Financial Catalyst

[Plenum]

how many people here experience financial catalyst?

and how do you deal with it?

[AnthroHeart]

I might end up having to go on permanent disability, but at least my home will be paid for.

[Lighthead]

I've already spoken about this, but I tend to get serious financial catalyst. It's either, I grew up poor, I am poor, I'm disabled so there's no real way for me to be financially independent, the person who is helping to support me is having trouble finding a job... and on and on. It just seems like one thing after another.

As far as how I've dealt with it... I don't think that I've really dealt with it in any other way than just accepting it. What I find has helped is being acquainted with astrology. So looking at my mom's chart as relates to transits, I see that she has some sunny days ahead as far as economic help. And it actually does seem like that's the case because it seems like she's getting pretty close to getting her insurance license. So that seems to be a future reality. There is some government assistance that we've taken advantage of as well.

It just gets kind of frustrating because it seems like I very much know what reality is all about (spiritually), but this thing is just like a thorn in my side. I'm pretty sure that as I get older I'll be able to have a much wiser perspective on all of it. I remember that when I was a kid, I just wanted the toys that the other kids had, but now my perspective is a much more mature one.

[AnthroHeart]

When I'm old, even then I won't be very wise.

[Lighthead]

When I'm old, even then I won't be very wise.

I think that becoming wise involves work. You have to realize that what you experience in life is meant to teach you something. Whether it's something about your own nature, human nature or the universe, or even reality in general. Since you're a Gemini, that tells me that you have little Earth experience. I would say, not necessarily other Earth-like planets, but just specifically, Earth. My sign, Scorpio, is a little past the middle, so I'm getting used to gleaning this type of information from my experiences. Evolution is basically a slow, but worthwhile process.

[AnthroHeart]

I just don't want to be unruly like an Aries.

[Lighthead]

I just don't want to be unruly like an Aries.

Exactly. I've met some loud and aggressive people who have strong Aries influences. I think that Sun in Aries is not as indicative as being that way. I think that it's more like Aries rising, moon in Aries or born on a date that reduces to the number 9.

[Lorna]

Whenever I've tried to control money or plan / manage it then I've been walloped by financial catalyst

When I let go, let finance (energy) flow and trust that everything will be fine, it turns out that it is

When I had most reason to 'worry' finance wise I had an overwhelming urge to give away what little I had to sponsor a child overseas, I took that as a sign.

Have you had any indications as to the lesson behind the catalyst Plenum?

[AnthroHeart]

When I had most reason to 'worry' finance wise I had an overwhelming urge to give away what little I had to sponsor a child overseas, I took that as a sign.

Aww, that's so sweet. And I mean that dearly. Even I don't go there.

[anagogy]

I deal with it by meditating on wealth.  It sounds so incredibly unbelievable and unlikely that it could work so simply when the vibration of wealth is not active within you (and scarcity would only happen in its absence).  But if you held the feeling of wealth consistently for a period of 30 days, more money would have to find its way to you.  Usually in unexpected ways.

Your mind will fight you. It would try to get you to focus on how that could possibly occur in your experience. And voila, you just got tricked into focusing on scarcity again. The gremlins got you. The HOW is not your work. You are simply the captain of the ship. Set the destination, allow the crew to go to work bringing it about. They are skilled at what they do. Focus on the destination alone. The details of how, when, why will be filled in in the course of time. Again, those details are not your work. You are the captain, not the crew.

Again, it sounds impossible when the scarcity mindset is there, and as long as it is there, it is indeed impossible.  But if you could genuinely generate the feeling of wealth, wealth has to find its way to you.  How do you know if you are focused on abundance?  You won't feel anxiety about money.  It takes some practice to build yourself into the vibration of wealth.  But it helps to list the wealth that you are currently enjoying.  And then build on that with imagination.  Pretend that you have all the money in the world, how would you spend it? If you can't answer that question, the vibration is not well activated.  Live a whole day and vibrationally spend that money with your imagination.  But even that is not quite enough.  You have to keep the vibration alive in your consciousness.  Like feeding a fire.  And much like a fire, once it gets big enough, and strong enough, it will be self sustaining.  

And then it no longer requires conscious effort to keep it lit, it would then require conscious effort to put it out.  And this is true for every aspect of life.  It sounds so simple.  But often the most simple things in life are the hardest when the intellectual mind gets involved.  The map is not the territory.  But don't let excuses like that stop you.    That just feeds the scarcity fire.

Don't beat yourself up when you fall, and just keep feeding the abundance fire until it is self sustaining. Attention is the key. Attention is the key to lighting the fire of self sustaining faith.

[Lighthead]

I think that the real reason I have money problems is because I am the consummate dreamer. I'm the typical bohemian. I'm extremely creative with no direction. I dread having a 9 to 5 job. I just don't fit into that mold. And maybe that's why circumstances conspired to me developing schizophrenia. I've had a dread of having a boring job since I was a kid. And it's gotten to a point where it seems like not even a creative job is interesting enough for me. I'm absolutely incorrigible.

[AnthroHeart]

I get dreams where I dread always failing. Even when speaking to people who are successful, I am always shunned in my dreams.

[Lighthead]

Even when speaking to people who are successful, I am always shunned in my dreams.

I tend to get that too. Sometimes I'll dream that I was a child star, but there's always a catch. The catch will be something like that I was only an extra in a movie when I was a kid. Or something laughable like that.

[AnthroHeart]

Last night was a nightmare. I kept doing wrong, and got shunned by everyone. Eventually I turned down the dial on my dad's dog's health from 2500 units to like 2000 units, and my dad proceeded to strangle me, then I shot him a few times with a gun I had. Then I turned back the shooting, feeling guilt from it.

I had made friends with the guy who invented the C programming language, but it was all for not.

[Plenum]

@anagogy  that's an interesting perspective, and one that has been referenced in other places.  If you've applied that approach, and it's yielded fruit, then one can only applaud it's effectiveness!

Have you had any indications as to the lesson behind the catalyst Plenum?

I see money as one of those limiting factors in most people's lives.  I am sure there is a percentage of the population to which it doesn't apply, and they have all the means to obtain the conditions whereby the physical circumstances are supportive of the actual experience they desire to have.  That's awesome for them.  But even in those cases, unconstrained wealth can cause it's own problems (ie, having no financial limitations can create conditions of catalyst in itself).

So not having enought finances is usually a limiting factor.  As is the time in our lives.  It tends to be a constraint, and asks us to prioritize what we really want.

Actually, I think I started another thread a few months ago, on a similiar theme, but I had totally forgotten about it, until I started typing this answer to you, and some of the concepts from that thread came to mind again.

I think the motivation for me posting this time around was for those individuals who experience very harsh financial catalyst, and for which it is essentially a red-ray survival catalyst.  I think there is a certain 'income level' (which is different for each person), below which just being able to obtain the very basic necessities of physical existence (a place to live, weekly groceries) becomes a perpetual struggle.  How can one hope to engage the higher centres, if one is constantly preoccupied with thoughts of just 'surviving'?

[Lighthead]

Last night was a nightmare. I kept doing wrong, and got shunned by everyone. Eventually I turned down the dial on my dad's dog's health from 2500 units to like 2000 units, and my dad proceeded to strangle me, then I shot him a few times with a gun I had. Then I turned back the shooting, feeling guilt from it.

I had made friends with the guy who invented the C programming language, but it was all for not.

That first one was probably because of your dog.

I tend to dream a lot about movies in some sort of way. For example, I'll tend to dream a lot about being in a movie theater or watching a movie. Or the dream will have the feel of a movie or a combination of movies that I've seen or heard about. And so I googled that a couple days ago and the general idea behind those types of dreams has to do with not wanting to face reality or wanting to escape reality in some way. And that pretty much describes me to a tee.

[Plenum]

I think that the real reason I have money problems is because I am the consummate dreamer. I'm the typical bohemian. I'm extremely creative with no direction. I dread having a 9 to 5 job. I just don't fit into that mold. And maybe that's why circumstances conspired to me developing schizophrenia. I've had a dread of having a boring job since I was a kid. And it's gotten to a point where it seems like not even a creative job is interesting enough for me. I'm absolutely incorrigible.

so to you, having a job is the only means of obtaining finances?

I ask, because anagogy's point seems to reference that money can come from many places, not just working for someone else.

There are people on these forums, who have an income, and don't work for anyone else.  Self-employed.  Set the terms of their own work, and are financially independent.

I think the key to that type of success and lifestyle is being responsible for what you create.

[Lighthead]

I think that the real reason I have money problems is because I am the consummate dreamer. I'm the typical bohemian. I'm extremely creative with no direction. I dread having a 9 to 5 job. I just don't fit into that mold. And maybe that's why circumstances conspired to me developing schizophrenia. I've had a dread of having a boring job since I was a kid. And it's gotten to a point where it seems like not even a creative job is interesting enough for me. I'm absolutely incorrigible.

so to you, having a job is the only means of obtaining finances?

I ask, because anagogy's point seems to reference that money can come from many places, not just working for someone else.

There are people on these forums, who have an income, and don't work for anyone else.  Self-employed.  Set the terms of their own work, and are financially independent.

I think the key to that type of success and lifestyle is being responsible for what you create.

But to me even that seems boring. I think that it has to do with having schizophrenia. A hallmark symptom of schizophrenia is lack of motivation. I tend to only have motivation for things that are the opposite of work. For example, just wasting time on the internet all day. Life can be pretty meaningless for me a lot of times.

[Plenum]

But to me even that seems boring. I think that it has to do with having schizophrenia. A hallmark symptom of schizophrenia is lack of motivation. I tend to only have motivation for things that are the opposite of work. For example, just wasting time on the internet all day. Life can be pretty meaningless for me a lot of times.

well, I can't speak to your unique situation, as I've not ever been diagnosed with your condition.

But it doesn't sound like a desirable circumstance to be in.

If I could ask, even before you had the diagnosis, weren't you already using  a lot of MJ, and avoiding the circumstances of life?

[AnthroHeart]

I think that the real reason I have money problems is because I am the consummate dreamer. I'm the typical bohemian. I'm extremely creative with no direction. I dread having a 9 to 5 job. I just don't fit into that mold. And maybe that's why circumstances conspired to me developing schizophrenia. I've had a dread of having a boring job since I was a kid. And it's gotten to a point where it seems like not even a creative job is interesting enough for me. I'm absolutely incorrigible.

so to you, having a job is the only means of obtaining finances?

I ask, because anagogy's point seems to reference that money can come from many places, not just working for someone else.

There are people on these forums, who have an income, and don't work for anyone else.  Self-employed.  Set the terms of their own work, and are financially independent.

I think the key to that type of success and lifestyle is being responsible for what you create.

But to me even that seems boring. I think that it has to do with having schizophrenia. A hallmark symptom of schizophrenia is lack of motivation. I tend to only have motivation for things that are the opposite of work. For example, just wasting time on the internet all day. Life can be pretty meaningless for me a lot of times.

I second that notion. But I do find meaning, even when my dog dies.

[Lighthead]

But to me even that seems boring. I think that it has to do with having schizophrenia. A hallmark symptom of schizophrenia is lack of motivation. I tend to only have motivation for things that are the opposite of work. For example, just wasting time on the internet all day. Life can be pretty meaningless for me a lot of times.

well, I can't speak to your unique situation, as I've not ever been diagnosed with your condition.

But it doesn't sound like a desirable circumstance to be in.

If I could ask, even before you had the diagnosis, weren't you already using  a lot of MJ, and avoiding the circumstances of life?

I appreciate your understanding. Actually, yeah, I was using a lot of MJ (which I wouldn't recommend to people who have mental illness in their family), and I was avoiding circumstances of life. But whereas people would say that avoiding the circumstances of life was merely incidental to me developing schizophrenia, I would say that avoiding the circumstances of life, in some subconscious way, led to me having schizophrenia. It was a way to make it official that I now had a reason to not work.

That said, I am starting to narrow down the focus of what I really want to do. I'm starting to become really fascinated with meditating. I'm starting to realize that I might want to do something related to that. Perhaps get really experienced in the field of meditation and maybe lecture on that in the future. That seems more meaningful than even being an artist. I'm interested in Buddhist forms of meditation. I would like to do some serious research into the ancient Buddhist texts, like, for example, the Shobogenzo by Dogen Zenji. But while I would want to be Buddhist focused, I wouldn't want my form of teaching to really be all that traditional. Like you have to meditate in such and such a posture, you have to have a statue of Buddha in your meditation space, etcetera.

[native]

Financial catalyst can sort of be lumped in with the "What is the purpose of life?" catalyst in general I think, because it's related to what we spend most of our lives doing. So I think this type of catalyst is for the purpose of encouraging ourselves to take that leap of faith and do something worthwhile.

Generally speaking, being self-employed isn't very common yet many people used to make a living that way. I think many of us have ideas of how we would live our dream, but the societal structure provides a comfort zone that requires effort to break free from (a boundary to be crossed). This could come in many forms whether that be self-employment or some sort of group effort.

[Bring4th_Austin]

Whenever I've tried to control money or plan / manage it then I've been walloped by financial catalyst

When I let go, let finance (energy) flow and trust that everything will be fine, it turns out that it is

When I had most reason to 'worry' finance wise I had an overwhelming urge to give away what little I had to sponsor a child overseas, I took that as a sign.

I think this is interesting, because I have had similar experience, but I have witnessed the opposite with so many other people. I know many people who keep a strict budget, keep tight control over all of their money, and make personal finance a sort of hobby that is always on the mind, and they do so with great success with a great cushion and sometimes going into a successful and comfortable retirement. And I also know people who seem to not pay mind to money and end up deep in debt.

But when I was attempting to keep a very tight budget, there seemed to be a bit of anxiety that played out as I put strictures on my money and attempted to force things into their proper and responsible place, and all of this fuss didn't seem to help me weather the flurry of quick and harsh financial catalyst any more than I could when I wasn't paying such close attention to my money.

From what I've witnessed and experienced, I think our beliefs and distortions around money tend to attract the type of financial catalyst we will experience. A person who enjoys doing their budget, feels a sense of accomplishment, responsibility, and security from doing so maybe has a better chance of success with that system, while a person who is more comfortable allowing money to be a more dynamic and flowing thing may have better experiences with that (just two of what could be many types of belief systems around money).

Even understanding this, it's hard for me not to feel worry or anxiety around financial issues sometimes, even when they aren't my own. I think it's a rich source of catalyst and the way we relate to money can probably help us understand ourselves in a very unique light.

[Lighthead]

What I do know is that, when I redid my chart (astrology), I saw that I have my sun in the 2nd house. The 2nd house is the house of money and resources, as well as what you value. So that may be the source of my financial troubles. And my sun is weakly afflicted by Saturn. That's roughly a bad thing.

[Lorna]

We all have different lessons to learn here, so our lessons in relation to financial catalyst will be specific to our needs

Poverty and lack at a societal level is, I think, a different issue altogether, not necessarily financial in nature, after all, the lack of finance is simply a lack of means to purchase other resources, these other resources can be sourced in alternative ways.

There are some inspirational solutions addressing lack out there - for example, http://incredibleediblenetwork.org.uk/ and http://bliive.com/

[Plenum]

We all have different lessons to learn here, so our lessons in relation to financial catalyst will be specific to our needs

Poverty and lack at a societal level is, I think, a different issue altogether, not necessarily financial in nature, after all, the lack of finance is simply a lack of means to purchase other resources, these other resources can be sourced in alternative ways.  

I think that's a good distinction to make Lorna.

There is the individual's realtionship to resources/finances, and then there is the social structuring of wealth/finances and redistribution.  There are Norwegian countries where the redistribution ensures (from what I know) that even unemployed people can have a decent standard of living and perhaps not 'suffer' to the level that they might do in other countries.  That, of course, is predicated on a certain amount of National Wealth to begin with; one can't redistribute if there is not much to go round.  

so in the link you shared, that's about the community supporting those who have fallen on hard times?

[Lorna]

They're just two different approaches to distributing resources, one trades time and the associated expertise of the person, the other is about communities coming together to create shared food resources for their own towns using community land or disused space - for example, there's an incredible edible garden near me at a train station, you can freely pick herbs, greens, rhubarb and strawberries on your way home.

Another initiative local to me is being piloted by the hospital, encouraging people to plant veg gardens for health & exercise reasons and to tackle food poverty which exists in many of the more rural villages where there is no local shop. That particular initiative is about empowering communities to relearn skills of food production and preparation that were historically commonplace.

Money on its own doesn't fix a lack of infrastructure or food production. Creative approaches and communities working collaboratively does, and in so doing lessens the dependence of those communities on supermarkets and large scale food production. In turn, this leads to improved food security and stronger community cohesion.

When people talk of poverty or lack, these are very complex terms that are not simply solved by financial resources. Where there is societal lack, my impression is that it requires a societal / community led approach to develop a solution, and, similarly to individual lessons, those community solutions will often be unique to the area in which they are rooted.

The social democratic political approach in the Scandinavian countries is a good example of this, and it's something Scotland seems to be aspiring towards - the Common Weal (common good) for example http://www.allofusfirst.org/. I don't believe it requires an abundance of national wealth to start achieving this, instead I think it requires a paradigm shift in how we perceive resources - I would WANT to pay higher tax to fund better social provision for those with less than I have, if I was reassured that those resources would be responsibly managed for the benefit of wider society.

[Lorna]

*the community garden approach is about creating shared food resources for everyone, not just for those who have fallen on hard times

[Bluebell]

aries aren't unruly. they're hard-working & stubborn.