Money-N-You seminar last weekend

Lone and I went for MNY again last weekend. The best thing about it is that once you've participated once, it's free for you to go to again and again, for life, and in anywhere in the world whenever they hold MNY seminars.

As the name says, very literally, it's all about money, and you. It's a three and a half day (full days! which can be tiring but really rewarding in the end) course, where they help you learn more about money and you. Key here being that they *help* YOU learn. They don't teach you, they don't tell you, they just put you in situations and let you figure it out for yourself. And then, they review what you've learned with you.

I think it's a great way to help people learn, because the truth is people remember and understand better when they're involved in their own learning process, instead of just listening to the teacher and accepting (or rejecting) what the teacher says.

So anyway they teach you about money, how to smart with money and business, yada, yada, yada... and I learned some really, really, good lessons from there. And every time I go back for review, I get more distinctions, and also it's a great reminder to me to check if I'm going on the right track.

But I believe, and what everyone else is saying, the most impacting thing you learn in MNY, is all about YOU. As in, you, yourself, your thoughts, your beliefs, your attitude, your behavior....etc.

We all know that we all aren't perfect human beings, and the sad thing is, we know, and we ignore that fact. We don't bother spending time thinking about ourselves, improving ourselves, nourishing ourselves, helping ourselves grow.... and instead, most of us spend a LOT of our time thinking about our career, how to improve our income, growing our business. Or we think about anything as long as we don't have to face the ugly truth about ourselves.

Well, admit it, a lot of us don't know anything about ourselves. And a lot of us don't want to.

This is why I enjoy going to MNY, I meet people there who are not afraid to be honest about themselves, I meet people there who know who they are, who understand themselves, who love themselves, and in extension, they love and understand others.

Ok, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that *everyone* who goes for MNY is like that, because for every 'good' person you meet, there is someone else who is only there to prospect, or to impose, or who are too stubborn or too afraid to learn. Not that there's anything wrong with prospecting or whatever, that's half the reason people attend MNY after all. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. We have all met pushy salespeople who don't see us as people but only as dollar signs, who recite all their information at us as if we know what the heck their talking about, and who don't even care that we're not interested.

However, out of every 100 people there, you do get to meet a few really, really, great people. The key is quality, not quantity. Of course, you could introduce yourself to everyone and try to talk to everyone, but you don't build relationships that way. In most social settings where you get to know people for the first time, you make many acquaintances, but only a few actually become friends.

That's how it's like in MNY. The setting there is in such a way that although you've only met that one particular person that day, you're talking as if you've been friends since childhood.

I like making friends. Because friends allow you to go deeper. Friends talk about everything, friends are not afraid of opening up and being vulnerable, friends are not afraid of you judging them or vice versa, friends like you for who you are and not who they want you to be. I love friends.

Acquaintances, on the other hand... Well, I'm incapable of small talk. I don't care about the weather, I don't know anything about the latest fashions, or celebrity gossip, I don't particularly like talking about politics (although it does concern me), and I don't know much about sports.

Of course, I'm generalizing here, because although I don't know anything about any of these topics, some really good friends of mine love talking about them. But as long as they do all the talking and allow me to just listen and don't expect me to come up with an intelligent reply when it comes to these topics, I'm fine. And they're fine too, because they know me, and they allow me to talk about things that they know nothing about either.

But you see, our friendship wasn't built on these topics, it was built on much more solid ground, fed with much love and care. I liken it to building a cozy home, a solid house on a solid foundation, with quality building materials. And when the house is built, you can add all sorts of furniture and decorations in it, even when all the furniture don't match and the deco is all last season. It becomes a warm place, with a lot of of uniqueness and character, and that's what friendship is.

Now, if you tried throwing all sorts of different furniture and deco out in the middle of nowhere, exposed in the sun, wind, and rain, with no home to put them in and no warmth to hold them. Well, that's not a friendship, that's just a lot of furniture out in the dust.

You know what I mean.