The Prosperous Heart

I love Hay House. The books they publish and promote are always really inspirational and I have found that they have helped me through some difficult times in my life, so I was delighted to review one of their latest books The Prosperous Heart - Creating a Life of  'Enough' by Julia Cameron with Emma Lively.

I often try to write about ways to save money on my blog and I know that since the credit crunch many people including myself have had to cut back and dramatically change their spending habits. But has the global financial crisis changed the way that we think about money and should there be a new definition of prosperity? How much can we control our own prosperity? These are some of the interesting issues discussed in this book.

I really enjoyed this book as I thought it had the right mix of philosophical thought and practical help. It made me think about my spending but offered me the tools to increase my prosperity too. It made me think very deeply about what true prosperity was and what I considered to be 'enough'

Cameron believes that 'prosperity begins with clarity' and the first step in that is understanding not only what we spend but why we spend. The book begins my looking at the different spending types and promotes the idea of 'counting'. This was quite a revelation. You are encouraged to write down every little ingoing and outgoing that you have. Most of us are used to budgeting but we tend to do it on a large scale listing the big bills such as rent and food shopping. What many of us don't realise is how much we spend on the tiny things in life. A coffee every morning and a magazine each week soon adds up and can make us realise exactly where our money is going. I was actually shocked by how much I spend on really superfluous things that I don't really want and certainly don't need! It also made me realise I was richer than I thought. I always complain that I don't have enough to go to a spa and yet a coffee at Starbucks every week costs £2.45. That means in a year I spend £127 on coffee which would be enough for a lovely spa day!

We are also taught that gaining prosperity is about changing our mindset. Rather than believing that abundance in the universe is limited and that there is a finite amount we need to change our thinking to believe that actually there is unlimited abundance. No one has to have less than others and just because someone has something that does not mean you cannot have it too! I think my favourite chapter was about "prosperity and our dreams"which showed us how lack of money did not have to stop us achieving our dreams - we just need to get creative. A great example was of a lady who really wanted to travel to Barcelona but didn't have the money to go there for any length of time. Instead of giving up she thought outside of the box...and decided to do a house swap so she got to go for free!

Prosperity does not just reside in our wallets or our bank accounts. It is really about what we carry with us in our heart. After reading the prosperous heart I came to realise that actually although I am not rich in a monetary sense I really am very prosperous in terms of what I do have - friends and family and enjoying what I do in life!

The book also has lots of inspirational quotes about prosperity and so I will end this review with my favourite

"Prosperity is basically an attitude of thought and feeling, only secondarily a matter of money"

I definitely recommend The Prosperous Heart. To find out more about "The Prosperous Heart" or to buy this book please visit the Hay House Website.