Latest / Destination Unlimited with Victor Fuhrman / Rev. James Parker – The Wealth Spark

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Rev. James Parker – The Wealth Spark · Destination Unlimited with Victor Fuhrman

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My name is Victor Furman. Some call me the Voice. I've always been
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fascinated with human nature, spirituality, science and the crossroads at which they meet.
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Join me now and we will explore these topics and so much more with
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fascinating guests, authors and experts who will guide us to Destination Unlimited in twenty
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twenty four. How may we shift limiting beliefs, create a strong supportive network,
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and create a framework of inner well being to flourish My guest this week
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on Destination Unlimited, Reverend James Parker, says we can achieve this both financially
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and spiritually with wealth mindset. Reverend Parker is the Senior Minister and CEO of
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Unity in Chicago, Illinois. He has an extensive entrepreneurial and leadership background across
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multiple industries including telecommunications, construction, real estate, and business consulting and development,
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as well as restaurant and hospitality. A respected leader and inspirational change maker,
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Reverend Parker elegantly interweaves profound spiritual insights with practical financial wisdom. His website
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is thewealthsparkbook dot com, and he joins me this week to share his path
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and just published inspirational book, The Wealth Spark, Igniting Your Path to Abundance
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and Success. Please join me in welcoming to destination Unlimited, Reverend James Parker.
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Welcome, Reverend Parker, Hey, thank you, thank you for having
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me on your show. Thank you for joining us and sharing the beginning of
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twenty twenty four with this really important message that is in your brand new b
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book, The Wealth Spark, Igniting Your Path to Abundance and Success. So,
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Reverend Parker, please share with our listeners your path and how it led
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to your calling and what you bring to our world. Well, I have
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a very diverse background and leadership and entrepreneurship, and that has helped me a
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great deal in having a unique perspective kind of blending spiritual insights with financial acumen.
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So I have a super business background starting with my dad just kind of
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taking me through the steps. And then I found my spiritual calling almost two
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decades ago, and it led me to this place, and I found myself
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really wanting to dive into writing this book. It's been on my heart for
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many years and finally I had a chance to sit down and really put my
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thoughts on paper. What led to your calling and to becoming ordained. Yeah,
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that's a great question. So it goes way back when I was just
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a child, I think five or six years old. My parents took us
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to church every day, it seemed, and that's what they did in the
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sixties and early seventies. And so while there in Sunday school, we were
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given an assignment and then we'd go into the larger church audience and the pastor
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would ask us, what did you learn today? And I don't exactly know
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what I said. What I said something as a five or six year old
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again, And from that moment on, my mom had started telling me you're
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going to be a preacher, and I resisted it with everything in me.
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But somewhere around my early twenties or so, I picked up the book The
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Game of Life and How to Play It, and it shifted my mindset at
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one hundred and eighty degrees. And from there I just, you know,
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dove into learning. I just wanted to learn more and grow more and find
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more and discover more. And and so doing that, I began attending services
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and going on missions and different things, and I ended up in a ministry
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that was being led by Mary Ann Williamson, and there was probably two thousand
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people in the service. But she was a dynamic speaker, I mean still
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is, and I don't know, I was just I was just drawn in.
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And one day I went to meet with her in her office and I
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said to her, I think I want to do this, and she kind
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of led me on the path, kind of took me under her wing and
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gave me, you know, some advice and helped me through the process.
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And you know, it was pretty hard, you know, to think in
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the beginning, you know what seminaries like, it's kind of a purging process.
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But boy, it really turned out to be my calling, the exact
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thing, and I my purpose, the thing that I should be doing.
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Absolutely I share that with you. In the mid to late nineties, I
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had a calling that led me to attending the New Seminary of New York,
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which was one of the first interfaith seminaries in the United States. I actually
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had the pleasure of meeting Mary and Williamson back then, and she's also been
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on the show, So thank you for mentioning her and sharing this experience with
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me. I think it's so important for people to understand that we've had I
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had a business background, and then I had a calling, a spiritual calling,
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and there's nothing wrong with the two. They're not mutually exclusive, they're
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actually mutually inclusive. So thank you for sharing that wonderful Please tell us about
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the foundation and work of Unity of Unity. Well, that's a good that's
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another good question. So Unity has been around for I guess the last one
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hundred and twenty years or so. It was founded by Charles and Myrtle Filmore
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and kind of came out of it comes out of a New Thought movement,
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which was really an expression of Emerson Threau, you know, different figures like
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that. And so Unity operates under the premise that there's only one presence and
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one power, that the divine spark of Jesus or anyone Buddha, whoever you
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may call your higher power, is within each one of us. That the
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thoughts that we think create our reality, that prayer meditation are the lynch pin
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or the backbone to who we are as individuals, and that we have to
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put feet to our faith, we have to walk the walk. So as
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far as Unity goes and expressing those particular principles, it allows people to come
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into their own being, their own idea of their best self, and to
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live their best life. Absolutely, congratulations on your brand new book, The
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welt Spark, Igniting your Path to Abundance and Success. It's just come out
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this week, so congratulations. Thank you so much for that, Victor,
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I really appreciate it. What inspired this life changing book? You know,
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the inspiration from this book came from my I just saw a need to uh
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to to to redefine the idea of prosperity and success. So the whole idea
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of wealth has gotten has the wrong it's it's it's taken on the wrong ideas,
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and I wanted to bust a myth to begin with about prosperity. But
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you know what really inspired me in this, in this whole idea, was
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that people in my church and community were coming to me all the time with
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you know, challenges that they're having financially, and those financial challenges can and
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keep a person up all night, can have them, you know, really
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stressed and very anxious in a very anxious situation. So I began talking to
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them and for them it all boiled down to money, you know, what
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was in their bank account. But prosperity, true prosperity and wealth goes far
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beyond that and part of my challenge as a minister is relaying that message to
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people like yues. We want to create financial substance, absolutely, we also
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have to create the environment for sustained success and prosperity. And so the Wealth
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Spark was inspired was written as a way to really address wealth on a multi
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dimensional level, as a multi dimensional experience, to encourage people to redefine what
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abundance really means to them. Let's share with our listeners some of the wisdom
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that you offer in the Wealth Spark, starting with how our thoughts create out
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reality. You refer to this as wealth mindset. How do we embrace this
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and how may we overcome scarcity mindset? Ah, So, the idea behind
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a wealth mindset has really been around for millennial and the concept itself is a
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bridge between moving from a scarcity mindset, which is limiting beliefs, you know,
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the negative self talk that we tend to say to ourselves the past things
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that we're holding on to a place of abundance, or a wealth mindset,
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if you will, and that's really about coming into a positive mindset, allowing
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yourself to be optimistic, to see your good, to come into the expression
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of your best self. And it's a really hard thing to do, especially
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since many of us have been wounded for most of our lives. I love
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the saying, although our parents may have been the first to love us,
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they were also the first to wound us. And I don't mean that in
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a bad way. What it's actually saying is that many of us in our
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situations have learned our parents' challenges. Our parents learned their parents' challenges, and
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so on and so forth. So a lot of these things we've been carrying
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around is if they're DNA, and we've been acting out from those different expressions.
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So it's really about moving or changing or shifting your mindset from limitation to
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possibility. Absolutely. I had the blessing of a wonderful mom. She passed
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away a few years ago, and my father had gotten ill when I was
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eight years old and passed when I was fifteen, and my mother had gone
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to work and supporting us, and I was working also and contributing to the
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family. And one thing, my mother took me on the side and she
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said, you know, I want you to always remember this. We've never
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lacked for anything that we truly need. If we truly needed something, it
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was always there, and that's set in my heart and my mind, this
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concept of that everything is there for us if we embrace it. Yes,
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absolutely, And I've had quite the same experience with my parents and working.
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And it was my dad who said to me, you have everything you need
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inside of you. And I didn't understand that at first, But boy,
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as I began to work and put these concepts and ideas of spirituality to work
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in my life, I began to realize that it's all about how I express
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myself, you know, how I see things. There's this beautiful saying that
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our task is not to set things right, not to fix things, but
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to see things rightly. And so the idea is that we have to begin
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to see our best selves, see our best lives, and begin to live
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from that expression. Absolutely. I have the blessing of being part of a
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Facebook group called Mourning Gratitude, and people post their gratitude every day and they're
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what they're grateful for. Now. Gratitude is a thing that should start immediately.
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It shouldn't wait until we have the actual accumulation of wealth, is it.
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That's so? You're so right, Victor, And honestly, you know,
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we have so much to be grateful for. I mean just the moment
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that we wake up in the morning. Everything we do from every moment on
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is something to be grateful for, and so I really talk about it.
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I really pin down gratitude in my book because I really want people to know
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that if you can allow yourself to be grateful, you can allow yourself to
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remain in the present. And if you can stay in the present, you
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can see you can draw or attract your best desires and ambitions and goals to
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you. Do you have a gratitude techniques that you use or can you suggest
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to a listeners. I do have a gratitude technique that I use every day.
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It's it's just it's just a simple formula. I wake up in the
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morning, I write down three things that I am grateful for, and I
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just allow myself to sit with that for a moment, and that really kicks
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off my day. It allows me to start off with a positive experience and
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allows me to see all the goodness that is at work in my life.
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That's wonderful because it combines two things. Combines the power of three, which
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Tesla brought to us and many other people talk about the power of three and
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Also it brings to bear the fact that it's sort of like a meditation on
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your gratitude, and it really helps you embody that gratitude. Yeah, and
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I really believe that you know, our as spiritual beings, our main purpose
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is to allow ourselves to self reflect, to go within, to be mindful
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of the thoughts, the energy that is all around us. So it's absolutely
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a form of meditation in that it allows for the growth and expansion of our
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inner being. The founder of the New seminary that I had mentioned that I
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attended the nineteen nineties was a gentleman who was in as well as into his
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eighties at the time that I attended the seminary, and he used to say
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that he'd wake up every morning and he'd have pain in his back, and
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pain in his legs and pain in his arms, and he'd say, thank
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you God. And people would say to him, you're in pain. Why
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are you thanking God? He said, because I'm alive. I'm grateful to
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be alive because every day when I wake up, I have purpose that I
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can fulfill. That is so true, and I try to get that through
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to people. I bet you, every Sunday morning during his service. It's
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really we really have so much to be grateful for. And there are challenging
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times. Absolutely, there's difficulties, there's situations that we go through that and
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in some cases we don't feel like we'll make it through. But boy,
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I tell you, it's just amazing to be able to see the life that
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we have. And if we can see the life that we have, we
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can allow ourselves to really come in into an expression of knowing that we can
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get through those challenges. Absolutely. Visualization is a technique that seems to be
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new age, but is based upon timeless wisdom. What role does visualization play
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in igniting the wealth spark? Well, and I just I touched on that
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a bit earlier. But visualization is such a powerful device that we have at
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our disposal. It allows us to really to to see, uh, to
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see into what it is that we desire, what we what we truly want.
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And if we can just visualize allow ourselves to visualize ourselves in the right
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and perfect situation, we are actually creating an energy flow that is that allows
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that very thing to come into our lives. It Visualization, to me,
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is like the most powerful magnet on earth. And if we just use it.
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We have it within us to use. We will draw into us all
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the good that is ours by divine right. Can you give us an example
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of what are the visualization techniques you offer in the Wealth Spark? Well,
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one of the visualization techniques that I I I offer in the Wealth Spark is
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called a vision board or what what many call a prosperity boarder. There's different
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names for it. And what you do is you take you you get a
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board, uh, maybe a piece of paper, you know, a large
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piece of paper or something whatever you have, and you begin to to cut
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and paste different things, you know, what that you envision for your life,
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the home that you want, the job that you desire, any anything
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that you seem to want to attract into your life. You place it on
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that vision board. And then you you put the vision board in a place
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where you see it all the time. And by doing that, it's it's
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a you're you're seeing your good uh in front of you, and by doing
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that, you allow yourself to see you you're good coming to you and you
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begin to work in that regard. It's like a vision of a goal that
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you have. And so it's a very permanent piece of good that you have
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available to you. And for those who say they lack the power to visualize,
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are there other techniques they can use in the same aspect, in the
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same conjunction. In other words, can they feel that they're in that place?
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Can they can they hear that they're in that place? That type of
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thing. Oh sure. Now I like to use as a part of my
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visualization a mode of meditation, but I also use like mirror work and different
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things like that. So I would suggest if someone is struggling with envisioning their
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good coming to them, I would say, start with yourself first, which
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means to change your mindset or your idea about who you are. And so
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mirror work is a very important and a very powerful tool available to us.
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And that's simply just getting in the mirror and to begin to affirm your best
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self. I am an expression of God, I am alive, I am
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worthy of my good I am deserving of all the universe has to offer.
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When you begin to change your mindset from what you see in the mirror,
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you begin to change yourself. And from changing yourself, you can begin to
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envision what you want to bring into your life. What should we do when
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we look into that mirror. What should we think? What should we say?
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I would say that we want to use I am statements present in the
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present tense. So they're called the statements of affirmation, and so I would
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say, you just start off with I am, I am here, I
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am present, I am loved, I love myself. I am open and
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receptive to the power and the flow of God. I am ready to receive
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my good I am open to new friends. I'm open to a relationship.
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I am open to the flow of all there is that is within me beautiful.
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There's also science behind positive affirmations, isn't there There is, yes,
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and it's been proven that you know, as we allow ourselves to come into
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a new understanding, it's really reversing the subconscious the things that the negative ideas
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that are in the subconscious mind. So picture it as if it's a blackboard
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and there's a bunch of stuff written on this blackboard. Let's say you had
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an episode in your past where there was a serious breakup and you felt betrayed.
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That's on your blackboard, and someone teased you. When you're a kid,
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that's your blackboard. Someone may have made you or influenced you to do
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something you didn't want to do. That's on that blackboard. You may have
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influenced someone or practiced some unforgiveness on someone else, that's on that blackboard.
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As you know, everything that the subconscious, everything that we see is pasted
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onto the subconscious. There's some great things there, but there's also a bunch
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of negativity. So the idea is to change our subconscious mind. So as
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you affirm your new truth, or as you affirm something positive, you begin
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to erase the negative things off your subconscious mind, those things that seem to
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come up out of nowhere and cause your grief or difficulty. So there is
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there's major science behind it, and it's absolutely something that we all should do.
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It's really about letting go of those things in the past that no longer
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service or have purpose in our lives. Yes, yes, and that's probably
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release is something that is very challenging for us, especially as we get older,
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and that's because we're Change is really hard for us. So as we
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begin to let go, we allow God or our higher power to enter and
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do the work for us. And boy, if we allow a spirit to
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do the work for us, we just can't go wrong. Absolutely, my
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guest is Reverend James Parker, his brand new book The Wealth Spark, igniting
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your path to abundance and success. Please share with our listeners where they can
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get your book and find out more about you and your wonderful work. You
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can find my book at the welshbook dot com and if you go there,
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there's a bunch of things that there's a group of community there and it's really
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beautiful because we get we have free affirmations for you, a free chapter to
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the book. There's also services that you can take in. So go to
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the Well Spark Blok and find what works best for you and we'll be back
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with more of Reverend James Parker after these words on the Own Times Radio network,
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Unlimited. My guest this week is Reverend James Parker. We're talking about his
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brand new book, The Wealth Spark, Igniting your Path to abundance and success.
25:53
Reverend Parker. As we discussed earlier, meditation is an important part of
25:57
this practice, and spiritual can communities share the importance of mindfulness as being in
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the present moment, often through a practice of meditation. Is mindfulness also part
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of the Wealth Spark practice? Yes, it is. It's very important that
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mindfulness is a part of every aspect of your life, and I talk about
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it in The Well Spark because I want people to take action toward their goals
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and so just by allowing yourself to go within, just even if it's for
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thirty seconds or two minutes, however long you allow yourself to become center in
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the present moment, it will benefit not only your life, but the lives
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of those around you. Give us some examples of mindfulness practices that you recommend
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in the Wealth Spark. So I recommend in the Well Spark a meditative form
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where you just allow yourself to sit in a space alone. It's called going
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into the silence, and you go into a stillness. Now, what I
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do on my own personal meditations is that I just allow myself to close my
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outer eye and open my inner eye. And so by doing that, I
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can reflect on everything that's going on in and around me. But also you
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have to concentrate on your breathing. If you just breathe in and out,
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follow your breath into your body and back out. This allowed yourself to just
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continue to breathe in and out, you'll come into a centeredness at a present
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moment, and that is where the good happens. It reminds me of the
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story and in the Bible where Elijah disappears he runs for fear that ends up
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at a mountain and he goes into one of the caves and he looks out
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and he starts waiting for God to tell him what to do. And so
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he sees a fire, he sees an earthquake. You know, he sees
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all of these different things, but God's not there. And then suddenly,
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you know, he just allows himself to self reflect and here's the voice of
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God. They call it this still small voice. So we're not going to
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see God in our challenges. We're not going to see God in the fires
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of our lives, when the earthquakes, the trembles and different things. God
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is going to come to us in a moment of stillness, in a moment
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of silence, in a moment of a moment of centeredness. Absolutely, I'll
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be seventy one this month, and if I've learned anything, it is that
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learning is a NonStop process as I encounter and learn new things every day.
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How may we apply continuous learning to the wealth spark. We can apply a
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continuous by the way, happy birthday, Thank you very much. We can
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apply continuous learning to the well spark by just allowing ourselves to continue to read,
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to attend webinars, to go to seminar, to listen to shows like
28:56
yours, where we can find a source of learning and growth. If we
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continuously allow ourselves to just be open to knowledge and wisdom. It will benefit
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and create an instant way for us to be driven to our purpose. As
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I shared with you offline, one of the things that has driven my path
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is curiosity, asking questions. That's really important? Is it? Oh?
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It is absolutely important? And I think we have to ask questions, and
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those questions have to start with us. I think we have to ask ourselves
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some very hard questions sometimes when we ask ourselves, what is mine to do?
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What is this challenge? What is this challenge before before me here to
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teach me? What is this thing that I'm going through? What is it
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a stepping stone to what opportunity? So I think we have to ask questions
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all the time. We have to have this curiosity because life is really about
29:57
curiosity. If we're not curious about anything, we're not seeing anything new.
30:03
Absolutely, is it important to be part of a community that shares the wealth
30:08
mindset and how may we foster that community? Well? I think we definitely
30:15
want to be a part of a part of a like minded community, a
30:18
community that's positive, that's uplifting, that's empowering, and a community that we
30:23
can work with then to not only support our own goals, but to support
30:29
communities and other greater goals. So fostering the wealth mindset community. Now,
30:36
that's that can become a little challenging, and I love that you asked that
30:41
question because that is exactly what we want to do. So in order to
30:44
foster the wealth mindset community, we have to first allow ourselves to accept our
30:52
own limitations so that we can move forth from them. And it's challenging for
30:57
many people to see their own limitations, their own limiting beliefs before them.
31:03
Many times, it's so much easier for us to judge outside of ourselves or
31:07
to critique what someone else is doing without taking a herd look at ourselves.
31:11
And so what we teach and what we try to instill in people in our
31:18
community is that we all take a look at ourselves that we all grow together.
31:23
I teach a weekly Bible study and often a class or two, and
31:29
it's really centered around community, around us discussing and getting into debates and allowing
31:34
ourselves to just bond on that level. We begin to see ourselves in this
31:41
flow, and so that's a well set community to be in the flow of
31:45
our good you know, it's interesting in the late in my late thirties,
31:49
I started attending a series of Friday night gatherings and New Age type gatherings here
31:55
in New York. And one of those gatherings, the gentleman who is speaking
32:00
that night, I didn't resonate with what he was sharing, and the woman
32:02
who would host us, this wonderful woman who was well into her eighties at
32:07
the time, noticed that I was uncomfortable, and as the evening was coming
32:12
to an end and people were leaving, she asked if I would wait for
32:15
a few moments, and I said absolutely, And she took me on the
32:19
side after everyone had left, and took my hands and looked at my eyes
32:22
and she said, I victory. I see that you're not resonating with what
32:25
that gentleman was sharing tonight. Let me share something with you. She said,
32:29
God does not require us to be holy, but God would love for
32:32
us to be whole. And when she said that, it changed my life.
32:37
That's really what this is about, isn't it becoming whole within yourself?
32:40
Yes? Yeah, the work is the work that we do is Yeah,
32:45
of course it will benefit all the things outside of us, but honestly,
32:51
we really want to come into a mode of holiness and well being within ourselves,
32:57
because in order to have any kind of peace of mind, we have
33:00
to be able to find a place of centeredness of wholeness. And so I
33:06
am absolutely on board with what she said to you. Those were some amazing
33:10
words. In fact, what's her name? Is she written anything? I
33:15
want to read it? She has not. She subsequently passed. She was
33:17
in her eighties when when I was in my thirties. But I've been blessed
33:23
with these wonderful spiritual teachers who have just come into my life imparted things to
33:29
me and then and then moved on or pasted or what have you, and
33:32
have allowed me the opportunity to share their wisdom so that others can embrace it.
33:37
Also. Yeah, I'm hoping that even our discussion here today, Victor,
33:40
will have that kind of impact. You know, the old saying when
33:44
the student is ready to teach, her appears, And so I hope that
33:49
our discussion not only have you appeared in my life and I'm learning from you,
33:52
and you know, your wisdom is being imparted on me, but I
33:55
hope that we're doing the same for your wonderful audience and free each other,
34:00
Thank you so much. Absolutely, in your book you share nine habits of
34:05
successful people. Please share one or two of these with us. Oh,
34:08
nine habits of successful people. So, you know, the the the the
34:14
idea of habits Kate was born out of just me kind of reflecting on some
34:20
of the things that I had been doing. Someone had asked me, what
34:23
what are you? What? What are your what are what are what are
34:27
the things that you're constantly doing? And so really it's about coming into an
34:32
understanding of your own presence what you're actually doing. So and talking and speaking
34:39
to the nine habits I talk about, you know, setting goals. I
34:45
talk about gratitude a lot because it is important that we that we come into
34:52
a mindset of what it is that we truly want from whatever experience that we're
34:58
in. And you know, honestly, everything we do is a goal.
35:01
We just don't know it. When we wake up in the morning and we're
35:05
telling ourselves to go brush our teeth, we just set a goal. And
35:07
so I want people to get into the mindset of becoming conscious of the goals
35:14
that they're setting each day. Also, but I also it's important for us
35:19
to practice gratitude and everything we do. The scripture says be grateful in all
35:27
things, not for all things. So we have to be grateful in everything
35:31
that we do, and that attracts that's that magnet again, that just attracts
35:36
all of our good our way, and not the good habits. But what
35:38
about the old bad habits? How do we break those? Now? That
35:45
that's a big one. So I think, you know, in order to
35:47
break the bad habits, we first have to come into a consciousness of affirming
35:52
our good you know, we have to begin to affirm our truth. I
35:54
think I talked about the black board scenario earlier. So one thing that we
36:00
have to begin doing is to affirm or to come into a new belief of
36:07
who we are. But also we have to set some standards for ourselves.
36:12
In the morning, I come into a morning routine that works for us.
36:16
We have to look at our challenges and failures as stepping stones. We have
36:22
to also allow ourselves to practice, to practice coming into a better life,
36:31
you know, at looking at our struggles as possibilities. Absolutely one of my
36:39
personal challenges. Until my early fifties, I've been running to care for others
36:45
and neglecting caring for myself. This led to a life changing health crisis,
36:50
which also became a mind changing lesson What advice do you offer for developing self
36:55
care mentality? For self care, I simply advise people to come into a
37:02
work life balance. Also, self care is about setting boundaries. You know,
37:09
we have to allow ourselves to really begin to uh to know what is
37:15
ours to do and what is someone else's, and not to allow someone to
37:21
step into our into our realm, and for us not to step into theirs.
37:27
But also I think a big, a big self care piece is to
37:31
begin to take care of our bodies better, to to exercise a little,
37:37
even if it just means taking a short walk, to begin eating right,
37:40
pay attention to what we're putting into our bodies, pay attention to, you
37:45
know, the the air that we're breathing. Begin to see that what we
37:50
do to our bodies, to our body tempo is going to be a reflection
37:55
of who we are on the outside. You mentioned healthy boundary, and when
38:00
I had my revelation about taking care of myself and also having boundaries for people
38:07
who might abuse or misuse the gifts that I was offering, a poem came
38:12
through me and it's called the healing power of no. May I share that
38:15
with you? Please? A time comes for choosing rather than losing the essence
38:22
that makes us so, and in the bestowing. There's power in knowing the
38:27
freedom that comes with no. When said with compassion, not angry, in
38:31
fashion, and letting the self love flow, there's a sense of renewing and
38:37
deep soul imbuing the awareness that comes with no. So with gentle voice and
38:45
the power of choice and the courage to make it so, I'm still here,
38:50
my friends. There's no means in this end, just the healing that
38:53
comes with no. I love that, Victor. Can you send me a
38:59
copy, by the way, Absolutely, I would love to post it and
39:01
put it in a frame. Absolutely my pleasure to do so. There's a
39:07
wonderful old story about a man who finds himself afloat on a log in the
39:10
middle of the sea after a boating accident. A ship comes by and offers
39:15
to pull him aboard, and he declines, saying that he has faith in
39:19
the Lord and the Lord will save him. Then a helicopter passes overhead and
39:23
offers to throw him a rope ladder, and again he declines. After a
39:28
series of these events with the saying the Lord will save him. He unfortunately
39:31
passes where he drowns. When he arrives in the presence of the Lord,
39:36
he questions why his faith did not save him. The Lord responds, I
39:39
don't know, my son. I sent you the boats, and I sent
39:42
you the helicopters. This parable implies that faith is wonderful, but it also
39:49
requires action. How critical is action in our Wealth Spark journey. Action is
39:55
probably the most critical of O right in detail about action, because all the
40:02
affirmations and the visioning boards, and the gratitude and all those things are nothing
40:07
unless we used them, unless we put feet to them, unless unless we
40:12
make and turn them into something. So action is probably other than holding ourselves
40:22
in the light, is probably the second most important thing that we can do.
40:25
Now, I love that story you just told, and I tell it
40:29
quite often myself, because many people get lost in sitting in their faith,
40:36
you know, talking to talk, but not walking the walk. Then what
40:39
we want people to do is to walk the walk, to go into the
40:44
experience. That's the only way they're going to learn and grow from whatever they
40:49
may be going through. And as I shared with you offline, many opportunities
40:53
have presented themselves to me in my life, and I've been blessed with them,
40:57
grateful for them. But the question then becomes, when the opportunity is
41:00
present to you, you have to ask three questions. Number one, is
41:05
this right for my highest purpose? Number two, does this not detract from
41:07
anyone else? Is its highest purpose? And number three is this the time
41:12
for me to approach that You agree with that philosophy, don't you? I
41:15
absolutely agree with it, And we really have to see ourselves benefiting from the
41:23
wisdom. That is all the wisdom and knowledge that is not only inside of
41:28
us, that is just floating all around us. And it's very important for
41:31
us to know that in spite of what we may be going through, there
41:37
is a greater thing that is coming forward to us, and we have to
41:42
be open to it, and we have to know that it's for us,
41:45
because it's not detracting from anyone else. It is absolutely ours and hours alone.
41:51
Absolutely every time one of these situations has happened in my life, I
41:54
visualize that the opportunity is coming in the form of an angel. If I
41:59
reckon angelic presence and move forward. There's been a countless number of blessings that
42:04
have ensued. So yes, thank you for sharing that. Yes, yes,
42:08
I absolutely believe it. And there is a spiritual presence all around us
42:14
and we have the ability to tap into it. And I can't of talk
42:16
about that a bit in The Wealth Spark. I really want people to see
42:21
that possibility is all around them. And you know, don't get don't get
42:27
frustrated. Just allow yourself to just sit in the moment, you know,
42:31
open your heart and mind, allow yourself to get centered, and that's part
42:37
of action itself, and you will begin to attract things into your world.
42:44
You'll know that you're attracting it because it's not something that you've ever dreamed of.
42:49
Absolutely. My guest, Reverend James Parker his brand new book, The
42:52
Wealth Spark, Igniting your Path to abundance and Success. We'll be back with
42:57
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Back on Destination Unlimited. My guest this week is Reverend James Parker. His
46:54
brand new book just published, The Wealth Spark, Igniting your path to a
46:59
bun and success. You talked earlier about getting up every morning and in your
47:05
mindfulness practice writing down three affirmations and referring to them and going over them again
47:12
and again. How does journaling our success stories aid in this process? Well,
47:17
journaling, I think it's that's another great question. Journally is just another
47:22
form of mindfulness, another form of affirming your truth. So uh, many
47:28
people operate from you know, within, they can they can, they can
47:31
speak to themselves on the inside, but some need to be able to write
47:37
it down, to be able to see, uh what what they're putting into
47:42
into the world. And so journally helps in doing that. It allows you
47:45
to not only get things off and get things out front that you're thinking and
47:52
feeling and put them down on paper, but it also gives you a form
47:55
of something to reflect on. And as we reflect on things, it allows
48:00
us to grow from it. And writing is an action, Yes, Writing
48:05
is an action, absolutely, and that action affirms and reaffirms the actions that
48:10
we're taking in our path. Yes, yeah. And and the benefit of
48:15
the beauty of it is that we have all of these ways of taking action
48:21
in our lives. Many of us just don't. We're not aware, you
48:25
know, we're not awake to it. And that's what I'm hoping that the
48:29
well spark does is that it created, that it begins in awakening, that
48:31
it starts something, you know, bubbling up inside of you where you can
48:37
come into and find a technique, a tip, a strategy, something that
48:42
works for you that will move you forward towards your perfect goal. Doctor doctor
48:47
Martin Luther King used to say, if you can't fly, then run.
48:52
If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl.
48:54
But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward. And so
48:58
that's my goal is to get people moving forward. Absolutely. I had cheered
49:04
about my wonderful spiritual teacher from the New Seminary of the nineteen nineties. He
49:07
used to say, there should be an eleventh commandment, thou shalt have purpose.
49:13
Purpose is truly the key to all of us, isn't it. Yes,
49:16
perfect, perfect is absolutely the key to all of this. But there
49:21
must be fulfillment that goes with this. I want people to find their purpose,
49:25
and I absolutely believe you will if you practice, if you exercise those
49:32
inner muscles, you will come into your purpose and from that purpose you will
49:37
find a greater fulfillment in your life. Absolutely, And I've also learned that
49:43
abundance is not only material but spiritual. How may we recognize spiritual abundance.
49:51
We recognize spiritual abundance by knowing, because abund it itself is a concept of
49:58
overflowing things that just you know, when when our cup just runs over,
50:02
And so it also happens in our lives when we're practicing the principles, when
50:09
we're when when we're seeking some greater understanding of spirit, or or when we're
50:17
when where we're looking to grow or expand our territories in any way, we
50:22
can see that we're doing the work, that the work is culminating for us.
50:28
By the way, it just simply overflows in our lives. It just
50:31
it just runs over. Now, it's just something that we just can't stop,
50:36
and we love it. One of the other spiritual teachers I had in
50:39
my life used to say something that I think was really profound. She used
50:44
to say that in this world, you have to ask for what you want.
50:49
Why is it so difficult for so many to ask? Yeah, I
50:52
think I think it's so difficult for people to ask because they're not used to
50:57
receiving and and and I think that that's because they've been asking for something on
51:02
the outside instead of asking from within. When we ask within, it's a
51:09
whole. It's a game changer. It says, seek ye first the Kingdom
51:14
of God and his righteousness, and all things shall be added on to you.
51:17
So if we just allow ourselves to seek the kingdom of whatever our higher
51:22
power is on the inside, then we automatically attract our good to us.
51:28
And then we begin to do that over and over again. It becomes a
51:31
practice of ours because we're now seeking on the inside, We're asking on the
51:36
inside, and so I think we have to begin asking within before looking for
51:43
something outside of us. And this abundance I had mentioned not only material but
51:49
spiritual, but also abundance in relationship, isn't it? Yes, it's abundance,
51:53
and not only in relationship, but in creating meaningful relationships, lasting relationships.
52:01
The kind I feel resonating and just talking to you, Victor, I
52:07
feel like we're going to have a relationship for a long time to come.
52:09
Is absolutely absolutely. What would you like readers to take away from the Wealth
52:15
Spark igniting your path to abundance and success? I really want people to take
52:21
away that this book is your blueprint to mastering a wealth mindset, creating positive
52:27
life habits, taking decisive action, and ultimately crafting a life that does not
52:32
just lived, but lived abundantly. I mean a deeply satisfying and over flowing
52:38
form of success. This book is really about holistic wealth and what that means
52:45
is prosperity is not measured by what's in your bank balance, but by the
52:50
richness of your daily experiences and by the personal growth you've achieved. So if
52:55
you go over to the wealthspark dot com, the work the wellspar book dot
53:00
com, you'll find us there and there's just so much we have to offer
53:05
you, and we're looking forward to your visiting with us. And please tell
53:08
our listeners what they can find on your website. So on our website there's
53:13
a community of people like minded, people like yourself, who are looking to
53:20
come into a greater form of happiness, success, financial achievement. And there
53:27
you'll find the first chapter of my book. You'll find fifty free affirmations for
53:34
you to use each day. We also send them out to you. There's
53:38
a workshop that we have planned for February first. There's also a masterclass that's
53:44
going on and many other things. So there's four or five blocks there right
53:49
now, articles I've written, and there's just a host of things ways that
53:53
you can complement and learn and grow yourself. And you also offer personal coaching,
54:00
right I also offer personal coaching. Please come online if you feel the
54:04
need or you have a need signs come to the wellspark book dot com.
54:09
Sign up and we'll meet personally and we'll talk about things. And what's next
54:15
for Reverend James Parker. Well, it's next for Reverend James Parker. That
54:19
is a good question. Reverend James Parker is really just open and receptive to
54:23
what God has in store for him. I am absolutely working toward benefiting the
54:30
community in any way I can. We're creating now a foundation for those who
54:38
are seeking a greater understanding of their own truth. And this foundation is really
54:44
about, you know, kind of accepting our own our own lives. And
54:50
I feel like if we can move one person out of time, if we
54:52
can do one good thing out of time in our world, then we'll make
54:57
our world a better place. I really want us to make a difference together.
55:00
Absolutely, And as you well know that in every faith, virtually every
55:05
faith around the world, there is an iteration of the Golden rule, doing
55:07
to others as you'd have them doing to you, Love thy neighbor as thyself.
55:12
And if everybody embraced that, no matter what their faith, and we
55:15
looked at each other as sisters and brothers around the world, what a world
55:17
this would be, What a world this well said? Beautiful? Yes,
55:22
absolutely, Reverend James Parker. My gratitude to you, and my gratitude to
55:27
our mutual friend BETHA. Grossman for getting us together. This has been wonderful.
55:30
Thank you so much. Thank you, Victor for just being here and
55:34
for all that you're doing. And I look forward to talking more, my
55:37
friend. Absolutely, thank you, and thank you for joining us on Destination
55:42
Unlimited. I'm Victor the Voice Furman. Have a wonderful week.