Women Wake Up!
Holistic Health is More Than Just Mind-body-spirit!

By Randi Friedl

The facts for women:

• After earning lower salaries for fewer years, womens' Social Security benefits are about 1⁄2 of men's
• 53% of women are not covered by a pension compared to only 22% of men
• Although women are making great strides in income equality in 1998 women earned about 76% as much as men
• Women live longer than men. Women who reached the age of 65 in 2000 are expected to live, on average, an additional 19.2 years compared with 15.8 years for men
• Mere 3% annual rises in prices will double the cost of everything within 24 years. That means you will need twice as much money as you do today to live as well as you do now.
• A staggering 87% of the poverty – stricken are elderly women

Statistics provided at www.wife.org.

Twenty-five years ago I picked up this pretty pink book called The Prospering Woman by Dr. Ruth Ross and for 22 years I ignored the piece to live a life of prosperity. Today I want to boldly proclaim what it is, so women begin to shift, so they may live a life of abundance and the life of their dreams.

For over 20 years I have preached on living a balanced life within the holistic health model. For me as a parish nurse that has been emotional, spiritual, mental and physical. Or in modern day terms it is simply described as mind, body and spirit. I have practiced living a holistic life my entire life, growing up on a farm in Iowa and in a very spiritual family, holistic health has always been a part of who I am. I went into nursing because of wanting to help others, became disillusioned a bit when what I really was doing was dis-ease care, so then I went and received my Masters in Public Health to sharpen my saw again as to who I am, a teacher, health educator, and an entrepreneur.

Holistic Health for me is living a balanced life. It is emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, and one more the missing link which I had discovered 25 years ago, but had forgotten. Dr. Ruth Ross defines this missing link as........

The answer is Financial Prosperity!

Yes we are the most giving gender in the world, to a fault, sometimes, giving, giving, giving and trusting that a man may be a financial plan, but a man is not a financial plan nor was he ever meant to be. However many of us deferred the financial piece to the man, only to find out later, when a divorce or separation happens, we have no clue how to run finances, oh we know how to work, and work hard we do, but are we aware that when we are financially ill, we are probably physically ill, and when we are physically ill we are many times financially ill. This is called the health-wealth connection.

So it is time for us to Take Control of our Lives, so we use the gifts God has given us and become our "authentic woman" again, thus living out our life's purpose. When we live out our mission through our work, it no longer becomes work, but our passion and we can do no other.

As women we are caregivers, caretakers, and we always want to fix things. We are constantly reading self improvement books, comparing ourselves to other women, not ever believing we are perfect enough. We are in many ways Co-dependent as Melody Beattie explained in her book Codependent No More. This means we get our "fix" from what other people think of us. Does this sound familiar to any one reading this? Well, in health education, we all know the first step to health and wellness is awareness that we have these characteristics. This is the first law in the nine Prosperity Laws written in 1982.

Dr. Ross explains that there are nine Prosperity Laws:

1. The Law of Self-Awareness: We can only have what we want when we know who we are and what we want.
2. The Law of Wanting: Experiencing choice means knowing what we want and why we want it. Only then do we have the excitement and energy to go after our desires.
3. The Law of Planning: Without planning there is no consistent prosperity.
4. The Law of Releasing: We must get rid of what we don't want to make room for what we do.
5. The Law of Compensation: There is a price for everything and we always pay.
6. The Law of Attraction: We attract what we are.
7. The Law of Visualization: We become what we imagine, positive or negative.
8. The Law of Affirmation: We become what we want to be by affirming and acting on our belief that we already are there ,
9. The Law of Loving: Whatever goodness we want for ourselves we must also desire for others.

So let's break this down into solid ways for you to live a Prosperous Life.

The Law of Self – Awareness: Think back to when you were 10 years old. Write down what you loved to do, your make believe world, when you played dress up or had tea parties, or played out on the farm. Think back to what brought you Joy! This will give you clues as to who you once were.

The Law of Wanting: So we need to figure out our mission in life! This is really quite simple, but it helps to do it with someone, so it is short and succinct. Our personal mission statement never changes; it is "our why." Once we know what we want, our mission statement then becomes real and then we have the excitement and passion to move forward.

I call my mission statement my business barometer. If I get off course then it isn't meant for me to do this at this time.

The Law of Planning: We are good social planners, but do we plan or do we even know how to plan for our financial well being?

The Law of Releasing: THIS IS KEY! If we are harboring old grudges, or old stuff in our homes, in our minds get rid of it. It is only then do we have room to receive, the new really great things that are intended for us.

The Law of Compensation: There is a price for everything and we always pay. Sometime we pay with our emotional or mental health, sometimes we pay financially, but there is always a payment.

The Law of Attraction: Again Dr. Ross published this 20 years before "The Secret." If you have seen The Secret, basically it is we are what we are. If I am sick I attract illness, if I am Joy filled I attract other Joy full and happy individuals around me.

The Law of Visualization: OK this is just not thinking about what we want it is FEELING what we want, feeling like we want to feel, evoking the emotions that come with the thought.

The Law of Affirmation: Acting as if it has already happened. Faking it until you make it! Affirming every day the actions you are doing to getting a prosperous life!

The Law of Loving: Whatever we desire for ourselves we must also deserve for others. We must give back what we have been blessed with and teach others to walk in this same path and support them in their journeys of living a Prosperous Life.

For me it was Taking Control of My Life: Doing what I am called to do and supporting other women entrepreneurs to do the same.

So are you ready to become a Prosperous Woman? Here are 10 action steps

1. Do your personal mission statement to find out what you are meant to do with your life.
2. If you are not doing it, begin to explore what it would take to do what your passion is.
3. Begin to think about being a women entrepreneur.
4. Find out if there is a niche market out there for you to succeed. Do the research.
5. Align your self with other women entrepreneurs who want to work in a collaborative model.
6. Begin by doing the Nine Laws of Prosperity, if you are not able what are you resisting?
7. Read The Business School For People Who Like Helping People by Robert T. Kiyosaki.
8. Discover the link between Women and Wealth and look for workshops that will help you take back Control of your life.
9. When using the term holistic health define it as mental, spiritual, physical, emotional and financial.

Get a group of women and create a Mastermind Group of how to gain control over your life so you are both physically fit and financially fit.

Women must learn to take our power back, to be in control of our lives. We must learn to allow ourselves to prosper. Even though we may have learned to be dependent or co-dependent thinks, rather than prosperity thinkers, true prosperity does not require us to deny our feminine natures. The opposite is true. Prospering Woman leads us into the age of prosperity.

The time is past due to honor and follow the feminine spirit of intuitive power.

All prosperity begins in the mind and that is the only thing which keeps us from achieving it is the mind. . Our minds have the power to create. So prosperity is a product of the creative mind. Essentially it is a state of consciousness, an attitude. When you are totally open to your flow of creative ideas, and are willing to act on those that prosper all concerned, you are on your path to an abundant life. What we believe is what we achieve - nothing more, nothing less. The secret to success is to use the same imaginative process and belief system we've been using, unconsciously and haphazardly, to bring the positive changes we desire into our lives.

What is women's health entrepreneur or the prospering woman? She is a woman who wants a full life, but also has the self awareness t know what a full life is for her. She knows her personal mission. God's plan for her on this earth, and chooses a work which allows herself to creatively express herself well. She has found her own self-acceptance. She uses the full power of her imagination, and puts her thoughts into creative action.

This is written with deep gratitude to Dr. Ruth Ross who's groundbreaking work in writing, The Prospering Woman  in 1982 , which still has a deep and lasting hook in my heart. She wrote all of this 25 years before "The Secret."

So are you ready to be a prospering woman?

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