The Flu, the Farm, and a Metafiscal Lesson

Written by Barbara Huson

“Wanna make God laugh? Tell Her your plans”–anonymous

I haven’t blogged for 2 weeks. Hell, I haven’t done anything for 2 weeks. Except see the doctor. Who told me I had the flu…and to stay in bed.

What?? Stay in bed??? I had important things to do!!! I had a teleclass coming up. A retreat to market. A speech to write. An interview scheduled. Clients to coach. I had no time for the damn flu!!!

Yet here I am, still in bed, bemoaning my fate, but too weak to do anything.

Then my mind traveled back to my last visit with my daughter, the farmer, just last month.

The week I was there, the seedlings that Anna and others had started were sprouting. It was time to plant them in the fields. The baby chicks were now mature hens. It was time to move them to bigger quarters.

But nature had other plans. It poured. And rain was forecast for the next few days.

You can’t plant when it rains, Anna explained, because the wet fields are too fragile. And the ground was too wet to drive the truck to the other henhouse.

Here they were, all geared up to do both. I watched in awe at what happened next. No one got uptight. No one cursed nature. No teeth were mashing or hands wringing.

Instead, the farm owner shrugged his shoulders, and said: “Enjoy the down time.” (What a concept!)

We found other things to do. (I say ‘we’ because, by then, I’d been recruited into the workforce.) We cleaned the eggs. We did outreach. One woman made a delicious apple crisp. Another couple worked on a brochure. We had a scrumptious stir-fry, loaded with freshly picked veggies.

What really struck me: everyone seemed grounded in a deep sense of faith–a respect for nature’s timing, a deference to forces out of their control, a trust in a higher order–that was so strong, they were able to dispense with their plans, embrace the delays, go with the flow and enjoy the whole process….with nary a complaint.

As I remembered this scene, I immediately saw the lesson.

Instead of fighting the current, why don’t I just kick back and relish the ride…even if it feels like I’m going nowhere?

I’ve written so much about surrender in this blog (Sweet Surrender) I guess I thought it was a onetime event. But I’m beginning to see…. the Universe has its own sense of timing. Instead of trying to out-control the cosmos, I’m going to lie back, let life unfold, delight in the downtime and do what comes next. In this case, I think I’ll write a blog!

Confessions from a Metafiscal Teacher

Written by Barbara Huson

I have a confession to make. Do you know why I teach Sacred Success®? Because that’s what I need to learn. And no one learns more than the teacher. Consider this recent experience.

I had taken on a lot of projects the last few weeks. I was bursting with new ideas, excited to bring each one to fruition.

Yet, I began to feel myself slowly, subtly, almost imperceptibly slipping into…I couldn’t even say. My enthusiasm waned. I wasn’t as happy. I felt mildly overwhelmed, slightly off kilter. But it made no sense. I loved everything I was doing!

Then I went to visit my daughter, the farmer. There, down on the farm, Mother Nature taught me a mighty lesson: The Power of Pruning.

One of my daughter’s chores was pruning the fruit trees. Last year, the farm had a disappointing crop. The problem was they weren’t pruned enough.

“If you don’t prune back most of the new buds,” Anna explained, “too much of the tree’s energy goes into producing foliage instead of growing fruit.”

Without sufficient pruning, she continued, trees spread themselves too thin, reducing the amount of fruit they bear.

In my world, everything’s a metaphor.

Was I, like a fruit tree, spreading myself too thin? Was I letting too many budding projects sap my creativity, my energy, my focus?

I started wondering: if I cut back my output, would I, in the long term, bear more fruit?

Now we get to my confession. This is exactly what I’ve been teaching in Sacred Success™. Yet (gulp) part of me is scared to cut back. The other part knows I need to.

What do you think? I welcome your advice.

Metafiscal Goes Mainstream (OMG!)

Written by Barbara Huson

Well, I’ll be darn. Is the Wall Street Journal turning Metafiscal?

I open last Saturday’s Journal and there it was… a half page article waxing Metafiscal. Of course, it didn’t use that term. But it certainly preached a major principle. (Read the WSJ article)

According to the article, the biggest super stars swore their stellar success was literally sanctioned by God.

The reporter was focusing on pop singers, pro athletes, and movie stars (who, admittedly, could also be accused of narcissism). Nevertheless, the mega earners I interviewed–who were very successful, just not in the spotlight–told me the very same thing…

…in almost identical words. Talent is important but never underestimate the “motivating power of divine conviction” to stack the odds in your favor.

“Believing that God wants you to be famous,” says the reporter Neil Strauss, “actually improves your chance of being famous.”

On the flip side Strauss discovered, “many equally talented but slightly less famous musicians I interviewed felt their success was accidental or undeserved—and soon after fell out of the limelight.”

This “faith gap,” he says, “is often what sets the merely famous apart from the ridiculously famous. It can make the difference between achieving what’s possible and accomplishing what seems impossible.”

This is precisely how Sacred Success works. And it makes perfect sense. Those with a Divine sense of mission–who believe their marching orders come from a Higher Authority–possess a fire in their belly that makes them unstoppable.

Makes you think, doesn’t it? What is your Divine Purpose? Do you believe you even have one? I’d love you to share your thoughts in the comments below.

If you want to learn more about Sacred Success click here.

A “Metafiscal” Moment!

Written by Barbara Huson

So, I’m on a walk with my good friend, Suzy. We’re talking about metaphysical stuff. Only she mispronounces the word. She calls it: Metafiscal.

Suzy laughs. I shriek! It was a pure light bulb moment.

“Ohmygawd,” I exclaim. “That’s my word. Metafiscal!”

To me, financial success, especially for women, is both a practical process AND a spiritual journey.

Now I have a word to describe it. Metafiscal

Metafiscal (adj)—that which blends financial know-how with metaphysical principles; a melding of the sacred and the mundane in regards to money.

The word perfectly captures the essence of all my teachings, but especially my most recent, Sacred Success™, which I’ve often described as the Wall Street Journal meets A Course in Miracles. Now I’ll just simply say it’s my latest Metafiscal work.

Guess what folks. I am a Metafiscal teacher! Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

4 Steps to Sacred Success

Written by Barbara Huson

I’m back to blogging about Sacred Success® . Though I never actually deviated from it. All my recent posts have directly stemmed from my new discoveries regarding this topic.

Now, however, I’m ready to dive right in and share with you specific steps for achieving Sacred Success.

First, a review for those who never read my post Let me introduce you to Sacred Success

Sacred Success is the next step after overcoming underearning.

Sacred Success is the game being played by women who are making millions (a very different game from the one most successful men are playing).

Sacred Success merges higher incomes with a higher calling.

Sacred Success means following your soul’s path, for your own bliss and the benefit of others, while being richly rewarded .

Sacred Success begins with a strong profit motive, and then requires that you give up profit as your primary goal.

The Primary Goal for Sacred Success is Achieving Greatness.

Sacred Success follows a 4- step process. I can only describe this process as a combination of getting your head clear and your hands dirty, or as an Irish saying puts it: “pray for potatoes with a hoe in your hand.” That pretty much describes the 4 step process, a process that is both sacred and mundane, that is divinely guided while grounded in action.

Here are the 4 steps:

Step 1. Receive consciously, surrendering to what is

Step 2. Pursue your highest purpose according to your deepest truths

Step 3. Exercise Mental Discipline

Step 4. Leave a legacy by modeling Greatness

Stay tuned. I’ll describe each of these steps in upcoming blogs. (I’ve actually discussed Step #1 at length in The Beginners Guide to Surrender-in 6 Simple Steps )

Struggling with Sacred Success? 4 Reasons Why.

Written by Barbara Huson

First a quick review.

**Earlier I wrote about the 3 Levels of Financial Success: Survival, Stability, and Affluence. (see Let me introduce you to Sacred Success )**

The 3rd stage, Affluence, is where most women get stuck. Why? Because once a woman is financially stable, she’s rarely motivated by money.

That means women must approach level 3 with a different mindset—money is no longer the goal; Sacred Success is.

What does that mean? Sacred Success® has 4 Prerequisites, 4 shifts in mindset that must occur. If these 4 traits aren’t firmly intact, your efforts to achieve and maintain affluence will likely become an exercise in struggle:

1. A healthy respect for your value (You’ve had the click—you know you deserve to earn more for no other reason than you’re worth it—without which, Sacred Success is impossible)

2. A healthy respect for money (which means obeying the 4 Rules of Money: Spend Less; Save More; Invest Wisely; Give Generously—in that order!)

3. A strong profit motive (you’ve given yourself permission to prosper without conflict or ambivalence)

4. A willingness to be uncomfortable (you actually welcome discomfort by actively looking for ways to stretch)

Check-in with yourself to make sure these 4 traits are integrated into your thinking. And in the future, whenever you flip into scarcity, feel like you’re stuck or find yourself struggling, immediately revisit these 4 to find the weak link. Sacred Success is not about being perfect…it’s about being persistent.

The Call to Greatness… Have you heard it yet?

Written by Barbara Huson

By mid morning of Day #1 of my retreat, I’d identified the culprit, why I was blah. For 3 years, I’ve been futilely chasing a financial goal. And I wasn’t shy about telling anyone who would listen. If you’ve heard me speak, you’ve heard me say; “My goal is to make millions, help millions, give millions“.

Lofty, I know. But I’ve always prided myself on setting lofty goals and usually achieving them. I often brag that I, a life-long underearner, began making six-figures before I even finished writing my book, “Secrets of Six-Figure Women”. So, it seemed like a no-brainer – I’d write my next book about women making millions. Now, 2 years, 20 interviews, and a string of rejections later, the book’s unwritten, my goal unmet.

I felt frustrated, powerless, and embarrassed. Here I was helping women make more money… and I was nowhere near my 7-figure goal. Even worse, I hadn’t a clue why or what to do about it.

Until that morning… when 3 words struck me like a lightning bolt; “Go for Greatness“. Those words came from somewhere very deep, from something very wise. I grabbed my journal, starting writing.

“Isn’t that what I really want – greatness? I’ve been so focused on achieving fame and fortune, making-millions-helping-millions, but those were goals from my ego. My soul has been begging for something very different. It wanted greatness.”

It just never occurred to me, until then, that there was a distinction. Now, I wondered, what is the difference between greatness and fame? The answer came quickly.

“Fame is the quest for external validation to fill an internal void. Seeking fame is like living on credit… a pretense, an illusion to hide lack and deprivation.

Greatness, on the other hand, is the pursuit of a meaningful, authentic life for your own bliss and the benefit of others.”

It was a Eureka! moment.

Yes, that’s what I crave. It’s not millions. It’s not fame. It’s Greatness! I’d been seeking fame and fortune to justify my worth. But what I genuinely craved were opportunities to fulfill my purpose, live my truth, and make a difference in the world. I still wanted to make more money. But the game had changed… and so had the rules. Yet until that moment, I never even realized it.

I had made a discovery some time back, never applying it to me. I saw that once a woman becomes financially secure and stable, she is no longer motivated by money. Once she has a profit motive firmly intact, financial success turns into a spiritual journey. This new journey is no longer fueled by increased earnings (though that may be a desired outcome). It is fueled by a search for significance, a deep desire to make one’s mark on the world.

That’s what had happened to me, and I didn’t even realize it. Making millions seemed the obvious next step. It felt impressive — it certainly was feeding my ego. What I didn’t realize — my soul was starving. Once I shifted my focus, the blahs vanished, my energy returned. I could almost hear my soul sigh in relief.

I had received the Call to Greatness. And I am convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, women all over the world are receiving the same call. Perhaps, you’re one of them. Perhaps, like me, you don’t quite understand what’s going on.

Let me explain what you may be experiencing. Symptoms of the Call for Greatness include: restlessness, feeling stuck, anxiety, yearning, frustration, or, like me, the ‘blahs’. These symptoms are indicator lights, sending a message; You’re ready to move into the New Game of Money. This new game is called Going for Greatness. The point is no longer overcoming anything. You’ve already done that. It’s now about becoming all you can be.

In my next blog, I’ll say more about Greatness in much greater depth. Stay tuned!

Barbara Stanny

The leading authority on women & money
[email protected]
www.barbarastanny.com

https://www.barbara-huson.com/inner-circle-join.html

Twitter Barbara at: http://twitter.com/barbarastanny

The Guide To Greatness

Written by Barbara Huson

Day 2 of my retreat had me curled up on the cozy window seat, staring at the water, pondering what Greatness actually means. This was not something I’d given a lot of thought to in the past.

Still, I figured I should know. My father had achieved Greatness. Not because he co-founded a famous company. But because he made it possible for large numbers of people to get quality tax preparation for a fraction of the price. I grew up with Greatness. I saw it every day, living, breathing, expanding, succeeding. As I started reviewing what my father showed me, I came up with a formula for Achieving Greatness:

1. Greatness refuses to be limited or controlled in any way by fear. (Fear is to greatness what ants are to a picnic… annoying, inevitable, and best ignored)

2. Greatness follows ideas that come from seemingly nowhere.

3. Greatness doesn’t act alone. It has partners, collaborators, a team.

4. Greatness is humble, not to be confused with Grandiosity. Grandiosity comes from the ego and is; as A Course in Miracles tells us, “always a cover for despair.” Greatness is sourced from the soul and is always a desire to do what it came to earth to do.

5. Greatness sees the world as it’s playground and every problem as part of The Game… a lawsuit is no more serious that misplacing a stapler.

6. Greatness takes its mission (not itself) very seriously, and always puts that mission first.

7. Greatness truly enjoys Greatness, not just for itself, but for its positive effect on others.

8. Greatness is not out for money or fame. Fame may occur or not — it’s totally irrelevant. But money is mandatory… sufficient income is necessary to eliminate any distractions for achieving its goals.

9. Greatness isn’t perfect, and is more than willing not to be. Greatness feeds on self trust (the definition to self-trust: knowing you can clean up what you mess up!).

10. When pain enters Greatness, it’s meant to be a wake-up call.

11. Greatness is kind, but tough, and politely endures criticism. While Greatness doesn’t need be liked, it demands to be respected.

12. The Arc of Greatness involves many mistakes, failures, wrong turns… they are the steppingstones to Greatness.

13. Greatness is passion made manifest. The biggest pitfall to Greatness – doing what you should vs. what you love.

14. Greatness requires responsibility, rejects mediocrity, and resides in the unknown.

15. When Greatness dies, it doesn’t go away. Greatness always leaves behind witnesses.

Woody Allen had it right when he said: “The only thing standing between Greatness and me, is me.”

Coming next: Getting out of the way of Greatness.

Barbara Stanny

The leading authority on women & money
[email protected]
www.barbarastanny.com
360.385.0600

Twitter Barbara at: http://twitter.com/barbarastanny

Sacred Success Category

The Flu, the Farm, and a Metafiscal Lesson

Confessions from a Metafiscal Teacher

Metafiscal Goes Mainstream (OMG!)

A “Metafiscal” Moment!

4 Steps to Sacred Success

Struggling with Sacred Success? 4 Reasons Why.

**Earlier I wrote about the 3 Levels of Financial Success: Survival, Stability, and Affluence. (see Let me introduce you to Sacred Success )**

The Call to Greatness… Have you heard it yet?

The Guide To Greatness

Meet Barbara Huson

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