Books – Patricia Aburdene

May Reflections

May 8, 2014

Tra la! It’s May, the lusty month of May. That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray … It’s May! It’s May! That gorgeous holiday when every maiden prays that her lad … will be a cad!
— “The Lusty Month of May” Camelot by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe

The Celtic holiday of Beltane on May first was the feast of the Goddess and a popular pretext for ribald, earthy, fertility rites. The Celts could not have picked a better time. Spring hits her stride in the northern hemisphere and nature explodes in flower, scent, and bird song.

It’s also a good opportunity to look back at how far we’ve come since Winter Solstice, enduring the cold of January and February, while quietly invoking our vision for 2014. Then, in March and April, we listened for clues and invited our vision to reveal itself. Metaphorically, we devoutly tilled the soil of our consciousness, preparing it for the seeds of personal choice.

Now the cycle has shifted: it is time to take a stand.

What would you plant this spring in the garden of your life? What is your heart’s desire? Your soul’s sweet calling? In the coming weeks, take time to choose and speak your vision. Don’t worry if you feel a bit uncertain. You can refine your vision even change it, as the year unfolds. The important piece is to articulate it now. Just as plants and flowers put forth spring buds in full faith that they’ll blossom into beauty, it is time for us to voice our hopes, dreams and visions.

They year is unfolding quickly now (where did April go?) as the earth marches onward toward the year’s dramatic half way point: Summer Solstice. Now we must make a choice.

Conscious Capitalism and Conscious Money

Positive, life-affirming values are the “secret sauce” of Conscious Money and Conscious Capitalism and Trust Across America (TAA), founded by Barbara Kimmel, powerfully advocates greater trust in business. Trustworthy firms nurture an environment where people trust each other-and the benefits are enormous. As I noted in the last newsletter, a Watson Wyatt study showed high-trust organizations outperform their low-trust counterparts by 286 percent!

In April I reconnected with TAA’s newly-minted Boston contingent, including old friends like Raj Sisordia, co-author of Conscious Capitalism and the organization of the same name, and new ones like Eric Lowitt, Managing Director of Nexus Global Advisors, whose new book is The Collaboration Economy. TAA Boston is the place for inspired dialogue and exciting trust initiatives.

Nautilus Silver Book Award

Just one day after our April gathering, TAA’s Barbara Kimmel contacted everyone with big news: TAA’s first book, Trust, Inc: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset
had just won the Nautilus Silver Award in the business category.

It was my pleasure to write an essay for Trust Inc. So did Stephen M.R. Covey, Bob & Gregg Vanourek, and more than 20 others. Kudos to all our contributors especially Barbara Kimmel.

Thanks to everyone who wrote saying they enjoyed last month’s conscious flowers story. May this Season of Beauty dazzle your senses, gladden your heart, and activate your soul wisdom.

Love,

Patricia

October Reflections

October 22, 2013

In the golden month of October, as we celebrate the Harvest, we might also ask ourselves, “What do I want to harvest from within myself this autumn? Which seeds, planted in spring and nurtured through summer, have grown into nuggets of wisdom that can I collect now and integrate into my being?” This was for me a year full of blessings, a few setbacks, and my old impossible companion, Mr. Stress. Sound familiar?

So how do we reap the insights hidden in our all too human experiences? One lesson for me was this: despite worry, upset, and a few sleepless nights, here I am happier than ever. Next time, will I remember: “This too shall pass”? Or perhaps realize it’s time to learn A New Way of Being?

Maybe I have begun. For the first time in years, I took it easy this summer. As ease and re-creation started healing my stress situation, I dared to experiment with the spiritual Art of Allowing, as in, “You don’t have to make it happen, Patricia. You can just let it happen.” [Thank you, Crimson Circle, Geoff and Linda for April 2013’s “Quantum Allowing” event in Hawaii!] Would Allowing work for me? Who knew? But I was so fed up with my tiresome, ancient “conditioning” that I was ready to try anything–even Allowing! To practice Allowing, I observed, accepted, and finally attempted to let go old, yet familiar mindsets and patterns that “reward” overwork as some wacko badge of honor, one that interrupted my sleep, Well Being, happiness-and success.

In July and August, I gave “Allowing” a try and thank heaven I did.

As summer mellowed into September, my garden of Allowing blossomed with its first luscious fruits: exciting opportunities that came to me unbidden and exceeded any I’d might have “tried to make happen” during the beautiful summer I gave myself. Heck, I could get used to this.

Conscious Capitalism and Conscious Money

Meanwhile, my new article on Conscious Capitalism appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Management Association, entitled MWorld. This publication is available to AMA members. But MWorld has graciously invited me to share it with my newsletter subscribers. VIEW ARTICLE
Next month, a new Conscious Money article appears at greenmoney.com. Stay tuned!

AUTUMN HAPPENINGS

Conscious Money Online! I’ll soon record a first-ever multi-session Conscious Money webinar with Crimson Circle’s Awakening Zone Academy. I’ll keep you posted.

Radiance coach and Conscious Money fan Camden Hoch and I will engage in a “Conversation About Healing Money Wounds.” I hope you can join us. Details will follow. Meanwhile, check out Camden’s website camdenhoch.com.

My dear friend Corinne McLaughlin (and colleague in the Ohana Conscious Investing Circle) invited me to join November’s Healthy Money Summit, sponsored by The Shift Network, today’s leading transformational online community. I’ll soon tell you exactly how to get involved.

Next month, I head to Cleveland, Ohio’s fantastic River’s Edge Retreat Center for a public event on both Conscious Capitalism and Conscious Money on November 8th For details, see the website.

January Reflections

January 30, 2013

I love January. On New Year’s Day I wake delighted that the darkest days are past, a new cycle awaits us, and sunset gets later every evening. In the winter, I’m typically in Boulder, CO, where there’s either a magnificent snowstorm or a mild sunny stretch that locals call “the January thaw.” This month is a wonderful time for reflection (“Where am I right now in my life?”), giving your journal a serious workout, and focusing on themes and initiatives for the year ahead.

This year January also marks for me the start of a new creative phase. Like a toddler off to grade school, Conscious Money: Living, Creating, and Investing with Your Values for A Sustainable New Prosperity (Read Chapter one or buy the book here) is launched out into the world.

In the months to come, I’ll share with you some favorite links from the launch, such as:

• Rideau Real Recognition Radio (Download as MP3 file or click on “Free on iTunes”) Jan 15, 2013

• Creativity Portal Website (Focused on Creativity despite the general title) “Conscious Money” Q & A with Patricia Aburdene

• New Dimensions Radio “Free Listen” until February 5, 2013. (After that it’s $1.99)

I am pleased to report that Conscious Money is a finalist in the Green Category for the Books for A Better Life Award. Thanks go to Beyond Words Publishing, Bill Gladstone, Jane Wesman Public Relations, Sara Sgarlat Publicity, Crimson Circle, The Tattered Cover, my dear and supportive friends and colleagues, and all of you.

This year, I’ll focus on speaking about Conscious Money and Conscious Capitalism (Links to my agent BigSpeak appear on my website speaking page), courses and seminars (more soon!) and reframing my books on conscious finance into bite-sized modules in articles (for the American Management Association and others), audios, and blogs (for LOHAS and other and others).

Finally, to practice Conscious Money, you will want to cultivate relationships with financial partners, mostly companies, that reflect and honor many of the same values you do. Each January out comes a great resource get started: Fortune magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Whether you are looking for a job, a place to shop, or a possible investment, you’re sure to find lots of ideas here.

Sending you my warmest wishes for a happy, fulfilling, conscious, and abundant year!

– Patricia

Conscious Money: Three Simple Concepts

September 14, 2012

The energy is really building for the launch of Conscious Money: Living, Creating, and Investing with Your Values for a Sustainable New Prosperity on September 25th. The industry bible Publisher’s Weekly noted the book’s “wealth of strategies,” calling it, “an engaging and practical read on the leading edge of sustainable wealth consciousness.”

Read the review >>

The principles of Conscious Money are simple: 1) Start within: know yourself and your values; 2) Learn to identify good financial partners: pick companies whose values match yours; and 3) Apply this knowledge and wisdom as you earn, spend, invest, and contribute your Conscious Money.

Conscious Money: The Book Launch

September 5, 2012

Conscious Money

On the North Shore of Boston, it’s been a long, magnificent summer. But today there’s a welcome hint of autumn in the air as I share with you some exciting news. My new book Conscious Money: Living, Creating, and Investing with Your Values for a Sustainable New Prosperity will be published this September 25^th.

Read Chapter One

I launch the book on the east coast with a party in Boston Sept. 25^th hosted by Trillium Asset Management, the nation’s premiere Socially Responsible Investing advisor, and in New York City on the 27^th with a conversation and book signing sponsored by The Academi of Life.

Attend My Launch Event in New York

What’s the meaning of the book’s title? Conscious Money recognizes that money is essential to our lives. We cultivate a fulfilling relationship with money and enhance well being when we integrate human values and wisdom into our financial choices. Conscious Money also acknowledges that by spending, earning, or investing our money with greater awareness, we can make a difference for ourselves, for others, and for the planet.

Conscious Money

August 30, 2012

In Conscious Money: Living, Creating, and Investing with Your Values for A Sustainable New Prosperity (Beyond Words/Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, 2012) bestselling author Patricia Aburdene presents a comprehensive strategy to grow prosperity with integrity and make a difference by integrating personal values and personal finance. “People are disillusioned with Wall Street, big banks, and the entire financial establishment,” says Patricia. “While ‘finance as usual’ bears plenty of blame, many of us have also given away too much power to the finance establishment. In the bargain, we’ve misplaced our values and our best financial instincts.” To reclaim our power and make better choices, we must ground our money decisions in positive values, inner wisdom, and sound financial principles.

Conscious Money

“Conscious Money begins with you. Not your wallet, savings, home, possessions, or stock portfolio, but with you,” writes Patricia in Conscious Money. “It starts with your values and your state of consciousness about money.” Your income, cash, savings, expenses, investments, and contributions become Conscious Money, she says, when you imbue them with your values and higher consciousness.

Conscious Money is a simple three-part strategy: 1) Know your self and your values. 2) Learn to recognize and do businesses with companies that embrace the same values you do. 3) Translate this wisdom and knowledge into action steps as you shop, earn, invest, or contribute your Conscious Money.

Every chapter of Conscious Money features exercises, checklists, practical steps, and inspiration to help you create a personalized financial plan that aligns your values and your financial goals.