The world is more financially flexible than you think

By Davide De Angelis

When we're having problems with money most of us will experience high levels of anxiety and feel threatened. This means that your brain's natural response mechanism to danger is constantly being triggered. This response automatically diverts energy away from non-essential brain functions such as rational or creative thinking: basically away from anything that could interfere with our physical ability to run or fight.

Now this response makes a lot of sense if a truck is heading straight for you on the wrong side of the road. After all, you don't want to waste valuable seconds contemplating all of the different things you could possibly do; you just need to act.

However, it's not so good when your credit card statement is having the same effect as a ten-ton truck coming your way. Unfortunately in our society the fear response is being triggered by things which pose no physical threat.

And as we increasingly associate more of these non-threatening things with imminent danger we are struggling to function with insufficient access to our greater faculties. This is also why so many 'solutions' to money problems simply don't work: as a result of the fear response, we're actually unable to bring the degree of logic required of us to be most effective.

When we are caught in this pattern of fear we perceive our options to be very limited. Unable to clearly see our situation from different perspectives, we remain trapped in a world of limited and fixed reactions. And of course it becomes a vicious circle: the more afraid we become, the less able we are to respond. We fall back into old, habitual patterns that only serve to make matters worse.

One very powerful way to diminish this feeling of constant threat is to understand that your situation - no matter how bad it may be - is not a fixed event in time and space. In fact it has no stability other than that which you've given it in your mind. To put it another way, everything is negotiable. And this applies to every single one of your debts.

Credit companies have become experts in transmitting the illusion of solidity to their customers. You may think that the rate of interest and the duration of the repayment plan are totally fixed: but they're only fixed as long as you believe they are. And if you are experiencing genuine difficulty and distress there is no reason why you can't begin to play this unfixed reality to your advantage. After all, we've all made mistakes, and there are no medals for prolonging the discomfort of debts. Remember, I'm not talking about not paying your debts, I'm suggesting that you shift things around to help you regain your strength and vitality.

A few years ago I was directing a television commercial for a very well known airline. Its charismatic owner was featuring in the commercial, and during a break in filming I grabbed the opportunity to have a chat with him. Amazingly, and I didn't realize it until I started working with Paulo and Carolina, in that chat he gave me one of the most valuable pieces of information I have ever received about money, and perhaps life in general... and I'm going share it with you right now.

I asked him how he was able to be so consistently successful. He thought for a few seconds. 'It's like this,' he replied. 'I became an expert at changing rules and moving goal posts.' He then laughed heartily.

The more I worked with the Money Shaman's ideas, the more I could see what he meant. When he was faced with a situation where something was going wrong, he understood that the world is not fixed. He saw that no matter what happened, given the right approach, things could always be negotiated.

In other words, as long as it served the interest of all concerned the rules could be changed. There was no such thing as a definite unmovable deal. He saw that it was possible to adjust the world so that it gave him the best chance of success. It also gave those who'd loaned him money an excellent chance of getting it all back plus interest. But most importantly, he started working this way when he had next to nothing.

Somehow we have been told that only a privileged few can use this flexibility to their advantage. But think for a moment: who told you that was true? And have you ever tested it out for yourself?

Once again, this has nothing to do with avoidance and everything to do with making sure you end up with a win-win situation. People who work with money understand that there will always be ups and downs, so they automatically build a contingency for change into every system.

So, getting back to debts: as long as you are paying something towards them, your debts remain an asset to your creditor. As soon as you stop paying, the debts become a liability. Therefore all creditors will do practically anything to keep you as an asset. The last thing they want is for you to slide into their liabilities pile.

Of course they would prefer that you don't discover just how flexible the world is, because they would rather you worked 60 hours a week to pay them the original amount. But, when you know how to approach a situation in the right way, you discover that the world and indeed all situations are not fixed in space and time. They are part of a universal movement where change and adaptation is as natural a process as breathing.