328. Her Inner Voice Said, “Give it All Away.” She Did.

After a long period of learning yoga and meditation to find her inner voice, “One day in early 1980, I heard, ‘Go buy a pound of tumbled stones.’ I had no idea what that meant. After I got the stones, I got instructions on what to do with them: I started doing energy healings. People would come for the healings, and I would sell the stones. So, I started a crystal business. I was the first one to market crystals and minerals for healing and meditation nationwide. I had a line of stones called Joan’s Stones (originally named Cosmic Rocks), that were sold in 600 stores. I loved that business and it grew very quickly to the point where I was making $50,000 a month in today’s money.”

“A major turning point was 40 years ago. I had reached a point in 1976 where life wasn’t making much sense to me. I had just left a marriage and had no visible means of support. As soon as the money ran out I wound up giving away everything I owned and just listening to my inner voice, and traveling for quite a long time. I did this so I could learn ways of healing my body that weren’t yet popular on the planet. It was the beginning of a deep, lifelong spiritual journey.”

“Trust your inner voice, don’t worry about the future, just be where you are today, accept it and make the most of it. It’s not what’s happening to you that matters, it’s how you deal with what’s happening. There were times when I wouldn’t know what I was supposed to do from day to day, and I would just listen. I had some of the most amazing experiences where the instruction I was getting was other-worldly at times. I would follow my inner voice and these amazing things would happen!”

1. Learn to listen to your inner voice and trust it.

2. Practice acceptance of where you are today and make the most of it.

3. Worrying is a waste of time. When you’re worrying you’re just making up stories.

4. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep going inside and listening, and then apply what you learn. If you do that, everything will work out fine.

Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Build Your Money Muscles, by Joan Sotkin

Financial Freedom Formula: A Holistic Blueprint for Success (Joan’s online course)