Financial peace

The economic doom-mongers have ceased getting to me at last. How about you? Are economic forecasts scaring you? Have the job losses in the U.S. gotten to you? Are you buying the collective scaredy-cat vision of the future? Has someone you know lost money in the market?

Relax. You’re not alone. The news is everywhere and it’s hard not to buy into it.

Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, wrote, “Prosperity is the basis of world peace. When the laws of prosperity are known worldwide, there will be no more wars.” I agree with him, and the question arises immediately: how are we going to get there?

How, of course, is the seminal question of the spiritual life. Interestingly, the wisest metaphysicians of the ages have said that how is none of our business. In the greater sense, that’s true. Most of us will never figure out how to “Fix it!”, as that wonderful black comedian, Keenan Thompson, shrieks on Saturday Night Live these days.

So I’m asking the how question on a slightly smaller scale. Here’s what I really want to know: how am I to deal with my own fear so as to contribute to fixing the world economy? This feels much more manageable to me. My own fears are the only ones I even have a hope of managing, and as I manage my own, I will make a difference to the ambient, planet-wide fears. We’re all connected; it has to work this way.

What happened was that I saw yet another news program that sent me over the edge of my fear and I fell into an abyss full of bad monsters. In a split second, I began to bless them and thank them, and as I did, they slowly diminished until they were mere puffs of smoke.

One of the basic principles of spiritual prosperity is the principle of blessing. It works like this: whatever you bless increases. I look at blessing as an investment in my financial future, and just like other investments, it appreciates whatever I invest in.

If I’m investing in fear, and putting my focus there, that will grow. If I’m investing in financial prosperity for myself and everyone else around the world, and I’m taking the action of blessing all the prosperity we do have, then I’m part of the solution, and not part of the problem. Blessing helps me feel less helpless. Blessing changes and charges whatever I put it on. It’s a simple practice, and it’s remarkable how quickly it releases fear and restores strength and confidence.

We’ve heard enough about the global economic meltdown. Now it’s time to use what we know to heal the world economy. Blessing is a good start, and, joy of joys, it leads to peace.

Visit Susan Corso’s spiritual blog or subscribe to Seeds at www.susancorso.com.