September 29, 2008

WHAT IS GOING ON?
LOOKS LIKE TRANSFORMATION TO ME.




Can you believe what is going on today in the world? Moment to moment as I sit glued to CNN I go between laughing, crying, being terrified, being proud, but truthfully most of the time I'm just baffled. What in the world will happen next? I've written and spoken many times about the difference between "thinking and actually "taking action." I'm sure we all have our own opinions and views regarding the candidate we're going to vote for, an opinion on whether you wanted the bill to pass or not pass in Congress, whether you identify yourself as a member of Wall Street or as a member of Main Street. Regardless of our individual views, everyone is talking, watching, praying and feeling "affected." There is a sense that this time there is no escape.

I wrote two other blogs for today because as you all know I always have a lot to say. But instead of adding to the swirl, I've decided to end this very special September with the laser sharp advice and very specific honesty of Suze Orman. If you did not see Suze Orman on Oprah Winfrey this past week, please, please, please, please click or copy the link below. Suze Orman, I feel lays out a very clear explanation for what has occurred and provides very specific advice on what to do with your money. She also interviews two families who have had very different approaches to how they have handled their finances. (Which one do you identify most with? What are you willing to do about it?) Yes, what is going on right now seems almost surreal but I guarantee you, please take the time to watch or read this show. It will provide some specifics to alleviate your general fears to get to something you can do something about - your specific, personal ones. At the end of the day, it is about what we are doing in our lives day to day to day to day. It's time to get honest and real with our financial lives - if you are still spending beyond what you have, no matter how long you've been able to get away with it, it will eventually catch up with you. Let what is happening be a lesson to us all. START NOW. Dare to be honest with yourself. It is the only way. Take action now. Start by watching this show!

Transformation always requires the forced end to an established belief system. This isn't an ending but a beginning. We are being reminded that it is time to start being accountable emotionally and financially. Are your finances where they were five years ago, ten years ago? Do you want them to be where they are now, five years from now? If we keep doing what we've been doing we WILL keep getting what we've been getting or worse. START NOW. Carve out an hour this week, invite a friend, take some notes and please watch this show. It's time for us all to get accountable for OUR deeds.


PLAN OF ACTION:
Watch this show please, please, please, please.
http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20080918_tows_suze/1
I'd love to hear your comments/responses/realizations/plans of action at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.



SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Stay Tuned to Samarra Am Management's Weekly Wednesday Gatherings starting October 8th. I'll announce the specific schedule & information for the month, next week. I'm hoping that by some of us connecting in conversation we can help each other alleviate our fears and get focused on using this opportunity to collectively get honest; the necessary first step in living a life inspired, fulfilled and free. I hope that you will join me!


October 8th - Samarra's Journey, The Other Side of Through

October 15th, 22nd- confirming event and interview (TBA)

October 29th, 6pm-8pm
Inspiring & Empowering Your Financial Goddess
Samarra Mbenga, Emotional Healer & Carol L. Buchman, CPA, Financial Planner
243 W. 30th Street between 7th & 8th, 11th Floor
$35.00
Call 718-350-6095 to register today.
A seminar for women addressing the emotional, spiritual, and practical pieces
of your financial life.



HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH!


___________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.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."

September 22, 2008

UNTITLED UNKNOWN, CHANGE

What a time in the world? Did you ever think that Morgan and Stanley would have to join to stay around? Did you ever think that Fannie Mae would need to be bailed out? How much has the happenings on Wall Street really affected your life? Were you already struggling to survive or were you already striving toward your ever evolving enlightenment? And the election? In these days and times, in case you are feeling some fears and/or some sadness as I have been experiencing these past two weeks, you're not alone. Change can feel pretty scary, the entering into the world of the unknown. What is going to happen next? Who knows? Three weeks ago I interviewed a wonderful professional organizer. We haven't been able to reconnect and we had no idea of the changes that would be coming over these next weeks. At some point soon I look forward to being able to share her inspiring words. In the mean time, I rely on my favorite poet and sage to lend a word for the week:

AUTHENTICALLY WANDERING
by Mark Nepo

So often, I hear two responses to the mystery of life. One is a
declaration of how awful a world this is and how overwhelming the burden
is of what needs to be righted. The other is a declaration of how
enlightenment and perfection are possible if we only work hard enough.
The mood of these responses is either one of despair and apathy (What
difference could I make?) or one of pushing for a romantic ideal
(Imagine a world where children never cry). The lifestyle engendered by
these responses is either a life of isolation and endurance or one of
missionary zeal to change the world en route to some form of Heaven.

Though I’ve spent time lost in each, I find both responses
insufficient. In declaring how awful a world this is, we escape by
retreating from life through resignation (It’s all too much to bear).
In declaring that perfection is possible, we escape by wanting to
transcend out of the life at hand by hiding in the future (My hope is in
tomorrow). Either way, the goal is to leave and bypass the work of being
here.

It is interesting to compare Western and Eastern views. While the
Western view is that life can be improved and, therefore, it is our
responsibility to control and shape the behavior of others in order to
make the world a better place, the Eastern view is that life cannot be
improved upon, only experienced. Life was complete before you or I
arrived and will be complete when we pass.

Herein lies the paradox of being human. While we cannot eliminate
hunger, we can feed each other. While we cannot eliminate pain, we can
hold each other. While we can’t improve upon the nature of reality, we
can make things better for each other while we’re here.

In light of this, falling to either the pessimistic or romantic side of
this paradox is a distraction from being here and helping each other
while we can. In truth, I have more sympathy for those clouded with
despair. For this romance with the ideal in the face of true suffering
is more than annoying. It can be dangerous; leaving others in jeopardy
while the state of things as they are is being denied.

The challenge is to feel the pain in being human and not escape down
the rabbit hole into despair, but to stay here and hold each other up in
the mystery. Likewise, the other side of the challenge is to not escape
the other way, into striving for a perfect world, always out of reach,
whose dream is its own addictive sedative.

This is why I am moved by the courage of the Bodhisattva who, on the
threshold of enlightenment, refuses to cross over; committing to wait
till others can come and join. Though this, too, is a dream of Heaven,
what moves me is a sense that the Bodhisattva knows that the others will
never come. And so, in essence, he or she embraces an enlightened life
on earth. Not shaping or purifying others, but wandering authentically
among the living.
*****************************************
These reflections are excerpts from several books, including a new book
of poems, Surviving Has Made Me Crazy, CavanKerry Press, and a new book
of spiritual non-fiction, Facing the Lion, Being the Lion: Inner Courage
and Where It Lives, Red Wheel/Conari Press. For more info, please visit
www.MarkNepo.com.


SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT
Inspiring & Empowering Your Financial Goddess
October 29, 2008, 6pm-8pm
243 W. 30th Street between 7th & 8th
$30.00
Call 718-350-6095 to register today.
Start your holiday season aligned. Address your finances emotionally, spirtually and practically with me and Carol L. Bauchman, CPA for over 19 years.

If you missed last week's live interview on GBN Talk Radio, you can listen at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/GBN/2008/09/17/Bring-Your-Family-Back-to-the-Table-1
Topic: Bring Your Family Back to the Table
This show is about food and finances. Meal time and the teaching of fiscal responsibility are things that our society has moved away from. Atlanta-based Lisa Patterson of Creative Menus, and East Orange, NJ-based Samarra Mbenga of Emotional Money will be featured on this call. In this age of technology and fast-paced living they both are inviting people to stop, come together and communicate.



UPCOMING EVENTS
TURN ON TO LIFE
Integrity Day
You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in four hours --
and how much fun you can have doing it -- when you have an
enthusiastic support group cheering you on.
September 23, 2008 (Tuesday), 9 AM ET
September 26, 2008 (Friday), 10 AM ET
September 30, 2008 (Tuesday), 12 PM (noon) ET

To register for one of these dates, visit:
http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html

I look forward to "seeing" you at an Integrity Day soon! Get ready
to HAVE FUN and GET STUFF DONE!






___________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.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."

September 8, 2008

SHIFTING FOCUS: FLEETING OR EVERLASTING?

'Winfrey strongly believes that intuition is a guiding force,' "...you have to allow yourself to be in the space where you are carried by the flow of life and not pushing upstream," she maintains. "When you are in the flow, all things come as they should, all the time. I believe you can move into the stratosphere. I believe there is no ceiling."
Oprah Winfrey, Black Enterprise June 2008


Attending my step father's opening gallery reception in Binghamton, NY surrounded by waterfalls, rocks and trees, all shimmering with natural hues and shades rarely captured, I became aware of the importance of a shift in focus to the beauty, power, peace and serenity of nature. www.jwjohnston.com

Attending meditation on Thursday night at Enlightennext after having missed several weeks I became aware of the importance of my body, mind and spirit having a chance to focus on...nothing, no one, no thing. A room filled with others striving to also quiet their body, mind, souls and spirits, collectively shifting our focus from frenzied movement to an attentive stillness. www.enlightennext.org


We have all heard the saying many times that a glass that is half filled can be looked at as half full or half empty. The beauty and tragedy of life is that it is utterly both at any given moment. We as human beings however have free will and at any given moment can choose where and to what we will give our attention to.

In an age where easy solutions are highly valued we often mistake that the point of our focus should be to get to feeling good and happy. But what if you aren't? If we put our focus first to where we actually are then the answers you are searching for can finally be presented. But if you skip over first where you are, any answer that you receive isn't really going to satisfy your root need. Shift your focus to where you actually are to receive release. In any given moment the glass is half full, at any given moment the glass is half empty. Shift your attention to what is true for you in that given moment.

I was listening to Janice Ian (singer, songwriter) on the radio yesterday and she said that her life wasn't about seeking happiness, it was about seeking clarity. My interpretation was that happiness as in the fairytales is fleeting. Clarity is ever evolving and engaging. One seems more surface, the other more layered and deep. Which provides a quick short term fix, which is longer lasting? Which is easy, which is more challenging? Which requires more energy? To which will you shift your attention to? Many people ask me what does identifying their past dominant emotion have to do with helping them with their money issues? One solution addresses a quick fix and the other addresses the hidden layers buried deep. In every given moment the glass is both full and empty. Which will you give your focus, energy, time and attention to? Fleeting or everlasting?



SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT
Next week in Emotional Money:
Interview with Amanda Wiss, a professional organizer that teaches us that the key to being organized is understanding fluidity and flexibility.


Live interview on www.GbnTalkRadio.com on Tuesday, September 16th from 8:30pm-9:30pm entitled “Bringing Your Family Back To The Table” featuring me and Lisa Patterson in Atlanta from Creative Menus. Be sure to tune in.



________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.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."

Copyright 2008