Several years ago, before I was actually off of the streets and into an apartment, I interviewed Tonya Pinkins. As a matter of fact, she was my FIRST interview at a new job. I was still sleeping in my van, but I was staying at a campground and every other week or so the newspaper would put me up in a local hotel for a few days while I hunted for an apartment.

During this first week of the new job I was sent to interview Tonya, an Emmy awarding winning actress and motivational speaker. She was once a virtually homeless mother, on welfare herself and struggled with making a living for her and her two children.

I interviewed her without telling her about my situation, but we clicked during the interview. She gave me an autographed copy of her book, “Get Over Yourself,” which was published the year I became homeless in 2006. She wrote inside the cover, “Keep planting the seeds of power, you were born to it.”

I went back tonight and pulled the book out for some reason and started reading it again. I realized that she was right, that what we focus on, what we put our attention to, appears. I had been going through a long period of no fibro pain, but several people kept asking me, “How’s your fibro?” and my attention slowly turned towards it again. I started explaining to people that I had fibro, and really just started reading, thinking, talking and *owning” my fibromyalgia, focusing on IT and not on my health and well-being. Then I fell, badly spraining my wrist and really pissing off the fibro! Odd. It flared up again. I’ve been in pain for more than a week now. What’s up with that?

I did the same thing with money. A couple of clients cancelled projects, one had a bad car accident, another had some unexpected expenses. Then two long term contracts ended when a company laid off a department head and all combined, my income dropped by half this month. Instead of seeing the cancellations as things that happened to clear my plate for bigger and better paying projects I began to worry. The fear set in. Rather than celebrating the spare time to work on my books I started making calls to my waiting list of people needing/wanting books written.

The clients on my waiting list had found other writers - more expensive writers! They were paying almost double what they were willing to pay me. It felt odd. I realized I’d been leaving money on the table and I wasn’t happy about it at all. On top of that I was back to square one when it came to marketing and promotion. I wasn’t panicking, but I was concerned. I heard several friends tell me the economy was destroying their business. All around were words of doom and gloom, but I also heard of a few friends doing well. Something inside me shifted. I began to feel a real pull towards working on my own books instead of ghosting for others, even though the *smart* thing to do would be to work for anything to make the money to pay my bills. Still, working on things that don’t inspire me feels dead. I decided NOT to go back to the old way of shaking the bushes and looking for clients or following up on word-of-mouth leads for any kind of work. I decided to focus on what makes me feel creative and alive AND makes me money! That was as far as I’d gotten before spotting Tonya’s book.

There’s a chapter in there where she talks about “Naming it and claiming it in terms of health and wealth,” and that “How we do anything is how we do everything.” I think she’s right. First it was the fibro, then it was work. I named it and claimed it, but it wasn’t the things I wanted. I decided - It’s got to stop.

What really got my attention was that shortly before I went through this whole exercise I was asked by a new company to do some blogging for another company that has hired them. They pay 1/40th of what I get for a regular blog post - offering me about $3, for what I normally get $50 to $75 and up for. Hearing my inner lizard/fear “better take it!! ” I balked. No way! My fear said, “I have to take anything so some money, any money is coming in!!” That was the old money me. Then I hesitated and opened Tonya’s book at random. The page I landed on said, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Do I really want to accept 1/40th of what I get for a blog post “just to get by”? No. So I’m following what Tonya suggested and am putting out to the universe, to God and to spiritual law that my wealth is unfolding!

“My wealth is unfolding right now. I make money like bees make honey! I love money and money loves me! I am a money magnet! I live in a world of abundance! Money flows through me like fish in the sea! God, if there’s any good and wonderful thing out there that someone else is turning down, bring it to me - I want it and I accept it!!”

I’m getting wealthier and healthier every day in every way. Are you?