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My Money Truth

Here’s the thing… I love MONEY! And not in the gross way… (Yes, there is a gross way… similar to the nerdy boy at school having a big crush on you and fantasizing about kissing you with big duck lips … Ya, that’s just gross… boys… ewwww….yuck…)

This is the thing I’m going to DRIVE HOME TODAY!

YOU ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR MONEY! BOOM! (You had no idea right?!)

And like any relationship, our money needs some TLC! It also loves being told where to go – unlike husbands and children.

This is probably what happened to you growing up: 

• You were told money is dirty and not to touch it.
• You were told money doesn’t grow on trees.
• You were told money is the root of all evil.
• You were told that having lots of money was greedy.
• You were told rich people were crooks.
• You were told there’s not enough money.
• You were or are plagued with guilt deep down for wanting more money.

These are LIMITING MONEY BELIEFS!

They don’t serve you and holding on to these beliefs will definitely not bring you the prosperity you deserve!

So, yes, I DO LOVE MONEY!

It’s not my god or something I obsess about 24-7, but understanding I have a relationship with it, and I need it to function and accomplish my goals in life, so I SEND MY MONEY LOVE. (PS. It’s not a greedy LOVE, it is truly a respecting appreciative LOVE for my money! There is a difference.)

I also PAY ATTENTION to my money. This is something I know SO MANY PEOPLE DON’T do, and it doesn’t take a financial planner to figure that out. Most people I know don’t even know how to calculate their net worth or know how much money they have in their bank accounts. I think it’s part not knowing how do this stuff, and part wanting to turn a blind eye to it and NOT FACE THE MUSIC. Hey, I get it, BLISS sometimes is looking the other way and not having to deal with the SHIT in your life. (Been there, done that! Facing shit SUCKS!)

So there my people, I’m telling it like it is today.

1. Acknowledge you have a relationship with money.
2. Learn to LOVE your money and it will LOVE you back! (This I promise!)
3. Acknowledge your limiting money beliefs.
4. Learn how to get rid of your limiting money beliefs by creating new beliefs.
5. Take control back and TELL YOUR MONEY WHERE TO GO!

I don’t think the podcast/video I did on this yesterday night was this ranty. I used an old shoe as a limiting money belief and a new shoe as the belief you want to have. Out with the old!

So listen up my friends!

IT’S OKAY TO WANT MORE MONEY!

If you want to get more on this and learn the secret (not so secret!) info, then you need to join my NEW FREE Facebook group called STRUT! In there you will get awesome free mini-trainings and resources to help you on your money journey!

If you are logged into your facebook account, CLICK HERE!

It’s time to find your MONEY TRUTHS!

Love & Abundance,

Lisa xoxo

Acres of Diamonds is a story I shared with the women at my conference last weekend. It’s one of my favourites, and when I asked if anyone heard it – no one did. So I knew I had to share this story on my blog.

Acres of Diamonds by Earl Nightingale

The Acres of Diamonds story “a true one” is told of an African farmer who heard tales about other farmers who had made millions by discovering diamond mines. These tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself. He sold the farm and spent the rest of his life wandering the African continent searching unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems that brought such high prices on the markets of the world. Finally, worn out and in a fit of despondency, he threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the man who had bought his farm happened to be crossing the small stream on the property one day, when suddenly there was a bright flash of blue and red light from the stream bottom. He bent down and picked up a stone. It was a good-sized stone, and admiring it, he brought it home and put it on his fireplace mantel as an interesting curiosity.

Several weeks later a visitor picked up the stone, looked closely at it, hefted it in his hand, and nearly fainted. He asked the farmer if he knew what he’d found. When the farmer said, no, that he thought it was a piece of crystal, the visitor told him he had found one of the largest diamonds ever discovered. The farmer had trouble believing that. He told the man that his creek was full of such stones, not all as large as the one on the mantel, but sprinkled generously throughout the creek bottom.

The farm the first farmer had sold, so that he might find a diamond mine, turned out to be one of the most productive diamond mines on the entire African continent.The first farmer had owned, free and clear … acres of diamonds. But he had sold them for practically nothing, in order to look for them elsewhere. The moral is clear: If the first farmer had only taken the time to study and prepare himself to learn what diamonds looked like in their rough state, and to thoroughly explore the property he had before looking elsewhere, all of his wildest dreams would have come true.

The thing about this story that has so profoundly affected millions of people is the idea that each of us is, at this very moment, standing in the middle of our own acres of diamonds. If we had only had the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we’re now engaged, to explore ourselves, we would most likely find the riches we seek, whether they be financial or intangible or both.

Before you go running off to what you think are greener pastures, make sure that your own is not just as green or perhaps even greener. It has been said that if the other guy’s pasture appears to be greener than ours, it’s quite possible that it’s getting better care. Besides, while you’re looking at other pastures, other people are looking at yours.

Here’s the deal my beautiful friends!

Your desires weren’t laid on your heart randomly – they were placed there. They are your desires for a reason. Whatever it is that you desire, follow that nudge! Those nudges and desires are the diamonds you were given.

These last 2 weeks I have been living my dream life. I don’t say this lightly. It’s taken me years of hard consistent work, and also, refining and fine tuning my dreams and most importantly gaining confidence to go out and live those dreams. Taking the “diamonds” that I had all along and bring them out to shine.

Let me tell you how my last 2 weeks went in a nutshell:

• invited on a private trip & tour of Mont Tremblant, QC through work
• went to Holt Renfrew and bought my first pair of Louboutin’s, which were a gift for my Book Launch
• held my book for the first time in my hands
• spoke at a 5-star resort to an amazing group of women on finding your financial bliss
• went running in the mountains and countryside in the crisp sparkling fall air
• read, cleaned, shopped, played, cuddled with my family
• get to celebrate my book with 100 of my most favorite people on the planet at one of my fav chic restaurants
• signed and sold my book to women from all over Alberta
• inspired people to follow and take action on their dreams

By the way, none of this is a fluke. It’s all by design and all dreamed of. I’m blessed and grateful, and I made choices and decisions to make this happen.

(On a side note, not everything went perfect, and I still went through a RANGE of emotions these last 2-weeks. So even with living your dream life, there is still shit that happens. It’s never perfect, and yet it’s so perfect!)

Remember, first, you must dream.

Then second, you must envision, imagine, and paint the picture in your head of the life you want, then do that every day.

Then you gotta journal the crap outta it and be as specific as you can be. Write and re-write your life into reality. Your words will become your reality.****THIS IS THE REAL SECRET TO ACHIEVING ANYTHING YOU WANT!****

Anything you believe you can achieve. No dream is too silly. No dream is too grand.

You know why it’s your responsibility to do this?

Because by living your dream, you inspire others to live theirs. Period.  

So go buy those dream shoes, go make your art, go make a million dollars, go blow your own mind. Then share it! Share it with everyone you meet!

You will make this world a better place! You better believe it!

So it happened yesterday! I saw & held my book in my hand for the first time. (If you missed the facebook video, click here! Although, I’m sure everyone saw it!)

16 Years ago this dream was planted in my head when an old-short-fat-bald man with a small Hitler-like-mustache stood in front of the room and with all the conviction in the world said that “everyone has a great book inside of them.” It was there that the idea was born to write a book. I was 21.

2 years prior to that, at age 19, I never would have wanted to write a book. Not on my radar at all during my teens. I had to beg my English professor at Mount Royal to give me a passing grade and vowed to her that I would never write again, and told her I just needed to get out of this class because (it sucked! lol) it was mandatory to take English 101 for all degrees. I hope when I write I make complete sentences full of those adjectives and verby things. I also hated the business communications class I had to take on how to formalize a business letter, but I’m a good at faking stuff like that.

POKE MY EYES OUT!

Now, I know why I absolutely dreaded English all those years, even back in High School.

It’s so simple.

It’s because I wasn’t engaged. I wasn’t excited about the topic. Nothing was resonating with me.

A business letter rarely resonates with someone. It’s too formal. It doesn’t hit the heart, and it’s just there to sell you something. (Hmmm…  total AHA moment as I’m writing this… Pam, if you are reading this, which you are because I practically force you to read all my blogs, let’s stop our letter campaign and do something else instead! {Pam’s my amazing right-hand, if you didn’t know! She keeps me on the ball!})

Let’s be real for a moment; business letters are so 1960’s!

Here’s the other thing. You can’t sell something you don’t believe in!

You can’t write something to someone unless you believe it, unless it comes from the heart! Otherwise, your personal bull-shit detector goes off internally and you procrastinate because you really don’t want to write that letter, write that book if it’s not coming from a place of authenticity or a place of inspiration.

This is why I didn’t pass English, not because I can’t write, but because at the time I didn’t want to spend my time and energy writing about something that didn’t stir me deep inside and bring me to life.

Years went by. I figured out in 2010 that I didn’t know what I believed in. I had listened to everyone’s theories and every peanut gallery in my life and didn’t really stand for anything myself. I was a people-pleaser extraordinaire! (You can read that blog here. That was a good post on how to fly!)

I finally said enough is enough. I’m a smart girl, grew up, took responsibility for everything, and decided to share my message, no matter how many people disagreed with my view or my ideas.

Then I wrote this book. I totally believe in what I wrote, and sure there are probably a million things I’d change (it’s never perfect!), but overall, my message still stands.

And I realized that even the people that disagree with me (by the way that’s everyone in the world that has different opinions than me!) are still inspired by the fact I wrote a book. I’ve had wonderful old men come up to me and with all the love in the world congratulate me on writing a book, and saying that they wish they did. I tell them that they still have time and that everyone should write a book.

I love that I inspired another human being to find their voice and spark their possibility in the world.

The old men are not my target market at all, because my book is for women for starters, but to have these moments to share and inspire another soul you cross paths with in this world is worth it all! And no one even cares if my book is total shit or not. (It’s not by the way, MY BOOK FREAKIN’ ROCKS!)

So that’s my story for today.

Here I am. Finally meeting my book for the first time and sending it out into the world with massive amounts of LOVE and praying it reaches the shining women in the world that it needs to reach to take one step or one strut closer to a better world. That’s what it’s all about.

Keep writing. Keep on going trekking through the daily shit. Keep inspiring others to be their best. Keep serving with your heart. Keep loving on all the people in your life. And it will be one HELL OF A GOOD LIFE!!

PS!!  You can totally buy my book now!!  YAY!!

Best Price Hardcover at:  http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000027514059/Lisa-Elle-Strut

Buy Paperback at Amazon or Friesen Press Book Store

Buy E-Book at Amazon, Google Play, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo, Nook, etc.  Just search STRUT or LISA ELLE!

Also, if you LOVE my book, please leave a review!

Or if you want a signed copy and you are in Calgary, Alberta on October 27, then come to my book launch! Details at ellementsgroup.com/strut!

This face. This girl. This woman. This is the face of fear.

You don’t believe me right?

I look confident. I may even look like I have it all together. But I have a dark crazy passenger (not Dexter style – thankfully!)

I have been driving around with this mean crazy chick sitting in the back seat of my car.

She comes and goes sometimes. Once, she even took me for a ride. But that was years ago. I’ve learned my lesson – you never let that crazy B anywhere near the steering wheel of your car, especially if you want it back in one piece.

You’ve driven with her too.

Her name is: FEAR. I call her Aunt F. (She’s that obnoxious aunt you just can’t get rid of that boisterously comments on EVERYTHING you’ve ever done, are doing or plan to do!)

I got this analogy from Big Magic (best book ever!) by Elizabeth Gilbert – if you haven’t read it, read it.

Aunt F has been riding around with me and yesterday she even jumped over the seat and tried to take control of the car while I was driving. She’s bat sh*t crazy!

Let me tell you why Aunt F has made her appearance.

I have 2 major fears in my life right now.

Fear #1

I’m having my first surgery EVER next week. (OK – to be totally truthful, I did once have a mishap while cooking dinner with chicken and knife, which resulted in a minor hand surgery of a bunch of stitches.)

To be honest, I’m totally scared of being “put under” and afraid I’m not going to wake up from the anesthesia. Plus, I’m having an organ removed. Well, kinda. I’m having 2 cysts on my ovaries removed and an ovary removed, which is fine – I don’t need it anymore anyways (been there, done that, & still paying for them!)

Here’s the thing. I totally pride myself on my health. I take no medications. I’m super healthy for the most part. This is the unknown for me. Yes, logic says that I will be okay. But things like what if the paperwork gets messed up and they take out the wrong organ? These are the kinds of things going through my head.

Total Fear.

Fear #2

My book is coming out in a few weeks. I’ve been working towards this for years. And yes, there are moments of extreme excitement, but then Aunt F comes flying in and wrecks my party.

I’m having a book launch, which I am now likening to a wedding. My wedding. It’s all my family, friends, but worse. It will include the media and my business mentors and peers. Terrifying.

Then here’s the kicker. There’s a good chance these people may read my book!

That’s even more terrifying. Here’s why:

I think when you write you are putting yourself out there, even if you write fiction. You are allowing another human being into your mind, your deep thoughts, your convictions, your world. And that’s intimate. It can feel more intimate than SEX! Bearing your soul, connecting with another on a soul level is the most intimate of things, and my book is that. After all, it’s me. I’m putting myself out there in a big way for the world to see (if they so desire for $15.99!)

So now you know I’m a big scaredy cat. I’m scared. I’m terrified. 

However, I’ve learned never to let FEAR take over the wheel.

I take her for a ride with me every time. I drag her a$$ around with me. That’s how I know I’m on the right track, that I’m headed in the right direction.

If what I’m doing is VANILLA and BORING then I’m not doing my job right. I’m coasting.

Because I have a purpose, and passion that surrounds that purpose, I refuse to coast.

Tell Aunt F to take a back seat. She’s here for life.

Just do what I do to any loud obnoxious back-seat passengers – I shut them up with a drive-thru happy meal and a kids toy. That should keep her quiet for a few minutes so you can drive and get to your destination in one piece.

Your backseat passengers should never have a say in where your car is going. So don’t let her tell you where to go or worse, let her stop your car!

THIS IS WHAT GETS YOU PAST FEAR:

REF– USE TO LET YOUR BULLSHIT* BE BIGGER THAN YOUR DREAMS!

*Bullshit is Aunt F.  It’s the fear. It’s the voice in your head that says you aren’t worthy, you aren’t good enough, you suck, you can’t do this, you will never be able to do that.

THIS is what I do.

Dream.

Set the goal.

One foot in front of the other.

Arrive at destination.

Repeat. 

So I raise my coffee this morning to Aunt F: here’s to rocking out my surgery next week, super fast recovery, and the best book launch ever! CHEERS!