Coming Soon… Overcome Financial Stress Now program!

By Kate Phillips January 8 Uncategorized

Hello readers!  I just wanted you all to know that I am hard at work on a special report about Overcoming Financial Stress.  Excerpts of it will be posted here, and the entire eBook/workbook will be available February 2009. I would like to offer the eBook to my readers for FREE!  (For those who have trouble receiving, I’d be happy to charge you however much makes you feel good!)  Seriously, I am excited to serve you and feel there is not a lot of really effective information about how to truly overcome financial stress.  It is a national epidemic right now, affecting people’s relationships, health, and so much more.  I know that I can make a difference, and I feel compelled to do so.

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Announcement: Christmas has been Postponed!

By Kate Phillips December 24 Inspiration

Think about it – do you look forward to seeing your family and friends on Christmas because of the gifts that they bring, or because of the GIFT that they ARE!?

With all due respect to Santa Claus, the biggest gifts we can give this or any season do not come in wrapping paper. Bring joy, peace, and goodwill in your sleigh, and you will be a welcome visitor anytime of year.

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Paying it Forward at a Starbucks Stand

By Kate Phillips November 25 Inspiration

I made a stop at the QFC grocery store in Redmond Ridge Saturday night.  I was on my way home from teaching a “Wealthy, Worthy and Wise” workshop and I needed a few groceries.  It had been a long day with an early start, and besides the groceries, I was also in the market for a shot of caffeine. I stopped by the in-store Starbucks stand and ordered a mocha from the friendly young male barista.  After writing on the cup and ringing my drink into the register, he started telling me a story before allowing me to pay for my drink. “This morning, our store’s assistant manager decided to pay for his drink and also the drink of the person following him,” he explained.  “The next person did the same, and people have continued it all day long, paying for the next person’s drink.”  Sure to let me know that there was no obligation, he added, “So your drink has already been paid for.  If you’d like to contribute to the next person’s drink, you can.”

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Chauncey Gardiner and the Audacity of Hope

By Kate Phillips November 10 Inspiration, the economy

(A tale of two political figures – one fictional as well as accidental, one real and very intentional.) As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. This week I re-watched the brilliantly constructed satire, “Being There.”  (A 1979 film directed by Hal Ashby, adapted from the 1971 novel written by Jerzy Kosiński.)  Peter Sellers plays a simple-minded gardner with no social or intellectual skills, being essentially raised by television sets and the plants he tended.  When forced into new situations such as befriending a billionaire and meeting the president, he is mistaken for a genius of sorts.  “Chance the Gardner” becomes “Chauncey Gardiner,” his simple sentences interpreted as deep metaphors about the state of the nation.

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Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

By Kate Phillips October 22 Inspiration, the economy

I was so moved by the words of FDR at his inaugural address, and struck by the timeliness of what he wrote for our own time as well, I wanted to share this excerpt.  Given March 4, 1933, this speech was delivered in the depth of the Depression.  “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.  “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.     In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.  I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. “In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties.  They concern, thank God, only material things.  Values have

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Autumn Contemplations, Financial Chaos, and Spring

By Kate Phillips October 15 Inspiration, Receiving, the economy, The Frugal Saver

The chaos in our financial markets seems to stand in contrast to the serenity of a beautiful fall day, with many-colored leaves on display and the gentlest of breezes giving them breath.  But look closely… I often find that my life tends to mirror and follow the season, both in exterior patterns and interior rhythms.  And perhaps the financial markets, which at a glance appear to be such a contrast to this autumn beauty, are doing the same.

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