Christchurch Earthquake

Long time no post!...

Yes, I.m safe after the earthquake last week.  Had a couple of bookshelves fall over and would have been under the one in the office if I hadn't been making a cup of tea after lunch.

Be back soon to posting some stuff soon.

The Effects of Credit Cards on the Brain

Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain regards cash transactions and credit transactions very differently. A cash transaction causes the area in the brain called the insula to light up and cause people to proceed with caution. This doesn't happen with credit cards. In fact, credit cards pump good feelings of an instant reward throughout the brain--very dangerous stuff. 

This is indeed scary stuff and explains a lot about the way we have no problems in using credit cards even though the limit is blown and there's no hope of paying off the debt in the foreseeable future!

The idea is to start using cash -- a cashless society?  Yeah right!

Spiritual Rules of Money

I came across these words by Ernie Zelinski and thought I'd share it with you.  It may help understand why money is hard to keep for some and how money becomes a destructive focus.  He points out that " As a general rule, money doesn’t seem to like people who are desperate for it."

Think of the rules he lays down when endeavoring to erase debt or even just sticking to your budget. 

7 Spiritual Rules of Money

1. If money becomes your primary focus in life, then money is all that you will get.  
2. The person with no money may be poor; however, not as poor as the person who has nothing but money.  
3. Abundance isn't a matter of acquiring how much money you desire; it's a matter of being happy with how much you presently have.  
4. It's better to be out of money than out of new creative ideas on how to make money.  
5. Money-making ideas are gifts from the Universe; you must act fast on them, however, if you want to be prosperous and wealthy.  
6. Spending a lot of money - particularly money that you have not yet earned - will get you trapped into thinking you are having a good time when all you are doing is spending a lot of money that you will have a difficult time earning.  
7. Above all, the value of money lies in the creative and spiritual uses to which it can be put and not in how many possessions it can buy.