Randy Gage on Changing Lack to Prosperity

I picked up Why You’re DUMB, SICK & BROKE at Borders and couldn’t put it down. In it, Randy Gage identified how memes (unconscious mantras) keep us locked into specific patterns of non-productive thinking which leads to inaction and mediocre results. In the spirit of the season, I’m sharing one of his recent blogs which amongst other things, stresses the benefits of giving real joy this Christmas:

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Changing Lack to Prosperity

By Randy Gage
December 6th, 2008

So how do you reconfigure something in your mind, and change it from a negative to a positive?  The ability to do this is very important for being able to manifest prosperity and abundance.  But first before we talk about that, a confession…

I have always hated holidays.  Found the Thanksgiving and Christmas time of the year to be very depressing.  And still have to check myself from falling back into that.  But now I can appreciate this time of year as a very joyous period.  But to do that, I had to change my associations.

Here’s another example:

My mother had a deathly fear of snakes.  So I grew up with the same fear.  Even a simple garter snake make me sweat.  If a snake came on television, I watched with my feet on the sofa.

Then an interesting thing happened…

Dodge came out with the Viper.  I lusted after that car until I had one.  (Or actually five, to be precise.)  Now the logo for the car is a fierce looking snakehead, which is emblazoned on everything.

And once you buy a Viper, you join the Viper club, get the Viper magazine, visit the Viper website and talk about all things Viper.  You outfit your snake with special Viper floor mats, gear shifters, seat embroidering and lots of other things.

You get Viper key chains, Viper jackets, replica Viper models, hats, shirts and everything but underwear.  (Although I’m sure someone is selling that too.)  And like all fanatical Viper owners, I bought all these gadgets and trinkets.

And a different association took place in my mind…

I started to see snakes as cool, and my fear of them went away.  Now I still have a healthy respect for poisonous snakes and don’t exactly keep them as pets.  But the ungrounded fears I had went away.

There’s a very important lesson in personal development in this.  You really can change your association to things, and thus change your outcomes in life.

So go back to the holidays…

I hated them for a few reasons, but mostly because I grew up poor and hated it.  (Don’t you just love those people that say, “We were poor, but we never knew it.”  When I hear that, I always think, “What a freaking moron!”)

Now my mother worked tirelessly to raise three kids by herself, and did an amazing job.  She made do with the income she could put together and did everything she could to make our birthdays and other holidays happy.  That didn’t change the fact that we often got socks, sweaters and gloves for many presents, while some kids got new bicycles, go-carts and mini bikes.

And of course when I went shopping, I didn’t have much money to buy anything of value for the people I loved.  And this stayed that way into my 30’s.  Every year I was depressed because I wasn’t able to provide better for the people I cared about.   And since I’m so introverted, I hated shopping in malls, fighting the traffic and crowds.  I also associated Christmas with cold and snow, and most of you know how I feel about them.

For a long time now, I’ve lived in Florida where it is usually gorgeous at Christmas.  And when it did get cold, I hopped on a plane to Hawaii.  So that kind of took care of the cold, but in my mind, I still associated the holidays with cool weather.

For the last 15 years, I’ve been manifesting great prosperity and able to give nice gifts, which I usually did with catalog or Internet shopping, to avoid the people.  As well I’ve been able to contribute to some charities.  Which leads me to why I had such a wonderful day today…

Today I willingly drove to the mega mall.  And another.  And another.  Went in a bunch of stores.  Bought more than 50 stuffed animals.  About 10 Wii and PlayStation games, more than 25 sets of clothes, about ten pairs of shoes, and another 30 or 40 toys.  And had fun!

Why?

Because I was buying all this stuff for Kids in Distress, a facility that takes care of abused children.   A couple years ago my friend Billy Looper had an idea to start a campaign to buy bikes for kids that had never had one before.  We and some other friends took about 50 bikes to the agency along with Santa, and the look in those kids’ eyes was the greatest Christmas gift I have ever received.  (I was helping a two-year-old black girl, pushing her around, because she was so malnourished she didn’t have enough weight and strength to pedal the little bike with training wheels we got her.  I had to stay behind her the whole time, so she didn’t see the tears in my eyes.)

I bought all this stuff this year, because that’s what was on their wish list of things they need for the kids.  And you know what?  I’m feeling positively joyous about the holidays!

So why am I telling you all this?

Two reasons really.  One to teach you that you can change the association of just about anything in your life.   And second, to remind you of another law of prosperity; the law of giving.

We spend a lot of time talking about flying First Class, buying $10,000 shoes and other elements in the material side of prosperity.  That’s to help you open a larger window, and accept the abundance you are meant to have.

But remember the spiritual and giving side of prosperity as well.  And you don’t need millions of dollars to demonstrate it – as I discovered many years too late.

You can brighten someone’s holiday (and your own) with a note, taking them a meal, or a flower.  Letting them know you love them, or giving them a hug.  You can visit someone in the AIDS ward at the hospital, volunteer at a soup kitchen, or give someone a parking space.  If you just buy a toy or two and give them to Toys for Tots, you’ll make a real difference in someone’s life.  The real spirit of the season – and a big part of prosperity – is the giving we can each do.  I hope you will find some ways to share some prosperity, knowing that is blessing you all the while.

P.S.  I was just about to close up this note, when an email from Billy came in.  While he was promoting the bike campaign, he heard from Terry DeCarlo, who played Santa for us two years ago and was an elf at our first bike assembly party.  He is now with Broward House, another organization that works with people living with or at risk for HIV and other health issues.

Terry wrote, “Because of the economy our client base has almost doubled and they all seem to have kids.  We are so lost to put smiles on their faces, we don’t know where to turn or how we are going to manage to do it.  Anyone that you know of that might not know where to send the bikes or the toys, please have them think of us here at Broward House.  It would be a godsend.”

Looks like I’m going back to the mall tomorrow.  And if you’re looking for a place to share some prosperity – you just found it!

-RG