October 29, 2009

Affirmation: I pay my way easily
(Affirmation from "Meditations to Heal Your Life" by Louise L. Hay)

Today I must pay my bills and I always dread this. Don’t we all? It’s especially hard when you are living off one income and raising kids, or you are barely scraping by each month, which is a common scenario in this economy. But is there a better, more positive way to look at our bills? Could we pay our bills with gratitude instead of dread?

Henriette Anne Klauser, author of “Write It Down Make It Happen” has a truly unique perspective to paying bills. For many years, while paying her bills, she has “written the word ‘thanks’ on the memo line in the bottom left corner whenever [she] writes out a check.” Why? She says it is “a way of taking a moment to think about the service the check is for and the people behind the purchase.” Furthermore, she notes that when she writes “Thanks!” on the memo line, she can “sit down to pay [her] bills with a grateful heart”. Essentially she is looking at each bill and understanding what paying it means for her and her family. For example, paying her heating bill provides a warm, cozy environment, and she is grateful for that.

Louise L. Hay has a similar approach to looking at her bills. She believes that “bills are really wonderful things. It means that somebody has trusted you enough to give you their service or product, knowing that you have the ability to pay for it.” Granted, there are times when we barely have enough to pay for it. But I think the idea is to not feel so much dread or defeat when we pay our bills, and if we have too many bills, we should examine what things we really need in life and what things are just wants.

A couple of months ago I had to go to the hospital because I was very ill. I am lucky, and grateful, to have health insurance but I still have a $50 co-pay for hospital visits. The bill is sitting in front of me now and I realize that instead of just being another $50 out of my pocket, it means that I had the ability to get much needed care. I am happy to write thank you on this bill because they made me feel better quickly so that I could return to my family and take care of them.

In this tough economy it is not easy to look at bills in a more positive light, especially when some companies have been operating on less than ethical terms. However, it does us no good individually to focus on all the negativity. We are much better off to remember that our electricity gives us light, our grocery bill feeds our family, and our car payment gets us where we need to go. It’s important to lay our focus on the service, not just the money coming out of our checking account.

I challenge you to think of your bills in a whole new light today. What have they provided for you and your family?

Writing Update:

I have slowly been working on my romance story. It has been a slow process but I am doing it. I am also doing some research on writing for my local newspaper.