“After reading your column last week on The Prosperity Club, I proceeded to say out aloud, ‘My highest good comes to me now and I am most grateful.’ Shortly after saying the affirmation, I got a call that I had two new clients. Positive affirmation really works and I am grateful for these words of hope!” – Reader

Since the start of 2009, we have been focusing on the importance of having a positive outlook despite the negative economic forecasts. Some may argue that positivity can’t change reality, and that the global financial crisis will present serious challenges no matter what we say or believe.

Making a determined effort to concentrate on what you want to achieve in your life, instead of dwelling on your fears, is more than an exercise of faith. When you worry constantly about your problems, you are creating a spirit of despair, which is a negative force that prevents you from seeing a way out of your trouble.

If you can think positively even if your world is crashing around you, then you will produce a hopeful spirit which will direct your brain to seek solutions.

According to Wikipedia.com, hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had, or that events will turn out for the best. Despair keeps you cursing the darkness around you, while hope gives you the strength to keep searching until you find a source of light.

Therefore, the fact that we’re facing tough economic times is the very reason that we need think positively and keep hope alive. My mission is to help you to counteract the negativity and equip yourselves to survive and succeed in these times.

It’s not difficult for me to expect the best in 2009 instead of dreading the worst. Here are some reasons why I’m very hopeful and optimistic despite the financial forecasts:

History always repeats itself

The current financial crisis is really not a new phenomenon.

As a student of history, I have learnt that other economic systems have come crashing down, leading to the development of others. The agrarian revolution gave rise to the industrial revolution, which itself had to make way for the technological age. Recessions have come and gone and the earth continues to turn, so what we see happening now is not the end of the world.

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Defying financial principles leads to disaster

Whether you’re a salaried worker who is living beyond your means, or you’re a director of a billion-dollar financial institution which is trading in worthless securities, once you violate financial principles you will suffer the consequences. Here are some of the basic principles that were ignored that helped to initiate the global crisis:

.    What goes up must come down. You can’t keep buying the same assets expecting them to grow exponentially forever.

.    Something of real value must always be created for there to be a corresponding creation of wealth. Before you invest, you should always consider what economic activity is being carried out to produce the stated return.

.   Greed results in recklessness which always leads to ruin. People made decisions that lacked financial prudence because the lure of supernormal returns was too much to ignore. Never let materialism cloud your better judgement.

The good news is that if you learn proper financial principles and resolve to stick to them despite what others are doing, you’ll be able to successfully invest and retain your money.

Wealth can’t disappear

Money as we know it today is only a symbol of wealth. Wealth will never disappear, although it might change hands. Therefore, the trillions of dollars that have been ‘lost’ in global stock markets, property values and investments portfolios cannot vanish into thin air – it must resurface in the future. Being hopeful will allow you to identify and seize opportunities that can allow you to catch some of the wave of wealth as it passes to new owners.

Having hope when everyone says you shouldn’t takes courage, confidence and a whole lot of nerve. Barack Obama expressed it perfectly when he addressed the Democratic National Convention in 2004, “I’m not talking about blind optimism here – the almost wilful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; .the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!”

Next week we will continue our focus on people and organisations that are helping others to rise above their limitations to succeed and prosper, under the theme, Mission: H.O.P.E. – Helping Others to Prosper and Excel.

Copyright © 2009 Cherryl Hanson Simpson. No reproduction without written consent.

Originally published in The Daily Observer, January 15, 2009

Cherryl is a financial consultant and coach, founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services. See more of her work at www.financiallyfreenetwork.com and www.financiallysmartonline.com. Contact Cherryl