This is a fun exercise.  It’s a great way to get your brain in gear, and shake the rust off your vocabulary.  I am going to give you some strange letter sequences and ask you for a word it is found in.  For instance, “EQU.”  That seems unusual, but you just saw it in sequence.  How about “DKA?”  Well you’d find that in vodka.  Got it?  Good!

So here are 15 uncommon letter sequences.  Can you find at least one English word that contains each of these letter sequences?  Hell, since so many of you are from other countries, it doesn’t have to be English really.  I just know that there are English words that contain these sequences.  If you know a word in another language that works too.  Let’s see how many you can get.

Give it your best shot before you scroll down to the comments and see the answers from other people.  I’ll give you my answers on the next post.

1)    XYG
2)    OPSOI
3)    UPTC
4)    NKYA
5)    URTSH
6)    AKFA
7)    NNERM
8)    RDAMO
9)    UEBI
10)    NDTHR
11)    EZVO
12)    ALFUN
13)    SQUERA
14)    AELST
15)    XSW

I just arrived in Riga, Latvia.  A very cool place; reminds me a lot of Prague.  Look forward to meeting some of you here this weekend!

-RG

Many of you wrote asking more about ideas and how you get them.  They just involve some creative thinking.  Here’s an example:

I was conducting a prosperity class at my church when a guy said that he was destined to be broke.  He explained that he was a nurse, worked in a government owned hospital and was at the top of the civil service pay scale, so no matter what he did, he couldn’t even get a raise.  He felt his prosperity was blocked.

I looked at his same situation and wondered what was stopping him from starting a home health care service.  And not just any home health care, but the very best one.  A service that would totally pamper and take care of people who were dying or facing serious health challenges.

Think about that…

If Bill Gates or any other wealthy person were sick, wouldn’t they want and be willing to pay for the finest home health care available?  I know I would.

Ideas are what allow us to manifest prosperity from the ethers into the physical realm.  Now if you’re sitting in front of the TV five hours a night watching cheesy sitcoms and stupid reality shows, don’t expect to have a lot of creative energy.  But there are lots of ways to expose yourself to creative thinkers and develop better critical thinking skills:

Hang around successful and interesting people.  Hint: There are more at Barnes & Noble on a Friday night than in the bars.  Do crosswords, Sudoku and other brainteasers.  Read biographies and especially autobiographies of successful people.

And a very simple way to come up with ideas is simply look at problems and challenges that people face.  If you can make their problem go away, they will gladly trade you money for that.

Think about recent billion-dollar success stories.  Hotmail, a way to offer free email to college kids.  Google: a way to find things on the Internet. Facebook: a way for friends to connect online.   And it doesn’t have to be sexy Internet stuff.

Richard Branson simply made flying fun again. Wayne Huizenga became a billionaire taking away people’s trash.  Then he made another billion giving them a place to rent movies.

You may start by walking people’s dogs, watching their homes or tutoring their kids.  But if you continue that line of reasoning and extend it out, prosperity awaits you.  All from the power of ideas.

I’m heading off to Riga, Latvia where I have some seminars this weekend.  I’ll post tomorrow’s blog when I land.  And since we’re on this topic, I’ll give you some Mental Aerobics to work some rust off your brain!  In the meantime, please check in with your ideas about ideas…

-RG

The belief that your prosperity comes at the expense of those less fortunate than you.  This is a very real issue for a lot of people, and they don’t even know it.

That’s why you see so many comments like, “You paid $5,000 for a pair of shoes? Do you know how many starving kids in Africa you could feed with that” or “Why would you spend so much on a car?  Don’t you know what a charity could do with that money?”

These types of questions are riddled with lack programming and designed to create guilt.  And they miss the single most important element about prosperity:  Namely that it is infinite.

Anything that is real prosperity is limitless.  Things like hugs, love, sunshine, and understanding are not finite, they are infinite.  The more you give away, the more they spread their good.

Imagine some asks you for a hug and you reply, “Sorry, I only have two hugs left and the weekend is coming up.”

Ridiculous right?

The fascinating thing most people don’t understand is that even money is infinite.  Because money in and of itself is meaningless.  It gets its value when it is traded for other things.  And as long as you create value for the universe it will reward you with money.

So instead of thinking how you can get more money, think how you can create more value and money will not be an issue for you.

Which means you can get those amazing shoes and help out Haiti.  You can buy that ferocious car and help the Make a Wish Foundation.

Charles Fillmore taught that our creator has surrounded us with prosperity.  There is no place on earth that prosperity is not.  (Even in what may appear to be desolate places such as earthquake ravaged Haiti or South Central LA)  Prosperity is in the ethers all around us.  And how we manifest it in the physical realm is through IDEAS.

The only thing between you and more money (which you can then trade for the things you really want) is your next idea that creates value for others.

No one ever has a money problem.  You only have an idea problem.  So you know what to do next!

-RG

A perfect example is an introduction to Biblical Christianity that Helen sent me.  It states, “Mankind’s inherently sinful (evil) nature has created a gulf between God and man which is unsurpassable by any human effort whatever…Reconciliation was made possible by the removal of man’s sin by the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth”

Later in a suggested prayer it says, “Lord God I know that I am a sinner by nature and choice.  I believe that you sent your one and only son Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin.”

Now if you buy into this crazed belief that you are born a sorry sinner, how are you ever going to believe you are worthy of good things?  And of course Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on these kinds of poverty consciousness mind viruses…

The same thing horrific manipulation of young minds is happening in many temples, mosques and synagogues all over the world.  Millions more children are right now receiving the same negative programming which will relegate them to lives of lack and limitation.

The real problem is the fundamentalists in most organized religions.  They have highjacked the true message and distorted it to reflect their agenda.  So hateful bigots like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Oral Roberts claim to teach the Bible.  Murderers like Osama bin Laden profess to represent true Islam.

I remember a few years ago.  The press was reporting that the Arab world was outraged because Israel killed Islamic cleric Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas.   What kind of world is it, when you can get a job running an organization that organizes and trains assassination squads and suicide bombers – and still be called a “cleric” or a “spiritual leader.”

Fundamentalism has today evolved into a code word for hate, persecution, and intolerance.  Idiots like Robertson, Falwell and Roberts no more teach the message of Jesus Christ than bin Laden, Yassin, and Saddam Hussein represent the true Muslim message.  They have simply highjacked the message and use it to manipulate their mindless followers.

They assure you that you are meant to suffer here, to demonstrate your worthiness for the afterlife, when the real good stuff comes.

And depending on the religion:  if you prostrate yourself enough, beg for forgiveness enough, say enough “Hail Mary’s,” ambush enough American GI’s, rub enough rosary beads, pray to Mecca enough times each day, blow up enough abortion clinics, kill enough Jews, or send enough money to the televangelist – you will be saved.

Most of the world’s major organized religions are set up as cosmic frequent flier programs.  If you collect enough points, you win the free trip to paradise.

Whether we look at the Christian concept of original sin, the Buddhist 8-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish Covenant, or the Muslim Code of Law, they all are set up with the basic presupposition that you are a flawed being who needs salvation.

And if that’s what you are taught beginning at four or five years old, is it any wonder that you would grow up with worthiness issues?  Is it any surprise that today there are millions of people with low self-esteem, fear-based consciousness, and a tendency to self-sabotage their prosperity?

If you went to a private Catholic school and the nuns told you that you were born a sorry sinner, what are the odds you are going to grow up liking yourself?  If you are a Hindu who believes that this time around, you are reincarnated from an Egyptian horse thief to pay penance, what are the chances you’re going let yourself be successful?  If you’re a Buddhist who believes you must go through 129 lifetimes to find enlightenment – and you’re only on lifetime 92 — what are the odds that you’re going to let yourself become wealthy this time around?  And don’t even get me started on the guilt in Judaism!

One of the best steps you can take to become healthy, happy, and prosperous is to do some serious critical thinking about your religious beliefs.  Think about the subliminal programming contained in them, and what you were exposed to as a young child.  There you will find many clues on what has caused you to create the results you have in your life right now.

If you need help on this, read my book, “Why You’re DUMB, SICK, & BROKE . . .and How to Get SMART, HEALTHY & RICH” I go into great depth on the role that mind viruses play in programming you for lack.

You are not serving God, the world, or yourself by playing small.  Your assignment on this planet is to unfold into the true greatness you are capable of, and model that success to inspire others to escape the mediocrity their lives have become.

So how are you doing on that?

-RG

This is a very common symptom from people that are infected with mind viruses from organized religion.  The couple in question are fundamentalist Christians, and like many of them, actually felt that serving everyone except themselves was a sign of spirituality and prosperity.  I think it’s just craziness.

Like most Christians, my client felt that he has a rich heavenly Father who wants him to have the kingdom, yet doesn’t see the disconnect in the subliminal programming that it is somehow spiritual to be poor.

He is often offended by my attacks on fundamentalism, and feels that he is not infected with lack programming because he equates believing in Christ as believing in prosperity.

He talks a good game, saying God gave his only begotten son for us, wants us to have the kingdom, etc.  But the problem is he doesn’t walk the game.

He keep struggling along, trying to serve others and serve God, and keep his creditors at bay.  There is nothing spiritual about this.

I don’t see his lack programming coming from the common mind virus that God is withholding things from him, or is not a benevolent provider.  While many fundamentalists have that programming, this is not his problem. He is infected with THE OTHER virus that comes often from organized religion:

The problem he and millions of others face is that deep down on a subconscious level, he feels unworthy of those blessings.  The problem is not that he doesn’t believe in God’s love – it is that he feels he is unworthy of that love.  Everything he does he compares with the feats of Jesus from the Bible, so of course he always comes up short, since he can’t feed the masses from a couple fish or turn water into wine.

And that is an issue for millions of people.  And that is the real crux of what we’ve been talking about on the blog for the last week.  Do you really get that?

By the way, this discussion is really not about fundamentalism, God, or Christianity.  If you start a knee-jerk defense of any one of those, you’re actually missing the real point and falling victim to your lack programming.  The issues we are talking about are very prevalent in agnostics and atheists as well.  The ultimate issue here is believing that you are worthy of great prosperity.  Organized religion infects a lot of people with this mind virus, but there are plenty of other guilty parties as well.

So how are you doing on this worthiness issue?

-RG

As I sketched out the concept, I felt him and his wife tuning out.  It became obvious to me and the group, that they simply couldn’t put themselves in that picture.  They came expecting to learn how to make an extra $50,000 or maybe $250,000, but when we started talking millions, it just was too unbelievable.

Now to be fair, they didn’t first see the situation that way.  They just thought that the idea was difficult, needed more research, would take longer to develop, etc.  It was only when the entire Mastermind confronted them that they accepted the possibility that they might be running from the idea because it was too prosperous for them to accept.

They left with the agreement that they would listen to my “Prosperity” album to expand their prosperity consciousness.

They returned to the next retreat and both felt that they had worked through their prosperity issues and were willing to accept abundance.  So I asked the wife a very simple question….

I wanted to know how her life would be different if their business did $30 million this next year.  The answer was fascinating…

She insisted that it would pretty much stay the same.  She made a great point to confirm that her needs were basically met, and the only real difference was she wouldn’t have stress about paying bills.  I pressed her for tangible changes that would take place in her lifestyle.  EVERYTHING she came up with had to do with helping someone else.

She would sponsor a Boy Scout camp, help out her parents, sponsor a school, etc.  She didn’t name one thing she would do for herself.  I threw the question to her husband.

He started where she left off, but he got more specific.  He mentioned the exact Boy Scout activities that would sponsor, and suggested that he would hire a 24-hour caregiver for his sick father.  But he was still only talking about giving money away to others.

I let them know that I felt their religious upbringing had programmed them for lack, because they didn’t think they were worthy of anything.  They of course got very defensive.  But I again pointed out that everything they suggested would be for someone else.  Finally exasperated, I blurted out to the woman, “Come on, I just asked you to picture you’re making $30 million dollars a year.  You can’t even tell me you would buy yourself a fucking pair of shoes or something!”

After much searching, he finally suggested that they could get a cabin on the lake.  This prompted his wife who finally acknowledged that she would like a 4-wheel drive vehicle.  Then they said if they got these things, they could bring more Boy Scouts on field trips there.  (Sigh.)

I love that they want to help other people and I hope you do too.  But what about your needs?  Giving comes from abundance, and that means taking care of yourself too.   If you don’t think you are worthy, you won’t manifest prosperity and you can’t help anyone.

So how are you doing on that?  How would your life be different if you made $30 million this year?  Tell me what you would do for others.  But also tell us what you would do for YOU!

-RG

The first clue was that he kept interrupting everything I said.  When someone does that, you know that they really have no respect for anything you are saying.  Period.

You can point it out to them, and you can ask them to stop. Often they will protest that they are really listening.  Don’t get sucked in.  Unless someone closes their mouth and looks at you while you are speaking, they have no regard for what you say.  And doing any interaction with people with no regard and respect for your opinions is pretty silly, don’t you think?

The other thing to watch for is a moving target.  First they attack something you do or propose.  Usually they use hot button emotions to do this.  You respond and validate your position.  They interrupt you and say something like, “But what about…”

What they are doing is changing the subject.  They do this because they realize that they are wrong and you were revealing the flaw in their thinking.  But instead of acknowledging that, or gasp – admitting it – they move the target and attack you with something else.

The other thing to watch for – and this is always the giveaway – is the absence of logic and reason.  They simply can’t follow a linear discussion.

In my conversation with Jeremy he attacked my budget by making all these melodramatic pronouncements about how he was the treasurer and just protecting the interests of the league members.  I refuted this logic – or more correctly the lack of it – by reminding him that I had a budget, was within it.

So he comes back with a rant about how when he was running for treasurer, some woman said bad things about him and one other Board member was campaigning for his opponent.  This is the bait…

See most people would get drawn into that.  They would try to justify the behavior of others or dispute the validity of what he said.  I know better.  I simply said, “That’s fascinating, but it is not relevant to what we’re discussing.”

“But it’s relevant to accountability,” he replied.

“Actually, no it is not.  And it still has nothing to do with the topic at hand.”

I could go on and regale you with many examples of the ludicrous exchanges we had, but I’m sure you get the point.  He constantly used these emotional baiting techniques that were designed to make me feel guilty, feel sorry for him, or throw me off the track of the conversation.

What these people fear more than anything else is logic.  Because their behavior and tactics are all emotional, irrational and crazy.   And you can never win with them…

So when you are in those situations, you have to do what I did.  Walk away.  And don’t be afraid to tell them why.

I was quite clear to Jeremy that I wasn’t willing to talk to someone who interrupts me constantly.  I also told him that he was not capable of following a rational discussion and was using manipulative techniques that I found insulting.  Furthermore I told him that he was inflaming the situation to satisfy his addiction for drama in his life.  And I was gone…

Via con Dios baby.  Go with God, just go!

My rules are simple:  You must communicate with me with respect.  You must tell the truth.  You must not insult my attention with rackets, NLP, or other manipulative techniques.  And you must be able to hold a rational discussion and separate logic from blind emotion.  If you can’t do these things, we can’t talk.

This is a boundary I set for myself.   And you must do the same.  If you want to move up with your career and your life, you have to stop getting sucked in by crazy people.  Create your own boundaries, and then stick to them.  You’ll be glad you did!

-RG

Every team we faced came with one of two mindsets…

The first group was the teams that came to knock us off.  Their coaches were no doubt giving pep talks along the lines of, “Hey these guys are not invincible.  They can be beat…”

Then there was the second group.  The teams that feared us; afraid they would get seeded against us.  They said things like, “It’s just our luck; we got scheduled against the Predators.  They won the last three tournaments. They’re the best team in the country right now…”

The players in this second group never had a chance.  By making the statements they did, they were already preparing their excuses for getting knocked out of the tournament.

So here’s the million-dollar question for you:  On your journey toward success, which group are you in?

Are you already mentally making plans to fail with excuses about the bad economy, tough territory, difficult client, skeptical prospect, lack of education, etc?  Or do you see yourself as the reigning champion, who owns the title till someone can take it away from you?

-RG

So who are you saving that good china or silverware for anyway?  You expecting the Queen, or maybe Rod Stewart?  Of course the bigger question is this:  Why do you think that they deserve the good stuff, but you don’t?

Now don’t get me wrong.  I think it’s great if you have some family heirlooms that you save for special occasions.  I just hope that sometimes the special occasions are for YOU.

And that’s the real issue we’re talking about…

Sometimes you have to make a decision to buy something more expensive, even though you can’t logically justify it.  Sometimes you have to buy things just for you.  Even though you don’t “need” a thing, you make a conscious decision to give it to yourself anyway.

One of the examples I talked about was fresh flowers in your home.  I always keep some in my place.  It’s a prosperity thing.  Giving yourself a massage is another perfect example.  Not too many people actually “need” one, but if everyone in the world got a good massage once a week, there would be no war.

Some guys buy exotic cars and only drive them on sunny Sundays.  Not me.  If I wanted garage furniture, I’d buy a beanbag chair.  I want a joyride every time I turn the key.  The line between prosperity and lack, is knowing what to reward yourself with.

Do you realize that some people go their entire life and never get a massage from a professionally trained therapist?  Have never bought anything but “sensible” clothes?  They order from the right side of the menu.  Buy the brand they have the coupon for, and wouldn’t even think of an “extravagance” like king size, soft, thirsty towels.

They have been brought up to do the “sensible” thing, for everything.  Now some people have the opposite problem.  And that’s what we’ll discuss next post.

-RG

I can understand why.  If you think about it logically, you could never justify buying a First Class airline ticket.  Can you quantify how much better a $5,000 suit is over a $1,000 one?  Do you really need to spend $50 dollars more for the room with the ocean view?  Can you justify paying $45,000 more for your condo to get on the water view side of the building instead of the city view?  Isn’t it wasteful to spend money on fresh flowers?  Do you really need cable TV, let alone satellite?   Can you really make the case for spending the extraordinary amount of extra money that anything from Prada costs?

Well the answer on all of these is probably no.  And yes.

The truth is, good shoes are a good investment for your health and career.  A pair of Bally or Santoni loafers mold to your feet like warm butter.  They also are well made and will last a lot longer than cheap shoes.  Plastic shoes are bad for your feet.

A good wool suit will travel better and look better.  A cheaper one will wrinkle just riding to your job interview, fall apart sooner, and start to look “shiny” after a few pressings.  A water view condo will hold its value and be easier to sell later.  So there really are some logical reasons for buying quality things, instead of cheap ones.

And of course there are lots of logical reasons to cut costs and save money on things…

I spend $250 a week on fresh flowers.  If I saved that and invested it, imagine what it would end up over time.  But I love having fresh flowers in my home.  (And it seems everyone that visits slaps themselves in the head and wonders why they don’t do it.)

If you save that $45,000 on the condo, you can invest it in your daughter’s college fund.  You can buy five $1,000 suits instead of one $5,000 one, etc.  And of course we certainly can’t forget all the good guilt arguments…

“You could save that money and give it to the church.  There are poor people starving.  We need to save the whales/rainforests/starving children in Africa/etc.”

So here’s my problem with all that…

Those arguments are based on the idea of prosperity being a finite resource.  Where I believe just the opposite.  I believe you can buy the Prada sneakers AND give money to the church.  You can buy three $5,000 suits and send money to Haiti.  You just have to make more money.

And all you have to do to make more money is raise your consciousness.  Oh and one other little detail…

You have to believe you are worth it.  So how you doing on that?

-RG