May 28, 2007

MEMORIAL DAY SUMMER BOOK LIST

"In order to build a skyscraper you have to dig a foundation of a certain depth below it. The higher the skyscraper you aspire to build, the deeper you have to go. It's like an iceberg-two-thirds of it is below the surface." Courtney B. Vance

To contribute to the portions below the surface: BOOKS

These are books that had a profound effect on my spirit and soul.
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
Listening: How to Increase Awareness of Your Inner Guide by Lee Coit
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Friends: A Love Story by Angela Bassett & Courtney B. Vance with Hilary Beard
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Four Fold Way by Angeles Arrien

These are books that forever altered my views regarding money and business.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Girl, Get Your Money Straight! by Glenda Bridgeforth


These are books that were just plain fun to read.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Ladies First Revelations of a Strong Woman by Queen Latifah



Books recommended from "Emotional Money" readers:

Charlotte Volage-NYC
Soul Retrieval (mending the fragmented self) by Sandra Ingerman
The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Writing Past Dark by Natalie Goldberg

Pamela S. Booker-Brookly, NY
In Search of Billie Holiday: If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery
by Farah Jasmine Griffin
an elegantly written, honest portrait of our beloved "Lady Day." Griffin moves beyond the tragedy to find the beauty of the song and musicianship that she possessed

Amanda Marsico-Binghamton, NY
While I'm sure I could come up with quite a list of fiction, the first one that popped into my head was The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron.


Richard Kohn-NYC
I have over the past couple of years been into the biographies of the movie stars of the 20's 30's 40's and 50's. From them I do get my inspiration.
I recommend "The Men of MGM" and "The Women of MGM" They are an easy read and are available in the NYC library system. From them you will learn the wonderful history of the movie business and studio system and how these actors truly "paid their dues" - such actors as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, just to name a few. However my favorite of all is Humphrey Bogart.


Thank you very much to each of you that contributed to the summer reading list!


A moment of silence for those who have passed on.

Ashe.


May we spend the time we have on this planet enriching our "icebergs" so we can continue the work of our ancestors and help make the world better for ourselves and the next generation.


Action Item: Happy Reading!


If you have an upcoming event, seminar, performance, etc. please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com. It may be exactly what someone has been looking for.
____________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
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Am Management."

May 21, 2007

DOTS CONNECTED: BLANK SLATE BEGINS

I am reading "Friends: A Love Story By Angela Bassett & Coutney B. Vance." I was looking forward to learning more about their childhood and the details of their relationship. Somewhere in there I forgot that these are actors and probably the book would contain many passages about their...uh...acting. It was amazing to read their words and identify with every word when they spoke about embodying their characters, the surprises when parts and opportunities came that they weren't expecting, the thrill of being perfectly connected with another actor and being able to use emotions from their lives to infuse the life of their characters. I was reminded of all the parts I loved about acting. I remembered how from the early age of five I decided I was going to be an actor and really thought I'd grow old playing out my life going from one show to another. I was amazed at the sadness I felt that what they experienced and have realized in their professional careers, I have not. Why was I feeling sad? I choose not to pursue acting. Auditions, amazing parts and opportunities always seemed to come to me but in the end, I was never satisfied. As much as I love researching, discovering and becoming the characters I never loved the networking, the minimal pay compared to the work required or having no weekends or evenings to myself. At every closing night, as everyone cried, I was relieved.

At the height of my success, I choose to walk away from acting for 4 years and once back, I choose again to turn my focus to a different passion. Acting regardless of the successes, still wasn't satisfying. So, I was shocked by the sadness I felt reading this book. What if the path I choose from the beginning could have been the path that truly fulfilled me? I feel fulfilled now-when I work with and witness the transformations of my clients, when I meet so many amazing people at seminars and every week when I'm writing and receiving responses to my blog. Every piece of it, I love. Afterwards, there aren't any lights that come up and I don't have to wait for anyone to cast me to get to the part I love-connecting. I realize now the sadness was for the many, many years spent on something that didn't fully satisfy me. Sadness for the me that wasn't comfortable in my own skin and used the character, a show, the accolades as a distraction to hide behind. This time when I speak, it's me. Connecting. Reading this book, and hearing their joy no matter the many hours, the hard work, the loss of privacy-there is joy. Now, there is joy in my words. I thought it would always be acting-instead it's business, accounting- financial counseling! This book that I thought was going to be a nice love story took me to my own past, my choices, to my "what-if's."

We pick up a book, a career, a relationship, a kitten, a friend, make a choice, expecting one thing and receive something different than expected. Sometimes that "different" is a very good thing! Dots Connected: Blank Slate Begins!



Action Item: Before you started doing what you've always done, before you were told who you would and should be, before you decided there is only one thing you can be-at your core what makes you feel at ease and free?
That first thought that just popped in your head-that's it. Have fun connecting!


Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Next Monday, Memorial Day, May 28, 2007 Emotional Money will feature a summer reading list: Books that have changed my life-no book report required.
I'd love to publish yours as well. If interested in contributing to next week's blog, please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com with the name of the book and, if you want, your name, what state you're in and a sentence or two about the impact the book had on you. (Yes, it's okay to only send the name of the book). I hope to hear from you!
(The goal is a listing of wonderful books that we can all enjoy throughout the summer.)




SUBMISSION INFORMATION:The Washington Post columinist, Michelle Singeltary is requesting your "Mega Money Mistake." Send your entries to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Put "My Mega-Money Mistake" in the subject line. Your submission should be mailed or e-mailed by May 26. Please include your name, day and evening telephone numbers and address.
On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.
By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.


UPCOMING EVENT
THIS WEDNESDAY
Suffering from the Sugar blues?
Constantly craving sweets and want to understand why?
Want to gain control without willpower or deprivation?
Please join Maria Sacks
Holistic Health & Nutrition Counselor
For a free lecture on
Wednesday, May 23rd
7:00-8:30 pm at
Pilates Studio
20 Lumber Road, 2nd Floor
(off Old Northern Blvd., opposite the Clock Tower)
Roslyn

For details please call (516)876-2628 or
Email mariasacks@optonline.net




If you have an upcoming event, seminar, performance, etc. please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com. It may be exactly what someone has been looking for.
____________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra
Am Management."

May 15, 2007


OUR MOTHERS WITHIN

Stopping in Jamestown, on a roadtrip with my mother to see my grandmother, we observe a mother and daughter spew venom toward each other at the Bob Evans. The daughter is in her early to mid-twenties. After being informed that her mother was there, she comes from the back with a scowl on her face. Her mother says she overheard she was getting off at 2pm and since she was on this side of town she thought she'd see what she was going to be doing now. It was clear she was being checked on. The daughter knowing this, answered every question asked with "I don't know." Both of their scowls getting worse. My mother and I raised our menus in the hopes that we could disappear. Their pain masked in scowls was unbearable to observe on this day before Mother's Day.

My mother has always been my best friend. I've always known I was lucky to have a mother who always made it clear to me that I was loved. No matter my faults, mistakes and bad choices, I knew I was loved. This is a true gift. In a world that can be quite cruel, knowing I was loved gave me a magnificient headstart. My grandmother was the beginning of this path-she forged new territory, not from what she experienced from her family, but from what she knew to be possible from her own heart. My family dynamic could have been exactly what I had observed in Jamestown. My grandmother chose to start a new path for her children-my mother and uncle and me. I've always celebrated my mother and grandmother on Mother's Day. It's my chance to honor two amazing women who have made my journey so much easier than their own. Two woman who are leaders, movers and shakers and have spent their lives placing the needs, dreams and desires of those around them ahead of their own. I thank you so very much mommy, Sharon Ball and grandma, Eunice Simpson for being my "mothers." I love you!!!

If either scenario rings true for you; you and your mother are enemies, best friends or you don't know each other, how much longer will it be the source of the "scowl" or "smile" on your face? While having a glorious headstart-I was always reminded by my friends how lucky I was-and I was. However, my greatest lesson and I was reminded standing in the Bob Evans, was that until we love ourselves no love from the outside will ever be enough. Until I learned to love myself I continously made choices that made my life difficult. The mother in this situation had to know that she would not be embraced showing up at her daughter's job unannounced when their relationship clearly didn't have a track record of kindnesses such as "stopping by because she was on that side of town..." She left the restaurant, without her daughter, livid. But how could her daughter have gone with her? How could the mother have expected to have left any way except livid (disappointed)? My choices of relationships, community, career and my daily existance was to prove to myself that I wasn't worthy of the love I received from my mothers. Once I embraced myself, I was amazed by the abundance of love that I received not only from my mothers but from my community and from nature. This love surrounds each and every one of us. Most often it's right there but we scowl and bat away even the possibility of finding it by setting up situations that will keep love at bay. Embrace and love yourself FIRST. May we each forge a new path, as my grandma did and lay the scowls to rest. There's laughter, hugs, smiles and kisses directly on the other side-it's from within. Thank you grandma for loving your mother within enough to forge an entirely new path for your children. May we all love our "mother" within and pass that LOVE on to our children, our communities and our world.!


"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today." Unknown


Action: Look in a mirror. To whom do you scowl? What would happen if you smiled?


UPCOMING EVENT

Suffering from the Sugar blues?
Constantly craving sweets and want to understand why?
Want to gain control without willpower or deprivation?
Please join Maria Sacks
Holistic Health & Nutrition Counselor
For a free lecture on
Wednesday, May 23rd
7:00-8:30 pm at
Pilates Studio
20 Lumber Road, 2nd Floor
(off Old Northern Blvd., opposite the Clock Tower)
Roslyn

For details please call (516)876-2628 or
Email mariasacks@optonline.net




If you have an upcoming event, seminar, performance, etc. please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com. It may be exactly what someone has been looking for.
____________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra
Am Management."

May 7, 2007



SHADES BETWEEN A & B

A recurring theme this week-"the only choices I have are A and B."
I noticed this from my clients, friends, and family that neither A nor B was an option that made them smile. In fact, they weren't options at all; they were familiar-but never did these choices provide them with a sense of having their issues, or concerns truly solved. Ironically in these same instances, when someone suggests other options, the first response is always "That won't work because..." or "I can't do that because..." Even when a new idea pops in our own mind we give this same response. But, there are at least a zillion possiblities between options A & B. Just as there are a zillion shades between the colors black and white. When you feel like the choices that you've considered are "for a fact" the only options available: Stop, Breath and Consider that you deserve to have options that make you smile. If options A & B cause you to feel restricted and heavy, then clearly those aren't the options you should be considering. Why? For the simple reason that you aren't smiling with possibility when you think of them. Therefore when you take action on items A or B you are never able to truly release it. It's a temporary "fix" but it arises again or it gnaws at you. A choice that isn't fully embraced because it dosen't cause you to feel good, never really gets resolved.

One of my favorite movies is Matrix. I love the line when the agent says that "they" tried to create a perfect world for humans and it didn't work. "Humans wouldn't accept the programming." (Please see this movie if you haven't already.) We have a built in voice that says we're supposed to suffer. That has been imposed since the beginning of time. It was only imposed in order to "control." This need to control arises because we believe that there isn't enough food, wealth, abundance, etc. for every single one of us to enjoy at the same time. There is. "Suffering" and "Misery" has been programmed into our psyche, fed to us through our own families, communities and the press. However, there are a zillion shades between A & B.

I realize, in this moment, that this same theme directly affected me. One of my kittens two weeks ago had a seizure. I completly freaked out-I just knew he was going to die. When he lived, I believed my choices were-A-this is going to be so hard and B-I will need to give him up because my mantra now is to live "in ease." I mentioned what happened to my friend, not my decision around it, just the truth about how scary and hard it was going to be. She immediately told me about a friend of ours that had had a cat that spent its life with seizures. I had no idea. I wrote this friend and she explained to me if I stayed calm and just spoke to him when he was having them that it helps to bring them back faster. For his second seizure I stayed calm and said and believed that everything was going to be okay. He stopped having the seizure. I wasn't stressed and I didn't feel like his seizure was causing me a great hardship. Because of the conversation with my friend, I was no longer afraid of the seizure and all the "what if's." An option I never even considered-not being afraid and that "my ease" wasn't threatened. My first two choices were based on what was familiar to me-fight and/or flight. "This is going to be so hard" (fight) or "I'm going to have to get rid of him" (flight.) Both made me feel miserable. But I believed that they were my only choices. Reaching out, I was presented with the shades inbetween my A & B.


If your choices A & B make you feel...yucky.
One-Stop, Breathe.
Two-Use your imagination-Consider the zillions of shades inbetween.
Three-Talk & Share with others-don't immediately reject their suggestions (or your own "popping" thoughts. Listen. Allow and watch the shades multiply.
A few of those shades will make you smile in spite of the old familiar self.
Now you have your choices and can take affirming actions.

As soon as YOU allow the possibility that there may be more shades between the familiar choices of A & B, they show up. Every Time.

Action: Rent/Buy the movie Matrix.
Remember: You deserve options and choices that make you smile.


UPCOMING EVENTS
New York City Company of Friends Lunch n Learn: "Promote Yourself for Pay and Play"
with 15SecondPitch's Laura Allen
Regus Business Center; 11 Penn Plaza, 7th Ave b/w 31st and 32nd.
Directions: Across the street from Penn Station
THIS WEDNESDAY, May 16th
12noon-1:30pm
FREE
RSVP: amiller@adrianmiller.com please rsvp via email

Are you going to a lot of networking events but not meeting the right people?
Learn to promote yourself in a fun way that will get people excited to meet you. Dress is Business. Feel free to bring your own lunch.


Suffering from the Sugar blues?
Constantly craving sweets and want to understand why?
Want to gain control without willpower or deprivation?
Please join Maria Sacks
Holistic Health & Nutrition Counselor
For a free lecture on
Wednesday, May 23rd
7:00-8:30 pm at
Pilates Studio
20 Lumber Road, 2nd Floor
(off Old Northern Blvd., opposite the Clock Tower)
Roslyn

For details please call (516)876-2628 or
Email mariasacks@optonline.net




If you have an upcoming event, seminar, performance, etc. please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com. It may be exactly what someone has been looking for.
____________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or
events please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues
please post and join in the conversation.

To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line
"unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding
Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra
Am Management."