EMOTIONAL MONEY

2009-06-08T13:26:00.005-04:00

June 8, 2009

FINAL "EMOTIONAL MONEY" POSTING

I will no longer be posting blogs to this address.
To view my new monthly blog please visit www.coreconversationsinaction.blogspot.com.
If you would like to receive the blog automatically please email me at ccnaction@gmail.com with the subject "Please add me to blog list."

Thank you for viewing "Emotional Money." It has been a wonderful journey. Please feel free to look through the archives. In alignment with my move to Upstate NY, I felt it was also time to move my blog beyond the "emotional" to one dedicated to inspiring aligned action! Join me at www.coreconversationsinaction.blogspot.com.

Being Inspired is not enough. Being inspired to the point of taking action, THAT is what alters life!

For a free consultation I can be reached at 718-350-6095.
Or you can email me at ccnaction@gmail.com to learn about my upcoming 4 week seminar, Facing Your Financial Fears starting Thursday, September 10th through Broome Community College and held at Big Tent Cultural Center in Whitney Point, NY. Visit my website at www.healingfinances.com or contact me to learn more!

Thank you so much for three years of "Emotional Money." I hope you join me at Core Conversations In Action for the next phase of this exhilarating journey!

Samarra Mbenga
SM MANAGMENT
718-350-6095
ccnaction@gmail.com
www.healingfinances.com
www.corconversationsinaction.com

2009-06-08T13:20:00.003-04:00

May 4, 2009

SM MANAGEMENT'S CORE CONVERSATIONS IN ACTION EXCLUSIVE SUMMER TELESEMINAR SERIES

Someone asked me today how am I able to have so much trust in myself.
I responded with the truth. "By my heart being shattered in a million pieces." The ending of my marriage. It wasn't voluntary. But what was voluntary was my response to living beyond my greatest fear: that I was unworthy of being loved.
Though I prayed for death literally when my marriage ended, by surviving beyond it, I realized that all my beliefs and lessons about the point of life were totally incorrect. At 25 I was starting from a place I had never known before - the realization that I knew absolutely nothing about life or my role in it.
I set out to get to the bottom of what is true. Finding the key to THAT DISCOVERY was more important than being right, more important than making sure my family and friends agreed with me, more important than finding that right partner and being loved, more important than anything. I believe that I have found that truth. It is not true, that we are here to suffer and sacrifice and forge alone...this is the manifestation of human conditioning based on lack and fear. We are here to learn, to grow, to love and to thrive in community and the only thing stopping us from achieving profound abundance, peace and prosperity is ourselves. We are afraid to live from our truths.

The shattering of my heart was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I had spent my life being a professional actress. I had obtained everything I ever wanted -great career, great reviews, great roles, and earning all of my income from acting. I had attained externally everything I wanted but I always felt like something was missing. But at my core, I didn't love who I was and that truth had a profound effect on all aspects of my life. It was why I ended up in my marriage in the first place. Just because we may not be willing to admit the inauthenticities doesn't mean that they don't exist. Eventually, if we remain inauthentic, it catches up to us (current economic situation). We can't heal or fix the issue if we haven't first identified what the issue is. The "fixes" - money, marriage, career, relationship, food etc. causes other issues because the real one hasn't yet been identified so therefore it can't be healed. We can save ourselves the shattered hearts by going beyond the surface to the core. We are all connected and TOGETHER we can help each other get out of our own way by being willing to admit, identify, and face our greatest fears so we may live our truth. It's well worth it.

My life is now unrecognizable. I'm a business owner and I spend my time helping people shed their fears and thrive. I'm living in the country where I meditate and work out every day at a lake that is two minutes away. I have 7 Weight Watchers meetings and I just launched a brand new meeting today in a building that my mother owns (www.bigtentculturalcenter.com) that is 4 doors from where I live and 51 people came to the very first meeting. I have found such peace, love and prosperity and it can never be taken away. The internals and externals are mirrors of each other. Previously I was out of alignment internally so it manifested in a relationship based on emotional abuse and a career that was fine but unfulfilling. Presently I'm living in alignment with my truth and my relationship, the opportunities and exponential growth of every single thing I've come in contact with is in complete alignment with my truth. We are here to grow, learn, love and be loved, and thrive continuously. But we must be willing to get out of our own way!

What are the key elements to getting out of our own way:
A need, desire or want for yourself and your life that has nothing to do with anyone else.
The willingness to be truthful about that need, desire and want.
The understanding of the value of having a true support system.
Willingness to take actions towards your core wants.
Willingness to love and be loved in return.
Willingness to say "I don't know."
A willingness to being financially honest, responsible & to hold yourself accountable.
To have some piece of you that believes that we are not what we fear.
Every time I've set my heart to something, it has manifested. Every single time. I know the same is true for you. The work of SM Management is building a community that will allow us to manifest from our core being and no longer play small with something as precious as our lives, consistently and continuously. Being inspired isn't enough, being inspired to the point of taking consistent authentic actions, THAT is when our lives alter.

SM MANAGEMENT'S LAUNCH OF:
CORE CONVERSATIONS IN ACTION TELESEMINAR SERIES
(Note: There must be at least 4 people and no more than 6 for the series to occur.)
There will be no sessions during the week of July 4th)

Series I
Starts Wednesday, June 3rd 7am - 8:30am
Ends Wednesday, August 26th at 8am - 9:30am
June 3, 10, 17, & 24
July 8, 15, 22, & 29
August 5, 12, 19, 26
(Next Series I will start September 9th)

Series II
Starts Saturday, June 6th at 8am - 9:30am
Ends Saturday, August 29th at 8am - 9:30am
June 6, 13, 20, & 27
July 11, 18, & 25th
August 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29
(Next Series II will start September 12th)
Meditation will be done for 10 minutes at the beginning and end of each call.
Actions will be identified for each person (discovered through conversation) and followed through on during the week.
Talking and wanting is NOT ENOUGH. There is no way for us to understand our power and the abundance the universe has for us if we are not willing to take actions towards them. There is no other way except to face our fears head on. Collectively it will be easier to face them and that is what can build our confidence in who we are at our core.

BENEFITS FOR YOU:
To build trust in who you are.
To spend your time on this planet engaged in what you were sent here to do.
To love who you are.
To shed your shames and be healed.
To experience your dreams actually manifesting and coming true.
To find and connect with others on the same journey.
To tackle your financial fears.
To get your finances organized & in order with a system that is yours.
To live your life AS YOU.
I am interested only in those on a mission to live their lives empowered, free, in ease and abundantly. If you are "ok" with your life as it is, then this is not the teleseminar for you. The only thing to propel us forward beyond our conditioning and fears is when you've reached the place where "ok" is no longer enough. "Ok" will mean different things to different people. Whether that means that you feel like something is missing, or you feel discouraged, angry, depressed, sad or are just plain bored, or you just have a sense that there is something more, than this is the teleseminar for you. If you'd like to wake up every morning energized and in love with yourself and your life, inside & out, spiritually and financially, then this is the teleseminar for you.

Wednesday, May 13th from 7am-8:30am & Saturday, May 16th from 8am-9:30am. I will have an informational session (including 10 minute meditation) so you may get a taste of what we will be creating for the summer of 2009. If you are interested in doing the teleseminar you would need to commit to being on one of these calls. If you are unsure but want to get more information please send me an email at ccnaction@gmail.comwith "teleseminar informational session" in the heading and your info and I will send you the teleconference call number.

COST:
Early Registration Fee:
If you register by May 18th it's $120.00 per month for a total of $360.00.
Registration Deadline for both series is May 25th $200 per month for a total of $600.00
If we have worked together you know that the results are far beyond and different from what you expected. You get a piece of yourself that you didn't know was missing. My rate is usually $70/hour. This is a HUGE savings to receive something that is priceless. But since this is the launch of this particular model and I am aware of my own blockages that I believe will be released from this process, it is well worth a huge reduction in the price.
Take the time this month to see if you are living the life you want and more importantly if you are not, what are you willing to do about it?

To apply:
Please email me at ccnaction@gmail.com your
Name
Address
Teleseminar Session Attending - Session I - Wednesday's or Session II - Saturdays
Informational session attending: Wednesday, May 13th or Saturday, May 16th.

Please answer in no more than 50-100 words per question:
1. In what area are you not satisfied in your life? or In what area do you want to propel your life to the next level?
2. How long have you not been satisfied in this area? or How long have you been wanting to propel to the next level?

3. Why do you feel that now you would be willing to do something about it? What is different, what has changed for you?

4. What would you want to achieve by attending this exclusive summer Core Conversations In Action Teleseminar Series?

5. I will register by: May 18th or by May 25th
Once this is received I will give you a phone call so we may have a core conversation and from there inform you of your acceptance if applicable and the details on how to register. Receipt of the questions above, having a core conversation with me & attending one of the informational sessions are mandatory to participate in this teleseminar series.
Remember this is an exclusive opportunity and there are only 12 slots available. The sooner you take action on the items listed above the better your chances of being apart of this exclusive opportunity.
If you're ready to let go of the emotional and get into action begin today by applying for
SM MANAGEMENT'S EXCLUSIVE SUMMER TELESEMINAR SERIES.
Thank you to my incredible clients who have had the courage to act from their truths. It is because of you that I have not only experienced but saw over and over again a pattern that when we do that, it works, no matter age, race, culture, career, sex, or financial status, that action from truth works 100% of the time. My apologies to those who love facebook, that group will be created with those involved in the teleseminar series.

This will be the last blog that you will receive from emotionalmoney@gmail.com
If you would like to receive the new monthly blog CORE CONVERSATIONS IN ACTION (1st Monday of every month)
you must send an email to my new address ccnaction@gmail.com with heading
"Please add to mailing list."
I will not add anyone automatically.
Bittersweet endings lead to the next exciting phase of new beginnings.

I hope you'll join me for the next stage!
PLEASE PASS THIS EMAIL ALONG AND SPREAD THE WORD!

2009-03-30T00:39:00.007-04:00

March 30, 2009

CORE CONVERSATIONS IN ACTION

The final weekly blog: Emotional Money Bittersweet.

THANK YOU for the contributions, the sharing, the love, the advice...the journey!
THANK YOU to each and every one of you!

With every ending, there is a new beginning.

I hope you join me in the next stage: CORE CONVERSATIONS IN ACTION. You'll receive an invitation towards the end of April to add your name to this list. No one will be automatically added.

In this time of automatic payment plans, automatic swipes, and automatic bill pay -there is a time when automatic is what we know but not what actually propels us to the next level. Automatic is not enough. To propel & grow we must...
first, have a desire,
second, have faith in who we are,
third, a belief that what we want to attain is possible,
fourth,, a supportive community that is committed to reminding us of our greatness when we forget, &
fifth, the willingness to take actions towards our desires consistently & repeatedely.

What is automatic has been provided to make things easier, but when the foundation hasn't been established, automatic patterns hurt us because they can keep us away from living our lives to our fullest. Automatic, allows the bills to keep coming in even though there is no more money in the bank. Once we become conscious, automatic instantly loses its power and we can decide what bills get paid and which ones can not and make arrangements accordingly. We are in "control" because we've made the choice to take responsibility. As I take the responsibility to develop the system and structure that will aid in having faith in who we are, I will ask you to have to take an action. Make a conscious choice to be apart of this community because you not only have a desire but in spite of what you don't know or can't see you have a need to take action! Not just any action, but actions in alignment with who you are and what you actually desire. I hope to see you in May in Core Conversations, the lauching of a system of activities and options dedicated to the building of our faith in who we are !

Thank you to each and everyone of you! Emotional Money, a compilation of the blogs will be available for sale by November of 2010.

WE ARE THE LIGHT THAT WE SEEK!

Committed to Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled & Free
__________________________________________________
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 2009

Teleseminar: Sandra Bloom Record Keeping Monday, April 13, 2009

Committed to Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled & Free
__________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-03-23T16:34:00.012-04:00

March 23, 2009

LEANING IN

The announcements I'm going to make today are nothing that I imagined. But leaning into the root, the truth is the only way. This week the recurring theme is trying to force ourselves to be what we think we should be. We can't. At the root, the core, the foundation, is WHAT IS. When we try to go around WHAT IS, we might get away with it for a little while. But the foundation/the authentic truth/ will eventually show itself. Why not deal with WHAT IS the truth NOW? Because we are afraid, afraid that what we fear is already true. It is not already true. It is not true at all. But we have no way of knowing that unless we lean into the fear, lean into the pain, lean into WHAT IS our authentic core. Only from this scary place can we receive something more than the temporary fix of surface things. There is no way around it. As scary and painful as it may seem, everytime we lean in authentically to WHAT IS at the root, we find release from pain and fear and faith in ourselves waiting on the other side.

My last weekly "Emotional Money" blog will be next Monday, March 30th. I will do it monthly and in between continue to announce the activities for Samarra Am Management and other businesses and/or opportunities. The Emotional Money Woman's Retreat scheduled for May 1-3 is postponed. When the retreat was planned we had no idea that I would be living here. Resources have been of course needed and used towards my move. And my increased schedule of becoming Business Manager for Big Tent Cultural Center and doing 4 Weight Watchers meetings in addition to my roster of clients won't allow for the time needed to plan and promote the retreat.

I am moving to take action based on the core work around faith. This work will concentrate on building an active, intentional, ENGAGED community that takes actions to support each other through the scary process of leaning toward release and faith.

I have been blessed with some incredible clients who have been willing to take risks, be authentic and take actions in alignment with their core versus their habits. This is the life-altering work I want to be engaged in. My blog has given me the chance to talk about this work -- a first step. The next, and I feel mandatory step, is actually building the support systems for taking those "scary authentic" actions CONSISTENTLY. That is how we build our faith in ourselves -- through consistent action.

The blog has been...incredible. It has been such a gift to share the thoughts that go on inside my head and have others respond or share their insights and experiences. But it's time for me to take that next step to focus on actions that support a collective "leaning in". I am grateful to each and every one of you.

My business over these three years has grown each year and it has all been from referrals. To thank you, moving forward, I will be giving 10% of the cost of the package purchased, to those that referred someone.

In April I'll send out information on how to sign up for the new list (which I feel will have a different title) for those interested in engaging in the practices discussed and having conversations with myself and other readers regarding our processes and journies which will be officially launched in May. It will include monthly commitments around meditating and being willing to not only explore but to take actions and build your faith in who you are at your core.

I'll see you next week for the final rendition of Emotional Money has it has always been. Here's to the next step!

THANK YOU for sharing this incredible journey!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
TODAY AND TOMORROW
Barbara Sher's big 24 hour GLOBAL IDEA PARTY to celebrate the
30th anniversary of her first book, Wishcraft. Don’t miss this giant
brainstorming festival of ideas! We welcome you to call in and tell us your dream and obstacle and we’ll help figure out how you can get it.

The Idea Party will start on Monday, March 23th, at 8pm USA Eastern Standard
time and end 24 hours later, on Tuesday, March 24th, at 8pm Eastern Standard
time (New York time)

Here’s some info about the party, including the phone numbers and access codes.

http://www.barbarasherwishcraft.com

The party will be happening simultaneously in 2 places, online and by phone, and we welcome you
to join in at either one or both places at any time during the 24 hours.
You’re invited to ask questions, make comments, and give suggestions. Success Team leaders from around the world will be there to help come up with ideas.

THE TWO PLACES WHERE THE PARTY WILL HAPPEN:

FREE ONLINE WEBSITE:
http://www.twitter.com
For directions on how to use Twitter, go to this link:
http://www.barbarasherwishcraft.com/twitter-idea-party.html
Once you’ve registered in twitter, you might find that it’s easier to follow
what’s going on during the party by using this site, which parallels
twitter:
http://www.tweetgrid.com

BY TELEPHONE:
The access phone number will be used the whole time, but every six hours the
access code will change, so there will be a slight pause and everyone will
dial in again and enter the new number. The main number and all access
codes are in this link:

http://www.barbarasherwishcraft.com/call-info.html

Since we are expecting a large volume of callers, we ask that once you are
connected to the call, you mute your phone by pressing *6.
If you want to make a comment during the call or ask a question, you can
un-mute your phone by pressing *6 again, but once you’ve gotten an answer,
please go back to mute.

Let’s make this a grand party. Can’t wait!

Andrea Reese, NYC Success Team Leader

INTEGRITY DAY INFO & SCHEDULE
As of Monday, March 23, 2009

Hi Samarra,

I just posted the first group of April Integrity Days. Several of
the March days filled up, so make sure to register ASAP.

To view the latest schedule of upcoming Integrity Days, visit:

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html

If you'd like to suggest a date and time for an Integrity Day, or
if you'd like me to host one for you and your friends and
colleagues, please call me at 203-659-6636.

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.

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

Peace & Passion,
Curtis

-----------------
Curtis G. Schmitt
Turn On to Life! Coach
203-659-6636 | 610-696-3731
http://www.PeacefulProductivityNow.com

Committed to Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled & Free
__________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-03-09T14:27:00.017-04:00

March 10, 2009

FAITH

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing.
2. belief that is not based on proof

Today marks the one week and two day anniversary of my arrival to Whitney Point, New York. Within this time period my account was breached and they overdrew my account by $800, one of my beloved cats was lost behind a wall for 11 hours, UHaul failed to return my calls to reimburse me on an item I ended up not renting, and my computer is frozen.

AND

I was invited to a business networking event my first night of arrival, I signed a new client, I was able to open and set up Big Tent for the Broome Community College's flower arranging class my second day here, it was approved today that I'll be bringing and leading Weight Watchers meetings at The Big Tent, I took a 2 hour walk around the lake in the middle of the day and counted over 100 geese honking overhead, and am getting the greatest thrill out of being with my family, going to work, home, the laundrymat, a great Italian restaurant and the Dollar Store on foot all across the street from eachother.

It has been a whirlwind of a week and no matter how great or terrifying the circumstances, my core has remained steadfast. I can't describe it. Regardless of any and all circumstances there is not only a sense but a KNOWING that everything is truly PERFECT, and that what is occuring is simply supposed to be!

We are taught to have faith in others, God, things, affirmations, money, job, partners, etc. everything outside of who we are. So at the end of the day there is always someone/something else to blame and/or give credit to. The ultimate practice, however is to work on our Faith in who we are. Life is change and when we have ourselves at our core, nothing can scare us enough to stop us. The knowing is there and that trumps all people, places, circumstances and things.
It, FAITH is OF & IN you so it doesn't matter what is said, done or seen.

There are specific actions and processes that we each individually need in order to build our faith in ourselves. I've been here one week and I KNOW clearly that this is the purpose of Samarra Am Management. To help us each develop the practices that individually develop our faith in ourselves, so we may go out and collectively, regardless of the circumstances, and relying on what the naked eye can see, remain true to our purpose here on this earth. I had to move here to experience what I have known. I am here now to engage consistently in the actions that support the FAITH that I now know and have experienced.

This journey is not possible alone. Thank you Mommy, Jim, Terry, Wiley, Andrea, Charlotte, Julia, & to each and every one of my inspiring clients! You have no idea of the great contributions you have each made that have allowed me to arrive where I am. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope every reader will join me, not just in reading and witnessing but in participating in actions that cause you to build your FAITH in yourself!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Visit www.manhattanarts.com/index.html
Click on "Reading Room" and click on "Arts & Business" and then on "Career & Business" to see an ACTION you can start to take TODAY.
I met Renee Phillips, Director of Manhattan Arts International, at an incredible healing event that she organized. She in an amazing coach, speaker, artist and author. For the last 28 years she has helped so many artists have FAITH in their art generating abundance. I am honored that she has posted my article, "Creating Your Financial Canvas" on her website. http://www.manhattanarts.com/readingroom/ezine/CareerBusiness/index.htm

If you are an artists, male or female, please consider submitting your work as another ACTION you can take to build your FAITH.
Click on "Artists Wanted for "Celebrate HerStory 2009" Online Exhibition featuring more than 40 Artists".
Manhattan Arts International’s Sixth HerStory competition / online exhibition. It will run from June 10, 2009 – September 10, 2009. The purpose is to offer winning artists international exposure and to bring attention to art in a broad range of styles and media related to "HerStory". Entry Deadline: May 17, 2009. Notification: On or before June 10.

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENTS
Ongoing teleseminar & seminar series WILL be announced on March 30th!
If there is something in particular that you'd like to discuss PLEASE let me know at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.
For a weekend dedicated to building your faith in yourself, please RSVP for the 1st Annual Emotional Money Retreat, May 1-May 3. It is right around the corner and I hope you'll join us!
For details go to www.healingfinances.com and click on "Emotional Money Retreat."

Committed to Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled & Free
__________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-02-24T08:28:00.007-05:00

February 24, 2009

MAKING ITSELF...KNOWN

Thank you so much for those that joined me for a lovely Sunday farewell enjoying August Gold's inspirational sermon on love, and for the laughs, sharing yummy muffins and fun. I greatly appreciated your presence!

Embarking on a spirtual journey, we just never know where the next road traveled will lead. As I'm packing my boxes, the terror of the unknown is making itself...known. My computer is freezing (which is why this is late) but amazingly this morning it's working. My phone has frozen and I've gotten it fixed 3 times, my bathtub was clogged to the point where I used a bucket to get the water out and it just gurgled and filled back up! A few weeks ago, I was lit up and inspired and so excited, I still am but the terror and obstacles are more prominant now.
WHAT THE H _ _ _ AM I DOING? But this time I know not to let the terror stop me. Beneath the surface, at my center I am thrilled by what is possible. Many of you are on the spirtual journey and have been faced with hard choices and are feeling that with everything that is going on with the economy, friends and family members losing their jobs, or just feeling a general sense of unease and for some like me sheer terror at the magnitude of the changes. It only means that there is more that is required you. Life, love, growth is not static, it's an everchanging flow that demands continuous growth. When you are in alignment, beneath the terror there is a thrill, an unexplainable excitement, a sense of what is possible. On your path, don't just let the fear, ok terror, stop you. Keep going because your release is found in the follow through. Following a spirtual path, acting on faith beyond what you can see and what you know, having the courage to leap off the cliff, follow your core, and chance what is intellecutally unknown yet spirtually aligned and known simply means that more is required of you, more is required of me, more is required...Meditate, Excercise, Eat Well to help support the spirual path of unknown terror and overwhelming thrill.

I will return to Emotional Money on Monday, March 9th. Thank you for BEING!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Think of someone that you have always admired, famous or not.
Pick up a book on them and/or research them online or if you know them, ask a few questions. You'll find that what they all have in common is that they did several "somethings" in their lives that was not expected of them but what was spirtually required and they leapt, in spite of their fears and the fears of those around them.

SAMARRA AM MANAGMENT
ONLY ONE WEEK left, I'm offering a celebratory 25% off of all my packages that are booked during February. (conditions apply)

I've decided to announce my new services and teleseminars series after I relocate!

Committing to Living and Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled and Free!

__________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-02-15T22:48:00.003-05:00

February 16, 2009

ONE, TWO PUNCH

CLARITY & PREPARATION

Reoccuring theme for this week:
Do you know that feeling you get when a certain decison enters your...consciouness and everything just makes sense? You may have been feeling confused and overwhelmed one second before but the moment a certain decision, usually the one that wasn't expected, arises, everything gets very clear. We usually experience it and then push past that point until we return back to feeling confused and overwhelmed again. Sometimes for a few days, we'll remain in that confused state. Then we end up choosing between two decisions that have nothing to do with THE decision that brought us clarity.

Many times the sense of overwhelm that we feel is simply due to our lack of preparation and planning. For example: if we have several bills due, we'll fret over not having enough money instead of choosing instead to face what it is that we fear: tally up our expenses and make a plan to figure out how to bring in what we are going to need.

If we choose our decisions from our places of clarity followed by a plan to implement it, what a one, two knockout punch it could be?!!
Imagine what we could accomplish if we choose those unexpected clear decisions continously instead of just every once in a while.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Choose (not make) CHOOSE decisions from your place of clarity!

SAMARRA AM MANAGMENT
If you'd like to schedule a consultation before I move Upstate March 1st, I'm offering a celebratory 25% off of all my packages that are booked during February. (conditions apply)

In the next two weeks, I will be announcing my regularly scheduled monthly teleseminars that will begin in March, and my new service for Samarra Am Managment clients only: 30 minute Core Check-In Consultations. Don't waste time trying to figure out anymore if you should do something or not - your core will reveal all in a matter of a few minutes. Let me help you allieviate the fears to do what you know you really want to!

Please join me for an informal farewell gathering on Sunday, February 22nd at Sacred Center New York from 11am-12:30pm at 16 Clarkson Street. www.sacredcenterny.org. It's one block from the Houston Street stop on the 1 line. And after the service we'll take a walk to a place close by to talk and laugh and have a fabulous time!
Please be at Clarkson at 10:45am and we'll meet in the lobby. Please let me know at emotionalmoney@gmail.com if you'll be coming!

Committing to Living and Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled and Free!

__________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-02-09T23:53:00.013-05:00

February 11, 2009

SPECIAL EDITION

When I left my job, my security, my safe haven I had no idea of the true step that I was taking. I was taking a step towards my commitment to Samarra Am Management.

Each week there tends to be a common theme that shows up with my customers, on the radio, conversations with friends, etc. It shows up everywhere. This week it has been being unconscious to the cost of the price we pay for engaging in our habits. We oftentimes will decide that we are strong enough to take it, strong enough to stay, strong enough to bide our time, strong enough to make it ok for the other person. It is only later that we notice that we've put on weight, that we said "yes" to someone we've said "no" to for years because a piece of us knew that they really weren't the right choice, that we are drinking more, that we are crying more, that we are spending more....etc. We are all paying such high prices to keep our lives in the realm of what we know.

Leaving my job this time, was different. I have gone back to jobs so many times in my life only to always HAVE to leave desperate to be free - desperate to have a deeper conversation and a need for more security than the pay check could ever begin to satisfy. But this time as I wasn't able to pay some of my bills, I knew going back AGAIN was not an option. But what was I going to do? Going back to a job is what I knew. But this last time I was so aware of the price that I was paying to get that paycheck. I woke up everyday tired and crawled into bed every night at 8pm anxious to go to sleep. I stopped working out, I stopped working my business and I was gaining weight and franky I still felt like I didn't have enough money. When we changed floors and I was going to be sitting facing a wall with a 6 foot cubicle around me it was a final straw that I just couldn't bear. The next day after walking out of my job, my phone rang and I signed 8 new clients in two weeks. I attended networking events and had a blast, acquired through a client a gig with an amazing and spirtual jewerly designer who every time I am in her presence I receive "healing." I was working out again, lost my weight again and couldn't wait to wake up every day and get moving. I was free and spending my days doing what I love. So when fewer clients came in and I couldn't meet all my expenses on time, I was faced with the same choice I'd faced my entire life. Before I've always chosen to return to the security. This time, I knew that the cost I was paying to do that was a price that I was not willing to pay. By following what I believe is my calling, what I began doing was instead of strategizing around a job - I began stategizing around what fulfills me. What has steadily developed was to shed and let go and invest in what will build, build, build Samarra Am Management.

On March 1st I will be moving about three hours away to Upstate, NY. Many of you don't know this, but when I moved to New York City four years ago - I only knew two weeks before arriving that I was coming. I simply began to follow and trust my core and what I have gained since arriving here, I could have never even imagined. It is four years later and moving Upstate showed up in the exact same way. I will cut my expenses and have access to being able to hold regular seminars and retreats in a space that has a pure energy within it, that is owned by my mother. I can help her administratively with Big Tent Events, LLC and she can help me with marketing. I strategized from my core and once again have been amazed by what is the perfect partnership for both of us. I have no idea what lies in store for me up there but I feel an unbelieveable...certainity in the unknown, just as I felt when I moved here. When I stepped away from my job this last time, I was actually stepping towards my commitment....I was taking a final step towards myself, understanding the costs of staying in the sytem I know, a price I am no longer willing to pay. And hey, it has never gotten me what I really wanted anyway. Wealth, and living my life fulfilled, inspired and free!

I am reminded everyday of the costs to ourselves when we choose what we think we should do over our core values. I understand this path may not work for everyone. It requires a lot of letting go, it requires a lot of responsibility and it requires continuously growing. The only time I feel stagnant living this way is when I get scared and resist having to learn and grow and having to "move" again. But when I trust and have faith and follow my core - which is in alignemnt with the universe and my purpose for being here, as it is for every one of us, I want to do everything in my power to build systems and network and programs that support those who have chosen to explore the choices that are in alignement with their core. What we have been taught, isn't the truth. Go get a good job, pay your bills and retire. Don't be too passionate or dream too big because you might get hurt. I love that being alive in this time we get to have a reminder every single day of what is possible when you live your life from your core and do the work that inspires you. Barack Obama. I saw a video on You Tube yesterday by an Indian musician and the song was called Obama, Obama. it brought tears to my eyes. Inspiration coupled with action goes beyond fears, race, creed, money, and all the tools that we all use to keep us seperated. We aren't all Barack Obama's but we all have something inside of us that inspires us and encourages us to live beyond our fears and conform to the systems that are in place. What is happening now with the economy is the universe's way of trying to help us all let go of the old system that wasn't working. Fear, control, restraint, irresponsibilty and oh, did I say fear, fear, fear. There is no better time than now to let go of what is actually not serving you and begin strategizing from your core, not from money, status, things, but from WHO YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN!

SAMARRA AM MANAGMENT
If you'd like to schedule a consultation before I go, I'm offering a celebratory 25% off of all my packages that are booked during February. (conditions apply)

In the next two weeks, I will be announcing my regularly scheduled monthly teleseminars that will begin in March, and my new service for Samarra Am Managment clients only: 30 minute Core Check-In Consultations. Don't waste time trying to figure out anymore if you should do something or not - your core will reveal all in a matter of a few minutes. Let me help you allieviate the fears to do what you know you really want to!

Please join me for an informal farewell gathering on Sunday, February 22nd at Sacred Center New York from 11am-12:30pm at 16 Clarkson Street. www.sacredcenterny.org. It's one block from the Houston Street stop on the 1 line. And after the service we'll take a walk to a place close by to talk and laugh and have a fabulous time!
Please be at Clarkson at 10:45am and we'll meet in the lobby. Please let me know at emotionalmoney@gmail.com if you'll be coming!

Committing to Living and Building Communities Living Inspired, Fulfilled and Free!

__________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-02-02T22:03:00.014-05:00

February 2, 2009

MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

"The moment you settle for less than you deserve, you then receive less than what you settled for."
Reverend August Gold, Sacred Center NY

Thank you to the many of you that responded so favorably to The Emotional Money ® Retreat for Women. I have been amazed by the consistency of the incredible women that I keep meeting that are settling for far less than they deserve. Their partners aren't meeting their needs financially, physically, spirtually or emotionally and yet they continue to stay. The consistency is frightening. By gathering together and having a conversation, which will be far more than just about our finances (as my clients can attest), we hope to begin the process to provide the healing & strength to "see" the abundant choices that await them. Me, my mother and two other wonderful women put on a workshop several years ago in Binghamton, NY and the women that attended still meet to this day, to gather, connect, grow and heal. If you or a woman that you know could benefit, please forward them to www.healingfinances.com and ask them to click on "Emotional Money® Retreat for Women". It is really time that we all, men and women, collectively stop settling, so that we may live and fulfill our true life's destiny and purpose. In a world of settling, short cuts, ATM's, no time, and microwaves, it's much easier to dare to refuse to settle when you have a connected community of people rooting for you to align with your core versus your habits.

Many of you have asked and the registration deadline for Emotional Money® Retreat for Women is April 3, 2009. There are only 14 spaces available! May Day, May Day! The times of being able to afford to live life less than who we truly are, have come to an end. Register today for The Emotional Money® Retreat for Women. Gentlemen sign up for a free consultation. Let's answer our own calls for help! Connect, Connect, Connect.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Where in your life have you settled? What has been impacted the greatest, your spirit, your heart, your finances, your health and/or all of the above?
What would it take for you in 2009, to say "Yes You Can" and live a life from your core, inspired, fulfilled and free?

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT
I am thrilled to say that we have many new clients that joined in the last two weeks and I welcome you each to the Emotional Money Blog Family. Welcome! I hope that you enjoy the weekly blog, plan of actions, and event announcements. If you have an upcoming event or announcement, please let me know by emailing me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com and I would be happy to post it on the blog. There are more details regarding the Upcoming Retreat at www.healingfinances.com. And I have pasted below the link to my Happy Holidays message. I wanted to share it with you. Happy New Year and I'm thrilled to welcome you as a part of the family!
http://emotionalmoney.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=40

UPCOMING EVENT:
TURN ON TO LIFE w/ Curtis G. Schmitt
INTEGRITY DAY INFO & SCHEDULE
Here's the latest schedule of upcoming Integrity Days:

February 3, 2009 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
February 6, 2009 (Friday), 9 AM ET
February 11, 2009 (Wednesday), 12 PM ET
February 13, 2009 (Friday), 9 AM ET
February 17, 2009 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
February 20, 2009 (Friday), 9 AM ET
February 25, 2009 (Wednesday), 12 PM ET
February 26, 2009 (Thursday), 8 AM ET

To register for one of these dates, visit:

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html

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.

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

-----------------
Curtis G. Schmitt
Turn On to Life! Coach
203-659-6636 | 610-696-3731
http://www.PeacefulProductivityNow.com

ANNOUNCEMENTS
SACRED CENTER NEW YORK
If you would like to start your week off being inspired and fulfilled please go to www.sacredcenterny.org.
Every Sunday 11:00am-12:30pm.

__________________________________________________________________
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 2009

2009-01-26T15:19:00.009-05:00

January 26, 2009

I feel like dancing! One big conscious party!
Nadia Huntley (sharing her feelings regarding Obama's Inauguration)

Now the work for all of us begins. Many of us are in the midst of major changes in our lives. And at this time of hope and "dancing" there is a fear of the unknown, there is a recognition of just how small we often choose to play, there is an acknowledgement of the work that has to be done to bring the vision that we all share: peace, freedom, prosperity and love, further into fruition. Sharon Ball and I have heeded the call and are thrilled to officially announce:

EMOTIONAL MONEY ® RETREAT FOR WOMEN
Please visit my new & improved website to get the details, including pictures and registration information at http://www.healingfinances.com/index.html.

We are all, men and women, being called to act from our greater selves. With this great newfound hope, comes great new found work. Work that can not be done alone, work that requires a safe space and trust, so together we may grow beyond our fears!

WE, my mother Sharon Ball, and I, WELCOME YOU!
http://www.healingfinances.com/EmotionalMoneyRetreat.htm

Thank you Charlotte for the incredible work on the website!
Thank you SB for your incredible edits and time.
Thank you gentlemen for understanding sometimes the ladies just need a break out on their own.
Thank you Nadia for responding to last week's blog!
Thank you to each of you that have been with me from the beginning, those that have recently joined me and those waiting for me to come to you.
Here's to the dance of our lives!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Dance & Enjoy the hope in the air.

_____________________________________________
Samarra Am Management is dedicated to building communities living inspired, fulfilled and free!
To unsubscribe to the "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 2009

2009-01-19T19:54:00.009-05:00

January 19, 2009

MOMENTUS
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is an incredible time to be alive.
Today marks the celebration of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr., tomorrrow the inauguration of Barack Obama. Are there any words? When we tap into what lies within, its reach extends beyond race, class, country, and circumstance. We're reminded of the abundance, hope and possibilities available to us when we connect and take action from within...that is the connection to the soul...the universe.

MOMENTUS. MOMENTUS. MOMENTUS.

In lieu of what is occurring in the world, I decided to save further details until next week. So please be sure to visit "Emotional Money" at www.emotionalmoney.blogspot.com next Monday.
EMOTIONAL MONEY RETREAT FOR WOMEN
May 1-3 2009 SAVE THE DATE
The Emotional Money® Retreat takes place at the Big Tent Cultural Center in the village of Whitney Point, New York, a three hour drive northwest of New York City, amid rolling hills, converging rivers and wide open skies. Participants will enjoy sophisticated simplicity in a rural setting. Transportation, meals, and private, bunkhouse-style lodging are included in the registration fee.
SAVE THE DATE!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Please share your feelings, or experiences with the Emotional Money readers on how this historical event is impacting you. You can log on the blog or email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com and I'll post it.

_____________________________________________
Samarra Am Management is dedicated to building communities living inspired, fulfilled and free!
To unsubscribe to the "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 2009

2009-01-12T15:05:00.015-05:00

January 12, 2009

BUILD

"It's never too late to be who you were always meant to be."
George Eliot

Does anyone else feel like something is coming? Maybe it's inauguration anticipation. Maybe it was the big beautiful full moon last night. Maybe it...I don't know. But I am curious, do you feel it too?

It's 2009. My life, AGAIN, is in the midst of another huge change personally, professionally and financially. At first I thought I would wait another couple of months until things are smooth again to declare what has been in the works the past few months. But no, not this time. Wait? For what? Smooth? HA.

ANNOUNCING: EMOTIONAL MONEY RETREAT FOR WOMEN
May 1-3, 2009

The Emotional Money Retreat is a 2-day intensive for women who want to understand and heal their unhealthy relationships with money. The Emotional Money Retreat takes place at the Big Tent Cultural Center in the village of Whitney Point, New York, a three hour drive northwest of New York City, amid rolling hills, converging rivers and wide open skies. SAVE THE DATE. Program, details & registration information will be announced right here next Monday.

Many of you are afraid of the economic changes; some have lost your jobs, others your life savings. The longer we try to hold on to what has already been "taken", the more energy we take away from what we can begin to build. Mourn your losses, express your hurts and fears and then tap into who you have always wanted to be anyway. BUILD!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Choose two of the goals that you have set out for yourself this year.
Is it large and scary in a thrilling way? Does it ask you to be who you knew you were always meant to be? In this time of change for all of us, spend your energy towards goals that require all of YOU...FROM YOUR CORE.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Preparation for Meditation
Sunday January 18, 2009
3:30pm-5:30pm
1123 Broadway, Suite 1205
To reserve space contact
tatiana@unifiedspirit.com
917-593-5982
Visit www.vedicodyssey.com for more details.

ENLIGHTENNEXT
Every Thursday 7-10:30pm
Meditation, Meal & Conversation
Visit www.enlightennext.org

SACRED CENTER NEW YORK
If you are in any need, please, please, please get inspired at www.sacredcenterny.org.
Every Sunday 11:00am-12:30pm.

_____________________________________________
Samarra Am Management is dedicated to building communities living inspired, fulfilled and free!
To unsubscribe to the "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 2009

2008-12-22T10:34:00.007-05:00

December 22, 2008

SMOOTH GLIDING
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I just spent 45 minutes trying to get into my own parking space. Yesterday after a half an hour I gave up. But today after 10 minutes I had already gotten in further than I had the night before. That was reassurance that it would be worth it for me to hang in there this time and figure it out. I came prepared with a broom and a dust pan ready to tackle the ice. Instead I used the heels of my shoes. A woman sitting in her truck across the street, was clearly upset by my using my shoes and suggested that I should really just back in instead. She and her nice black truck were exactly across from my space which made backing up an impossibility. I decided not to tell her "yeah, great idea lady but you're in the way." It's the holidays after all. And instead for 20 more minutes implemented the back up, drive, back up, drive rocking momentum I learned watching my mother as a child, an excellent driver. Yesterday I had given up after only a half an hour but today after each rock, I got a little further, enough to feel that there would be a "potential" click and my car despite ice and snow would glide right in. Just about the time that I was starting to doubt myself and the potential of my rock, the lady and her black truck, who made the suggestion that she herself was the cause of blocking me from, decided to drive away. Yes, I thought, NOW I can back in. Did I mention that my parking space has two poles on either side of it and is on an incline. But I happen to love backing in, another great trait I learned from my mother, that reverse can really be your friend. Bounce, bounce, slide, I'm almost in. But not quite enough since I'm blocking the sidewalk. But now I'm stuck, oh so close but not quite in far enough. So out comes my broom, dust pan and the handy dandy heel of my boot. Now I can pull all the way out so that I can pull in again. I envision a nice smooth glide in to my own space. But wait I think let me just take one more glance at the lay of the land. The ice is shining where my tires got stuck so I decide to kick a little snow, maybe that will help with some traction. I look at one tire and then the other - I kick some more snow, what can it hurt. I envision a nice glide in. I go to the wheel, rock forward, shift to reverse and wow a smooth glide in.

I thought it was a perfect playing out of the events of my life this past year. In life we sometimes give up pretty quickly when things appear to be a slippery slope. But we try again and isn't it funny, how we can feel even if we haven't made it to our destination, the potential for it to all fall in place. Feeling the potential is enough to keep you going. Someone (often a friend or family member) shows up to give you all sorts of advice. They are the ones we allow to block us and be directly in our way. When they leave or when we can, get rid of them, we are then free to try another approach and the potential is so exciting. We're bursting with possibility. We decide to take a moment and do some final, "just in case", tweaking. We envision what we want, it's suddenly so clear, we get behind our own goal and ta da everything clicks in place, and mmmmm it's a smooth glide in.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and no matter the stage you are in on this drive of life, remember some tweaking, a vision and some time may be all that is required. To align with who we already are and glide, that is the space awaiting our surrender and arrival every moment of every day.

May this be your last year of being committed to suffering and struggle.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
SACRED CENTER NEW YORK
If you are in any need, and/or believe that who you are is a sin, please, please, please go to www.sacredcenterny.org.
Every Sunday 11:00am-12:30pm.

APARTMENT AVAILABLE
Great 2 bedroom sublet available (1 full size, 1 kids room) for 3 months, off 63rd Drive & Queens Blvd-5 min walk from R & V train, & all shopping. 30 minutes into midtown Manhattan. Rent $1600 negotiable. Heat/Gas included. Cable available at extra cost. Contact Natalie via email, npinto@escapebeyond.com.

__________________________________________________________________
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

2008-12-15T09:18:00.008-05:00

December 15, 2008

THE REOCCURRING BATTLE

Someone shared this letter with me. I thought it was perfect and wanted to share it with you. So many times, when we notice that we are battling with the same issues over and over and over again there is a past hurt that has never been healed. This week, I have had or been witness to many conversations where we're all dealing with the external affects instead of focusing on the root of what is going on for us. As we head into the holiday season which is known for being one of the most depressing times of the year for many, I hope that this truthful exploration may help you uncover what may be at the root of what is going on for you as well. May it allow you to have compassion for youself and whichever shame may be at the root of your reoccurring battle.

Ref. Huffington Post

Dear Oprah,

America (and quite possibly the world) has been watching your private battle of the bulge for the last 20 years, and we feel your pain. Having battled an eating disorder myself (along with other addictions), I understand what you're going through. Now, as a health & wellness educator, I often work with people who are going through hard times with their weight. So I hope you'll forgive my presumption here and allow me to offer a few words of advice.

But before that, let me say how much I appreciate the way in which you share your private journey on such a public stage. When celebrities are willing to show their weaknesses, it makes it much easier for the rest of us to admit we may have the same problem and to take the necessary steps to heal. So thank you for courage.

I know you plan a mea culpa address on January 5th on The Oprah Winfrey Show to kick off Best Life Week. Please stop apologizing for your inability to keep off the weight you lost through the drastic liquid diet that helped you shed 60 pounds. You've gained back 40 of those pounds, but it's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. You don't have to be mad at yourself for "falling off the wagon." Addictions are impossible to heal when you haven't fully addressed the original wounds that created the addiction in the first place.

Because you have shared your story with the public, I feel safe in observing that the trauma you experienced as a child growing up in Mississippi, moving a lot and shuffling between households, and being sexually abused by your uncle, cousin, and a family friend all left deep scars. Becoming pregnant at fourteen and having your son die shortly after birth was an enormous emotional burden to bear at such a young age. As you have said in the past, "I've felt safer and more protected when I was heavy. Food has always been comforting."

More nutrition and/or exercise gurus won't help you get to the root of the problem. It's important to remember that the power to heal the original wound that created this behavior and the power to heal the emotional pain lies only within you. The abuse you lived through as a child left you with a deep well of shame. In my healing work, I would call this a distortion of the second chakra, the energy center most related to substance abuse and addiction. If the healthy flow of energy is blocked in the second chakra, we can develop poor boundaries with others and within ourselves. The second chakra also governs how we find pleasure.

When you are unhappy, not feeling good, you go back to food.

You are an educated woman, a brave woman who brought sexual abuse out in the open in many of your shows, but you have not yet dispelled all the lingering shame from the early abuse. It's that place that can get triggered. Look at what happened around the time you started to pack the pounds back on. Did it coincide with the awful abuse scandal at your girls' leadership school in Africa? When you went racing to Africa to deal with the situation, you apologized to the pupils and parents at the school "I've disappointed you. I'm' sorry. I'm so sorry." As if their abuse was your personal shame.

"I was, needless to say, devastated and really shaken to my core when I first heard this news," Winfrey said. Young girls being shamed and abused in a place you had established as a safe haven for them would have brought up all the past demons of your life, and triggered your shame. Food would have been the natural way to self-medicate from the pain of the reopened early childhood wounds.

As we get older, the emotional pain and traumatic experiences that we have buried deep within come back to haunt us -- frequently as physical problems. Thyroid conditions are rampant among women because most women never vocalize the shame and pain of their lives. Here you are, possibly the most vocal women on the planet today, who has spoken out often about abuse and acted swiftly to fix the situation in Africa, and yet there are still things you can't say -- even to yourself.

Thyroid problems relate to the fifth chakra, the energy center located at the throat, and are commonly connected to blockages in the second chakra. Accessing and releasing the buried shame would not be hard for you with a little help. You have become so much more conscious over the years, and so much more aware of the way the dots connect between emotions and physical difficulties.

When you go back to food for comfort, it is a sign for you that your energy field is out of balance. You speak of balance in O magazine, and external balance between work and the rest of our lives is important, no doubt. But, first and foremost, the balance of our own energy field is vital if we are to be healthy and happy.

Let's also acknowledge the difficulty inherent in being a food addict. Those addicted to booze or cigarettes or drugs can live without those substances, but we need to eat in order to live. And as we addicts know, a little something often leads to a lot more of that something. And we don't have the option of staying away from food altogether.

Many people are not willing or able to look inside and see the reason they are starving or stuffing their bodies. They are trying to stave off the hurt and the pain without confronting and releasing it. Far more powerful than fitting into size 10 Calvin Klein jeans is the feeling that you don't ever have to be ashamed of what happened to you. Shame is such a dense energy. Children wear shame as if it belongs to them. The longer they carry that trance of shame into adulthood, they will unconsciously find ways of shaming themselves over and over again. "I was talking the talk, but I wasn't walking the walk. And that was very disappointing to me," is said by someone who still feels the shame of her lost little girl.

You are walking the walk. It just isn't a straight path. Our life challenges spiral back around again and again so we can face them from a slightly more conscious place each time. You are a brave lady for putting it front and center so all those who watch you can be inspired to take on their own demons. You're a warrior in the cause of self-improvement!

Find a beautiful dress for the inauguration and go with your head held high, your heart full of hope for a better world that you are instrumental in creating. Whatever your size, you will always loom large in minds and hearts of us all. When you finally wipe away the remnants of old shame, the pounds will melt away!

Warmest regards,

Deborah King

PLAN OF ACTION:
Compassion for yourself as you honor how far you've come.
This week gift yourself a nice hot bath, a day in your pj's, a potluck with friends...

UPCOMING EVENTS:
SPACES WHERE YOU ARE WELCOMED AS YOU ARE:

SACRED CENTER NEW YORK
Every Sunday 11am
Visit www.sacredcenterny.org

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7-10:30pm
Meditation, Meal & Conversation
Visit www.enlightennext.org

TURN ON TO LIFE
Curtis G. Schmitt from Turn On To Life presents INTEGRITY DAY!
Get ready to HAVE FUN and GET STUFF DONE!
December 16, 2008 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
December 18, 2008 (Thursday), 8 AM ET
December 19, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET
To register for one of these dates, visit:http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html

___________________________________________________________________________________
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

2008-12-08T18:54:00.012-05:00

December 8, 2008

"LET THE ROADRUNNER GO ON BY(E)"

"Remember in times of economic uncertainty, true passion is your greatest security."
by Tama Kieves.

"It's supposed to be hard. When you struggle, it proves how much you're willing to fight for it." I can't tell you how many different versions of this phrase, I have heard this week. Why is it that we believe that things are supposed to be so hard? I USED to believe the same thing. Until my very stubborn Aries self was ramming into so many walls that after so many years of doing it, by the age of 27 I literally prayed to God for death. Literally. Death did come, but not in the way I thought. The death that came was of the belief that I was destined to spend my precious time on earth frustrated, angry, depressed and so tired I just couldn't ram and slam to PROVE myself anymore. The universe must have shouted “she's finally out of the way.” I suddenly started meeting people who believed in a different message, I ended up leaving my home town, my husband, old friends, my career and suddenly there was a lot less ramming going on. (I can't say that there is no ramming now, I am still an Aries and find myself slamming sometimes especially when it comes to relationships BUT I don't slam for nearly as long.) I know and believe to my core, by experience, that if I'm slamming, it is only because I'm not willing to let go of something that isn't actually mine and/or I'm heading down a path that may not be right for me. If we believe that our life is supposed to be struggle, then it will be.

This week, a few weeks before the new year begins, I invite you to take these next couple of weeks to see what different decisions and actions you might take if you didn't just start from "it's supposed to be hard." What else is possible? When you watched the coyote on the cartoon try over and over and over and over again to catch the Roadrunner, wasn't it amusing at first? But over the years, didn't it just seem silly? Most importantly didn't you reach a point when you no longer laughed or felt anything, you were just resigned to the fact that the coyote wasn't going to get the road runner. You already knew the ending and watched "blindly." That is often how I believe we live our lives. We may get a rush every once in a while but if you truly believe it's going to be a fight to get it then, eventually you numb your emotions to keep yourself from the rush because you already know it's not going to work out. Or you know your partner, friend or family member won't approve. You believe you can't have it or aren't supposed to because it sends a little thrill inside of you. Funny, how over and over it doesn't work out and we come to the conclusion that "we weren't supposed to have it anyway." Not realizing that from the beginning we believe it's supposed to be a struggle and we charge after the things we already believe we aren't supposed to have. Maybe we should practice charging towards the things that thrill us internally and lay the "struggle belief" down for a moment.

Discover and have the courage to follow YOUR true passions. The market,
he/she said, husband/wife said, boss said, father/mother said........in the end there is YOU. Stop slamming into the wall and see it for what it is, a "belief" that can be let go. You may ask, as I did, in terror, what if something worse appears, at least I know the wall. I don't know what will replace the wall for you but what if, like it was for me, whatever it is A LOT less painful than the wall, would it be worth it to start your new year letting the road runner go right on by so you can discover the thing that you were actually meant to have & to hold so that YOU MAY LIVE and BE in ease?

PLAN OF ACTION:
1) Notice how often you and those in your close circle not only speak of struggle
but brag about your survival of it.
2) Practice a few moments a day engaging in what gives us a thrill internally. (I'm not referring to thrills gained from people or things outside of yourself.) Thrills gained from you being with you. For instance, every time I write a blog. Every time I workout, every time I develop a new package for the business....
3) Practice believing that YOU were placed here for something other than simply to be able to say you are strong because you survived all the struggles. The strength, is being able to not need the struggle and to live passionately with purpose and in alignment with YOUR core and discover and live YOUR dream.

NEW UPCOMING EVENTS:
TURN ON TO LIFE
Curtis G. Schmitt from Turn On To Life presents
INTEGRITY DAY!
Get ready to HAVE FUN and GET STUFF DONE!

December 9, 2008 (Tuesday), 9 AM ET (TOMORROW)
December 10, 2008 (Wednesday), 11 AM ET
December 12, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET
December 16, 2008 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
December 18, 2008 (Thursday), 8 AM ET
December 19, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET

To register for one of these dates, visit:

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html

STERLING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC.
Visit our website http://www.sterlingchoices.net.
To participate in an upcoming tele-seminar, join our mailing list.

Our TalkingLive series resumes this month with a two-part tele-seminar:
"Converting Financial Stress into Financial Success"

Session One: "Half Full" is a 45-minute open call.

The financial crisis has affected each and every one of us, even if not equally. Tough times such as these provide a fertile ground for sharing, learning, and growing. As we wind down 2008 and gear up for 2009, we are hosting this call-in to provide a platform for you to share how you have responded to the financial crisis - what changes, tactics, and/or ideas are you employing to help you confront your financial challenges? Whatever you are doing or experimenting with to convert your slow-downs or setbacks into opportunities just might be what someone else on the call needs to hear or try... and vice versa!

Join us on Tuesday, 9 December, (TOMORROW) at 8:00 p.m. for the "Half Full" call-in.

Session Two: "Mortgage Hell No More" is a 60-minute tele-seminar session designed exclusively for mortgage holders who are in need of their own bailout plan. My guest this evening is Harold Ford, president of Global Real Estate Holdings, specialists in foreclosure consulting and workouts with banks.

Do you owe more than your house is worth - in other words are you under water?
Are you struggling to make your mortgage payments?
Has your mortgage lender already begun the foreclosure process?

If you answered "yes" or have a relative or close friend who would answer "yes," this is a session you won't want to miss. You will learn what you can do to save your home and regain your peace of mind, and/or gather valuable information on behalf of someone for whom you care deeply.

Join us on Wednesday, 10 December at 8:00 p.m. for the "Mortgage Hell No More"
tele-seminar.

To get the call-in details please sign up on their mailing list at www.sterlingchoices.net.

Congratulations to Andrea Reese (the designer of my logo and angel to me and many, many others) for her featured interview on W-NBC-TV on Saturday Today in NY.
www.jackieoshow.com

Although the show is now SOLD OUT please visit her website to stay tuned for further updates on future shows.
"Cirque Jacqueline" on December 18th and 19th at
The Players Theatre
Call 866-811-4111 or
Visit Theatermania...
http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/148666
For more info on the show, please visit...

www.jackieoshow.com http://www.jackieoshow.com/bv

___________________________________________________
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

2008-11-29T16:16:00.007-05:00

December 1, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING INDEED.

We are the ones that we have been waiting for.
August Gold from Sacred Heart Center (and many others)

The highway was littered with overturned cars, cars missing their fenders at the hands of a guardrail, ambulances and police cars everywhere along the way. One scene of a white small vehicle stopped in the center of the 3 lane highway, right beyond a hill. The occupants were standing in the rain/sleet/snow mix on the grassy hill, watching as cars approached - helpless, they looked on, no police or red flair in sight to prevent further disaster, but somehow no further disaster transpired.

Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

As I spent Thanksgiving with a party of twenty in a hand built beautiful barn featuring carved railings of wood that were breathtaking, I was thankful to have been welcomed. A new tradition was now to be established, no longer having a reason to go to Ohio to visit my grandma. She's no longer there or anywhere here. But our now smaller family was enveloped amongst this large one, hugged and loved, welcomed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

My ex-boyfriend was held up at gunpoint outside the apartment door a few days before Thanksgiving. But he's still here, unharmed, luckily they were only interested in the wallet and the phone and not in harming him.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Across the world mayham, murder, war, disease and death are apart of the daily routine.

Thanks giving please.

The economy, fears, solutions based on the same old past beliefs. But more and more I hear people, commentators and pundits even, understanding, admitting that the old ways are not working. Instead of simply stating what has always been "facts" there is now space for more inquiries and new ideas to surface, breaking the cycle of sticking to the miseries and systems of the past. They haven’t been working for quite some time. New ideas and inquiries.

Happy Thanks Giving.

Blessings to the many who lost their lives, and whose lives are forever changed by what they witnessed in Mumbai these past few days.

Giving.

This Thanksgiving I was so aware that the time we have here is not guaranteed. In a month we bring in yet another New Year. Do you want things to be as they were a year ago, what is your vision of your life a year from now? Is it the same ole, same ole - fear, frustration, stress, and stagnation. Our time here isn't guaranteed.

Emotions & Your Money is the key to how you are living in ALL areas of your life. Take a peak. Is there unopened mail, late payments, avoidance, secrets, stress and strain? Notice the similar patterns in your relationships, careers, your health and and your friends.

Driving home today from Upstate New York I saw so many accidents, some quite disturbing. When I pulled up in front of my apartment I said a prayer of gratitude. I remembered that only 4 years ago, sitting on a divide myself, on a busy street, my favorite car totaled, I wanted so badly to just lean back and let some fast moving car "take me." Stressed, strained, saddened and frustrated, I couldn't envision any way out. I was so tired of fighting. I believed the stress, strain and pain was the truth of life. Living in resistance. Luckily I didn't lean back, and stayed long enough to discover through others, through reading, through wanting there to be another way, that our life’s are the manifestation of what we believe. Half full or half empty? Constrained or free? Random or purpose driven? Defeated and complaining or inspired and filled with possibility? My life, because of the shift in my belief, is unrecognizable and fulfilling now. Even with the losses and the fears, the fundamental shift has been in my realization that we are not here simply to pass the time in misery. Live. Life is a gift. We are still here. Let's face our fears, STAND in our lives instead of spending our energy sitting on a medium inbetween, spending our energy on the ways to avoid and lean.

STAND. LIVE. INSPIRED. FULFILLED. FREE.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING IN DEED.

PLAN OF ACTION:
What is it that you are avoiding the most: a conversation, opening the mail, asking a question, calling a creditor, looking in the mirror...the fear and avoidance takes so much more energy day after day after day than simply facing it NOW. Free up the space. Allow. Chance it turning out A. O. K.

ENVIRONMENTS/ACTIVITIES THAT CAN AID YOU IN FACING YOUR FEARS:
www.enlightennext.org every Thursday free meditation, 7pm-10:30pm
http://www.andrewcohen.org/ny/

www.sacredcenterny.org every Sunday at 11am-12:30pm

or if you like to save A LOT of money and would like to shop for silk trenches, wraps, dresses, semi precious and costume jewelry and much more from $12-$400 in a very healing "space"

Anita Trehan presents Anise Holiday Sale 2008

Thursday, December 4th
11am-9pm
Greenwich, CT

Saturday, December 6th
11am-6pm
Long Island, NY

For more details visit www.anisenewyork.com

or to get help tackling a task

Curtis G. Schmitt from Turn On To Life presents
INTEGRITY DAY!
Get ready to HAVE FUN and GET STUFF DONE!

December 2, 2008 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
December 5, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET
December 9, 2008 (Tuesday), 9 AM ET
December 10, 2008 (Wednesday), 11 AM ET
December 12, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET
December 16, 2008 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
December 18, 2008 (Thursday), 8 AM ET
December 19, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET

To register for one of these dates, visit:

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html

HAVE FUN!

___________________________________________________
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."

2008-11-24T08:41:00.006-05:00

November 24, 2008

NUMERO UNO

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
Dale Carnegie

Depending how you are choosing to spend your time, you may be surrounded by those that are filled with fear regarding the current economic situation. Spinning in fear will get you very, very little. If you are scared, identify the specific reasons why, as it pertains to your life right now. Once identified, choose an action that you can take that can address it. If you are just generally scared, that can only render you helpless and hopeless. Sometimes we like that because, "hey, it's not my fault, there is nothing I can do."

It has been such an interesting education for me to realize that in every place I'm going, meditation center, the two places I volunteer my time, networking events, church, lunch with friends, there is celebration and an overall feeling of excitement and possibility regarding what is happening right now. Overall, we feel that what is happening is simply the truth of what has actually been occurring for years, the masks could just no longer be maintained. When one of us gets scared because we are surrounded by this overall positive energy, we don't get stuck in fear for long before we are reminded of possibility. Some of these people, like you have lost their jobs, watched their investements shrivel and their savings disappear, but they've also discovered opportunities to start their own business, pursue interest based on what they love, and focus their energies in new and exciting places. When you have the top executive of the car dealerships go to Congress to request money with no sort of plan, while using their private jets, it just shows the mentality and type of unaccountablity that has been occurring for so many years. We get to look at them and lay blame but the truth is it is exactly what we have been doing with our credit cards, automatic bill payments and bounced check protection. We use the system to help us avoid what we don't want to deal with. We haven't been holding ourselves accountable. It has finally caught up with all of us. We're all connected. Now is the opportunity to grow, change, and to discover brand new possibilities now that the core root of what has been going on has been exposed. The good news is that we don't have to do it alone.

It was the day after Thanksgiving that my grandmother had her knee surgery. That was the beginning of the end of my life as I had always known it. There are these occurences in life that are apart of its natural cycle. They are scary, and sometimes extremely difficult. But at the end of the day, at the end of the cycle, time continues ticking, and those still here have the opportunity to continue to grow, to have another chance. There is nothing wrong with being afraid. But understand it is simply the cycle of life. This Thanksgiving week, if you are feeling very scared, take some deep breaths and be willing to hold yourself accountable for yourself and your life. Choose to take a look at what you are specifically afraid of and see if you can identify some action steps that you can take to allieviate your fears. Spinning and doing nothing only adds to your fears.
Yes, there is something that you can do. The first is to stop pretending, avoiding, and hiding. You are still here, how do you want to spend the remainder of your time?

Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Mother Theresa, and so many unsung heros like my grandmother, Eunice Simpson, spend/spent their time not only talking about change but were/are willing to take actions on their beliefs. Again and again and again they inspire/inspired us by what they did regardless of the odds. This Thanksgiving give gratitude for the people and things in your life that inspire you, and moving forward be willing to take action and go beyond your fears. Make yourself smile and be inspired by taking responsibility for your life. Life is short, cyclical and nothing is guaranteed. We're all in this together! Holding ourselves accountable and choosing to engage in taking responisbility for our part in this fiasco is step numero uno!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Identify 1 to 3 things that are the cause of your specific fears right now.
What can you do about? What will you do about it? By when will you take action?
Take action.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

____________________________________________________
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."

2008-11-10T20:14:00.006-05:00

November 10, 2008

TRANSCEND THE FEARS & SMALLNESS IN YOUR LIFE

"What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do."
John Riskin

We campaigned, we donated money, we talked to our friends, family and neighbors about getting out to vote. We pined, we prayed, we hoped, we believed and on November 4, 2008 we took action and we VOTED.

PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA.

I celebrate this because it is a vote for transformation. He is a man that approaches life from what is possible versus from what is not possible. He is also a man that understands that we are all, regardless of race, culture, class, financial background, etc. that we are ALL connected! The way to transform the world isn't through the fears and keeping everyone separated but through faith, hard work and connecting everyone to their own greatness. As Rev. August Gold said on Sunday at Sacred Center New York, we all know that the bar has been raised. We understand that in order for him to make it we must do our part. We can't vote for the change and then not follow through with the actions to back it up. As Obama has reminded us from the beginning, he can't do it on his own. We each first, in our own lives, need to take actions towards what we say we want. If we do what we've always done, the results will be heartbreaking. As many of you are experiencing on Wall Street and around the country. When we try to take a short cut, or not be authentic, or accountable, eventually the walls come tumbling down. We must be willing to be the leaders in our own lives and in our communities. Barack Obama said he can't do it alone. I remember so vividly when I first heard that he was running, I totally dismissed it. I didn't have an ounce of faith that America was ready for transformation. But each time I heard him speak, his faith and his view of possibility then caused me to think maybe America could be ready. Then for a period of time, I was so afraid for him and his family. what if something happened to him? I sort of wished that he would change his mind. But over time, because of his faith and steadfastness and consistent message about the possibilities, my fears and concerns simply fell away. And as he beat one odd after another, after another, after another, I was overcome with...hope that his faith never faltered. So much more is possible when we tap into that which is beyond what we know and what we can see.

As you may be watching your retirement funds dwindle, your friends and family speak of their fears, as you read the paper and watch the t.v., remember Barack Obama and what he has accomplished. Have faith in yourself! I know someone that has lost $75,000 in their retirement account. They are not worried, or stressed or scared. They have faith, that all will be well. So instead of spending their energy on the fears, they are working as they have, taking responsibility for their finances by monitoring viable investments, continuing to save, and not spending beyond their means. We must follow Barack Obama's and this person’s example. Remember when you get tired, frustrated and scared (maybe turn off the television that is telling you 24 hours a day to be scared.) Turn off the fear in your mind. Take some deep breaths; don't just say you want something, go get it, do all that you need to (build alliances, do research, put your ego in check, be willing to say "I don't know" so you can get others that do) before you distract yourself with the world, start from where it begins, at home, with you!

PLAN OF ACTION:
It's the end of an era of talking. It's time to get to work....not horizontally but vertically. Transcend the fears and smallness in your life. Transform.

JOIN ME:
www.enlightennext.org every Thursday free meditation, 7pm-10:30pm
http://www.andrewcohen.org/ny/

www.sacredcenterny.org every Sunday at 11am-12:30pm

Enjoy a wonderful production of
Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Rebecca Patterson
Saturday Nov 8 thru Nov 23
Tues-Sat at 7:30pm
Sun at 3pm
Two matinees Sat Nov 15 & 22 at 2pm
Post-show discussion after the Sat Nov 15 matinee

At Urban Stages
259 W30 Street (btwn 7 & 8 Ave)

Tickets are $18
Reservations at 212.868.4444 or
www.smarttix.com

________________________________________________
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."

2008-11-03T17:10:00.008-05:00

November 3, 2008

VOTE, VOTE. VOTE

I am supporting Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.

A few minutes ago it was announced that his grandmother lost her battle to cancer.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

My prayers go out to every single person, because tomorrow, no matter which direction it goes, will be a day remembered for generations to come. We are here to witness it. We are all passionate in our opinions and thoughts. Remember to go out tomorrow with your "higher self." We are ALL connected. Save your words and impassioned arguments, simply excercise your rights and VOTE. No matter how long the lines, what is said, what you hear, do all you need to do to walk into the voting booth and push who you believe to be the best candidate for the next President of The United States of America.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008, VOTE!

PLAN OF ACTION:
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE

KEEP IN MIND:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/straightticket.asp

In the event that any of you are planning to vote democrat
on the November 4, I thought I'd share the following info I
received today from a registered voter.

When we go into the voting booths, if we first select the
button 'all democrats', Barack Obama will be excluded from the
vote. However, if we choose 'Barack Obama' first and then select
'all democrats', he will earn your votes.

It's likely you will not be told this information when
you go to vote.

JOIN ME:
www.enlightennext.org every Thursday 7pm-10:30pm
http://www.andrewcohen.org/ny/
Join me for an amazing retreat in Fox Hollow, Massachusetts at their headquarters from Oct. 31-Nov. 2nd.

www.sacredcenterny.org every Sunday at 11am-12:30pm

________________________________________________
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."

2008-10-27T12:26:00.008-04:00

October 27, 2008

YOU POWER MONEY

This Halloween, give yourself a treat.

Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about their fears regarding the state of the economy. I hear everyone talking about their fears and because they are in conversation with their friends and family who are also afraid, they end the conversation only feeling more...fear.

Very few of us can make a change immediately to "the economy." But if you'd like to have the conversations regarding what you can do to help educate yourself and feel empowered to make a difference for your own accounts, please join Carol L. Buchman and I on Wednesday, October 29th from 6pm-8pm. If you'd rather stop "talking" about what is going on and actually be able to get in action for yourself and your financial health, please join us in the beautiful Enlightennext Meditation Center for this seminar. It is going to be a wonderful, comforting and an inspiring evening.
Please click here to view the flyer.
http://www.healingfinances.com/YouPowerMoney.htm
To register click anywhere on the flyer, scroll down to the "Paypal" button and fill in the information. We hope to see you there.

Because it is very important to Carol and I to foster connections, conversation and financial healing, if you want to come but are not able to pay the $35.00 fee please just send us an email at youpowermoney@gmail.com letting us know that you want to come. Money is usually the reason we use to not do many of things that would actually help us. We don't want that to be the excuse you can use this time. If you are tired of feeling fear and ready to take action, register and/or contact us today.

Transformation starts with you, your financial and emotional health and healing.

PLAN OF ACTION
Stop Talking, Talking, Talking. No need to add to the fears. Take Action.
If you are unable to attend the seminar, then balance your checkbook, begin tracking your spending each day, trace how often you spend to ease an emotional pain...pay attention to yourself. In hour long huddles and phone calls regarding the fears about the state of the economy, dare to share an action that you've taken and ask them what action they will take this week!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Dr. Kataria's Laughter Yoga
lead by Dr. Alex Eingorn, Laughter Ambassador!
Generate Endorphins, Burn Calories, and have a Great Time!
Mondays at 7:30 PM sharp (ish) at

Better Health Chiropractic, PC
825 Seventh Avenue (53rd Street)
New York, NY 10019
RSVP 212-956-5920

TURN ON TO LIFE
Free teleseminar: "Productivity & Peace of Mind: You Don't Have to Sacrifice One for the Other"

Would you like more peace and joy in your life, but you're afraid that if you focus too much on those things, you won't be able to do all you need to get done? Then Peaceful Productivity is for you.

In this 60-minute teleseminar presented by Productivity Specialist & Coach, Curtis G. Schmitt, you'll learn:

The Path to Peaceful Productivity
The 3 steps to increase your productivity (without sacrificing your peace of mind)
The 3 steps to greater peace of mind (without sacrificing your productivity)
How the tension between Being vs. Doing creates challenges to your productivity and peace of mind
And more...

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 8 PM
Thursday, Oct. 30, 7 PM

Register at:
http://www.PeacefulProductivityNow.com

And if you like this teleseminar, please let us know so that we can provide you with more resources like it in the future!

www.enlightennext.org every Thursday 7pm-10:30pm
http://www.andrewcohen.org/ny/
Join me for an amazing retreat in Fox Hollow, Massachusetts at their headquarters from Oct. 31-Nov. 2nd.

www.sacredcenterny.org every Sunday at 11am-12:30pm

Congratulations to Alexandra Jacoby and the many participants, performers and all affliated with The Vagina Festival that took place this weekend in the beautiful Sage Theatre. Be sure to visit: http://www.vaginafestival.com/ to learn more from someone who not only talked about her idea but took action and has developed an entire festival dedicated to fostering conversation.
You can view the interview I did with her on Emotional Money on November 19, 2007.
http://emotionalmoney.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=50
and scroll down to November 19th.
________________________________________________
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."

2008-10-20T16:02:00.015-04:00

October 20, 2008

SLEEP, FOOD, FEAR, DENIAL...

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Anais Nin

I went to a workshop that I had no idea would actually NOT feature the person speaking, because she was a channeler. She channeled a spirit regarding money matters. The guides told us to have hope which leaves the door open for possibilities, and to give from the heart. The guide explained that what has occurred today was because money was being "held" on to, not acknowledging the structures of the universe - abundance. Money is an energy and any energy, like water, "held" needs and must find a way to escape. You have to have a way in the system for the energy of money to be let go of or given away or else it'll find its own way to escape. The guests left the room feeling more assured than when they came in, but I wondered what happens when they return home and see their retirements, job and/or paychecks have dipped again? Whether you believe in channelers or not - my question is do you believe in yourself? We are in a system that with the current crisis, the solution is to pump 700 billion more dollars into the system, create credit, credit, credit. The powers that be saying, "come on people, turn your beliefs around, have no fear, buy, buy, buy." People are instead scared and running, holding on and seeking answers and distraction outside of themselves and their own homes. The solution, like the problem, tries to skip over the time and tension needed for an authentic bloom. Without it, there's no authentic transformation, people aren't buying into the rhetoric, outside or their own, they can't. There can be no built confidence because this fictitious 700 billion dollars no one can really lay their hands on or feel that the same thing won't just happen again. No trust or character is found in that system. We do this in our lives daily. We pick the easy way out and so no trust or character is built to learn and teach us to trust ourselves.

This past month I chose the easy ways again, sleep, food, fear, denial, turn to others to get answers, they say get a job, I try to convince myself to give up this business, stop going to meditation, stop working out. What happened to the transformation I was living every day? It was scary and pushing me up against things I didn't feel I had all the answers to...scary. I needed a break. Sleep, food, fear, denial, turn to others to get answers, they say get a job, I try to convince myself to give up this business, stop going to meditation, stop working out. As soon as I became conscious again, forced to because my friends are also up to practicing living authentically. They decided to come to the meditation so that forced me to have to get out of bed. Just being in the environment after meditation and the conversations, whew, I couldn't deny I had slipped to laying back AGAIN. No wonder I had stopped coming to meditation. I felt safer in bed but man I was miserable. Safe in fear but miserable. But because I was at the meditation center and willing to admit and be aware, all sorts of opportunities arose. Attending the workshop, being on a world wide teleconference call the next day with people living on the edge, *having a conversation that suddenly altered the name of me and Carol's upcoming workshop, a free massage, an opportunity to volunteer at a spiritual book store where in exchange I'll receive free yoga classes, two customers resurfacing wanting to start again, even finding a new church. Mostly what resurfaced, was possibility! Scary and unsafe but wow safety and familiarity keeps getting me a bigger waistline, sleep and lots of misery.

Don't you really believe deep inside you that really, despite the papers and rumors and Wall Street and War somewhere deep inside, you know that everything is going to be okay? Pay attention to that voice - burn through the surface fears, take responsibility and take action, for yourself and your life and join with others willing to do the same in theirs. If you want to go toward a different conversation, below I will list several places where hope, possibilities, and transformation of consciousness is the practice. Visit any one of these and experience the possibilities away from the drone of the fears. Dare to bloom and place yourself in a context closer to your core. There is where we can grow and learn to trust our own character. As the guides informed us - it's not the "systems" fault, we can't change a system - it's the humans that make up the system, transform the people and only then will the system be changed.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Dare to place yourself in environments and around others that support YOUR BLOOM:

www.enlightennext.org every Thursday 7pm-10:30pm
http://www.andrewcohen.org/ny/

www.sacredcenterny.org every Sunday at 11am-12:30pm

Wednesday, October 29th, 6pm-8pm $35.00
You Power Money: An Empowering & Inspiring seminar addressing the emotional, spirtual and practical pieces of your financial life.
Carol Buchman, CPA & Financial Planner & I, Emotional Money Healer & Guide at
243 West 30th Street, 11th Floor (1 block from Penn station)

*Formerly named "Empowering & Inspiring Your Financial Goddess" - as I was discussing my concern about the seminar I had just attended, which I talk about in the blog above, creating an "outside self" model, it was pointed out to me that that was what the title of our seminar also invoked. By "opening up" the title, it also allowed us to open it to anyone, male & female ready to transform their personal and financial lives starting from the inside. Thank you Shelley, Linda, Holly, Lauralee, Carol & Charlotte!)

When you feel afraid refer to Mark's words below, carry it with you and choose to act towards your transformation.

Moving Through the Dark
Mark Nepo

In nature, we are quietly given countless models of how to give
ourselves over to what appears dark and hopeless, but which ultimately
is an awakening beyond all imagining. All around us, everything small
and buried surrenders to a process that none of the buried parts can
see. We call this process seeding. And this innate surrender allows
everything edible and fragrant to break ground into a life of light that
we call spring. As a seed buried in the earth can’t imagine itself as
an orchid or hyacinth, neither can a heart packed with hurt or a mind
filmed over with despair imagine itself loved or at peace. The courage
of the seed is that, once cracking, it cracks all the way. This moving
through the dark into blossom is the threshold to God. And the devotion
of the living to move through the dark into blossom is the work of
soul.
*****************************************
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 EVENTS
Wednesday, October 22nd, 7pm-8pm Free - Amanda Wiss: Professional Organizer
CANCELLED - Rescheduled for Monday, January 26, 2009. Thank you Amanda for your continued generosity. To learn more, please visit her at www.urbanclarity.net.

________________________________________________
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

2008-10-13T10:47:00.019-04:00

October 13, 2008

REST ASSURED, THIS TOO SHALL PASS

I have spoken to many of you who are all feeling completely shell shocked as you discovered that your retirements and savings has lost a lot of money. Emotionally there aren't enough words to even possibly try to take the shock, pain and fear away. What I can recommend is that you don't avoid it. Pay attention to your investements and work with your financial advisors to implement a plan that you can live with. Join Carol and I on Wed. October 29th (see under events below) where you will have the opportunity to share, ask questions and learn emotional and practical tools to carry you through this new time. In the mean time, I spoke with Carol, CPA Financial Planner for some words of advice. She says, "if you can, stay the course. You can not time the market. If the money is for cash reserves for purchasing a home or you are older and very close to retiring then you may need to constuct another plan. But if it is for your retirement and you have many years to go then stay the course. The market needs to work out it's excess and if you can handle it then stay the course." We both believe that this is simply part of the universe's way to begin the transformation process to us living from truth and our core instead of from our apperances and our minds. Before growth, there is a period of pain. Rest assured that this too shall pass.

She offered this excerpt from Genworth Financial's Wealth Management Weekly Bulletin:

"History suggests that the best option following a steep market decline is to stay the course. The markets eventually rebound and emotional responses to short-term upheavals can derail careful, rational planning.

Nonetheless, anxiety over the scale of the current decline has left many investors less willing to stay the course and wait for recovery. Many are considering foregoing their investment plans in exchange for the presumed peace of mind of a more conservative investment solution. This response is understandable and needs to be acknowledged. It is also possible that your clients' risk tolerance and goals may have evolved and that new planning is warranted.

The options to consider are:
Staying the course
Considering reduced risk levels within their current solution
Shifting to new strategies.

Why to stay the course

Consider this table. The left-hand column lists the end-date for market declines (as measured by the S&P 500 Index) against the end-date for their related economic recession. With the notable exception of the 2000 – 2002 period, when the 9/11 Attacks deepened and extended the bear market, stocks began to recover well before the economy:

Market Decline Ended Recession Ended

Sep 14, 1944 Oct 1945

Jun 13, 1949 Oct 1949

Sep 14, 1953 May 1954

Oct 22, 1957 Apr 1958

Oct 25, 1960 Feb 1961

May 26, 1970 Nov 1970

Oct 3, 1974 Mar 1975

Mar 27, 1980 July 1980

Aug 8, 1982 Nov 1982

Oct 11, 1990 Mar 1991

Oct 9, 2002 Nov 2001

Source: Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services

While history is only a guide, the lesson provided here is that retreating to the sidelines until after the general economy recovers has usually been a mistake."

We hope that this can provide some comfort and practical information for you. If you have any questions or are feeling alone please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com or call me at 718-350-6095. Or call your financial planner. But do not sit in the fear and let it take you over. Experience it and take an action that will help. Get the information on your accounts specifically and pick up the phone and get in conversation with someone that can listen and help. I hope to see or hear you at at least of the events on a Wednesday in October!

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT WEDNESDAY'S
Wednesday, October 15th, 7:30pm-10:30pm - Presidential Debate and Networking Event in New Brunswick
Register at www.njminoritybusiness.com $15
Leaving East Orange at 6pm. Join me for the ride.
Call me at 718-350-6095 or email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 7pm-8pm Free - Amanda Wiss: Professional Organizer
243 West 30th Street, 11th Floor
Must have at least 8-10 people in attendace. Please RSVP by Friday, Oct. 17th at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Wednesday, October 29th, 6pm-8pm $35.00
Inspiring & Empowering Your Financial Goddess w/ Carol Buchman,
CPA & Financial Planner
243 West 30th Street, 11th Floor

________________________________________________
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

2008-10-07T00:16:00.002-04:00

October 6, 2008

Be sure to check out Samarra Am Management's exciting October Wednesday events after the interview. I hope to hear and/or see you at least once this month!

INTERVIEW: AMANDA WISS FLUIDITY & FLEXIBILITY

Prior to launching Urban Clarity, a professional organizing firm, Amanda had ten years’ experience in the non-profit and corporate sectors in training, event planning, program and people management, sales, marketing and recruiting. She studied at Oxford and graduated from Wellesley. An active member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), Amanda serves on the Board of NAPO-NY as the Director of Professional Development. She is also on the Board of the NY Wellesley Club, where she organizes alumni programs and leads the book club. Amanda lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two young daughters.

Samarra: Can you give me an example of some of the things
that you do?

Amanda: Frequently I work with people who are feeling stuck in some way – they haven’t opened their mail in a while, they are wasting money buying duplicates because they can’t find the things they need, they don’t have routines in place that support them. One of my more bizarre stories was that as a client and I were sorting mail we discovered that her husband had received a notice letting him know that his car would be impounded. The letter was dated over four years ago, and that entire time they’d believed that the car had been stolen.

Samarra: Oh my goodness, are you serious?

Amanda: Yes. And I'm not telling you this for people to laugh. I'm saying this to show the extent of how overwhelmed people are these days. When I meet with people for their first consultation they are swimming in clutter and they don't have time to do the things that are important to them. I enjoy organizing so much because by working together people gain clarity and peace. The person I mentioned earlier now has closure from something that was four years old. Now this may seem an extreme example but every one has a range. I help clients set goals from where they are, without judgment, which allows them to move forward and be accountable to someone.

Let's face it, it's no fun to do this stuff alone. By doing it with someone else you get an energizing, invigorating boost. And with me you get the know how along with the companionship and support.

Samarra: Now as a child my mom told me that I always lined my toys up along the wall. I loved for things to be organized. It sounds like you have always been that way as well, so is it possible for those that can't stand to "file, organize" etc. to implement what you do with them for the long term?

Amanda: Absolutely! Organizing is definitely a skill to be learned, and we can all improve in this area. A successful professional organizer will customize the solution to the person. When I have clients who hate to hang up their clothes, we put a few well-placed hooks on a wall. What I focus on is creating a living system so you can go about enjoying life. We figure out how can we set up your space so you can you get out of the door in 20 minutes with as little stress as possible. We set something up that the household can maintain, and then tweak it as necessary in the future.

Samarra: Interesting.

Amanda: One of the things that I have learned by having two children is that we can’t all have houses that are designer show pieces, but we can have warm, functional places that support us and our families. As a former perfectionist, I’m finally learning that “done is better than perfect." Many times people don't even want to start organizing because they feel they won't be able to get it perfect. Growing up, I was always pushing myself to do things perfectly, and my girls have taught me to learn to be grateful for figuring out the important things and not getting too stressed about the rest. I admit I'm still working on that, but I realize and understand that having great friends, a family, and a community that you love is more important then the need to be right – or to have color coded files if that’s not important to you! In the past I was really precise and sometimes rigid, and now I've learned how to relax.

Samarra: This is why I really wanted to speak with you because your energy and spirit is seemingly so free and light and I think when people think about organizing or hiring someone to help them organize they think "tight, stiff" and you simply ooze "fun."

Amanda: Thank you. Yes, I really do enjoy doing this and it is fun watching people love their space. I’m very approachable and keep things real – no one is perfect, but we can all strive to have less anxiety and more meaning in our lives. Creating a clutter-free environment reduces stress, allows people to find things faster, and decreases expenses because you don’t have to make duplicate purchases. This is what I work with my clients to create. They see direct results from working with me – improved comfort and utility in their home, greater peace of mind with their finances and their schedule, and overall improved productivity in their lives. Because my approach is engaging, people feel extremely supported when we work together – and I make a task that they’ve been dreading actually manageable and dare I say, fun!

Samarra: Tell me a bit more about the process.

Amanda: My approach comes from "is the stuff that is actually in your space right now, supporting you?" I often find that people have several copies of the same book. They will have a chair blocking the door to their closet. They will have the book "Word Perfect for Dummies" and now they have a Mac. Or the book "What to Expect When You’re Expecting" and their youngest child is now 10 years old. Who can we pass these books on to? There are many people out there who could enjoy the things you no longer value – so it’s time to let go and let others benefit. I am unbiased and supportive which can allow me to envision things differently. It is so much fun to hear people say "I've never thought of that." Organizing should not be a struggle. It should give you possibilities. Organizing is about being open to fluidity and flexibility. I'm training people to rethink and live in the present. I have them take stock of everything in their house. To assess what is being used now, and if it isn't being used, what can be passed on to others, so they live in a streamlined, functional home.

Samarra: This is a very interesting way to look at this. I guess, even I didn't realize, but we tend to think of organizing as static. Once a system is set up then it must stay that way no matter what. That does take the fun right out if it, believing that the system in place today will have to work years from now. That does render a person to do nothing. But your approach of what is going to help you get out of the door and/or setting systems in place that will serve the person day to day has an entirely different approach and feel.

Amanda: Yes, exactly. When there is space we tend to fill it. So I start from what is important to them and create a system that supports that. Purge what they no longer need and use. And then discuss the behavior changes moving forward that allow them to maintain the system as long as it still serves them. If you have children then you know you can't keep the place immaculate, but one of the behavior changes that you implement is "clean up time." You make it a part of the routine. Now there is a flow and system that allows you to have a support system and behavior change that will support you and your family.

Samarra: What have you found to be the greatest obstacle or burden for people?

Amanda: Paper. Paper. Paper. But it's not the paper itself, it's that there is no system in place for dealing with it. It’s helpful to make a plan that works for you. For instance, have your trash or shredder close by, and make a simple filing system to file appropriately. Go through your existing files and purge – I bet there’s a ton of stuff you don’t need anymore! You should hold onto your tax filings (for at least 7 years, if not indefinitely), but you don't need your bills from 1987! Generally, you can get rid of everything prior to three years ago. For your incoming papers purge and edit at least once a week. What happens is people are overwhelmed and they let mail sit and then things are late and lost and then there are further repercussions and the cycle continues. However once you create a system that allows you to live from what supports you, people's lives are transformed. And it is so much easier to maintain and keep up with it. Ask yourself, in case of an emergency, how quickly can you put your hands on a vital document and get out the door? Is your information backed up properly? How much time are you wasting daily just looking for paper? If you can create a better routine, you’ll be in much better shape on a consistent basis.

Samarra: Right we are all familiar with the "where are my keys?" saga every morning. It is automatically easier when what is in your space is only what is supporting you and you know where to find the things that you need. I see it all the time with my clients so much time is spent "looking, searching,” which then gets them frustrated and causes them not to even want to deal with it.

Amanda: Exactly. Clutter is never about the stuff. It's your vision of self and the past, or what you want your future to be. Simply not doing things alone, and having an outside eye, like a friend or a professional organizer, you will be surprised by how quickly a large impact can be made in such a short amount of time. Be open to the shifts of life and embrace them when they come, because they do come.

Samarra: Thank you so much Amanda. I've always been organized but I think I do have my pay checks and bills from the last 20 years. I think I have some purging to do. (Laughter)

Amanda has volunteered her time to meet with Emotional Money Readers for a free one hour discussion of how you can set up systems to serve your space. It will be Wednesday, October 22nd from 7pm-8pm. Recently I've seen a lot of evidence that clutter in finances stems from a clutter within the home. When one is cleared it as an affect on the other. Please RSVP to me by October 14th at emotionalmoney@gmail.com to attend this amazing session. We need to have at least 10 people registered for the seminar to occur. So please RSVP. The location will be announced soon. You will be inspired by her energy, knowledge and love of teaching others about the secret to organizing - fluidity and flexibility.

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT WEDNESDAY'S

THIS WEDNESDAY,October 8th, 7pm-8pm - Samarra Mbenga -
The Other Side of Through - Learn about my story. Emotional abuse, lack of love for myself, and an adamant mistrust of others. Does that sound like me now? If you think it doesn't, please join me on this call to find out how I arrived where I am today. Please RSVP at emotionalmoney@gmail.com And/or call in at 1-218-486-1616 Passcode: 931969
Please call in a few minutes before, so we can begin on time.

Wednesday, October 15th, 7:30pm-10:30pm - Presidential Debate and Networking Event in New Brunswick
Register at www.njminoritybusiness.com $15
Leaving East Orange at 6pm. Join me for the ride.
Call me at 718-350-6095 or email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 7pm-8pm - Amanda Wiss: Professional Organizer
Featured in the interview TODAY. Seminar will take place in Midtown - location will be announced next week.

Wednesday, October 29th, 6pm-8pm $35.00
Inspiring & Empowering Your Financial Goddess w/ Carol Buchman,
CPA & Financial Planner
243 West 30th Street, 11th Floor

________________________________________________
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

2008-09-29T23:07:00.025-04:00

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."

2008-09-22T18:33:00.005-04:00

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."

2008-09-07T20:16:00.013-04:00

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

2008-08-31T20:05:00.018-04:00

September 1, 2008

HAPPY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO EMOTIONAL MONEY!

Thank you so much to my readers, investors, customers and friends. I must send out a special thank you to Curtis for our wonderful weekly teleconference calls that helps to keep the vision specific and clear, Terry for the many monetary contributions and support, Rebecca and Julia for being such dear friends, Richard for being a devout reader and contributor, my many new perfect customers who have been so courageous in committing to living their lives inspired, fulfilled and free, and of course to my mommy for always, always, always BEING and allowing me to be me. Thank you Peter for arriving right on time to celebrate with this perfect anniversary gift.

INTERVIEW: PETER GALES, THE PRACTICE OF YOUR LIFE

Peter: Everybody wants a magic bullet. Win the lottery, read the book, attend a seminar, meet that man or woman and get married and ride out into the sunset, and live happily ever after. Life just doesn't work this way. It's like saying I'll go to the gym for one week and I'll have a great body for the rest of my life. To be really committed to anything it has to be the point of your lifestyle forever.

(Peter is originally from Trinidad. He studied in Toronto, Canada and New York, and has lived in the United States, Netherlands, and London. He's half Dutch and 3/8 Chinese, and 1/8th African. At a recent comedy show he was hit on as "the Asian guy," which was interesting for him as he never looked Asian growing up. A lover of Zouk music and an excellent dancer, he is an expert on the different Caribbean styles of music, educating my friends and I at a party we attended on the origins of where each song that played was from. He could tell songs from from Barbados, Trinidad, the French Antilles or Africa. Whether Zouk versus ZoukLove, Salsa or Soca. His diverse experiences with different countries, ethnicities, religions, and cultures has led him to develop The Practice of Your Life. (www.thepracticeofyourlife.com)

Peter: The medical profession studies breakdowns in the body . Law studies the breakdowns in relationships. A practice has a focus and an intent. The promise of the practice of medicine is to heal your body, and the promise of law is to protect you from broken commitments. The study of a practice occurs through the use of a network of people, developing technologies and a use of standard practices or processes. The main requirement of the concept of a practice is that it is clear what you want it to be about. That is clear to us when we think about medicine or law but in life most people don't think about what they want their life to be about until there is a breakdown. In the area of health, your body, some people have to only have minor breakdowns while others have to almost die, befor they start to take care. In any practice you invent for taking care of your body for example, you must go to the gym, or exercise, and you must do that as part of a routine that you develop and keep at it throughout your life. Over time as your body gets used to it, you then have to adjust and reinvent the practice, change/update the routine. The same is true for the other areas of our lives, like mind, spirituality, wealth or relationships. Every few years and for some more often than that our needs and desires evolve and change. Like working out our bodies, we must update the routines and practices of our lives. And that’s a never ending process.

Samarra: Why do you think we resist updating the routine?

Peter: I believe that what has kept us unaware of the need to bring intention to our lives is that our expectations are that there are only supposed to be highs without lows. But we can't have highs without lows. We're also taught that when we fail that it's bad. If a person has a set-back they bring all these stories that their failure means something about them. The failure becomes a life sentence. We resist changing the routine because we are focused on our fear of failing instead of understanding that failure is a teacher. Anyone successful, when you learn their story, it's not that they never failed it's only that they never gave up. They learned from their mistakes and eventually they succeeded. When you fail or make a mistake, there is nothing wrong with you.

Samarra: So how do you define what you call the practice of life?

Peter: Consciously engaging with the pursuit of what you say you want out of life. Bringing constant attention to what it is you say you want. I still don't know how exactly this is all going to turn out. I've put everything at risk but I feel strongly at peace. I feel like my soul is calling and I'm walking my own talk. I'm still at "sea", I haven't landed yet.

Samarra: You seem quite calm at sea. It usually makes people very uncomfortable to not have the answers all figured out, how are you able to be at such peace?

Peter: (He chuckles) That is a good question. I have a sense deep inside that I've finally discovered what I'm supposed to be doing. I've had a great life, great parents. I had it easy. I went along with cultural convention. I was a good student. I found it easy to pass exams. To my detriment, I never learned for education, I learned to pass exams. I could retain the information for an exam but I had no idea or training on how to apply it to life.

Samarra: Interesting. And now you do. What was the transition that caused you to want to help others be able to apply what they learn to their lives.

Peter: For many years, I was very much a part of the corporate world. I worked for a good company but I always felt, there's something else. The company that I worked for was based in Stanford, Connecticut. I was offered the opportunity to transfer to the Netherlands. I didn't have a family so it was pretty easy for me to do and I felt that it was important for my growth. At that time it was the worst professional experience of my life. It was a black period that lasted for 2 years. It was a time of anguish and suffering. It was my greatest time of self doubt.

Samarra: What happened?

Peter: My mother always taught me at a very young age to take responsibility. I was able to look at where I was not up to the task. Many years after this dark time, and for completely unrelated reasons I left the company. My first instinct was to jump back in to the corporate structure that I knew, but once I got in, I knew it wasn’t for me, Now with no structure around me I was forced to think about ideas and things that I could do. I realized that within a group, corporate or not, I was like the grease in the engine. People would always come to me. I was always good at speaking, all Trini's like to entertain and be in front of people, (we laugh) but I never cultivated it. I'm only doing now what I've always done without the parts that made me suffer. I plan on developing my ideas around The Practice of Your Life through speaking, writing and using technology to connect people worldwide in The Practice Of Your Life. As Adre Gide says, "one does not discover new lands without committing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Now it doesn't mean that I never get scared or afraid, for instance of my funds running out, but I also know that being afraid is just apart of the game.

Samarra: From your travel experiences which country and/or experience has greatly impacted your views regarding life.

Peter: If the Netherlands weren't so wet and gray I could have lived there. The Dutch philosophy is really live and let live. There were many people of different colors and it was a sense of everybody was everybody. There is a listening of "the other side" but they don't live from it like we do here in the US. Even if they don't like it they allow it. The only thing they don't tolerate is intolerance. They could teach the world a lot. In regards to religion I went from being a Roman Catholic to being an atheist. Then I realized that it was as arrogant for me to say that there is not as it is to say that there is. Then I became agnostic, and now I’m very spiritual. I've come to a certain peace with the unknown.

Samarra: Quite an incredible journey.

Peter: My ultimate goal would be fulfilled if I can make a difference in having people see and seek the value in different perspectives, religions and difficult cultures. If I can make a difference there I could say that I did a lot.

Samarra: And to balance the seriousness of your mission and work in life, what do you do for fun?

Peter: Liming. (Trinidian partying) Although, I can't say that I've reached the level of the professional limer yet. We trini's take our liming quite seriously.

Samarra: (Laughing) Thank you so much. I look forward to the release of your book The Practice of Your Life in June of 2009. Any last words for the Emotional Money readers on this two year anniversary of exploring our emotions, our money, relationships and our lives.

Peter: Listen and observe from here (he touches his stomach). That's how you find out where you are!

Thank you Peter. Happy Labor Day Everyone. Thank you for sharing this 2 year journey. Here’s to many more years of laughter, insights, truth’s and to the release of our sadness and tears.

God Bless those affected by Hurricane Gustav.

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENT
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.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Turn On To Life with Curtis G. Schmitt
Integrity Days:
September 2, 2008 (Tuesday), 12 PM (noon) ET
September 5, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET

To register for one of them (and get on the schedule announcement list):

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity.html#register

Teleclass:

Productive Planning--From Stress to Success
Learn a 6-step planning process that will make you an expert at completing your top priorities...no matter what else is thrown at you during your day. Visit http://www.turnontolife.com/teleclass/

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

________________________________________________
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

2008-08-25T18:12:00.008-04:00

August 25, 2008

"If It Is To Be..It Is Up To Me"
Unknown

Having just watched Michelle Obama and Teddy Kennedy tonight, if there is any time to take on ourselves and overcome our uninspiring habits now would be a good time. Regardless of who you vote for, now is a time of great courage, will, hope and change. We're not alone.

It is as simple and as complex as this. Are the actions that you are taking in alignment with your core? Do they lead to your smile? Do they lead to your greatness? Or do they lead to your misery, complaints and familiar territory? Moment to moment to moment...we get to choose. Don't just keep talking about what you say you want, actually take actions that will lead you towards it.

To go along with this theme, I have also found that when I make a request for people to report on their positive moves I don't get any reply. But if I make a request for people to name their problems or mistakes they flood in. I regret that I won't be able to run any this week but there are many of you out there. I can tell your story but it's much more interesting when you tell your own. You can of course be listed as anonymous. I think that we also tend to forget how far we've come and focus instead on how far we are away from where we want to be. So since I say I want to build a community dedicated to living inspired, fulfilled and free I will be implementing a regular bi monthly conference call chat to give us the opportunity to connect verbally and share our victories. I'll announce the dates on Labor Day, the 2 year anniversary of Emotional Money. Please join in! And send me your victories please at emotionalmoney@gmail.com. I'd love to run a few next week!

I am excited to announce that I will be running an interview with Peter Gales next week. He is the author of The Practice of Life which is due out in June of 2009. Catch an interview with this Trini who has lived in the US, Netherlands, Canada and France. I found his philosophy and ability to explain the hills and valleys in our journey of life extremely...comforting and clear. The perfect anniversary treat.

Credit Card Warning from an Emotional Money Reader - Thank You!!!
Today Sunday 8/10/08 there is an interestng article in Parade Magazine (a suppliment in today's NY Post) entitled "Don't Get Clobbered by Credit Cards".
If you don't get the Post I will be glad to send it to you if you give me a mailing address. I would be interested in hearing what you think of it.
Ironicly I received a credit card offer in the mail yesterday which I promptly threw in the trash. But before trashing the offer I read the "fine print".
In addition to the annual fee of $72 for which you would be billed monthly @! $6 there was a processing fee of over $100! So before you would charge your first item you would be in debt to the card for over $100.
What a deal!!!!

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
INSPIRING AND EMPOWERING YOUR FINANCIAL GODDESS - Saturday, November 8, 2008.
A day long seminar for women addressing the emotional, spirtual and practical pieces of your financial life. Joining me will be Carol Buchman (an accountant/financial planner for 19 years) and DeAnna Radaj, Feng Shui expert from Bante Design LLC -
Start your holiday season aligned!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Turn On To Life with Curtis G. Schmitt
Integrity Days:
August 28, 2008 (Thursday), 9 AM ET
August 29, 2008 (Friday), 11 AM ET
September 2, 2008 (Tuesday), 12 PM (noon) ET
September 5, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET

To register for one of them (and get on the schedule announcement list):

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity.html#register

Teleclass:

Productive Planning--From Stress to Success
Learn a 6-step planning process that will make you an expert at completing your top priorities...no matter what else is thrown at you during your day. Visit http://www.turnontolife.com/teleclass/

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

ANNOUNCEMENT:
Share - Sublet (8/15-11/15)

Available 8/15, 1bedroom share in a 2 bedroom apt for 1 month then I will be
leaving town for 2 months and the apt will become a sublet. The rent will be $1250
each of the 3 months. $600 deposit required.
Located in the 140's in Harlem. Top floor, sunny, great view, elevator, laundry
in building. Five minute walk to A,B,C,D and 3 trains. 10 minute ride to mid-town.
Path Mark and New York Sports Club less than a block away.
Cable and heat included. Pay 1/2 Con Ed for 1st month then entire bill the
remaining 2 months.
No smokers or pets please.

Call 646- 232- 7817 or e-mail wiley24@earthlink.net.

________________________________________________
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

2008-08-18T17:20:00.004-04:00

August 18, 2008

IF ONLY THERE WAS A PILL

"...Self, a depth that reveals a mystery so awe-inspiring that it simply cannot be imagined. But more often than not, we're unwilling...to face the profoundly liberating implications of our own potential because we're simply not prepared to accept that which our mind cannot comprehend. Always living in denial of our darkness and ever fearful of the overwhelming brightness of our own unexplored heights, the inevitable result can only be mediocrity."
"11 Days at the Edge: One man's spirtual journey into evolutionary enlightenment" by Michael Wombacher

Many of you have heard me say, "I wish I had a pill that I could give you to make this process easier". But I don't. Transforming our habits of the past into actions that are always stemming from our core is a constant work, a constant process. Until we have the courage to face our pains of the past, until we make the decision that the misery we keep placing ourselves in is no longer acceptable and decide to take the leap into the world of our own unknown, we just spin and spin and spin in our own "mediocrity." We choose to spin because at least that is a pain that we know and are familiar with. How many times have you left a job and ended up in a new job with the exact same dynamics? How many times have you left one relationship and ended up with another person that was exactly like the one you thought you had just left? (Imagine my shock when I left my husband and four years later ended up with someone that wasn't only the same person but actually said the EXACT same very painful (and untrue) sentence to me. It was mind boggling. Clearly whatever work I thought I had done, I had more work to do. Instead of doing the work though, I chose to move in with the person. And of course all that could occur was the exact same result of having to leave again. Spin. Spin. Spin.) I don't know what event has to occur that causes us each to make the decision to face our pains, but eventually it usually does occur. How many more jobs, how many more relationships, how much more time? That is up to you. Yes, it is scary to look back at our pains and heal and find closure. Because now what? Who are we without those familiar complaints, familiar stresses and strains? Who are we without our same friends? Who are we to define ourselves versus simply following what and who our families, friends and communities told us we should be? Our days are not promised. I wish I could invent a pill. But like a diet pill it would only be a temporary fix.

Those of you that have worked with me remember the resistance to take actions based on your core. You remember the transformations that occurred when you took the leap. Please email me and share your experiences and/or post them on the blog. The pain for many is seemingly overwhelming and resistance to the leap is occurring increasingly this month. But until the leap is taken you can't know the benefits of standing in the unknown. Many of you took the leap, I'm inviting you to please share your before and after to help someone else make the leap. I'll post them next week.

When you decide that YOU are the most important thing, you make decisions, set up systems, spend time with people, and draw to you, that which is in alignment with your soul. The unknown and not knowing isn't the big bad wolf that we're taught it is in school. The unknown is the key to going beyond the limits of our small, small minds and accessing the energies and limitless abundance of the universe!
Face your pain and live your life "awe-inspired" daily!

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
We had a wonderful time on Saturday listening to Alode perform and participating in a drum circle of over 25 people. The intent was to be in the coutry where being able to see the abundance of stars is amazing. However, the universe covered the stars and amazed us with a spectacular glowing full moon. I hope you can join me on the next escapade a bit closer to the sky and mother nature.

Two Upcoming Seminars:
Stay tuned for details:
INSPIRING AND EMPOWERING YOUR FINANICIAL GODDESS
a day long seminar - Saturday November 8th to get your holiday season started off right.
FUN WITH FINANCIALS an evening in October.

Additional Services - Organizing, Gathering, Sorting and Filing. I happen to love putting things in order. If you just haven't been able to face it, give me a call. Believe me, what is in there, is not what you think.
Fee based on individual circumstances and projects.
Call today for inspiration and aid,
718-350-6095
emotionalmoney@gmail.com
Dedicated to building communities living inspired, fulfilled and free!

EVENTS:
Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

ANNOUNCEMENT:
Share - Sublet (8/15-11/15)

Available 8/15, 1bedroom share in a 2 bedroom apt for 1 month then I will be
leaving town for 2 months and the apt will become a sublet. The rent will be $1250
each of the 3 months. $600 deposit required.
Located in the 140's in Harlem. Top floor, sunny, great view, elevator, laundry
in building. Five minute walk to A,B,C,D and 3 trains. 10 minute ride to mid-town.
Path Mark and New York Sports Club less than a block away.
Cable and heat included. Pay 1/2 Con Ed for 1st month then entire bill the
remaining 2 months.
No smokers or pets please.

Call 646- 232- 7817 or e-mail wiley24@earthlink.net.

________________________________________________
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

2008-08-11T14:13:00.006-04:00

August 11, 2008

AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS

How many of you have your bills set up on automatic payment?
I understand how the banks and companies benefit - either way they are guaranteed to get paid. I understand technically how you as the customer can also benefit - you save yourself time. However I have noticed a dangerous trend. The customers that are using it are usually using it because they don't like doing their bills, they were missing their payments and/or they just wanted to avoid their finances and this allowed them not to have to think about it. If you have no aspirations to get your finances in order or build wealth then I guess this is a viable plan. But if you are truly striving to get your finances in order, or simply rise to the next financial level, please don't use or stop using this automatic payment option.

In this age of microwave mentality, we often pay attention to what is going to get us to our destination the fastest versus what will allow us to fully arrive. If you don't like dealing with your finances, automatic payments are not going to suddenly take care of your issues around your finances. All the automatic payment system does is allow you to pretend that you have everything under control. A system is a system - how you're using it is coming from the same source. If the process from the beginning is broken then the process in a different system will still be broken. You may as well, take the time now, to look at your system. How much are your bills per month? When are your bills due? When do you earn income? Will there be enough in your account when the bills are due? We have to be involved and conscious to our financial life.

If you have plenty of extra income in relation to your expenses and you feel as if you don't need to worry about it, consider your future. If you know how much you owe, and how much you earn, and are just blindly letting the banks and computers handle your finances, what potential savings/investing opportunities might you be missing out on? What if your phone company has beed double charging you? I can not tell you how many times that I have heard people say, once we look at their statements, that they have no idea who a certain company is that has been taking money out of their account on a monthly basis. We have to be involved and conscious to our financial life.

As in most cases with technology, it does help us tremondously in our every day lives but please don't make the mistake of using them as substitutes for being involved in your own life. There is no substitute. Systems are there to help us but never take yourself out of the equation. If you use the automatic payment set up but you don't have a clue about what is being taken out or when, please start this month to make a list of the companies, the amount owed and when they are taken out. Start there. If your expenses are a lot more than your income and many months you get hit with overdraft fees take off the automatic payments. (No, the overdraft protection isn't really aiding you either.) Don't keep giving the banks more of your money. Turn and face your finances head on!

PLAN OF ACTION:
If you have automatic billing, learn the company, amount and date due for your bills.
Track it monthly. Please share your thrills from last week and any surprises you encountered from looking at your statements this week at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

There is only room for one more (female only) for my 3 hour day trip to Upstate New York this Saturday, August 16th. Big Tent Cultural Center in Whitney Point, NY will have the Women's African Drumming Group, Alode at 4pm for only $7.00 After the performance we'll all get to participate in a Drumming Circle. It will be wonderful fun. You can email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com or call me at 718-350-6095 for the details.

Additional Services - Organizing, Gathering, Sorting and Filing. I happen to love putting things in order. If you just haven't been able to face it, give me a call. Examples such as:
If you can write your amounts down daily I'll organize it for you and every month you'll have a record of how much you made and how much you spent.
If you have a trunk or a bag filled with papers you just can't face - give me a call. Believe me, what is in there is not what you think.
Fee based on individual circumstances and projects.
Call today for an estimate and some inspiration!
718-350-6095
emotionalmoney@gmail.com
Dedicated to building communities living inspired, fulfilled and free!

EVENTS:
Grassroots Business Network, LLC
Networking Event This Thursday
http://www.gbnllc.com/
Be sure to visit their website. Their events are unique and fun!

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

ANNOUNCEMENT
Share - Sublet (8/15-11/15)

Available 8/15, 1bedroom share in a 2 bedroom apt for 1 month then I will be
leaving town for 2 months and the apt will become a sublet. The rent will be $1250
each of the 3 months. $600 deposit required.
Located in the 140's in Harlem. Top floor, sunny, great view, elevator, laundry
in building. Five minute walk to A,B,C,D and 3 trains. 10 minute ride to mid-town.
Path Mark and New York Sports Club less than a block away.
Cable and heat included. Pay 1/2 Con Ed for 1st month then entire bill the
remaining 2 months.
No smokers or pets please.

Call 646- 232- 7817 or e-mail wiley24@earthlink.net.

________________________________________________
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

2008-08-04T14:25:00.004-04:00

August 4, 2008

THE THRILL OF MAKING LIFE HAPPEN!

Riding in the car with my mom one day many years ago, I looked at the sky. I had never seen so many stars in all of my life. We were out in the country and I loved looking at the sky, but this was like no sky I had ever seen before or since. I understood for the first time in my life what was meant when we were taught in school that there are billions and billions of stars. I remember asking my mom, what was wrong with my eyes or the reflection? My mind couldn't grasp the idea that I was looking at stars. I kept staring and it wasn't going away. Once I realized that the sky was literally covered in stars, I remember sinking down in my seat. I was excited - it was so beautiful, but I was also scared. Scared partly because how was it possible that I had never seen them before? How could I have not seen what was already there? The lights of the city are blocking so much more than I could have ever imagined.

When we are confronted with the beauty and possiblities of what can be created in our lives, we are terrified. We think "oh my goodness, could this really be true?" "Can I do this?" "Can I cause this to happen?" "Have I always been able to cause this?" Isn't it funny that the feeling of terror isn't really there when we don't accomplish something or when we don't go beyond our expectation? After all, that is a habit that we know all about. We expect and understand that.

The billions of stars are always there illuminating the sky even if we can't see them. The light of our souls are always there, even when we don't choose to express it. But each of us, at least once, had a circumstance where we just had to let it shine and we accomplished, said and/or did exactly what we had set out to do. Afterwards we were surprised, in shock and/or terrified. But we've never forgotten what we were capable of doing. We've never forgotten the thrill of making our lives happen.

The habits bring us the same debts, the same frustrations, the same daily grind. What if our habit became living life from the awe and terror of making our lives happen, clearing the clouds and the glare of artificial lighting?

Venture out into the darkness of the country and behold the beauty of making your life happen!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Identify what you did in the past that thrilled you.
Break down what and how you did it.
Identify a thrill that you could see accomplishing in the next 5 days.
Lay out a plan.
LEAP!
Share your thrill at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

I'm planning on taking a 3 hour trip Upstate for the day on Saturday, August 16th to listen and participate afterwards in a drum circle. If you'd like to view the stars with me, I have room for 2 or 3 others. You can email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com or call me at 718-350-6095 for the details.

EVENTS:
Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

Peaceful Productivity for Busy Professionals
Learn the 5 Master Keys to time management and planning in a teleclass that people are calling a "life-saver," "powerful," and "inspirational"! Visit http://www.TurnOnToLife.com/teleclass.html

ANNOUNCEMENT
Share - Sublet (8/15-11/15)

Available 8/15, 1bedroom share in a 2 bedroom apt for 1 month then I will be
leaving town for 2 months and the apt will become a sublet. The rent will be $1250
each of the 3 months. $600 deposit required.
Located in the 140's in Harlem. Top floor, sunny, great view, elevator, laundry
in building. Five minute walk to A,B,C,D and 3 trains. 10 minute ride to mid-town.
Path Mark and New York Sports Club less than a block away.
Cable and heat included. Pay 1/2 Con Ed for 1st month then entire bill the
remaining 2 months.
No smokers or pets please.

Call 646- 232- 7817 or e-mail wiley24@earthlink.net.

________________________________________________
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

2008-07-28T10:38:00.007-04:00

July 28, 2008

LOOKING BACK

As I return from Washington, DC. having celebrated the 20th anniversary of the theatre where my acting career began, having spoken to my ex husband to confirm the last stages of finalizing our divorce, seeing a friend I haven't seen in over 10 years and seeing my beloved highschool drama teacher, there was confirmation of the many broken habits that have my life being unrecognizable now. Sometimes going back is the the best way to see and be reminded how far you've come as you prepare to embark on new steps forward.

Breaking Patterns
by Mark Nepo

We go into change rehearsing the history that brought us to this
point.
-Parker Palmer

Often we have to rehearse the truth, until we find the courage to live
it. In this, repetition is not failure, but the heart’s way to learn
how to be in the world. Yet like everything else of significance, this
process has an attractive yet false counterpart waiting nearby to
distract us. We can describe the repeating that is unnecessary as the
reliving of scripts, or unconscious repeating, and the repeating that is
necessary as the rehearsing of truth, or conscious repeating. And we
could say that the near enemy of rehearsing the truth is being trapped
in reliving scripts. Though the difference between these is hard to keep
in view-especially when in the throes of either.

Nevertheless, the way an actress rehearses the situations she is given
until her character is one with the character she is playing, the drama
of life demands that we put in the effort to consciously work with what
we’re given until we practice our way into honest living. Without such
effort, we lapse into unconscious entanglements, like a dog that
incessantly tangles itself in its leash. And as such a dog will push its
ball out of reach and whine and pout, we can nudge the truth of who we
are beyond the reach of our self-created limitations and whine and pout
and grow sad. In this way, when we repeat our reactions to living and
not our attempts to live, we find ourselves trapped.

In contrast, Paula Underwood Spencer wisely states,“If you want to be
truly understood, you need to say everything three times. Once for each
ear, and once for the heart.” The implication is that things that are
worth experiencing and communicating have to be repeated in order to
grasp and share the fullness of their meaning. We must enter them more
than once, receive them more than once, articulate them more than once,
and listen more than once. This brings us back to rehearsing the truth.
So when something is working you and you’ve only barely spoken of it,
don’t limit your growth because you have no one else to talk to. Find
a willing stranger and make a new friend. The growth of our soul demands
that we break all hesitation.

When feeling the press of the patterns that govern our lives, these
distinctions are muddy. Often, it is a slow and unclear process to move
from unconscious repeating to conscious rehearsing. But this slow
clarifying is part of self-transformation. The process is powerfully
distilled by Portia Nelson in her poem, “Autobiography in Five Short
Chapters”:

I walk, down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in
I am lost . . . I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in . . . it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.

So breaking patterns involves repeating. There is no getting around it,
though we are always pressed to discern whether we are reliving what
doesn’t work or peeling away of what is false. In addition to this, we
are frequently swimming like salmon against the current of a disposable
society that discourages us from looking at anything more than once. It
reminds me of the lonely woman and the second flower.In early spring,
she is stopped by a burst of sun on a peony on the north side of the
city. A few days later, she sees another peony in her friend’s yard.
But she thinks, “I’ve seen this flower before.” And so she
doesn’t pay attention.But it is the second flower that holds a
secret for her.Pretty soon, she thinks life is repeating, when all that
is repeating is her want for a flower she’s never seen.
*****************************************
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.

THANK YOU MARK.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Take a moment to look back and see how far you've come. How many holes have you've gotten yourself out of, how many have you avoided?

ANNOUNCEMENT
Share - Sublet (8/15-11/15)

Available 8/15, 1bedroom share in a 2 bedroom apt for 1 month then I will be
leaving town for 2 months and the apt will become a sublet. The rent will be $1250
each of the 3 months. $600 deposit required.
Located in the 140's in Harlem. Top floor, sunny, great view, elevator, laundry
in building. Five minute walk to A,B,C,D and 3 trains. 10 minute ride to mid-town.
Path Mark and New York Sports Club less than a block away.
Cable and heat included. Pay 1/2 Con Ed for 1st month then entire bill the
remaining 2 months.
No smokers or pets please.

Call 646- 232- 7817 or e-mail wiley24@earthlink.net.

EVENTS:
Peaceful Productivity for Busy Professionals
Learn the 5 Master Keys to time management and planning in a teleclass that people are calling a "life-saver," "powerful," and "inspirational"! Visit http://www.TurnOnToLife.com/teleclass.html

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

If you're not on the Emotional Money mailing list, sign up today to receive a special attachment that they received this week. Please send your email address to emotionalmoney@gmail.com and I'll forward you the attachment.

________________________________________________
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

2008-07-21T11:49:00.006-04:00

July 21, 2008

RED LIGHTS AND GREEN

I was riding on the very first car of the Path train last week. I was fascinated by the overlapping and crisscrossing of the tracks at certain points throughout the journey. Each track leading to its own separate and singular destination. The only way to know if you’re on the right track is to have the skills and knowledge as the train driver does because he has traveled the tracks many times. Or if less knowledgeable, simply pick a track and see if the track ends in a place that you'd like to be. In life sometimes, when it doesn’t end where we thought, we have the option to get back on the train and try again. Sometimes the damage done leaves us meandering so we get off and on the train at every stop, versus simply going back to place where the tracks crisscrossed in the first place.

I was also struck by the fact that the light signals stayed red right up until we got to the light. Once we were on it then it would turn green. If the train just stopped then the light would simply stay red. Sometimes we have to keep moving forward in the direction toward a big red light in order to get it to turn green. It would be easier if we just had a long line of green lights to lead us on our way. Many times it's simply our trust and faith in ourselves, like the driver that didn't alter his speed, to keep the same momentum despite what our eyes see that will CAUSE the light to turn green.

The most fascinating moment was when there was a tall red signal that looked just like the signals we had before but to the left there was also a smaller green signal. I assumed since the red light looked like the others that that was our signal and we'd have to stop. But instead of taking in my surroundings anew; noticing that we were at a different point in the journey, outside with many more tracks, I didn’t realize that the familiar red light was no longer for us. Ours was now a small signal to the left. That new light was green. How many times when faced with a choice between red and green, even when your surroundings are brand new have you chosen what was familiar and kept looking at the red, ignoring the green?

PLAN OF ACTION:
When it comes time to open your mail, pay a bill and track your daily spending, we often see big red lights. There's a pile on your desk or hidden in a file drawer somewhere. If you want to see green around your finances, YOU must move forward first for the light to turn from red to green. Open your mail, make payment arrangements, and track your spending.
If you've tried time and time again. Read the attachment and give me a call to get back to the place where the tracks crisscrossed in the first place.

EVENTS:
Peaceful Productivity for Busy Professionals
Learn the 5 Master Keys to time management and planning in a teleclass that people are calling a "life-saver," "powerful," and "inspirational"! Visit http://www.TurnOnToLife.com/teleclass.html

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7pm-10pm at 243 30th Street, 11th Floor
Meditation, vegetarian meal & a world wide conference call
www.enlightennext.org

Thank you so much to the many of you that welcomed me back and were inspired by last week's blog. It's beautiful to hear from you!!!

If you're not on the Emotional Money mailing list, sign up today to receive a special attachment that they received this week. Please send your email address to emotionalmoney@gmail.com and I'll forward you the attachment.

________________________________________________
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

2008-07-14T12:20:00.006-04:00

July 14, 2008

I'M BACK & ALIGNED

My last entry was on May 30, 2008. I apologize for disappearing. I have missed you. I was missing me. I couldn't write any longer about having the courage to follow your core and holding yourself responsible and accountable for your life when I wasn't.

As many of you know I have been in a battle around trying to get rid of my debt, I have been working in a job that pays weekly but that was mind numbing, I gained 30 pounds, and my relationships have been learning experiences that have ended.

I've been doing the same thing and I've been getting the same results. However after losing my grandmother, I could no longer believe that I have all the time in the world or that my life and what I choose to do with it and in it doesn't matter. I became very aware of how small I play, hiding behind my fears and plain ole "I don't wanna" 2 year old behaviors. But I didn't take any actions around this realization except to continue to hide. But then allowing myself to be in a different relationship meant I had to take action if I wanted different results. I am with someone now that knows who he is and is mature and doesn't react to my 2 old tantrums. When there is someone in your life that knows who they are and knows and respects your highest self, the lack of drama is...new, scary and very different. I couldn't just think that I was mature and grown, I had to actually practice BEING that. It's very challenging but also very freeing. Conversation, communication, accountability and responsibility practiced by both adults leaves little room for drama, misunderstandings and uncontrollable fears. Of course, once I chose to take on the challenge of this lens, I was also able to clearly see how my choices around my business, my eating habits and staying at my job were also products of my 2 year old behaviors. To each of these very important areas of my life, I could give as much or as little as I felt like on my own terms. If I had to do something a little more challenging outside of my comfort zone I could resort to "I don't wanna" and I wouldn't. My life has greatly improved but the freedom, abundance, and impact I dream of, I am not even close. Taking on the challenge has been worth it in my relationship, and each day I have to chose to take on the challenge and quiet the habit of “I don’t wanna.”

I decided to rejoin weight watchers. I had to admit to myself that I need the support to help me continuously be accountable to work out, plan my meals and eat healthily. I can't afford to pretend that food isn't my drug of choice. For my lifetime I will need to stay with a supportive structure around my relationship to food. It doesn't mean that it won't get easier but it does mean that I'll need to stay within a structure to be able to maintain and sustain my goal weight. I have 3 pounds to go!

My job provided me with a nice security blanket. The cost was that I was bored out of my mind. And it allowed me to not have to give my all to my business. First, I tried to change my hours at my job. That made me happy for about a week. But the drain of a job that I really hated, made me so tired everyday that I didn't have the energy to do my business. Whatever the benefits, they no longer mattered, I was miserable and truly dreaded Mondays. We moved floors where I was now going to be relegated to a 6 foot cubicle, little light and no window. That was it. I quit and amazingly have been busy with new customers and contacts ever since. I'm wide awake and fully energized. I sat down to write my blog and this time my fingers kept moving.

My debt; well all I can say is that is where my attention was focused and it would go down almost to nothing and bam something else would occur. Since my focus has usually been on lack - then no matter what I've done that is where I've ended. I worked that job to take care of my debt and it's still there. So... how about I try something I've never ever dared try before. Holding myself accountable and responsible for my actions, desires and wishes. When things stop going my way, I'll keep going anyway. I will be debt free. But in the mean time I will be focusing my attention on abundance and being free. I've seen it with my customers so I know it's true - when we focus on our core and take action from there, everything else falls in place. Those things, actions, people and debts that are not in alignment with our core, fall away.

I feel a security and confidence that I have never felt before. The only constant in life is change. And I would be naive to say that I won't have some rough patches or periods of doubt but my underlying foundation is to faith, maturity, responsibilty and abundance.

Emotional Money will be posted and sent every Monday.
Stay tuned for my upcoming regular free seminar series and new product announcements. Originally when I envisioned this blog I envisioned it as a dialog among me and the readers. As we enter into our third year together - I really invite you to share your story, your questions, issues and concerns. When we remain alone - we really see and attract to us that which we already know. It's been a month and a half and my life is...unrecognizable in every area. I thank you for being a part of Emotional Money. September 4th will be its 3 year anniversary! I hope it has been as helpful and inspirational to you as it has been for me. Another major clue to myself that I wasn't completely in alignment was that I was writing my blog later and later each week until I just couldn't write it at all. I'm Back and Aligned.

I'm looking forward to continued growth. May we all grow in abundance, peace, and inspiration TOGETHER one moment, one minute, one hour, one day, one month, one year at a time. Life is a gift. LET'S LIVE FREE, FULFILLED and INSPIRED!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Please share your thoughts, suggestions and/or questions at emotionalmoney@gmail.com
What have you been up to for yourself and your life since May 30th?

_______________________________________________________________________
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

2008-05-30T21:51:00.000-04:00

May 30, 2008

IDENTIFY

I want to share excerpts from the readers that responded as a perfect illustration of where most of us focus our attention.
(If you haven't, PLEASE READ last week's blog "NOW WHAT?" at www.emotionalmoney.blogspot.com.)before reading further.

READER #1
"I do several things when I'm out of alignment.
Anger and sarcasm and blame flare up "out of nowhere."
For the past year : a big ball of stress sits in my stomach, creating a big balloon making me look 6 months pregnant. Is it a food allergy, or is it stress? Perhaps both...I spend and then avoid. I avoid and take a nap."

EMOTIONAL MONEY #1. If you haven't already..identify your Habitual Coping Mechanism.

READER #2 I avoid the central problem and my emotions around it by
a) workaholism: focusing all my attention on work (the next show/performance), b) "gambling-like" behavior: betting my emotional wellbeing on how many CDs I sell,
c) over-thinking, disconnecting from heart/feeling,
d) emotional eating, reaching for sugar to placate,
e) relationship addiction: clinging to my romantic relationship for a sense of value and worth.

EMOTIONAL MONEY #2. Identify the specific cause for your core to be out of alignment.

READER #2 Low Self-Esteem. Feeling unworthy of having what I need and want. It has me engaging in so much internal self-criticism, comparison to others, self-sabotage, keeping what I need at bay....

What is identified in both of these examples are the RESULTS or the MANIFESTATIONS of what occurs for them when they are not IN alignment. Our attention remains on the results versus the specific cause. "Low-Self Esteem, feeling unworthy.." SO then we take action based on that result. But what we really want to do is to identify the root cause for being out of alignment. For example, in these cases IDENTIFY the cause for the "low self esteem", "feeling unworthy", "anger and sarcasm and blame." Acknowledging the anger, sarcasm and blame is one layer. And it's excellent and necessary to acknowledge this first layer. Now, in order to alter our habitual coping mechanisms we need to dig a little deeper and IDENTIFY THE ROOT CAUSE.

For example, I mentioned before that I gained the 70 pounds and at my first layer the issue was food and the action I took was to join Weight Watchers. That was one layer. I was losing weight but I was still deeply depressed and unhappy. I avoided the next layer for a long time but finally I had to admit that my issue wasn't food, it was my relationship with my husband. Once I was willing to identify that, then I took action. But once I left him I was still "unsatisfied". I had to explore another layer. My relationship to myself. I never truly felt at peace so I would get in a relationship, stay busy and/or eat to distract myself from how I was feeling about myself. Weight Watchers addressed only one aspect. The root I discovered was that I felt that there was something wrong with me. I believe this was as a result of not growing up with my father. I was told that he loved me but I, as a child, never understood why he didn't come and get me. What was wrong with me, why didn't he want me? (I always said this same line in my head in every relationship. I would take something that the person did or didn't do as a sign that they didn't really want me). As my regular readers know, my mother is my best friend, and I pretended forever that she was all I needed. But over time I had to admit to myself that I was hurt that I didn't have my father in my life. I was looking at my boyfriend's, husbands, male friends to fulfill my father's place. "Prove to me that I'm wanted." Of course nothing they did could ever be enough. No one could fulfill this, except my father. I had to get to the root of what was going on for me. The sheer act and courage of admitting how painful it was to not have my father caused a brand new opening for me and my life. It caused me to reach for my father instead of a relationship, another way to stay busy and/or food. It caused me to discover that his actions had nothing to do with me. It caused me to allow the little girl to mourn what can never be replaced. AND by finally admitting it, it allowed me to move forward anew and discover my identity as myself separate from my parents, my past and my root belief that I was not worthy of being wanted.

My habitual coping pattern: eating, getting and staying in unhealthy relationships, and staying busy, busy, busy.

I can pay attention to the habitual coping patterns and put on band aids that address them (the trend of our culture)OR I can Identify the Root.

The clue that you are paying attention to the band aids is when you experience your life, money, relationships and decisions as the "same."
If you're exploring the root, you may feel scared but the release will outweigh the fears and frustrations. The choices you make from there will address all aspects of your habits. And a clearing will be created for new and empowering...choices.

PLAN OF ACTION
IDENTIFY THE ROOT CAUSE FOR HABITUAL COPING MECHANISMS
(Please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com with your habitual coping mechanism and the identified root cause and/or questions. It is helping me clarify my journey and for those that have shared and that are reading, I hope it will help identify your root).

EVENTS
TOMORROW
Changing the World from the Inside Out
A special 6-hour continuous internet broadcast
Featuring Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Cohen and more...

(You can come to the center at 243 30th Street (1 block from Penn station)and listen in on any section that interests you. I'll be there all day. I hope to see you there!

Saturday May 31 , 2008
11:00am - 5:00pm
Note: To participate in this special event you must register as an Evolutionary. http://www.andrewcohen.org/events/schedule.asp

May 31 marks the beginning of the inaugural launch of the Evolutionary Enlightenment Practitioner program. Practitioners are already making dynamic and innovative change using the teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment in diverse settings. From prisons to third grade school classes, the mayor’s office in a city in Australia to the film set of NBC’s Law & Order, these powerful teachings about coming together beyond ego and taking responsibility for the future are having a significant impact.

Program
11am - 12pm
Featured Guests: Carter Phipps and Elizabeth Debold, Executive and Senior Editors of What Is Enlightenment? magazine
Topic: A Brief History of Cultural Change

12pm - 1pm
Host Jeff Carreira
Topic and Guests to be announced

1pm - 2pm
Featured Guests: Ken Wilber, integral philosopher, and founder of Integral Institute in dialogue with Andrew Cohen
Topic: Live Guru and Pandit Dialogue on Changing the World from the Inside Out

2pm - 4pm
Host Jeff Carreira
Topic and Guests to be announced

4pm - 5pm
Featured Guest: Deepak Chopra, spiritual teacher, author and founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in dialogue with Andrew Cohen
Topic: How to Inject New Ideas into Main Stream Culture

__________________________________________

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

2008-05-23T14:59:00.000-04:00

May 23, 2008

ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY WEEKEND!

Thank you to those that responded to "Now What?" It will greatly help all of the readers. Look for the next stage of this series and hear what some readers shared in "Identify" next week. If you haven't read the last two issues, please check them out at www.emotionalmoney.blogspot.com.

We'll get back to work next week.

I apologize for missing in action this week. I had to rush my Princess (yes, my cat) to the emergency room - she couldn't breath. It appears that she has asthma. Did you know they have oxygen tanks for cats? For those that have followed my journey with the kitties or that know me well - you understand that that wiped me out for the week. I definetely honor all the parents out there. How do you do it with actual children in human form?

Have a beautiful holiday weekend!

EVENTS
Changing the World from the Inside Out
A special 6-hour continuous internet broadcast
Featuring Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Cohen and more...
Saturday May 31 , 2008
11:00am - 5:00pm
Note: To participate in this special event you must register as an Evolutionary.
It's easy and free. It will be an incredible conversation.
http://www.enlightennext.org/webcast/

___________________________________________________
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

2008-05-13T16:12:00.000-04:00

May 13, 2008

NOW WHAT?

If you haven't already, please read last weeks blog, Habitual Coping Mechanism's before proceeding.

Here are some other Habitual Coping Mechanism that were shared by "Emotional Money readers. Do you recognize yourself in any of these?

"Food, relationships, spending, workoholism"

"...saying sarcastic ("funny") remarks..."

"...using my credit card & smoking cigarettes.."

Excellent. Now that we recognize the external signs that indicate that we aren't in alignment with our core, now what?

After gaining 70 pounds, once I became conscious, I started working out and decided that I would eat right. But after a week of stressful arguments at home, once again I found comfort in food. I had to admit to myself that if I didn't want gain more weight, I would have to seek assistance outside of myself. I joined Weight Watchers. Having a community of people to share my challenges and successes with gave me the motivation I needed to help me to remember to make choices that would serve me.
GET SUPPORT

As I was feeling better about myself, I had to admit, despite my love for my husband, I was mostly unhappy when I was with him and vice versa. Although we'd tried everything, in the end, we couldn't deny that despite our love for eachother what each of us needed the other couldn't provide. This was true before we married, but we weren't willing to be honest. I made the decision to leave my husband.
BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

Once I knew it was over emotionally, the circumstances financially, logistically, etc. caused us to keep living together for 3 more months. In spite of having support and making the decision, in the end I had to actually pack boxes, rent a truck and move.
TAKE ACTION

Of course, I am simplifying a very, very difficult time in my life. I will save the details of this journey that has forever altered the course of my life for my memoirs. However, I hope that by sharing my story it may allow you to begin to take stock of your core being, sooner rather than later. The blessings and course of my life has turned out so much more beautiful as a result of that pain. Now I know the joy on the other side of the pain. The sooner I recognize when I'm out of alignment, the sooner I get support, the sooner I am willing to be honest with myself, the sooner I take action. I, YOU, WE ARE WORTH IT.

PLAN OF ACTION
1. If you haven't already..identitify your Habitual Coping Mechanism.
2. Identify the specific cause for your core to be out of alignment.
3. Get Help - supportive friend, family member, seminar...(books are fantastic - but
in this case a supportive human being is necessary.)
4. Be Honest with Yourself
5. Take Action

Please let me know the 5 steps that you have done or will be doing in order to clear space for your joy. Email them to emotionalmoney@gmail.com. You sharing will help others!

___________________________________________________
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
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Am Management."

Copyright 2008

2008-05-06T15:30:00.000-04:00

May 6, 2008

HABITUAL COPING MECHANISM

Do you know some of the external signs that indicate that you aren't feeling aligned? The sign for me is that I start to eat, and eat and eat. I'm not hungry, sometimes, I'm even full but - I eat. When I was married, I looked up one day and I was suddenly 70 pounds heavier. I'm not exaggerating. I swear I don't remember ever "realizing" that I was gaining weight until one day I was going to work and I couldn't wear ANY of my clothes. I lost the weight but since then, in any relationship after that, if I found myself needing to reach for food, I paid attention and began to examine my situation before the weight gaining began. I also began to notice that this behavior was true if my finances, my job, or anything was out of alignment. I would always reach for food. This dynamic became a great indicator to me "that something missing" or "out of alignment." I grew to trust that indicator even if I had consciously told myself that "everything was fine". By paying attention to this external habitual coping mechanism, I am now able to stop, pay attention and get out of situations that are not in alignment with my core in a much shorter amount of time. Looking back, I realized that using food to cope was something that I had always done. I can't always trust my mind, or even my heart but an ingrained habitual coping mechanism gives me all the information I need to take stock of what I'm settling for and/or avoiding.

ACTION PLAN:
What do you do to cope when you are out of alignment with your core?
Do you stay busy, busy, busy, start new projects, seek a relationship,...spend money. You'll know you've selected the right one when you can trace the pattern throughout your life.

Please send me your habitual coping mechanisms to emotionalmoney@gmail.com. By sharing it, it may help someone notice what they couldn't see for themselves.

REVLON RUN/WALK
Thank you so much to those of you that contributed to the Revlon Run/Walk Fight Against Women's Cancer. I raised $690 and our team raised $2500. THANK YOU for helping to fight women's cancers! It was a magical walk through Central Park. at the end of the walk, as the survivors spoke, on a chilly gray morning, one of the last survivors shared that she had lost two grandmothers, her mother, and eight cousins before they reached 30 and she herself had beat cancer four times. As we applauded the courage of each of these women, the sun came out.
May we soon find a cure.
Donations are accepted until June 1st.
https://www.revlonrunwalk.com/ny/secure/MyWebPage.cfm?pID=437982&CFID=681049&CFToken=300d605e04ddd30e-C7DD37FD-ECB4-E269-81E0D847DC44B5D9

___________________________________________________
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

2008-04-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

April 29, 2008

I DON"T KNOW!!!!!

The election campaign, the verdict in the trial...

There is so much to say that there is nothing to say.

So...

I DON"T KNOW!!!

When you think of your finances - embrace them. 2 + 2 always equals 4.
Don't avoid , unlike politics and trials there can be no spin. If you have less or more than you think, be accountable for your actions. Write down what you earn and what you spend. Pull out the calculator and by the end of the month KNOW. In these days and times embrace the numbers.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Grab your pencils and calculators and start being accountable for your financial life.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Make a Difference in the Fight Against Cancer!
This Saturday, May 3rd, I will be participating in the 11th Annual EIF Revlon Run/Walk For Women. You can join me in the fight against women's cancers by making a pledge or donation on my behalf. Your pledge will help fund important research into the cause and cure of women's cancers, prevention, education and support service programs. Every pledge will help bring us one step closer to a cure.

You can go to my website below and make a donation. I'm thrilled to say that I surpassed my $500.00 goal and am now hoping to raise $1000.00. Any amount that you can contribute will make a difference in the lives and families of those in the battle against cancer.

Thank you so much to those that have contributed!

https://www.revlonrunwalk.com/ny/secure/MyWebPage.cfm?pID=437982&CFID=681049&CFToken=300d605e04ddd30e-C7DD37FD-ECB4-E269-81E0D847DC44B5D9

If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at 718-350-6095.

___________________________________________________
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

2008-04-18T16:09:00.000-04:00

April 22, 2008

MYSELF FIRST

"An old man once said when I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I realized that the world would not change. Then I decided to shorten my sights somewhat and change my country, but it to seemed immovable. As I entered my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt I sought to change only my family and only those closest to me. But alas, they would have none of it. And now I lie here on my death bed and I realize perhaps for the very first time, that if I had only changed myself first, then by example, I may have influenced my family. And with their encouragement and support, I may have bettered my country. And who knows, I may have even changed the world."
Excerpt from Ladies Can We Talk - Candid Conversations -
by Lisa Nichols & Sanyika Calloway Boyce

Do you find yourself often thinking that your financial situation would be much better if "he" would just stop buying...? Do you spend a lot of time imagining if "she" would just listen to you and stop needing....? How much time do you spend going to an event and thinking you've already heard this before...you know this already...What if you were so powerful that the person affecting your finances was you? Don't wait until you are on your death bed. Try just for one day taking responsibility for the role you play in your finances, your relationships, your life!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Notice how often you focus without.
Stop, breath. breath. Focus within.

Notice how often you talk. Notice how often you listen.

We can control no one except ourselves.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Make a Difference in the Fight Against Cancer!
On Saturday, May 3rd, I will be participating in the 11th Annual EIF Revlon Run/Walk For Women. You can join me in the fight against women's cancers by making a pledge or donation on my behalf. Your pledge will help fund important research into the cause and cure of women's cancers, prevention, education and support service programs. Every pledge will help bring us one step closer to a cure.

You can go to my website and make a donation. My goal is to raise $500.00. Any amount that you can contribute will make a difference. I have talked about wanting to do this for years. I have supported others doing this but my journey within caused me to not be able to go another year and hear of yet another lost battle to cancer.

https://www.revlonrunwalk.com/ny/secure/MyWebPage.cfm?pID=437982&CFID=681049&CFToken=300d605e04ddd30e-C7DD37FD-ECB4-E269-81E0D847DC44B5D9

If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at 718-350-6095.

SPECIAL EVENT THIS SATURDAY!
Saturday, April 26, 10:30am-6pm
Affinia Manhattan Hotel, Ballroom
371 Seventh Avenue, between 30th and 31st streets

The Emergence of the "Higher We"
For more details: http://www.andrewcohen.org/ny/
Andrew Cohen in New York for One Day Only!
"I believe that the only way to our higher development lies in a shared experience of consciousness beyond ego. In this experience, a momentous leap occurs. It is a leap from I to We - from extreme individuation to a higher We consciousness, in which everyone simultaneously experiences individual and collective transparency while remaining fully and completely themselves."

A day that will aid in understanding the possibilities of going within.

___________________________________________________
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

2008-04-15T09:45:00.000-04:00

April 15, 2008

EXPLOSION OF AWARENESS

BUT THERE SOMETIMES COMES A MOMENT, A SMALL SILENT WHITE EXPLOSION OF AWARENESS, THAT SIGNALS THE ENDING OF ONE OF THOSE LONG, SWEET, SUSPENDED TIMES AS SURELY AS THE BOATING OF A GREAT SHIP AS IT NEARS THE HARBOR, AND THOSE CAUGHT BY THE AWARENESS FEEL THE GREAT COLD BREATH OF ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS ON THE BACKS OF THEIR NECKS AND PRICKLE WITH A PORTENT THEY CANNOT NAME. ONLY THEN DO THEY LOOK AROUND THEM AND SEE BEYOND THE FAMILIAR INNER LANDSCAPE THE SHADOW OF COMING CHANGE, FEEL THE WIND OF ITS WINGS. THESE ARE FRIGHTENING MOMENTS. NOBODY EMBRACES THEM. WHEN THEY HAVE PASSED, MOST PEOPLE WILL PUT GREAT ENERGY INTO PRETENDING THEY DID NOT OCCUR. BUT YOU CANNOT UNKNOW THE FUTURE ONCE YOU HAVE SENSED IT. AND SO FOREVER AFTER YOU WILL MARK THOSE EPOCHAL PASSAGES BY THE FIRST MOMENT YOU FELT THEIR SHAPES AHEAD OF YOU.
Author Unknown

Many of us try to unknow what we already "know" in our core. As we push past the explosion and pretend to suck the energy back in, after it's already exploded, conflict, hardship and pain occur over and over again. Until we are willing to let go and be in the unknown of the exploded debris, we delay allowing our cores to be free. As I continuously see through my customers, who are reflections of me; the sheer terror to let go of doing what we've always done in order to have what we've always said we wanted. If we do not open the bills, if we do not make more than we spend, if we charge in order to look good, if we keep ourselves isolated, if we do not hold ourselves accountable for our actions, if we do not step off the cliffs and dare the unknown then...then...then...let's stop pretending, stop breaking contracts, stop hiding, sink into the fear, be accountable and together let's attain that which we keep saying we desire.

Thank you Uncle Tim for sharing this quote with me.
Happy Birthday R.P. and A.M.!

Thank you very much for your happy birthday wishes!

PLAN OF ACTION:
You tell me.
Hint: What are you afraid to do, think or say?
DO IT, THINK IT, SAY IT!

___________________________________________________
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

2008-04-07T16:19:00.000-04:00

April 8, 2008

SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE

"Having traveled the road of recovery from compulsive indebtedness for more than seven years now, I can say that what looked like a journey from debt to solvency was indeed that, but it was much, much more. This road proved to be a spiritual pilgrimage that was convened by money but was much larger and deeper than money per se."

Release from Debtor's Prison: Achieving Financial Freedom: A Proven Formula For Changing The Attitudes & Habits That Keep You In Debt by
Margaret St. John

On Monday, April 14th I will turn 35 years old. What a journey it has been.
I'm looking forward to truly forging a new path. How? I don't know.

I spent the weekend in a meditation retreat. My journey with my finances as definitely led me on a "spiritual pilgrimage". How I am with my finances has been impatient and unsatisfied. That is certainly how I have been in my life. Impatient and unsatisfied. After 5 hours of meditation on the second day, I swear I was so fed up, I wanted to stand up, scream, throw a temper tantrum, never to return to anything that even smelled of meditation ever again. But there were others around so there I sat. But my reaction was very accurate to how I am in life. Fed up with strong urges to get the heck out. (Last year, I spent my birthday at Mars 2112 - yes, urges even to get off the planet) I was satisfied with this in my life, my relationships, my careers etc. but over time I wasn't satisfied with this behavioral pattern with my money. I could plainly see that there was no way that with this pattern I would ever really be able to BUILD something.

I kept speaking that I wanted to build my finances, my wealth, abundance, and peace but my actions of getting out, starting over, getting out and starting over worked against what I spoke. It was only in alignment with what I knew...with what I had always done. Find a hobby, relationship, career, etc. where my interest is sparked and I pour everything into it. Then when it doesn't happen as fast as I want or I can't control everything about it then I get out and start something else and the cycle continues over again.

The difference this time is that...well...I know abundance is right here...I know the only thing in my way is and has always been myself and old familiar habits. The only way to break them or at least be aware of them so I can see before I walk out are that I have partnerships and coaches and communities surrounding me to remind me when I forget that I am on a "spiritual pilgrimage" that will put me in alignment consistently with what I say I want. So I sat through the meditation and I'll force myself to go every Thursday and practice letting go, patience and allowing in. I will practice allowing my actions to be in alignment with my words.

When I started focusing on needing and wanting to get out of debt, I had no idea where it was going to lead. Ironically, meditation, I've always avoided. Give me tae bo, aerobics and talking any day. For once in my life seven years, from now I can't even pretend that I know where or how or what I will be doing but I can say who I will always aspire to BE.

PLAN OF ACTION:
What are some of your behavioral patterns around your money?
Can you see the same behaviors reflected in your life?
What tools can aid you in getting you closer to who you have always wanted to BE?

Come celebrate my 35th with me!

Enlightennext
Thurday 10th 7pm-10pm
FREE Meditation, vegetarian meal and conference call.
www.enlightennext.com

Friday 11th
Universoul Circus in Brooklyn at Prospect Park.
http://www.universoulcircus.com/about.htm

Saturday 12th
Dancing at Diva Lounge http://www.divalounge.com/
Yes, it's in NJ but I'm only 3 stops from NY Penn station.

Give me a ring at 718-350-6095 if you can join me for one or all these outings.

Happy Birthday to all the Aries out there!!!
I would love to start Birthday shout outs this year.
Let me know when your day is and your mission for the year!

______________________________________________
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

2008-03-31T16:25:00.000-04:00

IF YOU BELIEVE IT, IT IS TRUE
Edited by Andrea Reese

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
If you grew up as I did, you watched your loved ones work almost 12 to 16 hours a day, take no vacations and still live paycheck to paycheck. Everything I observed convinced me that the wealth I dreamed of was unattainable and that this phrase was in fact the truth. But what if this wasn’t true? What if it was only a formula that we were taught? What if it only seemed true because it was what we observed in everyone around us who were taught the exact same formula? Is this age old formula the truth? Or is it simply that we are all doing the same things, ending up with the same results and then calling the results the “truth”?

We just celebrated Black History month, which highlighted many of the past reasons, conspiracies and agendas connected with our beliefs about wealth, so instead of focusing on the history of those beliefs, I will focus on how to move forward into a new way of thinking. The time has come for us to understand the difference between the truth and deeply ingrained habits. Many times when we want to improve our financial goals we work from the outside in. We focus on budgeting and making declarations regarding purchases. Then we wonder why months and years later our financial situation remains the same. Let’s instead take a step back to understand the belief system that is operating deeply within us, that one that causes us to manifest in our actions what we believe based on what we’ve learned and observed within our community.

I grew up middle class but was very aware at a young age that money was the enemy. The lack of money was the reason I couldn’t do many of the things that I wanted to do. But somewhere deep inside me I believed that I knew, understood and deserved wealth. However, no matter how much or how little I made, my emotions connected with money remained the same…lack, fear and powerlessness. I realized that this was true not only for me but for most of the people I met. I could no longer pretend that my issues were “money’s” fault, but instead I had to start exploring within myself for answers. I had to examine the core of my belief system and look at the habits that resulted from those beliefs. I had to work from the inside out. I might have made outwardly positive statements about my beliefs about money, but at my core something else was operating. There were three habits that I noticed were common among those who shared my belief system. The first step in attaining financial abundance requires breaking those 3 ingrained habits: blaming, valuing doing over being and secrecy.

Habit #1-Blaming.

When you get together with your friends do you spend the majority of your time focusing on what others haven’t done regarding money, and how any issues you might be having around money are someone else’s fault? Or do you spend time talking about yourself and what you are going to do to improve your situation? Acquiring financial abundance requires taking responsibility for your finances. The why’s and wherefores are a legitimate discussion, but that conversation often only leaves you feeling powerless. If you are continuously feeling powerless inside, then all of your actions will reflect those feelings of powerlessness. Financial abundance is not about “the man” or “the system”, or any other outward reason you might find. It is about being willing to take a journey within and cease blaming without. We can point the finger anytime. For this month, I invite you to let your finger rest, quiet your mouth, close your eyes and ask yourself what is in YOUR power that you can do right now. We often lash out and blame because we’ve been hurt and we’re angry and venting feels good. For a few minutes it feels like we’re accomplishing something. We are accomplishing a connection with those that feel the same, but because blaming automatically leaves the person speaking out of the equation, what you are left with is a reminder of your powerlessness. This is a habit I invite you to break.

Habit #2-Doing, doing, doing

Is the meter you use to judge your progress based on what you are doing? As long as you’re busy and constantly doing things, everything feels alright. Work, work, work and do, do, do. This can cause exhaustion, fatigue and eventually physical sickness. Doing, doing, doing can leave you feeling powerless. How you’re feeling and who you’re being while you’re doing is what is most important. Focus first on who are you being. Tired, frustrated, and exhausted or peaceful, empowered and free? What you are doing will be in alignment with who you are being, so it’s important to assess how what you are doing affects how you are being. If who you are being is fatigued, exhausted and frustrated then you’re feeling powerless. This is a habit I invite you to break.

Habit #3-Secrecy

Whether you don’t have enough money to feed your children or you’ve just purchased a Mercedes Benz, the untruths that are operating beneath your behavior will be passed down from generation to generation to generation. When financial issues are kept secret, valuable information and knowledge ends up not being shared. With nothing regarding money being taught in our schools or talked about in most families, the main emotions learned in connection with money are shame and secrecy. Shame because not only do you not know the truths about money, but you are not even able to ask questions. Shame perpetuates being alone. Being alone means you are left feeling powerless. This is a habit I invite you to break.

The key to attaining financial abundance is understanding that we are not powerless. Old habits die hard and we learn our habits from what we’ve observed, we keep our habits based on what we hear and we practice the habits by implementing the same actions of those we’ve watched and listened to for years and years. Then we pass that untruthful information on to our friends, family, children and communities generation after generation. If you believe that the poor stay poor then why would you choose any actions that are going to prove your theories wrong?

Our finances are the root of what makes this world tick, right or wrong. The green is a power in all circles, and in each and every one of our lives. In so many cases, we are living out the unhealthy financial patterns of our parents, families and communities. Donald Trump most likely received excellent training about abundance, but that is unusual, and our financial lack, fears and powerlessness often control our emotions instead of confidence and empowerment.

The key to financial abundance is understanding that it isn’t about what we are DOING but about how we are FEELING within. If you believe that the rich get rich and the poor stay poor then your outside actions are going to prove this to be true.

What if rich and poor were not predetermined? Would you be willing to break old habits and explore within?

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” It’s time to stop passing on what is NOT true.

Plan of Action
1. In your conversation with friends use “I” instead of “they.” The only person we have control over is ourselves.
2. In the next job, goal or action you decide to do assess how it makes you feel. Do you spend most of the time feeling frustrated and unhappy? Sit down with yourself and explore what it is that makes you smile. When you think of it, you can’t help but to show your teeth. Start doing an action around what makes you smile and you’ll notice that you’ll have limitless energy and will attract abundance to you.
3. Shed the shame. Share, ask questions, get information and read.

_____________________________________________________
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

2008-03-19T14:33:00.001-04:00

March 19, 2008

I will return to "Emotional Money" on Monday, March 31st.

My grandmother, Eunice Yvonne Simpson "died peacefully surrounded by love on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at Mt. Carmel East Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She was 79." Video tribute can be viewed at http://www.diehlwhittaker.com/obits.php

My family and I thank each of you that have reached out with words of concern, support and prayers. Thank you.

In honor of my grandmother whose fight, vigor and love of life always amazed me, I would like to print a favorite of hers.

Footprints in the Sand
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along
the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets
of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him,
and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
He looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
There was only one set of footprints.
He noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the
LORD about it. "LORD, you said that once
I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times
in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when I needed you
most you would leave me."

The LORD replied, "My precious, precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."

May you forever be carried in peace Grandma.

2008-02-18T19:20:00.000-05:00

February 19, 2008

INCOMING TIDE
Unedited

The sun is going to rise again and I have to keep breathing because I never know what the tide may bring in.
Tom Hanks from Cast Away

I ran into someone today that I haven’t seen in about a year. She had lost at least 70 pounds. She looked wonderful but what struck me was that she moved exactly the same. Her body was slightly bent forward, slowed pained steps, and when she stood both her hands were placed on her back to provide “support.” Everything in her energy was as if the same 70 pounds were still attached to her. I thought that this was a perfect analogy for how we often move through our lives, and how we view our finances. How many times have you paid for a bill and thought "but I have this many more?" How many times have you wanted extra money and as soon as you get it you think "...oh but if only I had…" You experience the exact same lack that you had a moment before you received what you asked for. The interesting thing about this dynamic is that no matter what the tide brings in, it doesn’t matter. Regardless of what is occuring in the present, we move through life carrying the weights of the past. The circumstances may have gotten rid of "it" but are you willing to truly LET IT GO?

TESTIMONIAL
"....wanted to let you know that as of tomorrow afternoon, when the electronic transfer goes through, I will have all zero balances on my credit cards. It was ten years and over $60,000 in the making, but it is done. I thank God for giving me the strength to make it through and not end up on the street. I started transferring balances about 5 years ago to get the lowest rate so I could pay off the principal and not just the interest each month. The time is here!

GOD's love and blessings...
Deacon Brother Ron Potochar

CONGRATULATIONS RON! May you move through life having shed this past weight!

PLAN OF ACTION:
What did the tide bring in? Is it exactly what you asked for?
Is the weight of it in the past, present or future?
SHED.

EVENTS
FREE TELESEMINAR TONIGHT
February 19, 2008: Getting Your Groove On Teleseminar, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
The Modern Venus Ltd. teleseminar series launches with "Get Your Groove On!" hosted by our new Luscious Lifestyle Diva Coach, Yolanda "Shoshi" Shoshanda. For more information or to register, please visit www.modernvenus.net and click "press/events."

FREE TELESEMINAR
Go to www.sterlingchoices.net and join Jaquette Timmons mailing list so you can be apart of her wonderful 3 part teleseminar series in February and March:
Making Credit Work for You - Wednesday, Feb 20th
The Best of Both Worlds-Be A Passive and Active Investor
Right Mind, Right Behavior, Right Results.
PLEASE JOIN HER MAILING LIST TODAY!

Paramjit L. Mahli
The Sun Communication Group
"Building Successful Relationships Between Law Firms and Clients"
8 Part Teleclass “How to Grow Your Law Practice on a Shoestring Budget”, for Solo Practitioners, Law Firm Associates or Small Practices, paralegals, office managers, those wearing multiple hats, who want to grow their legal practices WITHOUT breaking their bank accounts. For more information visit: www.suncommunicationsgroup.com.

_________________________________________________

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

2008-02-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

*Event Added: 2/13 see below

February 12, 2008

LOVE YOU!

As young children we are taught that there is a family unit and it is filled with love, kindness and peace. Seperate from the family unit, romantically there is a prince charming or princess, it's love at first sight and you walk off into the sunset living happily ever after.

As young children today we are shown images of screaming, fighting, being put down and kids yearning to runaway. Romantically, being a couple means being physically, emotionally and/or sexually abused. You may be unhappy sometimes and down right scared at others but more than anything you are not alone and this means that you are loved. You decide to stay no matter what because there will be no one else out there to love you.

The extremes of these ideals...neither is consistently true. When your own parents are the main source of your pain who can you confide in? When you find your prince or princess and you realize the amount of work it takes to maintain a good relationship, that must mean there is something wrong with you. When someone is interested and they seem really wonderful we can't quite trust it because there is supposed to be some horrible pains inflicted, right? If you won't inflict it on me then I will inflict it on you. And on and on the cycle of broken loves, familial and otherwise continue based on ideals that are not based in reality. The love that is everlasting, that acts as the foundation is your love of you. Everything else builds from that core source of you.

What is "ideal" is what is familiar. Just because it's familiar doesn't mean it's the best thing for us. This V-Day do something different. If you're single and always hate this holiday take yourself on a date. The best V-Day I had was last year when I decided I was going to take myself out and do the things that I enjoy on that day. If you're partnered say where you want to go, don't wait for the surprise only to be disappointed, speak up and say what you want. When we were born we understood that we were whole, perfect and complete. But after only a couple of years we learned that there was something wrong with us that only an outside person or action could make us whole again. I get to be reminded everyday when working with my clients that their smile returns when they are honored for who they are, not who they think or were told that they were supposed to be. The ease and abundance that opens for them immediately is breathtaking. I wish every single one of you a breathtaking week filled with love for yourself and surrounded by those unthreatened by you being who you are. HAPPY LOVING WEEK!

EVENTS TO CONSIDER: FUNDRAISER, MEDITATION AND A CABARET
Defenders of Love Benefit for Single Mothers
Date: February 13, 2008
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: The Cake Shop (152 Ludlow Street at Stanton)
Enjoy musicians, poets, DJ, and a ventriloquist. Raffles could win you a fake chocolate cake autographed by Amy Sedaris and other sweet prizes or get your Valentine a real cake at the bake sale. Proceeds of the raffle go to The Brooklyn Young Mother's Collective.
You can learn more by visiting http://defe ndersoflove.eventbrite.com.
Come see who will win at my raffle table.

EnlightenNext
Engage in Conscious Evolution
Experience many of the fundamental teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment and come together with others to explore the liberating potential of this new perspective on human development and conscious evolution.
Date: Thursday, February 14th
Time: 7pm- (you can come and go at the start of the sections that you wish)
Free of charge
Location: 243 West 30th Street, 11th Floor NY, NY
(I attended a seminar on Saturday and I literally felt as if the top of my head blew off and light, ideas and energy was shooting to the sky -I highly recommend any part of this evening that you and or you and a loved one can attend)

7:00pm Meditation
A 45-minute guided meditation
As in many traditional spiritual paths, this meditation practice brings you to a deep experience of consciousness beyond ego. But its purpose is also to create a stable ground for cultivating a fully engaged and transformative relationship to your entire life.

8:15pm A light vegetarian dinner

9:00pm The Universe Project teleconference calls
Jeff Carreira and Katherine Miller conduct conference calls discussing fundamental themes of Evolutionary Enlightenment, responding to questions and exploring the frontiers of consciousness over the airwaves. We invite you to join us to listen to these inspiring calls at the NY Center and participate in the enlightened communication discussion that follows.
Visit http://www.enlightennext.com/ to learn more

Bitter Songs for Bitter People: A Valentine's Day Cabaret.
Date: Thursday, February 14th at 7pm & Friday, February 15th at 9:30pm
Location: The Duplex 61 Christopher Street at 7th Ave.
Performed by Linda Jones (an incredible actress)

For those weary of the candy hearts and saccharine sweet-nothings, we invite you to bring out your inner bitter, stir it up in a cocktail and celebrate a darker, funnier Valentine's Day.

Short and sweet - we're at The Duplex in the West Village, a one-hour set, Tix are $10 plus a two-drink minimum. Reservations are highly encouraged, and the details and links are below.

linda@lindajonesonline.com
http://www.lindajonesonline.com
http://www.lindajonesonline.com/runningblonde.html

______________________________________________________

If you have some events this week where you can invite others, please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com and I will post them daily this week at www.emotionalmoney.blogspot.com.
New Posts 2/13/08 Thank you for sharing these events

*CREATIVE PIER Visit http://www.creativepier.com/Services.aspx?type=3
Romance with Art Beg. Feb 14, Thursday eveCelebrate the upcoming Valentine's Day with an evening of 'Romance with Art'.

For singles - join everyone in engaging group art projects. Transform past into future and play a part in creating a 'lost and found' art mobile, find ways to connect in 'creative junction', or express yourself in a feelings bouquet with colorful tissue paper.

For couples - choose a joint art project from Creative Pier's special "Couple's Menu" and discover new passions! Pick a color and take turns spinning out shapes and lines in watercolor conversation, let yourself slip back together to a time of playful innocence of finger-painting, discover the sensuousness of clay or create your own dream house.

Admission fee: singles - $20
couples - $30 & up

Complimentary wine and chocolates are offered throughout the night! 6:00-9:00pm,
833 Broadway, 3 Fl, , 10003 Routa Segal, Greg Kessler$20

Saturday, February 16, 1-6pm

Meditation Seminar
Led by Gail Margulis and Jason DiTullio

Through periods of guided meditation and facilitated discussion you will uncover the power that Andrew Cohen's practice of meditation has to liberate us from the compulsive identification with the mind.

"The powerful thing about meditation is its radical simplicity-be still, be at ease, pay attention. That's the beauty of it-meditation means doing absolutely nothing. It is only in the exquisite simplicity of doing absolutely nothing that you begin to be able to see yourself in ways you ordinarily would never be able to do. "

- Andrew Cohen

This seminar will be held in conjunction with EnlightenNext's director of education Jeff Carreira and senior instructor Katherine Miller's virtual meditation retreat.

Cost: $20

PLAN OF ACTION:
1. Be conscious of what, why and when you're choosing to spend this V-Day.
2. If you're always miserable or disappointed during this week (single or partnered
or both day to day - choose to do at least one activity that will bring a smile
to YOUR face.

HAPPY LOVING WEEK!

________________________________________
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

2008-02-04T10:51:00.000-05:00

February 5, 2008

IT'S SUPER TUESDAY - PLEASE VOTE!!!

BROKERAGE FIRMS
Unedited

Last summer I met a woman who was wonderful. She was a financial advisor for a major financial firm. I signed up because I liked her, forgetting that she worked for a company. Sitting down to sign papers, I was irritated by the constant mention of insurance and for an extra $50 you can receive...and if you give me the names and the phones numbers of others then...I wanted to lay out a plan for my finances that would help me save for retirement while getting out of debt. Why does insurance and references keep coming up after I already said what I was there to do? I still really liked her but by the third meeting I finally had to admit that I had made a mistake. This person was not working for me, she was working for a company and as an agent she had certain quotas that she needed to meet. Unfortunetely those quotas were not my priority but of course I liked her so there I was signing up for insurance but I put my foot down on giving out my friends phone numbers.

Trusting her, I blindly signed up for my Roth account. There was no minimum which was my priority at the time. However, I later learned that they deduct a certain amount of money per quarter from what was in my account. That was never mentioned of course. I had already paid my money for the year, I already had my leather bound binder with 150 sheets of computer generated analysis and when I was scheduled to go in for my next appointment, to add more insult to injury, I learned that she had left the company three months before. But I thought she was my personal advisor? Of course, I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. But at least since she was no longer there, I can leave this company especially now that I know I can have my account for free. Oh by the way there is a $75 penalty for transferring your money out of the account. What?! So there I remain.

The table below sums up the resources that matched with the books I've read or my conversations with other financial planners that I've spoken to as the TOP DISCOUNT BROKERS

BROKER WEBSITE ACCT. MIN.
Charles Schwab www.schwab.com $1,000
Fidelity www.fidelty.com $2,500
Muriel Siebert www.siebertnet.com none
Scottrade www.scottrade.com $500
Sharebuilder www.sharebuilder.com none
TD Ameritrade www.tdameritrade.com none

Adapted from Black Enterprise February 2008 issue pg. 36
Note: If you're interested in the places that have minimums listed, call them because in some cases they waive the minimum if you set up automatic deposits.

Definition of Brokerage Firm - a firm engaged in buying and selling stocks and bonds for clients
The American Heritage Dictionary

On this Super Tuesday I'm going share another faux pas. I always thought brokerage firms were only if you were a stock broker doing trades in the stock market. Yes, I know. But in case I'm not the only one, I want to share that, this isn't the case. They have CD's, Roth Accounts, Mutual Funds, checking accounts that charge less then the fees of the banks in many cases. In the event that you decide you want to enter the stock market you pay them an amount per trade. You can use the accounts that you have opened with them as your source of financing the trade or not. They have the right to broker but that is not all that they do.

We are living in a very important time in our history, there is no time like the present for putting your finances in order! I hope me sharing my faux pas can help you make better choices!

RESOURCES:
1. On My Own Two Feet by Manisha Thakor & Sharon Kedar
2. Go to www.sterlingchoices.net and join Jaquette Timmons mailing list so you can be apart of her wonderful 3 part teleseminar series in February and March:
Making Credit Work for You
The Best of Both Worlds-Be A Passive and Active Investor
Right Mind, Right Behavior, Right Results.
PLEASE JOIN HER MAILING LIST TODAY!

PLAN OF ACTION:
1. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! Polls are open from 6am to 8pm. Make the time!
2. If you don't have an account, start with the ones in the table above and choose the one that best meets your needs. Don't forget to actually make a deposit.
3. If you have an account, how long as it been since you checked its status? Is it doing what you want it to do? If not, what are your options? What action will you take this week?

Please share your brokerage firm tales - good, bad and inbetween at emotionalmoney@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

________________________________________
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."

2008-01-24T08:21:00.000-05:00

January 28, 2008

WE ARE.
Unedited

Scaffolding on the sidewalks of New York is all encompassing. When it is gone I have literally left the street that I was on believing I had gotten lost. After returning to the original street, I wonder how come it looks so completely different? After a moment I realize that the scaffolding is missing. The patterns and unveiling of the effect of the habits, people, and patterns of our past, I believe have the exact same effect. When the past is unveiled you can take the same walk but the experience and view is entirely altered.

Since Thanksgiving I have been dealing with a family emergency. In general this experience of near death, family role reversals, boundaries, and returning insecurities, has caused me to take stock of my life as child, adult, past, present and future. The beauty, the tragedy, the spontaneity, drudgery, the laughter, the tears, my fears and my faith. In brief, my financial situation is now utterly altered. When an emergency occurs any and all plans you have fly out of the window. The car needs an $850 repair and what else is there to do during these times except take out the credit card and swipe? The job you have, what else can you do but not be there for two to three weeks at a time regardless of how greatly your paycheck will be affected? In the matters of life and death, sickness and health, financial concerns become "any means necessary." Because what was happening emotionally was very painful and confusing, I returned to my old habits of focusing and fretting about my financial situation.

A few days after returning, I attended a networking event and a young woman had a storytelling business idea and her inner circle of friends and family all told her the reasons why she shouldn't and couldn't. As she shared and experienced the acceptance in the room she said "I had no idea that this existed." She said, "we are who we are because we think..." she paused. She started again and paused looking for me and another woman to fill in the blank. She wanted the perfect phrase to capture the layering that was being lifted and cleared. The emotional swirl of my last two months, like her, I had been grasping for a phrase to have it all make sense. I couldn't so I focused on beating myself up over my finances. She tried three more times and finally it came to me. "We Are" period. I realized that the extraneous words she and I were seeking to complete a phrase, are the tiers of scaffolding we use to position ourselves in the world. When we have the moment or the gift to end up, where our core can be free - it allows us to truly appreciate who we are. This young woman discovering it for the first time and me being reminded of how much scaffolding I'd left behind.

The wide eyed look in this young woman’s eyes was her "being". She had expressed her core and was so moved when the environment she was in embraced her. The phrase WE ARE... PERIOD falling from my lips, allowed me to be where I was, be where my life is now - free and embraced. And have compassion for myself and how much scaffolding I've made the choice to free myself from.

As I will continue this year to devote a lot of time to specific financial resources and ideas, please remember that our finances, our families, our material possessions do not define who we are. They are external scaffolding that can at any time be cleared. The experience of awe, of loving self, comes when we have the courage to express from our core and place ourselves in environments when who we truly are is not only understood but encouraged and embraced.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Remember family and friends can often be our greatest source of scaffolding.
What occurs if you take a walk on a scaffold free street and journey within?

Next week I will discuss brokerage firms and investing. If you are currently with a brokerage firm, please email me by February 1, 2008 at emotionalmoney@gmail.com to share your experiences and recommendations.

Thank you for reading!

________________________________________
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."

2008-01-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

January 22, 2008

THE BANKER'S SECRET
Unedited

Many times we feel as if we are climbing uphill. We work and work and work and still we have to scrimp and scrape to make ends meet. We think if only there was some way to catch a break. We say things like, "I can't get ahead because I can never pay anything extra when I don't have enough to pay the bills in the first place?"

How many times did you take a cab, buy a Starbuck's coffe, a gift for your favorite niece or a toy for the kitties that they completely ignore? There is usually a little extra - it's simply a matter of keeping track of what and where you are spending. Now that you know the "extra" exists how would you like to take years off of your debt/school loan/mortgage payments and save thousands in finance fees?

The Bankers have a secret and Marc Eisenson wrote about it in 1984 in his book called "Your Mortgage Can Save You a Fortune! All You Need to Know Is...The Banker's Secret." Pay as little as $25 per month on top of your minimum monthly payments and you'll be amazed how quickly the balance falls.

"On a $75,000, 30 year mortgage written at 10 percent interest, the total payback will be almost $237,000. That's nearly $162,000 in interest charges on a $75,000 loan...if you (invest) as little as $25 each month, you'll save more than $34,000 in interest...and you'll reduce the loan's term by over 5 years." page 3

Interest accrues daily. If this seems too amazing to be true I invite you to give it a try.

PLAN OF ACTION
1) Write down your commitment to pay an amount "extra" on your loans for a given period of time. ($5 extra is still extra.) Start with the amount that you can.
2) Share your agreed upon amount with at least one other person.

Okay, next week will be an "emotional" fix.

______________________________
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."

2008-01-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

January 15, 2007

CREDIT SCORE - WHAT RANGE ARE YOU?
Unedited

I spent years hearing about the value of knowing my credit score. I was a responsible adult that had paid my bills on time and didn't often make charges on my card so of course I assumed that my score must be good. Imagine my surprise when I finally decided to check and learned that it was below "Fair" in the "Uncertain" range.

The definition from the online encyclopedia:
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person, which is the perceived likelihood that the person will pay debts in a timely manner. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, typically sourced from credit bureaus / credit reference agencies.

Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, use credit scores to evaluate the potential risk posed by lending money to consumers and to mitigate losses due to bad debt. Lenders use credit scores to determine who qualifies for a loan, at what interest rate, and what credit limits. The use of credit or identity scoring prior to authorizing access or granting credit is an implementation of a trusted system.

Credit scoring is not limited to banks. Other organizations, such as mobile phone companies, insurance companies, employers, and government departments employ the same techniques.

Basically there is no real formula or rhyme or reason to how our credit scores are determined. But some items that we know influence the score are late payments, how long you've had credit and how many closed accounts you have on your report. The two that influenced me the most were the ratio of your credit used (balance owed) to your available credit limit and inquiries made on your account from other cards, stores or creditors.

Once I picked myself off of the floor from my "Uncertain" rating, I went about taking small actions around the items that I could. I realized that I had been continously transferring my credit cards to the 0% interest rate cards and each time I did that it counted against me. Even after transferring the cards, when the 0% offer was ending, I was still receiving other offers. But now the amounts I wanted they weren't able to give me at an interest as low as I wanted or in an amount I wanted. Whether I signed with them or not an inquiry was made and that lowered my score. (Keep this in mind when you go to your favorite clothes or appliance store and they offer you a deal in exchange for you filling out an application to receive their store (credit) card. Each of those inquiries will impact your score negatively. I stopped taking advantage of the offers I received which stopped the influx of inquiries.

Before starting my business, years had passed without me using my card, although paying the minimums, my balances negatively impacted my score because they remained close to their limits. Paying the minimum means most of what I pay each month goes towards the daily finance fees which means the balance is not going down significantly. I started paying double on my minimums which made the balances shockingly lower in a very short amount of time (ask me about the Bankers Secret).
By making these two changes, my score is 40 points higher and only a few points away from the "good" range. Yes, it's painful that I'm in the "Fair" range but I took action and am seeing the results. Now that I know my score and the elements that impact it, I have no doubt that as I continue to take action I will be able to work my way up to the "Excellent" range. The only thing keeping me "Uncertain" was my ignorance and assumptions.

I invite you to take action now. No need to sit with regrets or punish yourself or even take a lot of time being angry at the system. (That comment was mostly for me). Ten years later after doing that, your score will remain where it is. It's best to take action now. Don't assume. Go to www.myfico.com. The cost ranges from free to $15.95. Many of us have our free credit report from Experian, Transunion and Equifax but all the information in my report was accurate and up to date. Do the next step and get your credit SCORE so you actually know where you are! Don't be like me and have to pick your mouth off of the floor when you are trying to move forward on your financial dreams. When you start your business, purchase your house or car or want a good interest rate on a loan, start now developing your "Excellent" credit score so when the time comes your score can impact you positively!

PLAN OF ACTION
1) Get your credit score by Monday, January 21, 2008.
2) Choose at least one action you will take to aid in making your score higher.
3) Recheck your score in 3-6 months.

Thank you for letting me know the results for those of you that implemented the script from Emotional Money "Happy New Year" January 1, 2008 issue. It is a thrill to hear your empowerment around your emotions and your money!!! Much continued abundance!

Next week will probably be an "emotional" fix. Tune in to find out!

Thank you to my friends that have truly helped
me these last three weeks!!! Princess, Panther and I thank (meow) you!!

______________________________
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."

2008-01-08T08:21:00.000-05:00

January 8, 2008

WHAT CAN I SAY?
Unedited

"Let us think of the future as a house we are building. A brick or plank a day. Some days we may not have any material, a rainy day even, but we do not disregard the future house. Years pass, and finally, the time is right and the future is built."
Excerpt from the Author's Note in The Future Has A Past by J. California Cooper

I was $600.00 away from getting rid of one of my credit cards. I attended a Wealth Expo and knew that I should leave my credit card at home. But there was a Mentorship program and a Feng Shui program that I knew would aid me in getting to my goals faster. The next day I got my credit card, told myself it was an investment and celebrated as I knew these programs were going to help me accomplish my goals much faster. Two weeks later I received a bonus for the holidays that would have allowed me to have paid off that card and have had money to spare.

I had a list of excuses to justify my purchases:
1) My ongoing family crisis has made me so aware of how quickly everything in life
can alter in one second and how important not having a financial foundation
effects everything.
2) I want to help my family yesterday.
3) It's an investment.
4) You have to spend money to make money.

In the end, the excuses don't matter. I now have a another $1800 on a card that I could have been saying is paid off. I had been implementing and sticking to my plan, but it was so much slower than what I desired. I attended a seminar, got excited again for a faster way and had no idea that around the corner something was coming that was going to allow me to pay it off and have money to spare.

I've decided that I can not attend anymore seminars and Expo's right now because I do not have the patience and control to resist what they have to sale. This will not be forever but it will be until I can attend knowing that I have the money and or the resources to pay in cash or within 30 days. The good news is that all I have to do is keep doing what I had been doing. It was working. I could be beating myself up now and stay focused on my "rainy day" but instead I'm staying focused on the "future house" and going back to doing what I had been doing. I trust that another unforseen "bonus" will arrive again and this time I'll be able to take full advantage of its arrival.

The answer to last weeks Plan of Action:

I think the reason your credit score will improve if you have a
credit limit increase is because your balance will be that much lower
than your limit. One of the elements that makes up the credit score
is available credit vs. credit used. The closer to your limit the
lower your score.
Melinda, NYC

Thank you, Melinda! If the answer surprised you, tune in to "Emotional Money" next week to learn why my credit score went up 40 points in less than 6 months and how, where and why to get your credit score and do the same.

PLAN OF ACTION:
1) I would like a reader a month to ask me on the last day of the month, if I made
any charges on my card?
Please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com to let me know your name, email
address and what month(s) you'll be asking me.
2) Ask yourself what is your "weakness" ahead of time so you can implement a plan that will allow you to stick to your goals. Mine are wealth building seminars and my plan is to stay away from them for the time being, what is yours?

___________________________________________
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 2007

2008-01-01T00:36:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Unedited

I attended a Wealth Power Systems (http://www.wealthpowersystems.com) seminar and was intrigued by the information given to us as a means to aid in raising our credit scores. This is the perfect way to start "Emotional Money" this year because I plan to spend 2008 focusing more on the "money".

Please only use this if you are able to excercise control and not use the additional credit that you will be given. It doesen't matter the state of your credit or credit report, this script works - the key is to follow the script. Enjoy exepriencing your own financial power.

Script for Calling Credit Card Company

You: Hi. I am calling to find out what my current credit limit is?
Operator: Your credit limit is $_______.
You: Hmmmmm. I would like to increase my current limit now please (Don't say another word)
Operator: Well, how much would you like?
You: How much can you give me?
Operator: How much do you need?
You: How much are you authorized to give me?
Operator: I am authorized to give you $______________.
You: That's not enough, but I will take that for now. I would like to speak to your supervisor at the end of our conversation. By the way, what is my current interest rate?
Operator: Your current interest rate is _____________%.
You: Hmmmm. I would like you to lower my interest rate for me now please. (Don't say another word)
Operator: Okay
You: What is the annual fee I am currently paying?
Operator: You are currently paying $__________________.
You: I would like you to waive my annual fee for me please.
(Don't say another word)
Operator: Okay.
You: Was the interest rate you quoted me now and the annual fee that you waived retro active 6 months ago?
Operator: Yes.
You: I would like you to please credit my account the difference.
Operator: Okay.
You: Thank you. Now please transfer me to your floor manager.

When you speak to the floor manager/supervisor start at the top of the script and work your way down again. Remember to not say a word where it is marked not to say a word.
Try it and pass it on, it really works!!!
Mark your calendars and do it again in 6 months.

PLAN OF ACTION:
1. Call your credit card company and follow the script.
2. Do you know why this will help your credit score? Please email me your
answer at emotionalmoney@gmail.com.

Tune in next week for the answer and learn how I almost had one credit card paid off and how my impatience left me instead with more debt.

I wish each of you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May our actions align with our intended and stated goals!!!

_________________________________________

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 2007

2007-12-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

December 18, 2007

HUMOR FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Unedited

PLAN OF ACTION:
Please view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJpWirWhy90
Are you that close to the top and waiting for someone else to save you?

I will return on Monday, December 31st. I will share with you a step by step script that will allow you to call your credit card companies and increase your credit limit and lower your interest rates. You can use this every 6 months. It works. Requesting the increase is not so you can charge more but to increase your credit score. I will share this AFTER Christmas for obvious reasons. (smile)

Thank you all so much for reading and contributing to Ëmotional Money.

Happy Holidays!

______________________________________
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.

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Copyright 2007

2007-12-10T08:32:00.000-05:00

December 10, 2007

HOLIDAYS: PLEASE PUT THE CREDIT CARDS AWAY

It's 2 weeks before the holidays and do you know where your credit card is?

Hopefully it is tucked away in your file drawer. If you do not have the funds to buy your loved one's gifts, please do not do more damage to your financial and emotional health by charging items that you can not pay off immediately. In less than thirty days the bills will start rolling in and because finance charges are charged DAILY you have actually just paid double for that item. I do not have any children and I know for parents, this is a very tall order when the little ones are screaming for Wii - (the latest interactive video game). In the moment of the purchase, we think I must make my child/loved one happy. We don't even consider our financial health. If your child/loved one smiled on Christmas but spent the rest of the year hearing you complain and be depressed about your lack of finances, consider the cost of your choice. Why not choose making them and yourself "happy" all year around? Remember the items that you charged last year...three years ago? You are still paying the balances this year. In fact, it seems as if you keep paying and the amount isn't really going down. This is an accurate assessment. Stop using them! Choose to make yourself/child/loved one happy all year around! Buy what you can afford. Save for what you want. Plan, invest and build your financial wealth.

I know many of you have already made your purchases. Please begin implementing a strategy and plan for paying off those items as soon as possible. No eating out for the next month, no stopping at Starbucks, no taxi's, the little things really do add up. Start there.

If you have many more purchases to make, calculate the numbers and see what you can afford. Consider getting aunt Edna two gifts instead of 5. Consider purchasing a less expensive gift and putting the more expensive gift on lay away and surprising them on their birthday, anniversary, etc.

If you have friends and family that you know are as strapped for money as you, consider having a conversation and making an agreement to only exchange one gift this year and/or put your money together to purchase gifts for the other family members.

If you treat yourself to a gift each year, please consider purchasing an investment. Invest in something that you can build on - a consultation with a financial or health advisor, a life coach, a course in something you've always loved, a subscription to a business or investment magazine, a stock or bond that can accrue interest. Don't spend, INVEST.

The most important aspect of the holidays that I am BEGGING you to consider is that your financial health has an effect on your emotional health. When you begin to be proactive - make a plan and know what you have, you will start your New Year not already feeling overwhelmed and defeated knowing the smiles you enjoyed seeing during the holidays have come at an emotional and financial expense TO YOU. How many people do you know are overwhelmed by their financial burdens? Give YOURSELF a chance at financial peace. Spending and doing the same habits, create the same result. Dare to be different and experience the weight that is lifted when you have a plan. What you cannot buy this Christmas you WILL be able to purchase next Christmas. Financial and emotional peace arise when you decide you are ready to choose yourself and your financial health. This holiday season, spend consciously. If you have spent years saying "I don't have enough money," begin NOW with a new conversation. Begin this holiday season allowing yourself the chance to enjoy the spirit of the holidays by building your financial health and wealth. (By the way, this will allow you to give all year around.)

If you do not have it, then you do not have it, NOW. It does not mean that you never will. It means stop swiping pretending that you do - digging yourself into a hole that causes you to feel you can never escape. You CAN! Please, start now by putting the credit cards away!

PLAN OF ACTION:
1) Attend my workshop on Wednesday (see details below)
2) Research the gifts that you are planning to buy. Consider ways to purchase them
without your credit cards. If that is not an option, plan now on how you are
going to pay it back within 30 days. If you are not able - do not use your
credit card to make the purchase. Remember, if you already have a balance on your
card you are on average paying double for that item due to the DAILY finance
charges.
3) Call me if you have any questions or beleive that you have no other options.
Let's brainstorm! There are always options. Be willing to end 2007 and start
2008 financially inspired! Aren't you tired of the same old excuses?
Start a new habit TODAY!

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENTS
Title: Credit Card Companies: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe!
When: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 7:30-9pm
Cost: Free (accepted donations - all proceeds will support
The Red Tent Women's Project)
RSVP: 718-866-5859

Visit:www.redtentwomensproject.org to learn more about this wonderful organization.

______________________________________
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."

Copyright 2007

2007-12-05T13:55:00.000-05:00

December 5, 2007

WHAT IS, IS

The first thing to understand about the universe is that no condition is "good" or "bad." It just is. So stop making value judgements.
The second thing to know is that all conditions are temporary. Nothing stays the same, nothing remains static. Which way a thing changes depends on you."
Conversations with God an uncommon dialogue by Neale Donald Walsch

A couple of weekends ago I attended the Wealth Expo at the Jacob Javits Center. I was so moved and inspired listening to Tony Robbins, Marie Diamond, Donald Trump, George Forman, David Bach and many, many more that I had no doubt what my blog would be about over the next few weeks. But then as is the case with life, in an instant everything changed. I almost lost a loved one. I did not. I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.

In the moment of life and death, fear is removed and simply all that is, IS. All obstacles (reasons, excuses) disappear. A way is made out of no way. I realize now that I was so inspired by the wealth expo because the leaders focused on what IS - everything we desire is at our finger tips. What stands in our way are our judgements and fears, they cripple us and render us inactive. I've always heard "live each day as if it was your last." I thought that meant to plow and push through. But now I understand that it simply means as you move through your day, you'll deal with what IS versus what you think or infer or deduce. You take or make each thing as it occurs and move on to the next and the next and the next, one moment at a time. Job, money, appointments, time...etc. all previously used "reasons" fall away and yet everything that is needed is provided, offered...made available beyond what the human mind or eye can see. Dealing with what IS, there's no time to waste on fears or judgements. Now out of our own way, the universe is free to provide everything needed. All that needs to be said, gets said, all that needs to get done, gets done.

PLAN OF ACTION:
If there is something you want to say or do that you never have or believe that you can't do - how would you handle it differently if this day, this moment was your last?

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENTS
Title: Credit Card Companies: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe!
When: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 7:30-9pm
Cost: Free (accepted donations - all proceeds will support
The Red Tent Women's Project)
RSVP: 718-866-5859

Visit:www.redtentwomensproject.org to learn more about this wonderful organization.

EVENTS
Title: The Red Tent Women's Project Holiday Bazzar
When: Saturday, December 8 & Sunday, December 9th
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 1pm-6pm

Candles, soaps, photography, hand-knitted scarves & sweaters, body & skin care, jewelry and much much more!

A portion of the proceeds will support The Red Tent Women's Project.

______________________________________
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."

Copyright 2007

2007-11-26T22:44:00.000-05:00

November 26, 2007

Due to a family emergency, I am rerunning/reclaiming my favorite blog
from April 2, 2007.

SWEAT-A SONG FROM THE HEART

An hour and a half bus ride and I was transported to another space and
time. Sitting in an igloo like structure, this one a hand-made frame
of sculptured sticks with blankets layered on top sealing in darkness
and heat. Being heated by rocks brought over from the volcanos of New
Mexico, sweat poured from my face as four of us sang, prayed, drummed
and...yes sweated. Wearing a long dress, skirt underneath, a button
down long sleeved shirt and rubber boots, we carried pales of water
toward the fire. A few hours later with smiles and a song in our
hearts we walked away from the fire cleansed. Sitting around the
table, we feasted on fish, yams, tempe, and brown rice, sharing an
appreciation for the cleansing we'd shared-2 couples and a son. Only
an hour and a half outside the noise of the city, peace from the noise
of our minds.

Returning on the bus I reflected on the irony of having "lost" in the
last few months 3 friends I thought would always be there, while
simultaneously gaining a new love, friendships, community, and peace.
As the son in charge of the fire accidently set the pipe used during
the ritual on fire, with fear in his heart he called for his
step-mother, the sweat lodge leader. His father, firm and full of love
stated "handle it." The mother remained silent allowing her son his
growth. He exhaled and his hands knew to use the wet earth that was
right at his fingertips. He pressed the wet mud into the places that
needed cooling. I had such an overwhelming feeling that I had just
been given a gift of witnessing the secret flow of life. A "child"
gets scared and calls outside himself for help, when reminded of his
wisdom, he exhales and his body free of the mind instantly knows what
needs to be done. The pipe now cooled. The child mature and proud
knowing he had the capability to solve matters on his own.

My journey to this different space and time, I now know why I was so
full last weekend. It was my time of understanding even among my
safest space-my mother and grandmother-I no longer felt like the child
as they gathered in my home. I've lived on my own since college but
this home, this visit was/is different. Although I've been saying
since I was 5 that I was "grown" and people always told me I was
mature for my age, I understand fully, only now am I actually a mature
adult. And many of the choices I've made personally and professionally
recently, though difficult, were me placing wet earth in my places
that needed to be cooled. Maybe too that is why community and who we
are surrounded by is so important. In those moments of doubts and fear
we need the silence and the wisdom of love to aid us in taking the
step in spite of our fears. If positive people aren't surrounding us
we're either cuddled or torn down-neither allows us the trust and
opportunites to take steps forward beyond our fears. Now that I'm
cooled, surrounded and meeting continously positive uplifting
energies, the connections made are leading me daily on a path unknown;
towards soul cleansing, loving experiences filled with abundance. A
"sweat lodge" is a ritual from the Lakota Indian tradition. A
cleansing of the soul.

The song that rose in my heart as we departed the fire-I share with you.
(I don't remember who it is by-I used to sing it with my mother when I
was younger)
"Love is all around me, love is all around me, and I know it won't be
easy. And I know it won't be easy. I know, I know, I know it won't be
easy, with love all around me. There's no doubt in my mind. I'm
(we're) gonna make it!

PLAN OF ACTION: BELIEVE!

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENTS
Title: CCC: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe!
When: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 7:30-9pm
Cost: Free (accepted donations - all proceeds will support the
The Red Tent Women's Project)

Mark your calendars and stay tuned for details.
Visit:www.redtentwomensproject.org to learn more about this wonderful organization.

Free Teleseminar Monday, December 3rd 8pm-9pm!
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for the topic.

EVENTS
Title: The Red Tent Women's Project Holiday Bazzar
When: Saturday, December 8 & Sunday, December 9th
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 1pm-6pm

Candles, soaps, photography, hand-knitted scarves & sweaters, body & skin care, jewelry and much much more!

A portion of the proceeds will support The Red Tent Women's Project.

______________________________________
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."

Copyright 2007

2007-11-19T23:07:00.000-05:00

November 19, 2007

INTERVIEW: ALEXANDRA JACOBY -LEAVING THE CASTLE
Edited by Alexandra Jacoby

Alexandra: I am a visual artist. My idol is Pablo Picasso. I've read several of his biographies and they recount a time when he really felt that his worked sucked. I've seen this same story repeated so it must be true. Every time I read about it, to know that even Picasso felt this way, it's so humanizing. When you feel so fucking pathetic. I so relate.

I just want to let you know that I quit smoking 2 weeks ago. I've been smoking for 25 years. So in case my behavior changes or anything I just feel that it is important to let you know that.

Samarra: Congratulations. How did you make the decision to stop smoking?

Alexandra: I read this horrible smug book called The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr. It's horrible, horrible. What you have to understand is that I never said that I was going to quit. I've been smoking for 25 years. It didn't seem possible that I could quit but when I finished the book I had already decided, a total surprise to me.

I have been doing a lot of cleaning out lately. Do you know that I had all of my pay stubs from 1982? Boxes and boxes and I kept telling myself that at some point, I'll sit down and understand it and I never got around to it. I recently shredded everything.

Samarra: How did it feel?

Alexandra: I don't have any idea...it felt great. We're all so crazy. I had 6 bottles of Murphy's Oil Soap under my sink. Six. I kept buying new ones forgetting that I had some already. (Laughter) I made a deal with my friends that I have to call them before I buy another one to ensure that I use what I already have first.

Samarra (laughter): You are a visual artist and photographer that is now debt free. How did you do it?

Alexandra: About a year ago a friend of mine that has always been in the financial business switched to doing one on one work. She really works with you based on where you're at and from working with her, a seed was planted. I was always paying my credit cards down and marking the time when the 0% interest would end and I was never late so I always getting offers. I just wasn't taking care of it. I would tell my friends and they would say it's only a couple of thousand dollars, it's not that bad. I would never slow down long enough to think about organizing it. But I felt so guilty. It was so humiliating.

Samarra: Humiliating? Guilty? Why did your debt cause you to feel this way?

Alexandra: I come from the most perfectly organized people ever. I think that my father might involuntarily spit up if he ever knew about my debt.

Samarra: You mean he doesn't know?

Alexandra: No! There is no debt in my family. You earn a certain amount and you make decisions about what you spend.

Samarra: It's a very small world, maybe I shouldn't run this interview.

Alexandra: No, it's okay. At least now it would be after the fact. They survived it when they found out that I smoked, of course years after I was a smoker, and they actually took it much better than I thought.

Samarra: So you were feeling humiliated and guilty and you were having to hold this debt as a secret? Were finances talked about in your family when you were growing up?

Alexandra: Not at all. I've worked since I was 14 so I've always had cash. At the age of 25 I was horrified when I couldn't get a credit card without my parents signature. I had always dealt in cash which meant I had no credit. But once I had credit I didn't really understand what I was getting. There were never any conversations about money.

Samarra: Where did you grow up?

Alexandra: I grew up in a very affluent area in Long Island. I hated it. It didn't seem real. My parents are from Israel and we spent summers there, so I always knew that there were other places. The first time that I even learned that I was not middle class was in my 12th grade Macro Economics class in 12th grade and we were looking at a standard of living chart which at that time the highest was $30,000. A very wealthy girl in class leaned over to another classmate and asked "where are we on this chart?" He told her to "shut up." The 16 year olds where I grew up were given BMW's and Mercedes for their birthdays. We weren’t the wealthiest in my neighborhood but this was my neighborhood, my world. In my house we were taught to do the work but at the same time I had no sense of what things were worth. I was labeled "smart" and in this world everyone was expected to go to school and do the Doctor, Lawyer, Wall Street track. I got that. But not much more than that.

Samarra: I only know you as an artist. You organized the annual Vagina Festival featuring over 60 of your incredible pictures which until viewing them on your wall now, I must say I had no idea, as a woman that I knew so little about the female body. Like finances, something that is rarely truly discussed. Seeing these images all at one time, I'm breathless that each picture is as unique as we are. They remind me of the landscapes I saw this summer in Wyoming and South Dakota. Mother Nature. Land. Ironically, I still have a flyer from last year to attend what has now turned out to be your show. What a small world. I couldn't go - I just couldn't imagine looking at images of vaginas but for some reason I kept the flyer. And now seeing them, it's such incredible work you are doing - allowing us the opportunity to understand ourselves, our beauty, our differences, to begin the conversations. This interview, that I expected would simply be about interviewing an artist that is now debt free has made me realize that I had placed you in a very small box and I didn't even realize that I had made all of these very incorrect assumptions. Wow. Thank you. Have you always been an artist?

Alexandra: Yes and no. I've always loved making things with my hands. My mother used to say that if my brother got a gift and I didn’t, I’d be happier with the box from his gift – because I could make something out of it. Yet, when it came to university. I was headed down my intended strictly business track but for some reason, I still don't know why, I decided I wanted to go sky diving. I always had bad ankles and to land you have to do a drop and roll. Of course doing the landing, I tore the ligaments in my ankle and was incapacitated for a month. I was never a dare devil, I don't know why I decided to do that but having done it and having gotten hurt, it became clear to me that I didn’t care about my business classes enough to go to class. Next semester, I switched to English Literature. Which, at the time, seemed like stepping away from the business world, but what followed was a series of jobs that don’t directly relate to my education or my art. In the background, I have always done my art – painting, vagina vérité® - and, next Vagina Festival: group art.

Samarra: Are you saying that you have a “corporate” job? What do you do?

Alexandra: I'm the Vice President of Marketing for US Balloon where I have worked on and off the last 13 years. We are the largest, nationwide distributor of balloons. (She hands me a 594 page catalog.)

Samarra: This interview is...amazing. Being still fairly new to New York I was a little thrown by the change of the neighborhood - the doormen and that you lived across the street from the UN. I had a moment of realizing I don't fully know who I am interviewing and I was struck that I felt suddenly scared or not ready or something. Amazing. What an enlightening experience this is!

Alexandra: I always worked in corporate jobs earning a lot of money but I also always wanted to kill them dead. I wanted to only do my art but I also didn’t want to leave my well paying jobs. But this caused me to have no sense of balance. I have always been responsible but I had no connection to the price I was paying. I would come home after long hours of work and I would be desperate to make something, I was trying to make some sense of it. I had to come to terms with the fact that I care about a need to make money. But I was detached from it. It was something I always had, but it wasn't something that was ever discussed, it was something I always earned but I was never taught that it requires being managed. I was self reliant and always did very well in school and at my jobs but I also had no clue. Having debt made me feel like I was a failure. In fact, a friend of mine that I've known since childhood recently said to me, "you know I always thought that it was strange that you never knew how much anything would cost in the store." And like my parents, she never thought to ask or tell me anything about it.

Samarra: What is it that then caused you to ask "hey, what am I doing?"

Alexandra: I think the first major shift began when I turned 38 and I needed to get a job. I had never had trouble getting a job and it took a little time. Prior to this, I was always so busy. I had no future thinking. Everything was all about right now. Five year plans? I had 5 minutes. At 38, I had to face the fact that with all the experience I had, I had set aside nothing for the future. Suddenly I said to myself "Oh. I have got to change how I do things."

I have now been debt free since August 21st . It feels like it's been years. Now I pay my credit card off continually. I look at everything weekly and it takes no time. I am clearing and cleansing and getting rid of boxes and things that I've had for so many years. I've not smoked for days, I am not killing myself working my corporate job. I understand that the money I earn in the corporate world pays the bills and having that financial security is important to me. And I am doing my art. I will be doing the 2nd Annual Vagina Festival and I want to collect a few more pictures. I have been working on this series for seven years and I feel like it's coming to a close. When I have collected those pictures than I can publish my book. I just met with a lawyer to register my business -the name of it is "leave the castle."

Samarra: Perfect name. What a powerful lesson I have learned. Thank you for causing me to leave my castle and further continue my own explorations about money, labels, mother-nature and the female body. Funny, how everything is connected. And the importance of the consequences that result when we don't talk about things, especially finances and our bodies. The result is shame and humiliation and secret suffering. Thank you for being willing to share your experience. Hopefully it will help others share their experience. Sharing with just one other person relieves the feelings of shame and guilt because we usually discover that we aren't alone. What do you hope others can learn from your incredible journey.

Alexandra: That you really don't know what you can do until you start doing it - be willing to start without knowing how it will end. And value small steps. They add up!

The Vagina Festival will be April 4th-April 8th at Sage Theatre (2nd Floor)on 711 7th Avenue, between 47th and 48th Street. Please visit www.vaginafestival.com.
vagina vérité® is on exhibit for two more weeks at The Red Tent Women's Project - www.redtentwomensproject.org. Visit the website for their hours.

Here is an except from her website:
VAGINA FESTIVAL is an opportunity to have conversations we don't typically get to have. In ways we don't typically get to have them.

Through visual art, performance, speaker presentations and interactive activities, Vagina Festival forms a welcoming space for exploring sexuality, body image, personal identity, health and well-being.

At Vagina Festival, we exchange ideas, challenge cultural norms and celebrate women.

Our aim is to engage people by creating a fun, moving, thought-provoking experience. Join us!

If you'd like to be a part of organizing and promoting Vagina Festival, check out our list of participation opportunities.

PLAN OF ACTION:
The holiday season whether you are having 20 people over or are spending it alone, there is a stress and an edge that gets created in the air. People "have to", "were supposed to", "have to choose", "squeeze in" etc....remember this as you interact with those around you and remember that our assumptions can be completely off the mark. Ask questions, speak from your core, listen and RELATE! It's priceless.

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENTS
Title: CCC: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe!
When: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 7:30-9pm
Cost: Free (accepted donations - all proceeds will support the
The Red Tent Women's Project)

Mark your calendars and stay tuned for details.
Visit:www.redtentwomensproject.org to learn more about this wonderful organization.

Free Teleseminar Monday, December 3rd 8pm-9pm!
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for the topic.

EVENTS
Title: The Red Tent Women's Project Holiday Bazzar
When: Saturday, December 8 & Sunday, December 9th
Where: The Red Tent Women's Project
338 4th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, ground floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Time: 1pm-6pm

Candles, soaps, photography, hand-knitted scarves & sweaters, body & skin care, jewelry and much much more!

A portion of the proceeds will support The Red Tent Women's Project.

______________________________________
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."

Copyright 2007

2007-11-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

November 12, 2007

I mentioned last week that I am experiencing a period of time in my life of great peace. The flip side of that peace is when nothing in life turns out as planned, looking forward can bring moments of fears and "hmmmm...now what?" This week, someone shared this prayer with me and in case anyone else has had a peaceful yet questioning week, I would like to share this prayer with you.

A NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER

O' Great Spirit Whose voice

I hear in the winds,

And Whose breath gives

life to all the world,

hear me ! I am small and

weak,I need your strength

and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty,

and make my eyes ever behold

the red purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the

things you have made and my

ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may

understand the things You

have taught my people,

Let me learn the lessons You

have hidden in every

leaf and rock,

I seek strength not to be

greater than my brother,but

to fight my greatest enemy,

myself.

Make me always ready to come

to You with clean hands

and straight eyes,

So when life fades,as the

fading sunset, my spirit may

come to you without shame.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Consider that simply because something has always been, doesn't mean that it always has to be. Be willing to get to the root of your feelings of shame. Purge.

The interview with Alexandra Jacoby - Leaving the Castle, will be delayed. She is currently editing it. It took me a month to get it to her so please stay tuned. It will be an interview well worth the wait. Visit www.vaginafestival.com.

Thank you so much for filling out my survey. I really do appreciate it!
If you haven't had a chance, here is the link and instructions on how to receive a free gift:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8cPwYQRuQ5ST_2bKRdvcvmXQ_3d_3d

____________________________________
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."

Copyright 2007

2007-11-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

November 6, 2007

INSTEAD, HAVE A LAUGH
Unedited

What a world we live in.

Does anyone else find it odd that we change the time, twice a year?
"Spring Forward, Fall Back."

Does anyone find it odd that a decision can get made to change the interest rate to offset the effect of the foreclosure fiasco on...Wall Street?

Did anyone see the story on the news regarding the latest "most violent" video game featuring clubbing a person to death. Its most exciting feature is that you hold the controls and the movement of your arms and hand gives you the feel of actually inflicting the final fatal blows.

Oh, and in Crain's New York Business Report a headline reads "Loan mess will yield big payday for banks." The article explains that there is a proposal that "envisions a $100 billion fund to soak up mortgage-related and other hybrid securities that investors now shun as too risky....the prize: fees that could total as much $650 million." Michael Shedlock, a money manager at Sitka Pacific Capital Management says "Leave it to Wall Street to figure out a way to make a killing from cleaning up a mess of its own making."

As I try to track down the people who have stolen my yahoo business identity, the computer generated response I keep receiving from Yahoo, no matter my explanations and request for a human response, are:
"Unfortunately, your message to us was missing the full Internet headers.
Without the full headers we will be unable to further investigate this matter."
Right, the headers that I am unable to access because I can no longer access my yahoo account, but the thieves can.

Billions of dollars a day being spent on a war while millions go uninsured.

I could go on and on and on, we all could, but for today let's just instead...laugh.

We and the world are mad. Isn't that hysterical?

In a society where we are taught to value:
"what it looks like" versus "what is"
the art of the spin versus acquiring detailed facts
the image of having love versus the time to build trust
anything outside versus everything inside
a farce of misery, fear and pain continues.

Last night as I watched my kittens play with a tiny piece of candy wrapper for an hour, I realized I have never felt more at peace in my entire life in all areas of my life. Nothing, not a single area of my life, looks as I imagined. And there I have found peace.

Go within because the world and its systems are quite mad...have a laugh and please; journey within, within, within!

PLAN OF ACTION:
Recount the farce that you participate in, to stay in alignment with the values of society.
Laugh, laugh, laugh!

EMOTIONAL MONEY NEXT WEEK:
Interview: Alexandra Jacoby-Leaving the Castle.
Visual Artist and Organizer of the Vagina Festival.
She exclaimed at a seminar that she had just become debt free and I requested an interview with her. My idea of who I thought I was interviewing was turned on its head as I arrived at her home across the street from the United Nations and learned that growing up, her classmates received BMW's for their 16th birthdays. Imagine my further surprise when she said "if my father knew about my debt, I think that he would have involuntarily spit up."

___________________________________________
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."

Copyright 2007

2007-10-26T16:26:00.001-04:00

October 29,2007

IDENTITY

What is your identity?
In this day and age of identity theft, what is being taken? We never really think about it until it is STOLEN/QUESTIONED/FALSIFIED...

Do you define yourself, physically, emotionally, financially or by what you do?
Who are you? Who am I? I don't know. Do you?
Several incidences this month have certainly made me think that this is a question that I am supposed to be giving some thought to.

This month:
1) My beautiful black leather wallet was stolen. The contents - a necklace I've had for over 15 years, a license (with a picture that I actually liked), and many contacts - it was overstuffed with business cards, all gone forever.
2) A relationship where my core was being questioned, my past used as justification bringing to the surface my never-far lurking doubts and fears - allowing me to forget temporarily the promise I had made to myself - never allow anyone again to convince you of who you aren't. Trust yourself.
And then,
3) my business email account being stolen through a fault of my own. When I was told that the account would be closed unless I provided certain information - emotion took over reason and what I feared, is what manifested anyway. Two years of contacts and interactions, gone for good.
And le piece de resistance.
4) Receiving an email asking if I'm back to acting yet? Another, requesting for me to do a character that I once loved...oh so easy to just say "yes" but ugh the misery.

What is my identity?
In this day and age of identity theft, what is being taken? That which we never really have to take the time to think about until it is...taken...given away.

I can't help but think there can be no accident that each of these incidents made me go back to the drawing board of MY identity. Not the identity found in what I could hold, not the long held fantasy of walking hand in hand into the sunset, not the visuals that said my business lies in the proof of my interactions, and not the part of me that defined myself based on what I did.
Each one of these incidences caused me to have to ask and remind myself - what is my identity...without the external, familiar sign posts?

If we forget and give our power to what we have and can visibly see, sometimes it's taken to remind us that it lies within. If we go astray and justify fantasy over reality, an incident occurs that reveals how much we've been giving ourselves away. If we're tempted to return to an identity that feels familiar and safe, actions of our new identity arise at the same time and we are faced with the decision - choose what we know is safe, familiar yet unfulfilling or to risk the unknown which could possibly be thrilling.

Our identity, we tend to define from many external pieces, but when those are taken and given away, WE still remain.

Thank you to the many unexpected calls and emails of support during this interesting month!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Be safe!

PLAN OF ACTION:
What do you think defines who you are? Why?
Are you giving away a piece of your identity to hold on to "it"?

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENT
Free Teleseminar
Date: TONIGHT Monday, October 29, 2007
Time: 8pm-9pm
Topic: "CCC: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe"

Objectives:
1. Learn the root to CCC's power
2. Learn the 5 KEYS to unlock their lure
3. If you don't know the "Banker's secret" you won't want to miss this call!

Please click on the link below to register:
http://www.healingfinances.com/Events.html
If you register after 5pm today please call me directly at 718-350-6095 to receive the dial in information.

FREE UPCOMING TELESEMINAR
Saavy Ladies
Date: Tuesday, October 30th
Time: 8:00-9:00pm EST
Location: Teleconference with Stacy Francis (founder of Saavy Ladies)

Dial: 605-725-3600 then enter access code 671658

For more information e-mail stacy@savvyladies.com
Visit www.saavyladies.com

SAVVY LADIES
*Introducing*
Savvy Ladies Empowerment Circles
If you're looking for a fresh, fun and direct way to manage and grow your personal
finances, AND tap into your unrealized potential, participating in an Empowerment Circle
is for YOU! It's a great way for women to socialize, network and support each other
while journeying on the path to financial freedom!

___________________________________________

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."

Copyright 2007

2007-10-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

October 23, 2007

T-E-N

I received ten responses from last week's blog. T-E-N. Each one expressing how they were touched by the comments and that they would forward their actions that caused them to pave a new way in their lives. Even with extended time the majority weren't able to follow through on their intention to celebrate themselves. Every week I'd like to celebrate YOU! In a world of war, global warming, pain and fear I think a reminder of the fears and struggles that we HAVE survived are needed. I'm commited to living and building communities living inspired, fullfilled and free!

Please see the details below for an upcoming teleseminar, please complete the survey received yesterday and enjoy your free gift - it shows us it's really NOT about the money. Thank you to the readers who shared your stories, commitments and information below. They are inspiring! Congratulations to each of you!!! Continue to share your stories, and I'll post them weekly so we can all know that we are not alone and be inspired beyond our fears to forge new paths for ourselves and future generations.

"As always your blogs cause me to respond. They are always well written and
most informative.
I can speak with some knowledge = BANKRUPTCY = I did it 3 yrs ago. By the
way you don't need a lawyer - I did it with an outfit called We The People.
They charged me a little over $300 and filing with the city was a little
over $200. So for a little less than $600 I got it done. I used their
office on West 72nd St. in Manhattan. (By the way, they also do
divorces. )
I'll admit I did not feel great having to do this - you feel like you failed
somehow. But the positive side is that you then have a clean slate and the
dunning phone calls stop. Sometimes I feel that credit cards are a
menace. You spend money that you
don't have. As soon as your bankruptcy is filed you are inundated with all
kinds of credit card offers in the mail. They know that you are now debt
free. But since then I have kept my head above water."
Anonymous NY,NY

"Thought I'd share that I have recently completed a debt management program that allowed me to pay off over $10,000 in debt on a payment program that I could handle...even during a period of unemployment. It took 5 years, I'll admit, but I did it. They are what's known as a 501 Plan. Here's the info.:
American Credit Alliance, Inc.
P.O. Box 939
Morrisville, PA 19067
215-295-7195
customersupport@501plan.org
Hope this is helpful...this experience [has] taught me financial discipline because if you are allowed to be delinquent (though it's not recommended) only ONCE. After that, your interest rates return to their original sky-high rates which is what got me into trouble in the first place. But I've been blessed. I now have a
savings account."
Anonymous NY,NY

Hi all. I'm doing a Diabetes Walk here in NYC on Sunday, 10/28, from the South Street Seaport, across the Brooklyn Bridge, around Brooklyn, and back into Manhattan (again on the Bridge).

It would mean a lot to me if you could support me for this walk. Diabetes has affected people in my life - most notably my sister Kate, who is doing well! (and will be joining her for the walk) - thus I have great interest in finding a cure!

Thanks a lot - hope you are well and healthy!

Visit my personal page at the web address to donate:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/StepOut/StepOut080058010?px=3968418&pg=personal&fr_id=4735&et=yYs3WB5GHBcDQ6WIY7S43w..&s_tafId=172223

Gwen Eyster
New York, NY

Her goal is to raise $500.00 and she is at $425.00. You can help her reach her goal! Visit her website today.

CONGRATULATIONS TO EACH OF YOU FOR WALKING THE WALK!

PLAN OF ACTION
Pat and rub yourself on the back for all that you have already accomplished!
Breath, smile, grow and share your journey! We can all learn from the roads you've traveled.

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENT
Free Teleseminar
Date: Monday, October 29, 2007
Time: 8pm-9pm
Topic: "CCC: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe"

Learn 5 specific tools that will help you resist their S***wipe!

If you have attended my seminars, you know I usually like to do excercises with the participants. If you prefer being able to sit back, listen and take notes while having a few laughs, this is the teleseminar for you!
Please go to my website, www.healingfinances.com, and click on "Upcoming Events" to register TODAY.

FREE UPCOMING TELESEMINAR
Saavy Ladies
Date: Tuesday, October 30th
Time: 8:00-9:00pm EST
Location: Teleconference with Stacy Francis (founder of Saavy Ladies)

Dial: 605-725-3600 then enter access code 671658

For more information e-mail stacy@savvyladies.com
Visit www.saavyladies.com

SAVVY LADIES
*Introducing*
Savvy Ladies Empowerment Circles
If you're looking for a fresh, fun and direct way to manage and grow your personal
finances, AND tap into your unrealized potential, participating in an Empowerment Circle
is for YOU! It's a great way for women to socialize, network and support each other
while journeying on the path to financial freedom!

______________________________________________________
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."

2007-10-09T12:16:00.000-04:00

October 16, 2007

OUR ONLY HOPE
Unedited

"We are all connected by our lack of balance; our need to be safe in our own place."
Anonymous

Two weeks ago my wallet was stolen from desk. Yesterday, I spent 4 hours in the DA's office waiting to testify against this person - a 59 year old man that has been arrested 32 times and whose first offense was in 1967. Entering a room of 20 or more regular citizens, I was struck that they all looked sleepy and bored, they were going to be deciding the fate of someone's life. But as I was reminded by the detective, it was only 5 minutes before they were going to lunch and they had been listening to these cases since 9am. At 1pm it was decided that he would be charged with 5 counts of grand larceny and burglary. I felt no sense of satisfaction...no sense of justice...no sense of anything. He was 59 years old and he'd been doing this his entire life. I was boggled by the complacency of the jury, the audacity of this criminal, and the power of the assistant DA. I didn't feel like an individual whose wallet was stolen, I felt like a cog, I felt like we were each a cog; criminal, victim, judge, jury, detective and DA; simply fulfilling our roles in a system.

The system; society at large is pretty miserable. Everywhere we go, everything we're taught from friends, families, partners and lovers, tells us “safe” is doing what "they're" doing, safe is thinking what "they're" thinking and saying what "they're" saying. My opinion is that this model, this system is not working and the evidence to support this is in the rise of broken and abusive relationships, the rise of medicated children and adults, the rise of personal debt and foreclosures, obesity, addictions and violence. Many times when we try to keep ourselves in alignment with "the others" it is not where we are most free. We keep resisting our core, we want to make it about someone else having problems, we want to make it about our own problems, we must stay with our companion even when we discover we aren't compatible, we must have the same clothes that they have even if we can't afford it. The only true measure for what will work for you is you - our forwarding actions can come from nowhere except within. Our actions always speak louder than our words. Pay attention and trust yourself. If you are doing actions that are not in alignment with what you say you want, then look within. Many of us when we've repeated old actions or missed the deadlines for our goals, we get upset and judge ourselves. If we trust ourselves, we can use those actions as indicators, that we are most likely engaging in activities or aligning ourselves with people that are out of alignment with our core.

As I continue to explore the reasons for my own journey - the ideas I have but my constant struggle to take action on them. As I continue to listen to my customers who find it so difficult to even admit the passions and dreams of their core, I wonder why is this so difficult? Why do we keep doing what doesn't really make us feel good. There is a system in place. A system, unseen and unfelt. It simply teaches us that fear and struggle are the norm. It simply teaches us not to trust our core. It teaches us to judge and change ourselves instead of teaching us to love and trust ourselves. We conform.

Okay, pay attention to your actions. Don't judge them. Pay attention to them. Are they in alignment with who you think you are, who you say are, your stated goals?
Disengage from the system of fear, boredom, anger, mistrust and misery.
TRUST YOURSELF. TRUST YOUR CORE. Yesterday as I experienced the brilliance of a well oiled but very broken machine, I wanted to scream. We can’t keep producing complacent criminals, scared victims, bored juries, matter of fact detectives and righteous judges and DA’s. We must disengage from this well oiled and very broken machine. Trusting ourselves and our core will be our only hope for a safe place.

PLAN OF ACTION:
Please share with me some actions that have been from your core at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com.
I would love to dedicate a blog to activities that paved a new way for yourself and your way of life!

SAMARRA AM MANAGEMENT EVENT
Free Teleseminar
Date: Monday, October 29, 2007
Time: 8pm-9pm
Topic: "CCC: Why We Can't Resist Their S***wipe"

UPCOMING EVENTS
Three Power Steps to Financial Success
When: TOMORROW, 6:30PM to 7:30PM on Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Where: Woodhull Office, 32 Broadway, Suite 1801, NYC 10004
Cost: $20 (participants receive a free copy of ON MY OWN TWO FEET: a modern girl's guide to personal finance)

Do you want to learn more about personal finance but feel too busy to do so? Then this is the workshop for you. Based on the book ON MY OWN TWO FEET: a modern girl's guide to personal finance (www.onmyowntwofeet.com), this workshop will highlight the three power steps to financial success: Save, Invest, and Protect.

Reserve your spot today by emailing rsvp@woodhull. org. You will be able to pay the registration fee of $20.00 at the door. (Receive a copy of the book for free.) For more information, please visit http://www.woodhull.org.

______________________________________________________
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."

2007-10-04T09:52:00.000-04:00

October 9, 2007

Bittersweet
Unedited

Yesterday, many of us were able to have a paid holiday to honor Columbus' discovery of America. Having just visited the memorial to Crazy Horse (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/crazyhorse.htm) in South Dakota, it felt more like a day of mourning to me. That "discovery" led to the destruction of an entire people who had lived here in balance with nature and the land for generations.
My day off...bittersweet.

Last weekend, on the spur of the moment, I hopped on the bus, to attend the 30th anniversary celebration of the The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. (http://www.studiotheatre.org/). I was the renovation assistant for the first 3 million dollar renovation. Seeing my name on the original plaque as "Samarra Green" it was a reminder of how many lifetimes ago my journey at Studio had been. It was there that my acting career was launched with my first lead role as Venus in Venus by Susan Lori Parks. It was also there that I truly learned the business of theatre. Led by Joy Zinoman, from its inception in 1977, she had a vision for her theatre. Once hired, I marveled at the stories of her stepping over needles and tricks being turned outside the door. By the time I arrived 23 years later, there were no tricks being turned but or needles but there were many empty buildings and very small black owned businesses that had been there for generations. Many called her crazy when she implemented her plan and bought the building despite non-progressive surroundings of an auto shop, 7-11 and pawnshop. She never wavered always stating that one day that neighborhood would be the place where everyone would want to be. It was now 10 years later from the time I had worked there but only 3 1/2 from the time that I had moved from the area to New York City. Standing there Sept. 30, 2007, it was thrilling to see Joy's vision live and in neon colors. They now owned three buildings that housed the 4 theatres, plus two more residency buildings for their actors and fellows. As I smiled inside at seeing a dream come to fruition, outside the look of progress was...bittersweet. The Studio Theatre was now surrounded by Fresh Fields, Caribou Coffee and restaurants with sidewalk seating and condo's.

I remembered the African business owner who owned a club called Diversite. I remember picking up my bosses' lunch and him saying that he was continuously being harassed by the police and neighbors for no reason. He knew there were plans for the area, which is why he bought there, but he learned quickly that the plan didn't include him; he felt he was being forced out. Proudly, he exclaimed, "this is my restaurant and my people need a place to relax and I'm not going anywhere". I didn't take him too seriously at that time; I thought he was just being paranoid. Almost 10 years later, attending Studio's dinner celebrations-small parties at various places in the neighborhood - the dinner I attended was located diagonally across from The Studio Theatre. The former home of Diversite was now a model for a $750,000 condo - a studio. Progress as a new face, a new color. Green. I wondered what happened to the many families and business owners that had lived there, for generations? What had happened to the owner of Diversite?

Washington, DC once referred to as the chocolate city is now predicated to be predominately white in the next 5 years - others priced out. My return to a 30 year celebration...bittersweet.

PLAN OF ACTION:
The time is now to make your plan and take responsibility for your financial stability and wealth. Do what you love, make a plan, work your plan. The color that speaks loudest in our land is green. It may take 30 years but your dream CAN come true. START NOW!

An upcoming seminar for women given by the authors of My Own Two Feet at The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership.

Three Power Steps to Financial Success
Do you want to learn more about personal finance but feel too busy to do so? Then this is the workshop for you. Based on the book ON MY OWN TWO FEET: a modern girl's guide to personal finance (www.onmyow ntwofeet.com), this workshop will highlight the three power steps to financial success: Save, Invest, and Protect.

When: 6:30PM to 7:30PM on Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Where: Woodhull Institute office, 32 Broadway, Suite 1801, NYC 10004
Cost: $20 (participants receive a free copy of ON MY OWN TWO FEET: a modern girl's guide to personal finance)

Specifically you will learn:
1. How to balance your desire to live well today with the need to save and invest for tomorrow. Yes, you CAN do both. In this workshop you will learn clear, concise guidelines about how much to target saving for the future. You will also learn how to find the money to save if you feel like there's just nothing left at the end of the day!

2. A powerful, keep-it-simple investment plan that historically has beaten most professionals. While "investing" can seem complicated - there is an easier way. Welcome to the world of low cost index funds and target date retirement funds. This workshop will teach you the most important questions to ask when thinking about investing, and what to do when you have the answers.

3. Protecting yourself when you couple up with that someone special. Time and again money is cited as the #1 cause of fights in marriage and the #1 cause of divorce. This workshop will lay out a straightforward game plan for making sure your relationship is as financially compatible as it is emotionally and physically compatible.

While understanding the basics of personal finance is important for both genders, it is extra important for us ladies because statistically speaking we're the ones left holding the bag at the end of the day. Literally 80% of men die married, while 80% of women die single. Unfortunately, the bag that we're left holding isn't a terribly pretty one. Today, for two-thirds of women over the age of 65 meager Social Security payments are their primary source of income. It doesn't have to be this way. Learning - and acting - on a few simple steps while you are in your 20s, 30s, and 40s can put you on the path to financial nirvana!

About Presenter Manisha Thakor:
Manisha Thakor is the co-author, along with her best girlfriend Sharon Kedar, of ON MY OWN TWO FEET: a modern girl's guide to personal finance. Manisha has extensive experience working in the financial services industry. At various points in her career she has worked as a financial analyst, portfolio manager and marketing/client service executive for money management firms with billions of dollars in assets under management. Manisha received her MBA from Harvard Business School, her BA from Wellesley College, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She lives in Houston, TX with her husband. She is also a Woodhull alumna.

Reserve your spot today by emailing rsvp@woodhull. org. You will be able to pay the registration fee of $20.00 at the door.

____________________________________________________
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."