“Succulent Wild Woman,” a book I am browsing through right now, list the many ways by which one can live without money. I think this is relevant considering that all of us have been broke at one time in our life. I sometimes think what I would have been if I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth and money was no object. Would happiness come from buying all the Prada shoes and Louis Vuitton bags I want? Looking back, being born from an ordinary family has made me the person with a strong character I am now. It has taught me to treat money responsibly, plan my life well and nurture a positive work attitude. I am not a hypocrite to say that I don’t want money but I can live with less and this lack is what keeps me dreaming. I keep on dreaming because I don’t want my children to struggle as much as I had.

So here is what will keep you happy in your poverty, according to “Succulent Wild Woman” author Sark:

- Develop an appetite for simple foods.
- Think of ways to trade for rent - childcare, eldercare, house-sitting
- Use the library a lot. Books will nourish you.
- Spend lots of time walking outside - it will physically refresh you.
- Devote yourself to some art
- Refuse to be shamed by poverty or be judged by society as inferior.
- Ask for help. Develop your humility.
- Realize that you can choose to create money. Study money as an energy.
- Realize that many of the great artists, poets, and spiritual teachers were poor.
- Live your dream and realize that the money is important but incidental.
- Invest in yourself - your dreams, your talents and abilities.
- Live as powerfully as you are able without money - develop your spiritual gifts.
- Read about people who didn’t have money: “A tree grows in Brooklyn,” by Betty Smith, “Hunger” by Knut Hamson, and anything by henry Miller.
- Concentrate on learning to love yourself.

“Money doesn’t solve all problems. It makes some things easier, and some more difficult. Living with money can cause fears of living without money to resurface.”

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Posted in Life & Living |