Most of us go through times in our lives when we learn to live inside self- imposed prisons of our own making and sometimes triggered by the way other people treat us. For instance, a low self-esteem can cripple our ability to function effectively and have an impact on the way we do life.

Social withdrawal and self-neglect can be outward signs of a low self-esteem and sometimes there are more serious consequences including eating disorders and depression. However, a surprising number of people don’t think they are worth very much and spend a lot of time trying to bolster or change their perception of themselves by adapting their body image, going on crash diets, doing drugs and getting involved in heavy drinking. Most of us have become experts on how to use various coping mechanisms as an aid to survival, finding ways of covering up the way things really are.

Restraints placed upon us by those around us can also be debilitating factors in the way we live our lives. It’s one thing to have a healthy sense of responsibility for the people around us, it’s quite another thing to allow ourselves to be manipulated by others to the point where we feel imprisoned and trapped. A misinformed understanding of the unique value of every human being can have a huge impact on the way we live. If you don’t believe you are unique and have a special place in this world with a special purpose to fulfil, then life can become quite pointless and under valued.

It’s certainly true that a complicated family background and the way we were raised as children can have a long-term impact on our sense of self-worth, but we should not allow our past to dictate our future.

So here are my Ten Steps To Personal Freedom

1. Make an inventory of your life and count every blessing.

The old saying, “a pessimist sees the glass half empty; the optimist sees the glass half full and the engineer thinks that the glass is twice the size it should be,” can be applied to the way we live our lives. Take time out to think about the good things in life, not the negative things. Focus on the positive. That doesn’t mean we live in cloud cuckoo land and pretend that everything is OK when we know it isn’t. It does mean that dwelling on the positive can have a profound effect on our attitude to life, relationships, love and life.

2. Create your own personal space and spend 10 minutes each day in silence

Mindfulness is becoming more and more popular because people are realising that in our frantic lives, we need time to be quiet and be refreshed in body, mind and spirit. Having time each day to relax and reflect can have a positive affect on our health and well-being.

3. Remember your value is counted in who you are, not what you do.

I was brought up with a conventional business diary and spent every waking moment trying to fill it with stuff. People too easily find their self-worth in what they do rather than in who they are. This is a big mistake and often the reason why people fall apart when the retire from working life. If other people only value you for what you do, they are not true friends.

4. Do not open the door to every opportunity that knocks.

If you are like me, you will have hundreds of files, eBooks, courses and business opportunities that you thought were a good idea at the time, but the reality is, you have never looked at most of them! Learning to be focussed enables you to be free from the shackles of endlessly striving after the next big thing, and never actually hitting the mark.

5. Get the right people around you in supportive partnerships.

If you mix with negative people who are always complaining and moaning about everything under the sun, that attitude will rub off on you too. That’s no way to live your life. We are surrounded by bad stuff, things that can go wrong. But dwelling on these things will result in your life grinding to a halt and going nowhere.

6. Choose a mentor and speak about life and business once each month.

Find someone you can trust, and be ready for some mutual sharing of visions and dreams. This can be tremendously life-affirming, when you can find someone who relates to your aspirations for life and will encourage you to stay focussed and on the straight and narrow in order to reach your goals.

7. Set aside one clear day each week for relaxation.

It’s built-in to the way we function most effectively as human beings. We need at least one day off each week, that way your working and activity time will be much more productive and fruitful.

8. Don’t be afraid to fall in love – with the right person!

Love has become a dirty word in Western culture. It’s been cheapened by endless Soap Opera’s and “reality TV” shows. We so easily buy into the myth and end up in another self-imposed prison. However, finding love which is unconditional with someone who is your soul mate, is a wonderful thing. Many of us have been hurt by relationships that went wrong. And this can prevent us from trusting anyone again. Don’t let negative experiences affect your openness for mutually loving relationships.

9. Set aside 10% of the money you earn for charity

Seriously! Giving money away to a reputable charity is hugely beneficial, not just for them! There is something very therapeutic about giving with a generous heart to those less fortunate than us. Not giving in a patronising way, but giving out of genuine care.

10. Go on a 2 week Short Term Mission Trip

If you feel trapped by life, take time out to go on a Short Term Mission Trip to a developing country. It will change your life. There are loads of opportunities out there, just make sure you choose a reputable mission agency, which will give you proper orientation training, ways to operate in a different culture with respect and sensitivity.

I could go on! But it’s time to stop. Please read my other articles about self-help and life coaching.

It seems like with each passing year, information is rushing at us at an alarmingly faster pace. Combine that with our ever-increasing need for instant gratification, and more people are becoming less inclined to want to take the traditional, “tried and true” path to financial success. Despite the growing number of books and financial guru websites dedicated to helping the public find freedom in their finances, every year I meet more and more people who are dissatisfied with their current level of financial success…despite their larger incomes, increasing business, or if they are fortunate, growing portfolios.

So, what the heck is “financial freedom” anyway? Where do you “find” it? How do you know when you have “gotten” or “achieved” it? Or better yet, would you even know it if it walked up to you and kissed you on the lips? (after all, there is never a shortage of stories on NY Post’s Page Six about those who have “married” it—or “divorced” it and received even more of “it” in the ensuing settlement.)

Perhaps the challenge lies in the definition of financial freedom—that standard against which we are measuring our success. If you Google the phrase “financial freedom”, there are 8,520,000 results, of which many of the most popular are related to debt and debt reduction. While that may be a key factor in many cases, getting out of debt is not the totality of financial freedom. That would be like plugging a hole in the bottom of your sailboat, but failing to notice that it isn’t an especially windy day. If you haven’t fitted your boat with an outboard motor, or if you neglected to fill it up with gas, you aren’t getting very far…even if you don’t sink.

Wikipedia, my favorite online source for all things subjective, defines financial freedom as “a well-planned lifestyle where one no longer is required to work for income to cover their expenses.” This sounds hopeful, as many people love the idea of not being required to work at some point in time. However, the article takes it a step further by adding that it can be attained in one or two ways: “1. Enough passive investment income to cover one’s expenses. 2. A large enough “nest egg” that can be liquidated over time to cover one’s expenses.” Sounds kind of like retirement, doesn’t it? Yet how many “retired” people do you know would call themselves “financially free”?

While this sounds appealing, the question remains “How much are your expenses?” Or perhaps more relevant is “How much are your expenses increasing each year?” Even if in the unlikely event your expenses are not increasing over time, the value of a dollar is decreasing every year, even when the currency markets are working in its favor. According to an inflation calculator at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov/cpi), part of the US Dept of Labor, $100 in 2008 has the same buying power of $74.71 in 1997, the year my daughter was born. Conversely, it would take $134 today in order to maintain the spending power of $100 in 1997. Yikes! That means if I were “financially free” at that time by this definition, my passive income would have to increase by 34% just to keep up with how much my existing lifestyle costs….not taking into consideration that there may be “new things” I would want for her now that she is older.

What if we took a view of financial freedom that didn’t just consider the condition of your balance sheet and income statement, but also the condition of your wealth perspective? In other words, what if the definition of “financial freedom” included a state of mind as well as a state of finance? There is no doubt that financial success requires some key factors, both practically speaking as well as from a mental mindset. First, you have to have resources. In other words, you cannot go from being 100% “people at work” (people earning income) to 100% “money at work” (assets earning income) without allocating some of those working dollars to assets. In many cases, lifestyles are established prior to any kind of planning or budgeting. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the ability to allocate dollars to being “money at work” dollars. I call this “reverse cash flow”. And if cash is in reverse when gross income comes from “people at work”, it is risky business once cash is flowing solely from “assets at work”. The shift in mental mindset is making Financial Freedom a priority over “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Second, you have to plug the holes. This is harder than it sounds, mostly because most people are unaware of where they are hemorrhaging cash, debt service notwithstanding. This is mainly due to the “microeconomic approach” we are traditionally taught. In other words, we are currently so worried about having the “best product” in each area—the highest interest rate on our savings account, the lowest interest rate on our mortgages, the hottest mutual fund in our retirement plan (and the list goes on) that we lose sight of how these products are interacting on the larger screen of our plan. This is where strategy comes into play, and taking a “macroeconomic approach” instead. On the mental side, it means widening your view and being OK with “trying on” non-traditional ideas.

Third, you have to have a coordinated plan. This means the left hand must know what the right hand is doing. Most advisors look at growing assets (i.e. retirement plans or college funding) or at reducing liabilities (i.e. debt consolidation and mortgage refinancing)…but a plan can fail miserably if your life’s work is not adequately protected and fueled by the proper cash flow sequence. Most successful people already have an inventory of financial instruments. The mental mind shift here is to be open to harmonizing what you have, rather than chasing the next “quick fix” product.

Nancy Ogilvie is a Registered Representative and Financial Advisor of Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS), 990 Stewart Avenue, Suite 200. Garden City, NY 11530. Securities products/services and advisory services are offered through PAS, a registered broker/dealer and investment advisor. Financial Representative, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY. PAS is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian. National Financial Network LLC is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS or Guardian.

PAS is a member FINRA, SIPC

Have you ever felt trapped in a Rat Race and wished to retire quickly but rich?

Have you ever felt that you are spending way too much time working with your boss at your office instead of with those you love? Your spouse, children, friends?

Have you ever felt frustrated because you are so deep in debt that you think you won’t be able to retire because as soon as you do, the money will stop coming and thus you won’t be able to pay off your mortgages and credit card?

Have you ever felt that you have no control over your life anymore in terms of time? Think about it: can you take a vacation just anytime whenever you want/ need it and as long as you want/ need it?

Have you ever wished that you can work whenever you want and wherever you want?

You are not the only one!

Too many people are trapped in a Rat Race because they have to. There are too many bills to pay, and too many dreams to fulfill. To them it seems that there is just no way to quit their job and enjoy life, travel and see the world with their loved ones.

Most people work because their bills tell them to, not because they really love to do it. Most people enslave themselves to their debt or job, because (they think) they have no choice.

This is when the craving for achieving financial freedom come in.

Freedom to choose when to work, without worries about income cuts. Freedom to spend more time with your loved ones, without worries about your employment or your boss. Freedom to take an expensive vacation, without worries about retrenchments thereafter. Freedom to do what you like, instead of what you’ve got to do, without worries about whether or not what you like generates enough income for you.

If you seriously crave for financial freedom, finding a better job with a higher paycheck is not going to work. Higher paychecks would usually mean more expensive lifestyle, more needs, more mortgages you THINK you can afford, more responsibilities thus more working hours and more time to spend at the office instead with your loved ones. And there is always the same problem: as soon as you stop, the money stops.

If you understand this, you will come to see that financial freedom is not measured by how much money you make by working, but by how long your money can support your normal lifestyle when you stop working.

And financial freedom is definitely not about accumulating abundant riches. It is about a golden chance to live abundantly!

Imagine! With financial freedom, you will have more quality time to spend with your family and friends. You will have more control over your life to do whatever you want, whatever you love, whatever you’re passionate about. You will be able to give more, help others, make your part of the world a better place to live! You will be able to spend as much or as little time with your business as you choose. You will be able to come and go at will.

What a great chance to live abundantly!

Is craving for financial freedom realistic? Yes it is. It is not impossible to achieve it. Ordinary people have achieved financial freedom. They may not have their own luxurious yacht, but they have the time and the money to take their family on an expensive cruise to the most expensive spot on earth.

There are basically only two fundamental things ordinary people have known for decades to achieving financial freedom:

1. Manage your time and money!

Time and money are the only two factors that keep people from achieving financial freedom.

To duplicate the success of people who have reached financial freedom, you do not need to have self-confidence, super intelligence, high education, great luck, hard-work or great career path. Although those are all good characteristics, they are not fundamental to achieve financial freedom.

All you need is a good time and money management, which would also result in high productivity!

Invest your time in creating extra money that you can later invest. You can do that by taking up a part-time job or working overtime.

As soon as you have more extra income, be a responsible manager of your own money! Live less than your income so you can start investing. It is from investing in a business that will one day generate income for you and sets you financially free from having to work for a living.

As much as possible avoid borrowing money for anything at all. I believe everybody has been taught about the negatives of being in a debt, but very few have been taught to consider the benefits of being debt-free.

By being debt-free, you will have more money to invest. Ask yourself this question: how difficult would it be to create an extra $1,000 a month by cutting expenses and by investing the money you normally use to pay your debt?

2. Start investing in your own business to create passive income!

Passive income is income which requires little or no work at all. The example would be writing a book and get paid forever on it, traditionally investing huge capital or starting your own business.

As a passionate home-business owner myself, I believe that having your own home-business is by far the most powerful way to create passive income. It takes only small start-up capital and you will have extra tax benefits.

It is easier to generate passive income by having your own business than by traditionally investing. If your goal was generating $40,000 annually you would need $1,000,000 to invest at 4% interest. Very few people have this much start-up capital.

But there are many ordinary people who have become home-business entrepreneurs and generated $40,000 annually by investing very small capital.

Finally, quoting Robert Bolton, “A belief is not merely an idea that the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind”, the idea that even ordinary people like you can achieve financial freedom should possess your mind and you will not be denied.

1.1 What is financial freedom?

Most people may have different perspectives of financial freedom; however the concept of being financially free is almost similar.

When a person has significant amount of savings or income, it mean that this person does not need to struggle to meet month’s end. And when a person who is able to live comfortably with the ability to sustain or maintain his/her lifestyle without any financial worries and he/she does not need to work that much, this is what I called Financial Freedom!

This doesn’t mean that you must be of high net worth or have lots of money in the bank and investments to be financially free. To put it in simple terms if you are spending less than what you are earning, having a peace of mind, the satisfaction and freedom to do what you want to do without any financial stress or pressure, you are already financially freed. One good way will be building up some residual incomes. Doing the job once and getting paid on a regular basis. Sounds too good to be true, actually it is not.

1.2 What do you gain from achieving financial freedom?

There are so much to gain upon attaining financial freedom.

1) You will be financially freed. You are NO longer bounded and trapped within the vicious cycle of financial stress and pressure.

2) You can spend more time with your family, your love ones.

3) Debts free – the way to financial independence.

4) Freedom to pursue other activities. E.g. Travelling, hobbies, or perhaps a chance to accomplish your childhood dream, etc…

5) Not having to work as much.

1.3 Misconceptions of financial freedom

People often thought that gaining financial freedom allows you to spend freely which is entirely wrong. As mentioned, you do not spend more than you earn. You do not want to trap yourself with debts or long term instalments with interest accumulating over the months or years. The worst outcome of unplanned spending could lead you to bankruptcy.

Most importantly, learn to plan your spending. Not buying on impulse or shop for things you do not need. Differentiate between things that you want and the things you need. Focusing on the point again – you do not spend more than you earn.

1.4 Opportunities around us

Many a times, we feel that having a fixed or little income is just not enough to sustain your daily needs. There is so much more things to pursue in life.

Get rids of the “wants”. Knowing what your “needs” are. With difficulty maintaining your “needs”, there is no way to sustain your “wants”.

Plan those “extras” you have saved for a good use by using it to generate more revenue. There are many ways to do it.

E.g. putting your money in a good savings, insurance or investment plan, investing in business opportunities, Google AdSense or AdWords if you have your business or contents online (e.g. blog), etc…

1.5 The road to achieving financial freedom

Never stop planning for your future. For your children and their education, your retirement, savings and investments, etc…

Get rid of credit cards to avoid debt, unless you have calculated and planned for your expenses before using the card, making partial or minimum payment will incur finance charges levied by banks, hence putting you further in debt!

Control the spending. One tip is to set a lower credit limit for your credit card, allowing you to spend no more than the credit limit amount.

Try to be on budget in every possible way and do it for long term. You will be surprised with the “extras” you can save. Always spend less than you earn.

1.6 A personal opinion

Never give up. Persevere. Plan, Plan, and Plan! Look out for opportunities around you. I wish you all the best and may the road to obtaining your financial freedom be successful.

Perhaps not many people regularly read non-fiction, especially when it might appear to emanate from academic sources. Thus a title such as Development As Freedom by Amartya Sen, if encountered on a book browse, might suffer immediate and regrettable rejection. Subjects such as international politics, economic change and human development considered via the writings of a Nobel Prize winning economist might not suggest bedtime reading. But read again! And preferably read many times, for this book surely places the word ‘human’ at the heart of the development process and, because of that, is not only readable, it is an absolute joy.

Sen’s argument is simply encapsulated in the book’s title. As human beings change and as the societies in which they live transform, development can be measured, certainly perceived, and possibly achieved via greater life expectancy, access to education, improved gender and social equality, increasing population, technological progress, access to health care and a host of other life enhancing and enriching phenomena that all of us now seem to take for granted, bur, perhaps paradoxically, few societies actually achieve.

But for Sen, and this is the truly optimistic core of the book’s message, is that all of these identifiable and measurable phenomena are mere effects of a more fundamental cause. Development, for Amartya Sen, is about increasing human freedom. The concept includes freedom of choice, freedom to participate, freedom to express and in fact any freedom that might be exercised by an individual or community in the context of enhancing, not undermining, the wider social groups or societies in which the people live. There is undeniably something wider called society and it is thus society’s role to evaluate policy and practice to ensure that social and economic change enhance the sum of freedoms that people can claim.

But let it also be clear that this is no neo-liberal, individuality-is-God, markets-know-best diatribe. Development As Freedom is a concise, sometimes intense, but always sympathetic look at various aspects of economic and social change and the generality of development policy that can stimulate it. The point is that the human race and the societies in which it lives make progress for the common good when participation is widened, when inclusion rather than exclusion is the goal, when the whole range of human potential, rather than that of an elite in restricted roles, is allowed to blossom. And it is this overall message that makes the book such a positive and enriching experience.

Early on in the book, Sen sums up his approach by saying that “Poverty can be sensibly defined as capability deprivation… ” and thus that the alleviation of poverty, in all its manifestations, allows human beings to develop whatever capabilities they might have, capabilities that would otherwise never be realised. Furthermore, greater social equality is more likely to provide opportunity for the development of this human potential than any other route.

In making his case, Amartya Sen deals the occasional body blow to a few nostrums. Reassessing Adam Smith from the original, Sen identifies that the original intellectual arguments on markets were at least partly aimed at countering the power and influence entrenched interests of the time. Now those would have certainly arisen out of the previous century’s tendency to grant and support monopolies. Sen thus casts Smith as least partly as a moderniser, who wanted to transform economic structures in order to transform society as he knew it. He also finds in Smith an admission that opportunity might have more to do with birthright than ability, or even availability of educational facilities. The champion of the market principle, as we now know him, is here not seen to claim that markets in themselves will always provide the most effective or efficient basis for economic interaction.

Sen also illustrates how so-called free markets might not work to the advantage of the majority. He cites an example of a Pareto-efficient system in which 1000 people each give up one dollar, without caring too much about the transaction. One person pockets the thousand dollars as profit and will clearly fight hard to retain such privileged status. When opinion about how the society transacts, it is likely that the individual who profits will speak loudly to maintain the status quo and, given the status of economic success, the person will also have access to the modes of expression needed. The thousand do, however, have the right to vote and so democracy is at the core of any approach to enhance freedom, but to be effective it has to function. Sen reminds us that there has never in human history been a famine in any democratic society with a free press.

Since development, in Sen’s vision, is about developing the capabilities of all people, it is clear that human development as a goal is first and foremost an ally of the poor, rather than the rich and powerful. Modernisation theory is thus merely a starting point for the process as Sen envisages it. But beyond this beginning it must continue until participation is increased and real democracy is achieved. Policy and practice should be continually evaluated to ensure the proper spread and effectiveness of their goals. Development As Freedom is much more than a description of what we are and from where we have come. It is nothing less than a far-sighted and clear prescription for political practice and provides a yardstick we might use to evaluate it.

Synopsis of Content:

Orman addresses nine approaches to financial management in this book. She calls them steps but they are really more like considerations or approaches. Over all her book is a melding of spirituality, self help, psychology and money management. Step 1 for example discusses how your past can affect the way you manage money or fail to do so. Following that Step 2 addresses your fears and money and Step 3 suggests you need to be honest with yourself to manage money correctly.

Steps 4 – 6 are what Orman calls the “must-dos”. They include being responsible to yourself and others by being careful with your money; respecting yourself and others by managing money intentionally; and trusting yourself to manage money rather than just placing it all in the hands of someone else.

In Steps 7 – 9 Orman delves more into what may be called the spiritual side of money or her interpretation of that. She discusses the need to be open to have all you deserve and to understand the natural ebb and flow of money.

At times it is difficult to know whether Orman is a therapist, psychologist, financial planner or spiritual teacher. The fault of this book is that her efforts to be all of these make her least effective as any of them. There is nothing about the fundamentals of investing and financial planning new in this book. If you like Orman’s “spiritual” approach to finance you may well like this. If you are not impressed by that approach you will be disappointed in this book. It is certainly not a foundation book to use in developing your financial plan.

Readability/Writing Quality:

Orman writes well. She uses lots of stories and illustrations from her life and the lives of clients to illustrate her points. Her text is well organized although some chapters seem to bleed into one another.

Notes on Author:

Suze Orman is a Certified Financial Planner who started as a stock broker with Merrill Lynch. She left there to form her own financial consulting company. She has published a number of books on financial planning and investing, has been on numerous TV programs and has appeared in magazines. She is a popular public speaker.

Related Website:

Suze Orman’s website: suzeorman.com.

Three Great Ideas You Can Use:

1. Use Orman’s 9 steps to financial freedom and other resources to free yourself from financial advisors – you are the best person to guide your own financial program.

2. Your past holds keys to your habits and fears regarding how you manage your money – or fail to. You need to look at your life and past events and how they have affected the way you view and handle money.

3. Once you understand your fears and why you have the relationship with money that you do have you need to take charge of your financial life by changing those habits and fears and controlling your money.

Publication Information:

The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman

(c)1997 and 2006 by Suze Orman

Published by Three Rivers Press / Crown Publishing Group / Random House

Rating for this Book:

Overall Rating:

Good

Writing Style:

Very Good

Application:

Useful

Technical Difficulty:

Easy

I recently heard from a wife whose husband had told her that he had decided that he wanted to be “free” and was going to pursue a separation or a divorce. The husband was giving her all sort of broad excuses such as he felt that the “responsibility and lack of freedom” in the marriage was suffocating him and bringing him down. He was describing the marriage as something that was oppressive and detrimental to his happiness and well being.

This wasn’t the way that the wife saw things. Sure, they had their problems. She wasn’t trying to deny that, but she felt that their problems were typical of many adults. Yes, they worked hard to pay the bills and care for their children and their parents, whom had health problems. It wasn’t always a picnic, but the wife had never thought of running away or demanding her freedom. She said in part: “there are days when I feel tied down too. My obligations aren’t always that much fun. But I would never turn my back on my family and walk away. I have no idea how to respond to him because I’m so angry. But I know it’s not a good idea to lash out at him. Still, I’m so disappointed in him right now, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want a divorce but I certainly don’t want for him to see me as a ball and chain.”

In the following article, I’ll discuss some of the insights I shared with the wife in this difficult situation.

Sometimes When A Husband Says He Wants His Freedom, He Really Just Wants A Temporary Break: It can be very hard to hear your husband say that he wants his freedom from you, as though you’re something undesirable that he must escape. Sometimes though, people say things in the heat of the moment and are later regretful of this and don’t feel nearly as strongly.

Admittedly, the family in this situation had been under a great deal of stress. Both of the couples’ parents had serious heath issues that required a lot of care. The wife herself admitted that she herself often wanted a break also. It’s possible that this situation could have contributed to the husband’s outburst and request for freedom. And, it was possible that when he had some time to reflect, he might realize that he’d acted too abruptly or harshly. That’s why, in situations such as these, I often suggest willingly offering a break or some time away. Because many times, the spouse is going to take it anyway. But, you put yourself in a much better situation if you don’t argue or react negatively when it may not make a difference anyway.

Sometimes, a break can do every one some good. “Freedom” may have been a selfish word on the part of the husband, but “break” is often one that is much more palatable and can be most certainly worth a try. There’s nothing wrong with telling your spouse that you encourage both of you taking some time away to reflect and see if things look differently and hopefully, better.

Staying Positive During This Process, During Any Break, Or When Your Husband Demands His Freedom: I completely understood the wife’s panic, anger, and sadness in this situation. The whole thing felt like one huge rejection at a time when she needed her husband’s support the most. She was struggling too, but you didn’t see her walking away. The thing is, there’s a real risk with giving in to negative emotions like fear, resentment, and doubt which typically only makes things worse.

Sometimes, as hard as it is, the best thing that you can do is to try to take care of yourself and remain positive. As easy as it would be for the wife to lash out at the husband, this would get her further away from what she wanted. But if she agreed that some time and space might help them both and improve the situation, she would put herself in a much better situation should the husband realize his selfishness and change his mind.

Because, things were still extremely early in this process. There was no need to panic and make things worse. If handled correctly, this may have been a wake up call to try to manage the stress of the situation and the lighten the load of both the wife and her husband. In truth, they could both be a great deal of support to one another if the situation was able to turn around. But, that wasn’t as likely to happen if the wife drew upon negative emotions.

In situations as this one, it’s so important to care for yourself and to try to appear as positive as you possibly can. Giving the husband (and herself) some space and taking a step back could well turn out to be a good move. And, it appeared the break was going to happen anyway. She may as well have put herself in a favorable light in the mean time. Sometimes, this makes all the difference. And this situation can sometimes bring your attention to the things that most need to change. This can sometimes be a good thing because it can bring above improvements that can transform your marriage.

Introduction – Nature & Definition

Human life needs multiple things for survival and growth such as food, cloth, shelter, vehicles, knowledge, and skills. Generally, the needed items are acquired through spending some money units on it. Apparently, the plentiful availability of money units for buying required things gives financial freedom to an individual; on the contrary, the scarcity of money units for purchasing necessary items may lead someone towards financial dependence/financial subjugation. Realistically, it is livelihood that gives financial freedom to an individual.

A person having livelihoods enjoys financial freedom. What is livelihood? In 1991 Robert Chambers and Gordon Conway provided the first elaborated definition of the livelihood, “A livelihood is a mean of making a living. It encompasses people’s capabilities, assets, income and activities required to secure the necessities of life.” In addition, they proposed the concept of sustainable livelihood, “A livelihood is sustainable when it enables people to cope with and recover from shocks and stresses (such as natural disasters and economic or social upheavals) and enhance their well-being and that of future generations without undermining the natural environment or resource base.” In nutshell, for financially independent people, the livelihood or income from assets or job or business is greater than expenses and the earning stream is stable.

Absence of livelihood means financial dependence. It happens on account of two reasons – personal & interactive. At personal level, the very negation of independent life-pattern is cause of meager livelihood. At interactive level, the utter denial of interdependent life-pattern is reason behind insufficient livelihood. Financial freedom is the state of having sufficient personal wealth/income to buy independently needed items and desired goods/services.

Achieving Financial Freedom

Financial freedom is prerogative of every economic agent. An economic agent is one who is regularly involved in earning activities such as job, import, export, manufacturing, teaching, training and consulting. A successful economic agent designs SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound) financial goals. There are five steps procedure for setting and achieving financial goals:

1. Define exactly what you want in each area of your life; for example, specify the savings for children / old age or income generating assets. The optimistic view towards life is vital for effective specification of financial targets. (Specific Mindset towards Paraphernalia of Life)

2. Go for only the measurable financial targets, for example, it is wrong to chase richness without exact specification of income stream. Write down the necessary actions or work plan in order to realize the measurable goals. Prepare work plan/action plan clearly, meticulously and concisely. (Measuring Mindset towards Execution)

3. Now you have made a list of every-action you might think crucial in attaining your goals. Take actions immediately, it is decisively important. (Attainment is outcome of Proactive Behavior)

4. Realize something every day that moves you towards the realization of your goals. You may encounter hurdles, detractors and limitations. Manage them wisely and maintain momentum and morale during upcoming situations or challenges. (Consistent Behavior towards Realistic Targets)

5. Set a definite deadline for tasks. If it is a long-run goal, break it down into sub-deadlines and organize the items in proper sequence and priority. It is utmost important to follow the maxim, put first thing first. A goal may be unachievable on account of some reasons, revisit the goals to avoid wasted efforts. Abandonment is, sometime, a best strategy towards various surreal targets. Right abandonment saves money, efforts and time for some realizable goals. (Time Efficient Behavior)

Absolute Bases of Financial Freedom

Human beings are epitome of Divine Scheme of Creation. God bestowed us many powers, latent and patent, to enjoy life and to conquer His universe for the benefit of humanity. The ingrained productive capacity of earning is natural gift of God. The natural productive capacity can adopt three routes through proper nourishment, i.e., entrepreneurship, consultancy, and workmanship. Workmanship is the ability of an individual to accomplish an economic work, efficiently. Consultancy is the capacity to provide professional advice/workable idea to someone on economic work, honestly. Entrepreneurship is the ability of an individual to innovate/realize business idea, effectively. The innate productive capacity is wasted or damaged on account of wrong beliefs or heinous crimes, whatever may be the reason, conceptual or practical, the dormant or depleted productive capacity can be regained or replenished through concerted economic efforts and earning skills. The prominent replenishing tools are learning of new earning techniques, application of acquired skills for earning and networking with relevant people or institutions. In nutshell, it is learning, earning and networking during economic struggle. An important dimension of productive skills is investment talent, it is unavoidable for business. However, the investment talent is not natural productive capacity rather it is based on earned capital and offshoot of natural productive capacities i.e., entrepreneurship, consultancy, and workmanship. An effective investor is supportive during multiple financial crises, pragmatic towards business opportunities and precise towards accounting works of a business.

Major Path Hurdles during Financial Struggle

A work for monetary benefits is called economic work; it gives monetary independence to individuals. Economic works are countless. The very selection of a definite economic work depends on personal choice of an economic agent. In addition, the financial Intelligence is required to accomplish multiple economic works, successfully. Financial intelligence is an ability to differentiate between possible economic opportunities and economic threats. Generally, an economic work realizes stipulated money units for personal use. An effective economic work must demands three vital steps – acquisition of financial education, aspiration of financial goals, and application of financial techniques for financial goals. The major path hurdles during an economic struggle are – financial idealism, in-discipline, fear of failure, get rich quick mentality and procrastination.

Concluding Remarks

The road towards financial freedom is dominantly sustainable livelihood. The decisive personality elements of financial sovereignty are moral sense, independent mindset and interactive behavior. The aforementioned personality traits attract financial independence. Financial independence means effective planning, strategic execution and patience in struggle till logical outcome of struggle is not appeared.

When I hear the positive thinking gurus – many of whom I hold in high esteem – speak on their topic, they often ignore a fundamental component of positive, empowered thinking. That component is freedom. Sometimes, in the rush to tie positive thinking to tangible benefits, they can sound like the NASA administrator looking for congressional funding for some program. They promise health, wealth, and happiness in return for your efforts.

The result of positive, empowered thinking might, indeed, be that you are healthier, happier, or wealthier, but the real benefit is that you are a free, empowered person.

Has it ever occurred to you that positive thinking is a freedom issue? What could be more freeing than the ability to command your own thought processes and use them to build the life you want? The power to think for oneself has been among the fundamental battles of humankind from the beginning. Since time immemorial rulers, religious bodies, or “the group” have sought to limit the power of the individual to think his or her own thoughts.

Our mainstream culture, in a nation that supposedly values freedom, demonstrates a consistent pattern of assault on that ability. The pressure is to conform and think like everyone else. The empowered, positive-thinking person always has the ability to override the external chatter and focus on creating the thoughts, words, and actions that best suits his or her needs. In short, these people have the power to create life rather than react to it.

Negative thinking, which is really synonymous with not having command of your own thoughts, is extremely disempowering – even debilitating. Why? Think about when a negative thought comes to mind. The emotions and feelings associated with the thought start to rise. Who is in control at that moment; you or the negative thought?

The fact is that people who think for themselves (i.e. positive, empowered people) are independent, capable individuals who can achieve just about anything. People who allow societal norms or other people to do their thinking for them (i.e. negative thinkers) quickly become dependent and unable to move forward in their lives.

This principle can be applied to any area of your life. If you want to be a better football player, is thinking positively or negatively about your skills more likely to get you there? How about being a better spouse or a better sales person?

When looked at in this vein it becomes clear that the ability to develop, manage, and maintain your own thinking tends towards greater personal freedom. That freedom is the basis on which greater achievement is possible.

Outdated or self-limiting beliefs cause both conscious and sub-conscious self-sabotaging thoughts, emotions and actions.

Each time we stop ourselves from following guidance, we cause more lack and delay which in turn causes more fear and doubt. It is a vicious cycle of hope and disappointment in ourselves and in the outcome of our goals, on our way to realizing our dreams of fulfilling our purpose full-out and all-in.

We — each and every one of us — came here with a purpose to make a difference helping others. And yet, many of us — sometimes this includes me — forget to start with ourselves.

In the course of my work, I meet and connect with so many amazing women. It saddens me that so many women — and some men — simply neglect themselves.

They give to everyone else but don’t even think about making themselves a priority in their own life.

The thing is, when we make time to nurture and heal ourselves first, we can actually help others in a much bigger and more expansive way than we could possibly imagine.

So, here’s how freedom, the freedom to choose, becomes an essential key to unlocking more of our unique brilliance to fulfilling our purpose.

Simply making a decision to choose to feel and think differently shifts everything on multiple levels. I know and believe this to be truth and yet, I do find that Ego-chitter chatter will start raising objections, causing resistance.

Fear and doubt are the primary emotions that cause lack and delay, keeping us in what I refer to as the “stay stuck zone,” holding prosperity and abundance in all forms, just out of reach.

Being able to accept the concept of decision making as the foundation for lasting transformation as real is the first step in choosing freedom from all forms of lack and delay.

The Angel of Freedom, Nisroc, helps us breakthrough negative mind-sets and beliefs that stop us from moving forward, allowing us to see, thing and feel differently about who we are and what we came here to do.

It’s about choosing self-mastery over fear and doubt caused by Ego-chitter chatter, raising our inner-vibration. Each time we make a decision to take that next step or change or thoughts, we create space to step into more of our truth and step out of the “stay stuck zone.”

Ask Nisroc to help you rise above fear and doubt, to re-focus thoughts that help you instead if hinder you. Ask for help to break free from being like everyone else.

Be willing to stand out and away from the masses of unawakened, following your unique pathway, fulfilling your purpose and making a difference in a way only you can.

Choosing freedom is essential to transcending challenges and obstacles that cause congestion in your solar Plexus, blocking effortless manifestation, which in turn causes more lack and delay, closing your Heart-Center.

Believing in your natural ability to choose a new reality is as simple or as complicated as we make it.