John D. Rockefeller(洛克菲勒,美国“石油大王”)还是孩子的时候就身体力行这件事。他成为亿万富翁。
1924年,John D. Rockefeller写信给他的儿子,解释了他关于布施金钱的行为。他写道:“从我还是孩子的时候起,只要我得到金钱,就一定会布施出去;随着我的收入的增加,我也同步增加我的布施”。
有人认为,洛克菲勒只是为了改善自己的公众形象,布施一点点小钱,装装样子而已。事实不是如此。在洛克菲勒公司里负责公共关系的人是 Ivy Lee;阅读 Lee 的传记《取悦公众》(作者是Ray Eldon Hiebert),我们可以知道,作为一种个人行为,洛克菲勒数十年来一直坚持布施,Lee 所做的不过是让公众知道这些事情而已。
P.T. Barnum (美国著名广告家,宣传家)也布施金钱。我曾经写了一本关于他的书,《每分钟都有一个顾客诞生》(译者注:Barnum曾有一句名言:每分钟都有一个蠢货诞生)。Barnum认为,有一种他称之为“盈利性慈善”的规律,施与,必将获得回报。当然,他也成为世界上最富有的人之一。
有人可能会说,这些早期的大亨们有的是钱,所以布施对他们来说是轻而易举的事情。但我认为,他们之所以有钱,是因为他们愿意将自己的钱无条件地布施出去。布施导致收获;布施导致富裕。
现在,企业向有价值的项目捐助已经成为一种时尚,因为这样可以提升企业的形象,当然也会帮助那些受资助的对象。Anita Roddick的车身修理厂,Ben Cohen 和 Jerry Greenfield的冰淇淋,Yvon Chouinard的Patagonia户外服饰等,都是布施利益于商务的活生生的例子。
如果要我说人们在布施的时候经常会犯什么错误的话,那就是人们往往布施的太少了。 他们紧紧攥住自己的钱,只让小小一股涓流从指缝中流出,作为布施。这也正是他们不会获得的原因。你必须布施,大量布施,才能进入生命的“获得”的洪流。
我决定布施一些金钱。要是放在过去的话,我一般可能会布施个5美元什么的,因为我害怕贫困,不怀疑布施原理的真实性。但是这次我决定有所改变:我拿出我的支票本,然后写了一张1000美元的支票。
Mike 非常震惊。从我的邮件中收到支票后,他开车回家时差点撞到人行道上。他简直不敢相信这件事。他还亲自打电话向我表示感谢。我真是喜欢他那孩子气的惊讶,简直就好像我突然有了一张“百万英镑”一样。(注意这一点!)
我享受着这种“因为我他很快乐”的情绪。我很高兴我能捐钱给他。不论他用这些钱来做什么,对我都无所谓,重要的是,我帮助了一个人,让他能够继续努力的从事我所信仰的工作,这种感觉简直太棒了。我当时有一种发自内心的冲动要去帮助他,直到现在我还时常愉快的回味那次捐助。
当我捐钱给 Mike 的时候,我给自己和整个世界发出了一个这样的信息:我是富有的,我在宇宙的良性循环的洪流中。同时我也建立了一个吸引金钱到我这里的磁性原则:布施,就会得到。
捐给这样的人一些钱。要发自你的内心去捐款,不要像一个吝啬鬼那样痛苦的布施。让你的布施发自“富足”而不是“贫乏”。不要期望从你的布施对象那里得到回报,但您可以预期,回报一定会来到。
The Greatest Money-Making
Secret in History!
If you want money, you only have to do one thing.
It's the one thing some of the wealthiest people on the planet have done and are doing.
It's the one thing written about in various ancient cultures and still promoted today.
It's the one thing that will bring money to anyone who does it but at the same time most people will fear doing it.
What is that one thing?
John D. Rockefeller did it since he was a child. He became a billionaire.
Andrew Carnegie did it, too. He became a tycoon.
What is the greatest money-making secret in history?
What is the one thing that works for everyone?
Give money away.
That's right. Give it away.
Give it to people who help you stay in touch with your inner world.
Give it to people who inspire you, serve you, heal you, love you.
Give it to people without expecting them to return it, but give it knowing it will come back to you multiplied from some source.
In 1924 John D. Rockefeller wrote to his son and explained his practice of giving away money. He wrote, "...in the beginning of getting money, away back in my childhood, I began giving it away, and continued increasing the gifts as the income increased..."
Did you notice what he said?
He gave away more money as he received more income. He gave away $550 million dollars in his lifetime.
Some people think Rockefeller started giving away dimes as a publicity stunt to improve his image. That's not true. The public relations man who worked for Rockefeller was Ivy Lee. In Courtier To The Crowd, a great biography of Lee, Ray Eldon Hiebert states Rockefeller had been giving money away for decades on his own. All Lee did was let the public know.
P.T. Barnum gave money away, too. As I wrote in my book on him, There's A Customer Born Every Minute, Barnum believed in what he called a "profitable philanthropy." He knew giving would lead to receiving. He, too, became one of the world's richest men.
Andrew Carnegie gave enormously, too. Of course, he became one of the richest men in America's history.
Bruce Barton, cofounder of the famous BBDO advertising agency and the key subject of my book The Seven Lost Secrets of Success also believed in giving. In 1927 he wrote:
"If a man practices doing things for other people until it becomes so much a habit that he is unconscious of it, all the good forces of the universe line up behind him and whatever he undertakes to do."
Barton became a best-selling author, business celebrity, contributor to numerous causes, and very, very, wealthy.
While some might argue that these early tycoons had the money to give, so it was easy for them, I would argue that they got the money in part because they were willing to freely give. The giving led to the receiving. The giving led to more wealth.
I'll repeat that:
The giving led to the receiving.
The giving led to more wealth.
Today it's fashionable for businesses to give money to worthy causes. It makes them look good and of course it helps those who receive it. Anita Roddick's Body Shop stores, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield's ice cream, and Yvon Chouinard's Patagonia, are living examples of how giving can be good for business.
But what I'm talking about here is individual giving. I'm talking about you giving money so you will receive more money.
If there's one thing I think people do wrong when they practice giving, is they give too little. They hold on to their money and let it trickle out when it comes to giving. And that's why they aren't receiving. You have to give, and give a lot, to be in the flow of life to receive.
I remember when I first heard about the idea of giving. I thought it was a scheme to get me to give money to the people who were telling me to do the giving.
If I did give, it was like a miser. Naturally, what I got in return was equivalent to what I gave. I gave little. I got little.
But then one day I decided to test the theory of giving.
I love inspiring stories. I read them, listen to them, share them, and tell them. I decided to thank Mike Dooley of
www.tut.com for the inspiring messages he shares with me and others every day by email.
I decided to give him some money. In the past I would have given him maybe five dollars. But that's when I came from scarcity and feared the giving principle wouldn't work. This time would be different. I took out my checkbook and wrote a check for one thousand dollars.
It was the largest single contribution I had ever made in my life at that time.
Yes, it made me a tiny bit nervous. But it mostly made me excited. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to reward Mike. And I wanted to see what would happen.
Mike was stunned. He got my check in the mail and nearly drove off the road as he headed home. He couldn't believe it. He even called me and thanked me. I enjoyed his boyish surprise. It made me feel like a million bucks. (Note that!)
I loved making him so happy. I delighted in giving the money to him. Whatever he did with it was fine with me. What I got was an incredible feeling of helping someone continue doing what I believed in. It was an inner rush to help him. I still rejoice at sending him the money.
And then something wonderful began to happen.
I suddenly got a call from a person who wanted me to co-author his book, a job that ended up paying me many times over what I had given away.
And then a publisher in Japan contacted me, wanting to buy the translation rights to my best-selling book, Spiritual Marketing. They, too, offered me many times what I had given Mike as a gift.
A true skeptic can say these events are unrelated. Maybe in the skeptic's mind, they aren't. In mine, they are.
When I gave money to Mike, I sent a message to myself and to the world that I was prosperous and in the flow. I also set up a magnetic principle that attracted money to me: As you give, so you will get.
Give time and you'll get time.
Give products and you'll get products.
Give love and you'll get love.
Give money and you'll get money.
This one tip alone can transform your finances. Think of the person or persons who have inspired you over the last week. Who made you feel good about yourself, your life, your dreams, or your goals?
Give that person some money. Give them something from your heart. Don't be stingy. Come from abundance, not scarcity. Give without expecting return from that person, but do expect return.
As you do, you will see your own prosperity grow. That's the Greatest Money-Making Secret in History!
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"If you see it, touch it.
If you touch it, feel it.
If you feel it, love it.
If you love it...Give it. "
Because NOTHING speaks to the UNIVERSE louder, of your BELIEF in self, abundance, and love, than giving.
And when the Universe hears, more will be added unto you. NOT AS A REWARD, but because you truly believed... in self, abundance, and love.