Unlock Your Negative Thought Patterns Around Money
An interview with Dr. Bruce Lane, author of "The Money Workbook: A 30-Day Program to Greater Abundance, Prosperity, and Self-Worth."
Commitment: What typically prevents people from living the life they want? How can this book help them overcome these obstacles?
Dr. Lane: People prevent themselves from living the lives that they
want. They give over their power to fear or to the values and
expectations of loved ones. Whether they're aware of it or not, they're
not giving themselves the lives they want.
But, The Money Workbook helps them overcome these “obstacles” by
helping them realize that these are not obstacles at all; rather they -
the readers - have the power inside of themselves to create the lives
they want.
Commitment: What inspired you to write The Money Workbook?
Dr. Bruce Lane: I wrote The Money Workbook because "spiritual" people often discourage or criticize a desire for money or possessions. There's nothing wrong with having money; it's the attachment to it that we need to give up - and this is what The Money Workbook helps people to do.
Once one has let go of his or her attachment to money, it's much easier to obtain it - or anything else one wants. I also wrote this book because many people identify themselves with their income or jobs. And, if these individuals lose their money or their jobs, their identity is immediately at stake.
In writing this book, my goal was to help people understand that they have the power to co-create the lives they really want. They have the power to do what they really want to do - and the only things that can stop them are their fear and their choice to focus on the negative.
Commitment: What can one expect after working through this book? Can they expect to become wealthier?
Dr. Lane: If you "work" the book the way it is meant to be "worked" - that means you do a day at a time for 30 days and work the book in its entirety - you will get the results that are perfect for you. Many people have worked the book in order to obtain more money or a new job.
But, as they identify and move beyond what had previously inhibited them - and learn to make decisions that are not based on fear - they will find out what it is they really want in their lives. Some decide to live according to their true values or desires, which ultimately leads them to live the lives they want to live.
Yet, regardless of the outcome the reader wishes, one will inevitably discover how wealthy one ALREADY is! After working through the book, readers will learn that they already possess the power to make choices; and that they have the power to co-create what they want. All they have to do is "work" the book.
Commitment: Do you have an example of someone whose life changed after working through this program?
Dr. Lane: Many people have benefited from working The Money Workbook. One person I know of just started a professional music career based on working the book - and it happened quite quickly. She worked the book - and took The Money Workbook Course along with it - and chose to create a successful music career via the exercises in the book.
This meant that she learned how to focus on the positive (and to recognize habitual negative thoughts and family values/expectations that she had allowed - up until now - to hold her back). Within weeks, she went to an important music-business conference and had a gig overseas. This will likely generate income - and to my knowledge, already has. It's also brought this person a very, very exciting life filled with travel, new people, and business acumen that wasn't there even a few months ago.
There are many examples, including those given in the book. One individual, a corporate executive who always dreamed of becoming a photographer, realized his dream after working the book. Remarkably, he ended up making vastly more money than he had made prior to that.
Commitment: In today’s precarious economy, many are worried that they will either lose their jobs or not be able to make ends meet. What advice would you give to those in these situations? How can they benefit from The Money Workbook?
Dr. Lane: If you work the book, these easy-to-follow exercises will show you exactly what you need to do. First, it shows readers how to identify and restructure their thoughts.
Readers will learn to more easily recognize their negative thoughts, adapt more positive ones, and practice this process until it becomes automatic.
From here, they will discover that they are actually creating (really co-creating) the lives they want. They learn it is crucial to let go of the worry about losing their jobs or not being able to make ends meet, because it is exactly these thoughts that produce just what they're supposedly trying to avoid. It is by working through The Money Workbook that readers can co-create what they really want - be it more money, a better job, you name it.
Commitment: You founded an international educational foundation called The Cosmos Tree. What does this foundation do, or what is its purpose?
Dr. Lane: Cosmos Tree, Inc. is a nonprofit educational foundation that gives people tools to live in peace regardless of their situation. In other words, it helps people to see that they are powerful and that they ALREADY have what they need to "solve" whatever they wish. These tools include meditations, workshops, classes and publications, many of which are free of charge.
We also have programs including monthly talks, speaking tours, video showings and discussions created by and often given by myself. The tag line I created for Cosmos Tree is "Where Potential Becomes Actuality," because the focus of the foundation is to help people know how powerful they are and to actualize that power to co-create the lives they want. Cosmos Tree has its main headquarters in New York City, with Centers around the country and in Mexico. Many of these Programs are available there as well and often via teleconference.
Commitment: You teach this program in your Money Workshops throughout the year. What is the most common and/or the most surprising feedback you receive from your students?
Dr. Lane: I don't know if you'd call it surprising, but people often say they are "amazed" - and I often ask, "What’s so amazing?" They have this reaction when things they've co-created via The Money Workbook just seem to "happen." This often occurs when someone who worked a specific series of exercises in the book looking for a certain amount of money to pay for something in particular reports that "all of a sudden" it was there. That often seems to "amaze" them but it's not at all amazing. We really are that powerful.
