just play.

What a great way to give and receive at the same time! Thank you, Pamm!