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Create a Legacy of Thanksgiving
Creating a habit of life-long thanksgiving is key to making money and living a rich, full life. In all walks of life, in all faith traditions. Thanksgiving is the other side of the money-making coin. Your business mission and business success, are enhanced when you practice the spirit of thankfulness. In Golden Nuggets -- a series of short, one page essays -- famed international investor John Templeton writes, “Thanksgiving is a creative force that, if lived on a continuous basis and not just for one day each year, can create more good in your life. Perhaps we could call this way of life ‘thanks-living.’ Thanks-living is based on the premise that living a life of appreciation and gratefulness leads to having more to be thankful for. We have the ability to create blessings in our lives through the power of our minds and the choices we make.” Similarly, in the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Deepak Chopra, M.D. writes: “The word affluence comes from the root word ‘affluere,’ which means ‘to flow to.’ The word affluence means ‘to flow in abundance.’ Money is really a symbol of life energy we exchange and the life energy we use as a result of the service we provide to the universe.” “In order to keep that energy coming to us, we have to keep the energy circulating. . . . in fact, anything that is of value in life, only multiplies when it is given.” “If you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent.” Earning a living and thanksgiving are two sides of the same coin -- of living. In The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life and through the Soul of Money Institute, global activist and author Lynne Twist speaks about the transformative effects of aligning our acquisition and use of money with our most deeply held values around purposeful living, love, and meaning. Financial planner Suze Orman, who worked for Merrill Lynch and Prudential Bache before starting her own firm and starring on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), echoes the same sentiments about attitudes of thanksgiving in The Nine Steps to Freedom: “Open up your hands,” she says, “cup them. Put them under the (kitchen) faucet and accept the water flowing freely into your hands. You’ll be able to drink to your heart’s content. Your thirst will be quenched and the thought ‘not enough’ won’t even enter your mind.” “We experience prosperity, true financial freedom, when our actions with respect to money are dharmic, or righteous, actions – that is, actions of generosity, actions of offering.” A life, a legacy of thanks-living can take many forms. Here are a few ideas. They are equally valuable. They will bless the lives of the receivers, and they will bless your life. * Give to charity
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