I generally stay away from all those marketing drama and sob stories, where people tell you how difficult a life they’ve had, until they stumbled upon a particular business opportunity that allowed them to become a millionaire overnight. Sure, it makes for entertaining reading because we have largely been conditioned to be
entertained by drama and sensational stories. No one likes to read about the boring life of someone who improved his circumstances through disciplined inner work, but everyone likes to read about the exciting life story of someone who managed to rise to the top while outsmarting and outmaneuvering others. But think about where all this stuff is coming from? Where are we getting all our perceptions of “rich and wealthy” people from, if we’re not one of them? That’s right — We’re getting them right from the same source as everyone else, which is the movies and the media. We are
bombarded by supposed “reality” TV shows depicting the lives of rich and famous people, and somehow they all behave in not-so-desirable ways that make us all cringe. We have formed impressions of “rich” people based on the cumulative exposure to these shows, without once ever stopping to question whether these impressions and hidden beliefs we have formed are valid. Somewhere out there, the screenwriters are huddled over in their offices, discussing how to get you hooked to the next drama serial or reality TV series! Everything is made up! So why are we buying into all their lies about money and the supposed behavior of these “rich” people?
Once you realize that everything is all made-up, that it is all just designed to keep you glued to the TV box for more and more drama, you can easily let go of your addiction to all of it. I watch absolutely no television nowadays, not a single bit of it, preferring to spend my time reading books instead. Books have an advantage over television, and that is you can always pause and think about what the author is saying. You can take as much time as possible to think through his points and see whether you agree with them. You can choose the next book to read and be an active reader. Television is a way more passive pastime, in which everything is just fed to you and we hardly question anything we watch.
One thing I have found in common across the hidden rich is that they do not watch television. Isn’t that a very telling sign? Do they know something that the rest of the population do not? The hidden rich do not watch television simply because they understand the massive power of conditioning, and how these television shows make use of powerful emotions and hooks to keep us engaged. In the past when I did watch TV, I noticed myself thinking about the story over and over again long after the
episode was over, and actually feeling the very same emotions as the characters in the show! This happens to everyone too! As they empathize with certain characters in a show and join in the huge debate about why certain things are the way they are. Frankly, I can’t see a greater waste of time than this because we are all commenting on a make-believe reality anyway, when the time can be much better spent on creating our ownreality. Furthermore, understand that every thought you think and every
emotion you feel results in a corresponding physical manifestation. Therefore, why would you want to feel strong, oftentimes negative emotions by watching a particular TV show? It is for this reason that I have given up the habit of watching television completely and replaced it with that of reading books.
Take a look at any mail-order course or infomercial trying to sell you “How to get rich quick” information. What do you see? Even legitimate products and courses often make good use of a “sob story” to compel you into action. Sales letters usually shame you into taking action (which means buying their product) through heavy- handed usage of fear, guilt and all sorts of negative feelings. When you read sales letters and those websites about making money, we are often taken in by all sorts of testimonials and incredulous claims about money. I have found that these half-truths can often affect our own money manifestation especially at the beginning, because if an advertisement is written extremely convincingly, we can end up buying into some of these money drama and stories that others are feeding us.
The purpose of all of this “money drama” and sob stories is just to compel you into buying the product and making that seller rich and nothing else! If you allow your own financial set point to be affected while reading those sales pitches, you are doing yourself a great disservice. For example, I would often read “get-rich-quick” sales pitches in the early days and feel “guilty” that I was not making as much money as the protagonist in the story, just because I was not using the “methods” being sold!
Recognize that I was getting caught up in yet another money story. I was introducing another “rock” or hidden belief into my consciousness through the repetition of reading those sales pitches. Therefore, you have to be careful not to be involved in all of this money drama. I have found that the best way not to be involved is to stop reading any of those material at all. “Get-rich-quick” material only appeal to those naive enough to believe in the peddler’s money lies, so I eschew all of that material completely. They go into the round file the moment I receive them, and making this decision has served me very well.