Tag Archives: the secret

Give More Than What You Take – A Life Lesson

give-more-than-what-you-take-a-life-lessonWhen Warren Buffett released his tax returns after the second Presidential debate, one thing stood out to me: how much he donated to charity versus how much he made in 2015.

He wrote:

OMAHA, Neb.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carryforward in 1995, Donald Trump stated that “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.” Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human. He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.

My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes.

The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions.

My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.

I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.

Finally, I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump – at least he would have no legal problem.





Did you see how much he donated to charity? $2.85 billion.  Even more interesting is that he never claims his charitable deductions on his tax returns.

Did you notice his 2015 adjusted gross income?  $11.5 million.  Wow, right?

Buffett’s current net worth is $66.4 billion.  The amount he donated to charity overall in 2016 was only 4% of his overall net worth.  Even though he earned an income of $11.5 million, he still donated way more than he earned that year.  Can you imagine doing something like that?

The Key to Wealth

You see, that is one of the most valuable keys to creating wealth – to give way more than you take in.  That wealth is not limited to just money.  It is in everything we do in life.  If you give more love than you take, you will receive more love than you put out there.  If you give more food to others than what you take for yourself, you will receive a bounty of food from the most unlikely of sources.

That latter part is something I witness daily.  I give food to the homeless whenever I can.  I have way more food than I know what to do with.  I don’t expect anything in return when I give.


As a reward from the universe, neighbors knock on my door to deliver plates of food on their best china.  People pick up chocolates when they travel to give to me as a gift.  Just the other day, someone dropped off a large jug of vinegar just because I commented that I loved the salad dressing my neighbor makes.

The rewards for showing kindness, expecting nothing in return, creates even more wealth according to what you give.  That is the key to having a wealthy life.  Give way more than what you take for yourself.  Give without wanting anything in return.  In Buffett’s case, he gives way more than he makes in a year, and still continues to grow his wealth in other areas (investments, interest, etc.).

The most important thing is that he never claims those charitable acts on his tax returns, because to take a credit on your tax returns for charitable giving means that the act of giving was not so selfless.  You still got something in return for doing a good deed. That does not equate to giving without some sort of strings attached.  The universe does not reward you for those types of actions.

The Lesson

So the lesson learned here today is to give way more than you take in without expecting anything in return.  For those who need guidance in growing your monetary wealth this way, start by tithing 10% of your gross income to charities and those who need help.  Give selflessly.  As your wealth grows each year, donate more and more and more.  Don’t claim your charitable contributions on your tax returns.  When you have more than enough money to sustain you and your loved ones, start donating more than you take in.  This is your way of sharing the wealth and thanking the universe for the wealth it gave to you.




Turning Your Negative Thoughts Into Positive Thoughts

How to Turn Your Negative Thoughts Into Positive Thoughts
How to Turn Your Negative Thoughts Into Positive Thoughts

Every week, I attend meditation classes.  Not just to meditate, but to listen and learn how I can become a better human being.

My focus at this stage in my life is on cleaning out the soul of all of the things it does not need like negative thoughts, pain, hurt, judgment, etc.  It takes a lot of practice and concentration to go through each item that is causing my soul torment…the things I need to get rid of before I die.

One of my biggest challenges right now is to stop thinking negative thoughts all of the time.  I oftentimes find myself drowning in negative thoughts, especially when I’m walking around outside Manhattan.  Between the crazies you meet every single day and the tourists that get in the way and walk super slow (or take over the entire sidewalk and don’t move at all while you’re trying to get to work), you start to immediately think like a New Yorker would and that’s not always a positive thing.

The number of obscenities that run through my mind every single day on the commute to the office…I’d be a rich woman if I put a quarter in a jar for every bad thought I had during the commute to the office.

Then there are those negative things you tell yourself in the morning when you scrutinize how you look or live, or the things you see on social media or television, or the things that happen inside your home before you’ve even left the house.  The negative thoughts just keep on flowing from the moment you wake up and continue well into your dreams.

We are conditioned to think negatively all of the time.  We’ve let the negative thought processes take over so much that to think positively becomes so alien to us.  It becomes a concerted effort to think positive at all times.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard a story of a nun that at a young age was sheltered from the world.  She was kept away from people that were negative or gossiped.  She was kept away from the world like Siddhartha (Buddha) was kept away from the world.  As a result of being kept from the world, she never had a negative thought.  She always had positive thoughts, because she was shielded from all of the negative things in the world.

Imagine having an intellect that was powerful enough to extinguish the negative from ever entering your mind.  That was what this young girl was practicing from the time she was six years old.  She’s an old woman now and still lives in this world separate from all of the negative things that happen.  Her only focus is to remain at peace and to be positive.  It is her positive mind that inspires and helps everyone she encounters.

I aspire to be like her…to have a mind so powerful that when a negative thought attempts to enter my mind, it will be extinguished by the fire of positivity.  I aspire to have a mind that is conditioned to think positive thoughts first and when the negative thoughts attempt to enter, it will be so alien to my mind that it can’t break through that barrier and take over.

For those who read books like “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne and other books focusing on the benefits of positive thinking, you know what great rewards can come to you when you are positive all of the time.  Simply put, the thoughts you put out there are the exact experiences you get back.  If you think positive all of the time, only good things will happen to you.  If you think negative, only bad things will happen to you.  It is the way the universe works and has always worked.

The thought process is basically – YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK.  Your entire life and the good things you want out of life can be had…if you put your mind to it.

Changing your mindset from negative to positive is easier said than done.  It takes a lot of practice.  The first step in changing your mindset is devoting yourself to a practice of daily meditation.  The best time to start is when you first wake up in the morning.  Take a moment to not press the snooze button and just sit up, focus on your soul, and think positive thoughts.  Sit like this for a few minutes, in complete silence, then open your eyes and begin your day.


With each thought you have over the course of the day, focus on the quality of the thought.  Is it a negative thought or a positive thought?  If it is a negative thought, stop yourself.  Don’t let the thought continue.  CHOOSE to accept that what you were thinking was negative and you will no longer entertain that thought.  Switch your mind to focusing on a positive thought.

Ask yourself this:  How can I change how I think and feel about that negative situation I was just thinking about so that I can feel positive about it so I will never think that way again?  

You’ll find that the more and more you recognize the negative and decide to stop it in its tracks, you’ll find that you are beginning to reshape your mind, teaching your mind a new truth.

This is something you have to practice over and over and over again until your mind’s natural condition is to think positive thoughts at all times, never letting the negative disrupt your thoughts.  Let the good thoughts be the first thoughts you grab from now on like it is sweet nectar from the tree of knowledge.

Beyond having a better, more peaceful mind, you’ll find that when you are a positive person, great and amazing things happen to you all of the time.  Whatever you truly want is yours, because the thoughts you create from this positive perspective will help you achieve all of the dreams you have for yourself.  Your mind will also reshape itself to only want the good dreams, not the ones that will ultimately hurt you or others.  You will, in essence, learn to choose wisely because your choices are coming from a good place.

When negative things happen, you don’t let it bother you or shape you.  You’ll know how to deal with the situation more intelligently, because you’ll have a strong, positive mind.

Daily meditation is the key to obtaining this strength.  Thinking positive is a strength because of how hard you have to work at making this a part of your life.  To think negatively all of the time is a sign of being weak.


For those looking to learn how to meditate, I strongly recommend learning from the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization.   They have Meditation Centers all over the world.  You can even learn how to meditate on their website.  People from all religious backgrounds who want a deeper understanding and connection to their soul and God can find out how to create a better connection by learning meditation through raj yoga (yoga for the mind).  I’ve met Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, etc. at the Meditation Center over these last 8 years.  Learning raj yoga has helped them have a much deeper, spiritual connection with God and has helped them understand their religion much better than before.  It helps them create peace within themselves no matter what is happening in their lives or around them.

Simply put, the Brahma Kumaris help people find peace within themselves so that they can become a better human being for this world.

It is absolutely free to take meditation classes with them.

When I was introduced to them 8 years ago, I was searching for God. I couldn’t find him in man’s religion.  When I sat through the free meditation classes, I realized that I was right.  God was not in religion.  He was always right there with me.  I was always searching for something that I already had.  I just needed someone to confirm what I already knew was true.  The Brahma Kumaris were the first to say, “You were right all along.”  They were the answer I was looking for all these years, and I grew up a Christian. I find that every time I attend classes, I always learn something new that helps me with whatever is happening in my life at that moment.

I soak up stories of great people and how through the practice of meditation, they are helping change the world for the better.  Meditation is what empowers the minds to become strong and to focus on doing great things for the world to help people in the most amazing ways.  You may go into meditation thinking that you are doing something great for yourself, but you’ll soon learn that doing something great for yourself also means sharing that joy you’ve found within yourself with the world.  That’s what positive thinking people do…they want to share the benefits of everything good in the universe with everyone around them.  Because if everyone thought positive all of the time, this world would be a much better place.