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I remember losing my temper for some really trivial reason, being uncharacteristically snappy, together with an unsettling increase in heart palpitations. Getting colds almost every other week and constantly experiencing low energy and lethargy. I’m ashamed to admit, I could even be found checking my email late on Christmas Eve and even when relaxing, not completely switch-off. When moving house, the day the removal men arrived, I was still on my PC! Making sure it was the last thing to be disconnected. Almost every conversation was work related. I would read books whilst watching TV, listen to audios in the shower and even on holiday packed the suitcase with more books/audios than clothes (apart from my ego caressing brands and Ray-Bans).

I attended almost every business and motivational seminar going. I was like a Tasmanian devil; my life became a ‘doing-filled’ whirlwind. I just never stopped. Looking back it was crazy, just crazy. I had the expected fancy cars, country house and decorated my life with designer brands. I was into my image, look and tight t-shirts. Despite having the symbols of success and trinkets of accomplishments, I still felt empty and dissatisfied inside. Hollow and superficial. My life seemed to be nothing more than a cycle of paying debts and taxes, punctuated with the occasional fleeting pleasure and retail or motor-trade fix. I would regularly ask myself “is this all there is?”

I guess you could say I was working crazy-hard because I was being unconsciously driven to avoid the painful memories of my childhood. I was one of 10 children growing up in a council house in Crich, Derbyshire. We had very little money and my father was a freaky disciplinarian who looked after us all when my mother fell ill with MS (Multiple Sclerosis). We lived off dripping (fat and juices from roasted meat), breakfast cereal with watered down milk and tripe (the yucky stomach lining of animals).

I remember the horrible feeling of going to bed hungry almost every night and when bucked up enough courage, daringly sneaking downstairs to steal biscuits for my sisters and me. If I was caught my father would have beaten me into obedience with the buckle of his belt as he’d done to my brothers. But I didn’t have to worry about that, because shortly afterwards a padlock appeared on the cupboard door containing the biscuits. Despite that, he would still count the number of biscuits left in the packet each day.

The other idea I had was to store food in my bedroom, so I would create a stash of rations in the back of the drawer. This worked until I ate the eggs I’d been hiding, giving me an almost fatal dose of salmonella food poisoning. I never really had the proper medical treatment and ceremoniously collapsed on the toilet. I lost 2 stone (28 pounds) in 12 days. My sisters really thought I was done for and for a while, so did I. I had many visions of light and angels whilst unconscious, and silhouettes of shadowy human figures holding hands, although I couldn’t make any sense of it at the time and rarely talked about it.

Now I understand. I asked God, why was I suffering? But then realised this was the only time I’d ever asked God anything! In that moment I had a deep sense of inner peace. I realised the presence of God in your heart eclipses all suffering.

I vowed when I grew up, would never go hungry (or eat raw-eggs) and would have abundance in my life. The problem of course is when the pendulum of destiny swings the other way and you then become a slave to the potential for pain and avoidance of your unconscious memories. In a way you forget some of life’s greatest lessons by getting caught up in the daily rituals of western society:

Get a job or career, earn money, buy things, earn more money, buy more things, get a house, then get a bigger house, consume, conquer, compete, buy even more things, show-off, prove yourself, be accepted, yearn for more, push, shove, struggle, fight, peruse, judge, resent, consume even more, waste increase, waist increase, health decrease, mind disease, frustration, life dissatisfaction, consume more and more, still frustrated, still spiritually constipated, trapped behind the prison bars of success, achievement and the illusion that money is a God. Grow old, get fat, waste life and die!

Mostly the entire western world is caught up in the trap of materialism, ego and glamour obsession. People work hard to try to sustain the illusion of success and achievement only to remain unfulfilled, superficial and empty. There is a shift happening in the world albeit by default, people are no longer willing to tolerate working themselves into an early grave or existing in what I call a “living death.” Which is virtually the same as waking dead! There is more to life than slaving away at a job you hate, a boss you can’t stand and trading your time for money just to keep the wheels spinning.
Our society is full of stressed out workaholics who’s ego have their balls so tight they can hardly walk and schedules so crammed there’s hardly time to take a pee!

With all the social networking to complete, the things to do and the obligations to meet, the stresses and struggles of life can manifest in a plethora of negative expressions. I have nothing against social networking, it has its place. The problem is when it becomes obsessive and compulsive. For many it’s a modern form of ego-massaging. A friend once said “I’ve no time for business; I’m too busy social networking.”

This book is not about debt management or spending plans, although, if you’re in-debt then some financial management and action is required. Ultimately its purpose is to set you free from the destiny of the masses, which is slavery to ‘tick-tock.’ This can only happen when you become more aware of how our culture can trap you into a never ending cycle of work-debt-obligation. This book will teach you how to play and win at the money game and help you liberate yourself from the bondage of control, manipulation by the corporations and the traps of egoic possession.

I know what it’s like to work yourself half to death. I’ve climbed the ladder of success, put in ridiculous hours (all the while, kept telling myself it’s temporary) concentrated to the point where my brain hurts. As I said, I played hard to maintain a lifestyle, a social position and meet my ego’s demands. I’ve done that part, I’ve got the t-shirt! I learned that life was never meant to be a hard labour prison sentence. There are easier, simpler and more rewarding ways to pay the bills and live your life. I created a system for living financially free, meeting all your needs and breaking free of the intensity of the ego’s grip.

BEING RICH DOES NOT MEAN BEING FREE

You see unless you transcend your ego you will be imprisoned forever and never be truly free. I realise whatever you want to do in life takes money and the ultimate leverage of money is having more time, more choice. There is a price for freedom. That’s why I can’t understand these so-called millionaires who seem to be busier than ever and more trapped by their ego’s than they would like to admit. To me money is about freedom, not just being rich, it’s having the time to authentically and wholly enjoy it.

The problem is most rich people are scared of losing their “competitive edge,” disappearing into obscurity and letting go. They have a lot of ego wrapped up inside their career identity. Their live story! They have illusionary positions to defend and status symbols to symbolically polish.

You don’t own anything anyway and everything you have is temporary and part of the ‘one-energy’ on loan from a higher power. Most people in our society are trapped on the giant mouse wheel of life, estranged from the true essence of who they are beyond their job, status and belongings. They are wrapped up in form.

That’s what this book is all about… setting you free from the drudgery, illusion and pain. I want to teach you the system I created and personally use inside this book.

Fox House Publishing 2012

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