Harmonic Wealth
The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want
I really enjoyed this book when I read it and I was saddened by the tragic events at one of James Arthur Ray’s events years later. We’ve kept this Note in our collection because a) the Ideas in the book are great and b) I think it’s important to never (!) put anyone into an absolute guru position while ALWAYS (!) trusting ourselves as our primary teachers.
Big Ideas
- Five Pillars of WealthFinancial, Relational, Mental, Physical, Spiritual.
- Why Balance Is BogusGo for harmony!
- Going “3 for 3”Thoughts/feelings/actions.
- How Are Your Results?All that matters.
- Ceiling SurfersAre you one? :)
- Who Will YouHave to become?
- Tough Grapes:Fine wines & your life.
- Blessings, Curses& Opportunities.
- Gestation PeriodsEverything has one.
- Are You a “Now”Or “later” person?
- What Do You DoFor fun?
- Your Future-PullIs beckoning.
“Maybe you know people who make millions of dollars a year but don’t have fulfilling relationships or good health. Or people who spend their lives committed to religion or spirituality, literally touching the divine, but have holes in their shoes. We all know people who have razor-sharp intellects but are out of shape and out of touch. There’s a much more integrated, fulfilling way to live: I call it Harmonic Wealth.”
~ James Arthur Ray from Harmonic Wealth
James Arthur Ray is a funny dood. I love laughing out loud reading a book on how to live my greatest life. :)
You might remember James from The Secret or his time on Larry King and/or Oprah. He’s the son of a Protestant minister and former top sales trainer at AT&T who’s done a whole lotta exploring—from quantum physics to shamanism. Super passionate guy with a cool look at how we can rock it.
Harmonic Wealth is all about harmonizing the “Five Pillars of Wealth”: Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical and Spiritual.
The book is packed with Big Ideas.
We’re gonna kick this party off with a look at the Five Pillars of Harmonic Wealth then we’ll explore how to “Go 3 for 3,” meet ceiling surfers (don’t be one, please :), learn from the strong grapes that make fine wines and have fun with other such goodness. :)
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Get the BookThe Five Pillars of Wealth
“The Five Pillars of Wealth: Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical, and Spiritual. Without these five pillars, you might be rich, but you’ll never be wealthy. Interestingly enough, I’ve found that the more you reach this state of true wealth, the more money rushes to you—and all that money can provide. The universe is at your command and lines up in joyous support of your awakening.”
The essence of “Harmonic Wealth” is the idea that we need to have “harmony” between the different areas of our lives.
Think of a great symphony—you’ve got the musicians playing different instruments and it’s the harmony among them that makes for an outstanding performance. Same thing with our lives!
If we don’t have the Five Pillars (Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical, and Spiritual) harmonized, it’s like we’re at a REALLY bad concert. :)
James continues: “Understand that your pillars are interdependent: When you attend to each of them, all increase in strength. When you take care of your health by working out regularly and eating well, you create multiple benefits. Sexual relationships become enhanced by your greater confidence and stamina. Business booms from your increased energy. You’re more alert and receptive in spiritual pursuits. You’re more alive. Similarly, spiritual growth translates to deepening intimacy in friendships and romantic relationships, fueling your desire to keep up with your physical exercise.”
There ya go. Five Pillars. Take care of one and you see the music come alive in another.
He also makes the important distinction that they WILL NOT all be equally strong all the time. You wanna make sure you’re tending to each all the time, but sometimes you’ll choose to give one or two more of your attention than others.
That’s all good. Dance with the music, harmonize ‘em and rock on.
Why Balance Is Bogus
“I’m a great believer in harmony, but balance is bogus. Many teachers talk about balance, and guess what? Not one of them is balanced. I know; I used to be one of them. The only people who are perfectly balanced are six feet under and it’s not your time yet. Balance in this world cannot be achieved, so get over it. Think of a scale. In perfect balance, nothing’s happening. There’s no dynamism, no life or vibrancy. Now, think of a jazz band in action—the life and vibrancy are palpable, aren’t they? The performers in this band have less to do with playing the melody as written and more to do with improvising. They give life to nuance and the music takes shape in the moment. That’s harmony.”
I love that.
Balance is bogus. Osho (see Notes on The Book of Understanding) tells us that balance is not a NOUN, it’s a VERB.
He says: “To be in the middle is not a static state, it is a dynamic phenomenon. Balance is not a noun, it is a verb; it is balancing. The tightrope-walker continuously moves from the left to the right, from the right to the left. When he feels now he has moved too much to one side and there is danger of falling, he immediately balances himself by moving to the opposite side. In passing from the left to the right, yes, there is a moment when the tightrope-walker is in the middle. And again, when he has moved too much to the right and there is a fear of falling, he is losing balance, he starts moving to the left and again passes through the middle for a moment.”
Imagine that: you’re walking across a tightrope. A little to the left, a little to the right. There’s a moment when you’re in the middle, but the process is DYNAMIC. Such is life.
Throw in the complexity of all the aspects of our lives (see the Five Pillars above!) and life looks more like a jazz band than a balancing scale, eh?
So, let’s forget about “balance” and get our harmony on, yo!!! :)
Going “3 for 3”
“We’ll reveal how, with Harmonic Wealth, you can create true wealth by going 3 for 3 in the five main areas of life. Going ‘3 for 3’ is what happens when your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions are all firing simultaneously and in alignment.”
I remember seeing James on Larry King Live talking about “Going 3 for 3” and I dug it.
His idea is simple and really powerful. Basically, it’s not enough to have your thoughts on an intention or goal. It’s not enough to feel into the outcome and live from that joy. It’s not enough to just do it. As he says, we have to go 3 for 3!
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says pretty much the same thing in his great book, Flow (see Notes): “Someone who knows his desires and works with purpose to achieve them is a person whose feelings, thoughts, and actions are congruent with one another, and is therefore a person who has achieved inner harmony.”
Our thoughts, feelings, and actions need to align for us to live our greatest lives and experience all we’re destined to rock.
How Are Your Results?
“You may be able to tap into every theory in quantum physics, spirituality, psychology, philosophy, or anything else that can teach you about accessing your power, but if you can’t use that power to create results in your life, it’s pointless, useless, a total waste of time.”
Well that gets straight to the point, eh? :)
As we discuss again and again in these Notes, it’s NOT about being able to talk about all these great ideas. It’s about LIVING them. And, ultimately, producing the results that demonstrate our mastery of the ideas!
Another cool idea on this theme: “Your current level of results, your appearances, are nothing more than the residual outcome of your past thoughts, feelings, and actions.”
Our current results don’t reflect who we ARE, they reflect who were WERE. So, no need to get all up in your stuff. You are where you are and your results simply reveal who you were. Now rock it for five years and then see what you’re results look like. :)
Are You a Ceiling Surfer?
“Others swing too far into the quantum world and become what I call “ceiling surfers.” I once had lunch with someone who announced he was going to transform the molecules of his pizza into a salad. Give me a break! That’s taking a principle so far it becomes ridiculous. It will bring you nothing but disappointment.”
“Ceiling surfer.” Hilarious.
That’s what James calls those among us who have gone just a *little* too far into the “ascending” spiritual realm—trying to transcend and EXCLUDE (rather than transcend and INCLUDE) the ego/material realm and, in the process, float up to the ceiling and get a little (or a lot) ungrounded and unplugged from reality.
The key, obviously, is to INTEGRATE the ascending spiritual principles with physical laws of our universe. Check out my Notes on Ken Wilber for a bit more on the importance of saying “Yes, and” and not getting caught up in the silliness of going “Either/or”! :)
Who Will You Have to Become?
“I remember years ago hearing one of my mentors say, “Decide to be a millionaire, not for the green slips of paper, but for who you’ll have to become to get there.” That’s what we’re doing together—expanding who you are in all of the key areas of your life so that you’ll grow into the person who can create all that you desire. It’s really not the goal completion, but the growth that comes in the process that your spiritual self truly desires. I promise, you’ll never “get” a desire, a true desire for something you can’t achieve. Never have, never will. When you get a real desire, it’s your Higher Self saying, C’mon, this is what you’re capable of; this is what I have in store for you. It’s the greater, grander you, echoing backward through time. How cool is that? Now the only question is: Will you heed the call? It was the great mythologist Joseph Campbell who stated, “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” Well, what will it be?”
That’s brilliant. There’s a lot of mojo in that passage!
First: As Tony Robbins (see Notes) says: “Who will you have to become to achieve all you want?” The goals are great, but the REAL beauty of the “future pull” we feel from the universe is the opportunity we have, in the quest to manifest our intentions, to BECOME the extraordinary person we’re destined to be. Fact is, remove the goal and you’ve lost the pull and you’ve lost the opportunity to shine.
Regarding the divine inspiration of our desires: Emerson provides an echo: “There’s nothing capricious in nature, and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it.” (Translated: nature doesn’t play games. If you have the desire you have the ability to bring it to life. Period.)
He continues: “Our desires presage the capacities within us; they are harbingers of what we shall be able to accomplish. What we can do and want to do is projected in our imagination, quite outside ourselves, and into the future. We are attracted to what is already ours in secret. Thus passionate anticipation transforms what is indeed possible into dreamt-for reality.” And, finally: “Do that which is assigned to you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.”
* queue angels singing Hallelujah! *
So, what do you REALLY want in your life?!? Your true desires (the stuff YOU really feel pulled to, not because you want to out-do the Jones’ or impress the world but because you REALLY feel called to be, do, and have it!) aren’t yours. They’re God’s. Our job is to align with that Divine impulse and become the person capable of Co-Creating them.
And, the only relevant question comes from Grandpa Joe Campbell (see Notes): “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.”
(Well, are you? :)
Tough Grapes, Fine Wines Your (Fine) Life
“I recently toured the California wine country, and was fascinated to learn that in winemaking, the grapes are purposely stressed. Growers take care not to give the grapes much water, even though they raise them in full sunshine, purposely keeping shade to a minimum. The stress is intentional; it keeps grapes right on the border between survival and almost collapsing and dying because the grapes that survive the test make the finest wine. There’s a metaphor here: Don’t wish for an easier life. Wish to be at your finest. Just as the finest, most expensive wine comes from the grape that can stand the greatest resistance, you too will grow in direct proportion to the resistance you can sustain.”
So fine wines and fine diamonds are both produced by the amount of pressure they can withstand, eh? Nice.
So are fine lives.
Are you willing to step into the challenge of your own audacity and create the fine wine you’re destined to be? Sweet. Here’s a toast to that! :)
Blessings, Curses & Opportunities
“The person of low awareness sees everything in life in a dualistic perspective, either as a blessing or a curse. The master of life sees all things as opportunities.”
How do you see the world?
Are things either a blessing or a curse? Or, do you see ALL things as opportunities.
It’s ALWAYS up to us how we want to interpret the world. As Shakespeare says: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
Are you seeing something in your life as a curse right now? The economy? A relationship? Your childhood? Whatever it is, elevate your awareness and see the OPPORTUNITY in it!
(Now’s a good time to make that a moment-to-moment practice, btw. :)
Everything Has a Gestation Period
“Everything has a gestation period, a time period that must pass before things will come into form. If you plant a carrot seed, it takes about seven weeks for the sprout to make its above-dirt entrance. Bamboo, which can grow up to thirteen feet in as little as one week, takes up to seven years to break through the surface of the ground. But for seven long years it looks like absolutely nothing’s happening. Now that takes some commitment.”
James talks about the fact that a lot of people get confused with the Law of Attraction and think that it doesn’t work because, the moment they snapped their fingers, it didn’t appear.
Um, yah.
It takes nine months for a baby to gestate. Seven weeks for the carrot seed to sprout and up to SEVEN years for a bamboo seed to push through the surface of the ground.
It takes commitment to bring our highest selves to the world. It DOESN’T happen without a *LOT* of diligent, patient, persistent work.
Are you getting a little impatient with something? Can you appreciate the necessary gestation period a little more and then get back to “Going 3 for 3” as you love the journey? :)
Are You a “Now” Or “Later” Person?
“If I asked you what kind of person you are—a ‘now’ or ‘later’ person—which would you choose? I’ll give you the breakdown. The ‘now’ folks are consistently drawn toward pleasing activities, spending their time getting lost in TV, sex, food, laziness—you know, all the fun-in-the-moment stuff. The ‘later’ group, on the other hand, is drawn toward pleasing results, often engaging in less-than-pleasing activities in the moment. They invest their time in things like going to the gym, working long hours, reading good books, attending personal transformation events, hanging out with people who stretch their thinking, following through, risking, becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. Which of these two groups of people do you think experiences real freedom? Which category do you fall into? Be honest.”
Ah, delayed gratification. It’s a hallmark of emotionally intelligent people.
In his great book, Emotional Intelligence (see Notes), Daniel Goleman describes an experiment in which four-year old kids are left in a room alone and told they can have two marshmallows if they wait for the experimenter to return from an errand. If they can’t wait till then, they can have only one marshmallow, but they can have it now.
Some kids were able to hold off the fifteen to twenty minutes (what must have felt like an eternity!) while others jumped on the one marshmallow—almost always within seconds. What’s fascinating is that their choice revealed a great deal about the trajectory that child would likely take in their lives.
As Goleman says, “There is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse.”
Bottom line: We MUST be able to delay immediate gratification in pursuit of our goals!! So, go for the 2 marshmallows, will ya?!? :)
What Do You Do For Fun?
“People often ask me, ‘What do you do for fun and recreation?’ There’s an unspoken expectation that I come up with a whole list of activities I’m involved in: hiking, camping, going to movies, skiing. But I don’t. The bottom line is that my work is my passion and my re-creation (notice the true meaning of the word). I can think of nothing more fulfilling and re-creating than to meditate, study, read, learn, write, create, help and coach others, talk with you and share insights. When someone asks me, ‘How’s work?’ I can honestly answer, ‘Work is play.’ Work is my prayer and my love made manifest. Every human being who’s ever lived has a hardwired need to be part of something meaningful, to be part of something that’s bigger than this ordinary existence, to contribute some kind of value to the world, to feel like life has meaning and purpose. That’s true for you, too, whether you know it or not.”
Genius.
Maslow (see Notes) talks about the fact that in the healthiest among us, the dichotomy between work and play dissolves.
What do you say when your work IS your play?
And… Is YOUR work your play? (If not, what can you do to make it so?!? :)
Your Future-Pull Is Beckoning
“Your future and your destiny are patiently waiting for you to catch up. Do you hear the call? Your future-pull is beckoning: ‘Come on. Let’s do this! You’re so much more than what you’ve settled for. So much more than what you’re buying into.’”
Me likes. :)
Here’s to our destinies, my friend.
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