'Mastering Affluence' - My Personal Journey

The Launch Team

I recently had the honour of being one of the select two hundred members of the pre-launch team for Carol Tuttle's new book, Mastering Affluence. If you haven't heard of Carol Tuttle, she is a highly influential motivator who has helped millions of people across the world discover their potential to live true to themselves. Her expertise covers many areas including fashion and beauty, parenting, and personal growth.

As a member of the team, I had access to a PDF version of the book as well as a private facebook group administered by Carol herself and her editor. Each week, we were assigned a section of the book to read and asked to complete the written exercises included in that section. We were encouraged to share our personal experiences and aha moments with the group. Here are a few of my personal moments of enlightenment from each lesson:

Lesson One: Spiritual Affluence

At the end of each lesson or section of the book are clearing sessions and writing tasks. One of these tasks was write down when or where I feel like I am my own spiritual authority. I found this challenging and experienced a strong resistance. As someone who was brought up with religious beliefs I have since rejected, it is often extremely hard for me express my beliefs and feelings as I fear causing offence or being judged by others.

What I discovered, as I wrote, was that I feel a sense of spiritual authority in those moments when I challenge others on the use of the word 'faith' to equate with religious belief or doctrine. I take particular umbrage with a phrase which has become popular here in the UK 'people of all faiths and people of none'. I find it extremely patronising as it implies to me, that only those who ascribe their beliefs to a particular religion are able to experience 'faith'. But my two most powerful realisations were that I also feel spiritual authority when I

1. Practice mindfulness and
2. When I write!

Lesson Two: Mental Affluence

As I completed the written tasks at the end of this week's chapter I noticed how often and how easily I now say 'no' to requests or suggestions that don't fit with my plans or priorities. This is a massive step forward for me as I've spent years feeling pressurised to do things I don't want to purely because I'm told by others that I should.

I also discovered that I'm becoming stronger at warding off and turning around other people's negativity, which has a positive effect on my own state of mind.

Lesson Three: Emotional Affluence

This was an extremely emotional week for me. My husband had been made redundant two weeks earlier. Thankfully, he found another job, but the mounting tension meant that all the emotions I'd been bottling up surfaced in a very nasty outburst of anger. On the plus side, this then enabled me to put all these emotions into words and move on.

I had so many ahas this week, and released tons of emotional baggage. I discovered ways to manage the crippling anxiety I've been experiencing, and felt safe to speak up and make my feelings known. There was a lot of crying this week, as I released harmful emotions and realised the need to allow myself to experience more joy.

Lesson Four: Physical Affluence

My biggest take away from this week was the reinforcement of the link between one's physical pain and one's mental attitude toward it. Carol's suggestion that we need to accept and even welcome pain as a positive rather than negative factor in our lives was met with surprise. However, a practical exercise I found extremely helpful was concentrating my attention alternatively on an area of my body in which I was experiencing pain and then a pain free area. This really did help dissipate the arthritic pain I had in my hips at the time.

I also found I was finally able to accept my menopausal weight gain for what it was. I've changed my mindset regarding nutrition and exercise and put into place a few simple changes. As a result, I'm enjoying exercise, have stopped comfort eating and have even lost a few pounds. I feel good about myself!

Lesson Five: Financial Affluence

This is what I wrote in the group thread that week:

"On Sunday, after reading this week's chapter, I was scrolling through my facebook page when I saw an ad for a blogging platform. I clicked through to the site and looked around to see what it was all about. I was surprised to discover that this platform could potentially enable me to amalgamate several ideas I've had floating around in my head and make a second income from writing. The platform will allow me to write blog articles on a range of subjects and themes and monetize them. I am so excited by this possibility and amazed that it seemed to come just when I wanted it."

The platform I was talking about was Vocal! This is the fourth blog I'll have published in a few weeks.

Lesson Six: Relationship Affluence

This chapter triggered a host of powerful emotions. As I read, I recognised a pattern in the way I interact with close friends and family. I realised that I often fail to express my needs, feelings and beliefs because I'm afraid of exposing my innermost emotions and laying bear my vulnerabilities. I have anxiety and depression, which manifests an unwelcome habit of overthinking and rumination. Another realisation is that I'm guilty of making assumptions about what others think of me and second-guessing their reactions, often wrongly. This causes a lot of unnecessary worry and stress.

Carol offers a lot of practical advice here, based on her own personal experience and knowledge, which has the potential to strengthen not just the most important relationships in our lives, but our ability to communicate better in every relationship.

Conclusion:

I've read a lot of self-help books in the past. They nearly always focus on improving one key area of your life. Mastering Affluence goes beyond that. It helps you improve ALL areas!