Drowning in Debt? By Norman V. Peale

[Guest guest]

" Drowning in Debt? " Written by Norman Peale

** Note from PJ: I realize that this isn't exactly the most popular subject for

many of us, but for some reason I feel compelled to share this message with you

now. Hoping this will reach those who can benefit from this message.

Hope you realize the love and compassion and the good spirit in

which this message comes to you. Love & Hugs, PJ

" With the possible exception of health problems, money weighs more

heavily on people's minds than any other form of anxiety.

Tremendous emotional currents often swirl around money problems. A

letter came to me from a woman who said bitterly that she hated

money for what it did to people like herself who didn't have enough,

and for what it did to people who had too much. She said that

America had become a dollar-worshiping society, and she blamed money

for that. She even misquoted the Bible. " Money is the root of all

evil! " She wrote, underscoring every word.

Actually, the Bible says, " The LOVE of money is the root of all

evil " (I 6:10) which is quite a different thing.

" Stop seeing yourself as the helpless victim of an imaginary villian

called money, " I wrote to the woman. " If you personalize money so

vehemently and hate it so intensely, you certainly won't ever

attract it, because your subconscious mind will be programmed to

repel and reject it. "

I urged her to image herself as a well-balanced, intelligent person

whose mind was able to take charge of her emotions. " Calm down, " I

wrote. " Be objective. Stop all this hate business. Hold the image of

yourself as someone determined to remove all these turbulent,

confusing emotions from your mind. Nothing is going to go right for

you until you do. "

Imaging is one of many techniques that can help people in financial

difficulty. My wife Ruth and I have worked out six simple, effective

ways to get your head above water when you're drowning in debt:

1) DON'T PANIC. Fear not only paralyzes the will and the mind but it

also seems, in some mysterious way, to scare money away, probably

because fearful people are not creative or resourceful people. So

try to be calm, be objective, be logical, be hopeful.

If you find anxiety getting the upper hand, image peace of mind. The

simple act of praying creates an image of your problems being

brought to the source of all wisdom, and that is tremendously

reassuring and comforting. Then read the Twenty-third Psalm. When

you come to those marvelous words, " I will fear no evil; for thou

are with me . . . " (verse 4), run them through your mind at least 20

times. Repeat them to yourself during the day, if you feel your

anxiety returning. Write them on a piece of paper and tape it on

your bathroom mirror, where you will see it first thing every

morning. Saturate yourself with this idea.

2) GET ORGANIZED. Once you have your emotions under control, get

organized. Make a list of all your debts, everything you owe. Make

another list of essential expenses. Add up all sources of income and

see what you can count on. It's amazing how many people really don't

know how much they owe or what their basic expenses are. Visualize

yourself living within your income with a fraction left over for

debt reduction. Paint that image vividly in your mind.

3) BE DISCIPLINED. Don't be impulsive. Give up credit or installment

buying until you are debt free. You have to learn to ignore that sly

little destructive demon named Instant Gratification, who lurks in

all of us and whispers, " That's a bargain; grab it! "

The demon is happiest when you don't know that state of your

finances, because then he knows you are less likely to apply the

brakes. Discipline fends off money problems before they get started.

4) THINK. Look inside your head for new ideas, new possible sources

of income. Money problems can become assets if they force you into

creative thinking. If you'll sit down and really think, you may come

up with ideas or insights that can change everything.

Saroyan was a struggling young writer. Discouraged and

almost broke, he decided to ask a rich uncle in a nearby city for a

loan. With his last bit of cash, Saroyan sent his uncle a telegram.

Back came this reply: HAVE HEAD EXAMINED.

Once he got over the shock of this seemingly sardonic refusal,

Saroyan pondered the message. Gradually, he began to see what his

uncle was saying: You don't need a loan. Look inside your head.

That's where you'll find a solution in a new idea. Thus challenged,

Saroyan sat down, thought up a plot for a short story, wrote it,

sold it, and was on his way to a brilliant career as a playwright

and novelist.

Opportunities for moneymaking surround us all the time; it just

takes an inquisitive, lively mind to see them. It also takes an

optimistic mind, one that expects good things to happen in the

future. It's not easy to stay optimistic these days, because

pessimism is so rampant. But, it can be done. Even an odd job can be

the start of something big.

Cardone is a friend who, in middle age, found himself out of

work. But he didn't let it get him down. One day, he saw a pile of

descarded, worn-out windshield wiper motors in a garage, and he

began to wonder why they couldn't be fixed and sold more cheaply

than new ones. He began to fix them and sell them -- an odd job

because there was no demand for rebuilt wiper motors and no one had

ever tried it.

But he kept on, and Cardone became the head of an enormous

plant in Philadelphia that remakes all sorts of automotive supplies.

Why? He had a dream, an image of being his own boss, of finding

automotive needs and filling them. This odd job was the springboard

that started him on his way. What he was able to image, he became.

Cardone is an intensely religious man. He and the top

executives in his company begin every business day with prayer.

They're convinced that if have God as their partner, and make all

decisions in the light of His teachings, they cannot go wrong.

is sure that there is a spiritual side to every success

story, and his accomplishments seem to prove him right.

5) GIVE ALL YOU CAN. Giving is the best way to put yourself in the

great invisible stream of abundance that surges through the

universe. Tithing is the surest way to do this, because God Himself

has guaranteed the results, and God's promises never fail.

Once I was trying to help a woman overcome her fears about money

problems when she said to me, " What do you know about what I'm going

through? You don't owe anyone anything. "

I replied, " I can understand it because I've been through it, too. "

I told her that during the Depression in 1930 I was a young

minister, recently married. My salary, which had been a handsome

(for those days) $6,000 a year, was cut twice -- first to $5,000,

then to $4,000. We had no home supplied by the church. Everyone was

frightened and depressed. The pressure got worse.

One night I said to Ruth, " We're in a desparate situation. We can't

pay the bills. What are we going to do? " And her answer really

startled me. She said, " We're going to start tithing. "

" IT's IMPOSSIBLE! " I replied.

" Not impossible. Essential! "

Ruth said stoutly. " 'Tithing is an act of faith, and the Bible says

that if we have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed,

nothing will be impossible for us. We have to start imaging God's

prosperity. "

So we started giving ten percent of everything we had to the Lord.

And Ruth was right. Money didn't pour in, but there always was

enough. Furthermore, the act of tithing calmed my fears and

stimulated my mind so that I began thinking. I started imaging. I

knew I had one small talent: public speaking. And so I offered

myself as a public speaker wherever one was needed. Sometimes I was

paid five or ten dollars, sometimes nothing at all. Then someone who

heard me speak offered me a chance to go on radio. Again, I received

no money for this, but the number of speaking invitations increased.

One thing led to another, and we began to get our heads above water.

I am convinced that tithing did it. There is something about this

practice of giving that can't be explained in purely rational terms.

Tithing seems to put a person in touch with some mysterious force

that attracts money. Not a lot of money, necessarily, but enough for

the tither's needs. Of the hundreds of people I've persuaded to try

tithing, not one has ever told me that the experiment failed, or

that he regretted it, or that it was a mistake. Not one.

It's almost as if there is an invisible reservoir of abundance in

the universe that can be tapped if you will just obey certain

spiritual laws. So if you have financial difficulties, face up to

them, not just with courage and intelligence, but also with

warmhearted generosity and concern for others.

6) VISUALIZE YOURSELF AS DEBT FREE. Imagine vividly the relief, the

happiness, the peace of mind you will feel when the last payment of

a debt is made. Hold that idea in your conscious mind until it sinks

down into your subconscious mind. And then you will have it forever,

because it will have you. "

Excerpted from " How to Make Positive Imaging Work for You " .

Copyright 1982 By Norman Peale. Reprinted by permission of

Fleming H. Revell Co.

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