“Financial Attention Deficit Disorder”…Symptoms and Treatments

Check out this new phrase that is buzzing around…and might I say, it seems to be a pretty realistic disorder.

Financial stability, or lack of, can have a tremendous effect on our daily quality of life. Some of those effects include; stress about future bills, worry over a zero balance in a saving’s account, or anxiety over losing your income to a lay-off situation. When our daily quality of life is negatively affected by our financial burdens or situations, it can lead to a snowball effect, starting with lower self-esteem and lower self-worth. Further, lower self-esteem can result in poor financial decisions or unnecessary “comfort” spending.

As I thought of this new buzzing phrase, I did a little research regarding common financial struggles (i.e. symptoms). Then I checked with some financial experts to get some effective prioritizing steps (i.e. treatments), and wanted to share the results.

Symptoms of “Financial Attention Deficit Disorder” include:

1) Living paycheck to paycheck.
2) Having a very low, or no, savings account.
3) Wondering where all your money goes (not able to account for your spending).
4) Having a credit card (or two or ten) maxed out.
5) Having no emergency fund in case of unforeseen life changes (e.g. loss of a job, illness, natural disaster).

Now, some of you may be thinking, “holy cow, one or two or more of those symptoms pertain to me”. If you can relate to any of the symptoms above, then you may very well have “Financial Attention Deficit Disorder”. Through my sleuthy research, I was able to find some handy dandy treatment steps to overcome “Financial Attention Deficit Disorder”

(Source: www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20040317a1.asp).

Treatment Steps Include:

1) Create a “starter” emergency fund – get creative and find ways to try to save up $1000. This is much more reasonable and easier to reach then the traditional amount that many financial advisor’s suggest (i.e. save up 3 to 6 months of your living expenses).
2) Pay off all your unsecured debt, one at a time – examples of secured debt include your mortgage and car loans. The most common example of unsecured debt is credit card debt.
3) Now build up your emergency fund with 3 to 6 months of basic living expenses. Basic living expenses include housing, food, water, essential utilities, medical insurance, car loan, child support (if applicable), and taxes. Some examples of expenses that are not basic or high priority include; credit card loans, high-definition service for your television, Netflix, etc. You may be able to look and identify expenses that you don’t need in order to survive.

In addition, there are two effective exercises (i.e. Prioitizing Party Exercise* & Seek and Surrender Task*) that can help you to begin to feel more secure about your financial situation. As a result, you will experience a higher quality of daily life through higher self-esteem and higher self-worth.

Best Wishes and Peace to All!
Shannon

* Please note, these are highlights from an entire article in Higher-Self Living Paychecks. For more information, please visit our website at www.higherselflifecoaching.com.

”Love Does Not Want or Fear Anything”….is that so? *

I heard this comment recently, and my first reaction was, “Really? But I do have fears and wants involving love”. For example, I have “wanted” someone special to love me and join in a partnership with me. I have “feared” that no one will love me as I am, or want to spend the rest of their life with me. So how does “Love” not want or fear anything?

So I did some soul searching, and continued to listen to the narrator about this statement, and found out the answer. While it was somewhat abstract, it eventually made perfect sense and opened up a door to an enlightened way of thinking for me. I believe that this statement can help many people avoid so much stress and frustration over “love” and relationships with others, so I wanted to share it.

This particular narrator (i.e. Eckhart Tolle) explained that it is our “ego” that wants and fears things. The ego being the thought process of our human minds. The ego thrives on “wanting” and “fearing”, which ultimately results in placing conditions on love. This also places some control of our lives in someone else’s hands. For example, let’s look at the statement, “I want someone to love and cherish me”. The condition is that you are wanting someone else to do something so that you then feel a certain way (e.g. more important or more lovable). Further, you are giving some control to that other person in the sense that if they don’t love you, you will be let down and then possibly feel less of a person or less lovable. The same goes for fearing something.

The bottom line, and lesson to be learned from this, is that “Love” does not want or fear anything. Our ego’s (i.e. minds) want and fear various things for various reasons. Here is a powerful statement for you,”Love just is”. It is just being in a moment with no judgment or conditions or fears. Love exists beneath all the thoughts and emotions that the ego creates in our lives and world. Love is peace and stillness.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

* Please note, these are highlights from an entire article in Higher-Self Living Paychecks. For more information, please visit our website at www.higherselflifecoaching.com.

An Enlightenment Poem to Enlighten Your Day

Hello everyone,

I was feeling slightly out of touch with my spiritual side this week; 3 traffic jams, encounters with grumpy people, and arriving 40 minutes late to an appointment can do that to you.

To help fend off the mental anxiety of nearly cursing out this day, I found solace in a poem I refer to often. I wanted to share it with you in case you find yourself feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

Source: My Journey to Enlightenment Source, theoneistheall.wordpress.com

Dazed and confused title turned to trauma,

light turns again to night

another day occupied with thoughts

of how should's and how can's,

where's this bliss? where's the joy?

Trying to create something which is already created.

Peel away the layers of trying and wanting and

pretending and all that remains is truth.

Everything flows perfectly when there is no struggling,

no wanting and fighting. The perfect flow is there.

Release the how can I’s, the what if’s the when’s and the why’s.

Embrace the IS.

Embrace the NOW.

Avoid the “Summertime Blues” with two easy steps.

Yep, that’s right folks….you are not seeing things and heading straight into a form of dementia. Feeling “the blues” is not reserved for just the winter months.

When I first heard about this, I thought “no way, what the heck”. But then I did happen to recall a couple of summertime’s in which I was feeling pretty down and out. As I checked out this interesting fact, I found that not only are there summertime blues, but there are several types of summertime blues.

For example, one site (source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) stated that experts are studying summer SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Although it is less common then winter SAD, summer SAD does affect thousands of people. Some researchers believe that rising temperatures can cause our body temperatures to rise and that can lead to feelings of agitation, restlessness, and insomnia.

Another informative site (source: ezinearticles.com) listed other forms of summertime blues, including: vacation blues, post-vacation blues, transition blues, and the “We’ve Got It Backwards” blues. Once I read about these other kinds of summertime blues, I thought, “oh my gosh, I have experienced summertime blues”. See if you can relate to any of them.
1) Vacation Blues – trying to get a year’s worth of relaxation into one week or a few days. As a result, when many return they feel stressed out again and want a vacation from the vacation. Sound familiar?
2) Post-Vacation Blues – get this, psychologists have a term for this called “post-reinforcement pause”. Pretty much just meaning we get back to our reality after a wonderful few days or weeks.
3) Transition Blues – many of us experience transitions during the summer months, such as graduations, moving, and weddings. The anticipation can be fun to look forward too, but once the event is over, we go back to “reality”.
4) “We’ve Got It Backwards” Blues – this one stood out to me and even had a hint of “ringing true”. This refers to the fact that when we were young kids, we didn’t have much money to spend during the summertime, as well as unable to do much about it since we were “under-age”. However, many of us now find that as we are older and able to make our own decisions, we now find we still may not have the money or means to do what we want to during the summer months. Interesting huh.

Now some of you may be reading this and going “man I could relate”. Or maybe, and unfortunately, one or two of these may ring true for you at this very moment. In any case, there are two easy ways to steer clear of the summertime blues. One such way is to take things slowly, and the other way is to be patient with yourself. In addition, there are two effective exercises * that can help you avoid a possible upcoming seasonal “blues” episode.

* Please note, these are highlights from an entire article in Higher-Self Living Paychecks. For more information, please visit our website at www.higherselflifecoaching.com.

Smiling….the Universal Language that Connects Us All

Many people travel during their lifetime, whether that is for work or pleasure. Many of those travels may take us to far away locations where the locals speak another language. Others may remain in familiar territory, yet encounter visitors who are communicating in a foreign language. In either case, one form of communication that we all share worldwide is a smile.

A smile is a very friendly jester and greeting to another person. Regardless of what language you speak, nearly everyone interprets a smile in the same way. Recently I was in a foreign land where my native language (i.e. English) was rarely spoken, nor understood. I was faced with many encounters where I could not decipher a word of written, or spoken, communication. And mind you, I studied the language a little and knew their alphabet and some basic greetings.

The one thing I did realize during my foreign travels was that I found comfort in smiling. Smiling was the one form of communication that both myself, and the person I was trying to communicate with, understood. At times I even felt especially connected to them when they smiled back. I realized that I had forgotten how important a smile can be. That is, until I was in a foreign land and began using it more often. I also realized that I had not used it much when I was home and living my daily life. A simple smile can go a long way and scientists have even stated that it takes fewer muscles to form a smile on our faces then it does to frown.

So the next time you encounter someone you don’t know, whether that be in a foreign land or in the comfort of your own home town, smile at them. You never know how much it can brighten someone’s day, including your own.

Stuck in Thoughts of Worry or Fear? Accept the Unaccepted and Find Some Wiggle Room.

Recently a friend of mine, Jackie, was going through an anxious time in her life. She was suddenly traveling to another country and was told that it required some processing and documents that she needed to apply for and request.

Now Jackie is usually a pretty calm and relaxed person. However, when it comes to important travels and having to count on others to be able to reach her goal and deadlines, she gets understandably anxious.

One night she contacted me and said she was really struggling with her worrisome and fearful thoughts. Some of the thoughts were, “What if I don’t get my visa and passport back in time?” and “What if my lay-over gets delayed, causing me to miss a connecting flight?” I had mentioned that these were valid concerns, but that there were perhaps ways to defuse them so they would quiet down just a bit. I then shared with her a simple little tool that can help anyone free themselves from the clutches of the worry and fear scoundrels. That simple tool is just this, “Accept the fact that you are not accepting the situation or moment”. Now if this sounds ironic, good, because it is.

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However, sometimes we may run into situations where accepting what is happening just does not help us to fend off the plethora of worrisome thoughts. So then, the next step in defusing the situation is accepting that you are not accepting the situation. In other words, accepting that you are not accepting your worrisome thoughts. Because if you keep thinking that you just want them to go away, and that you should not have them, then to a certain extent you are denying a genuine feeling that a part of you is experiencing. So by accepting the fact that you don’t accept the worrisome or fearful thoughts, you then open up a tiny little space that a part of you says, “OK”. A space that I refer to as “Wiggle Room”. From that space, or wiggle room, you can focus on just being in that moment and diffuse the negative thoughts that are focusing on future fear.

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The next time you struggle with a very worrisome or fearful thought, try just accepting what you aren’t accepting, and a slight sense of freedom may follow.

May you find a little "Wiggle Room" in each worrisome situation you encounter.

* Please note, these are highlights from an entire article in Higher-Self Living Paychecks. For more information, please visit our website at www.higherselflifecoaching.com.