The End of Poverty?

In his State of the Union address in 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson introduced the term "War on Poverty" to initiate a number of social welfare programs to reduce the number of people living in poverty in the US. In 1959, the poverty level, i.e. the percentage of people living on less than the government established threshold for their family size, was 22.4%. Within a decade, the poverty level had dropped to 11.1% and has remained below 15% ever since. The number of people living in poverty has remained below 40 million, as well. Bill Clinton claimed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 "end[ed] welfare as we know it." Nonetheless, the legacy of the War on Poverty remains in the continued existence of such federal programs as Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America, and Job Corps.

Why are people poor?

But has poverty been eliminated? No! There are still many homeless people and others who do not have the basics needed for a healthy life. Is this the fault of our government? Maybe. But not because they haven't provided enough money for assistance programs, but because our education does not empower us with the tools we need to fully succeed. The real "war on poverty" is in your thoughts! As long as you have a belief in lack or a feeling of being unworthy, you will be blocked from the abundance of the Universe that is available to you.

There is Enough For All!

The richest and most successful people achieved their wealth through the power of their (or their ancestor's) ideas. Ideas (thoughts) are the beginning of creation, whether of wealth or any other form of prosperity you desire. Ideas are just thoughts and there is no lack or limitation when it comes to thoughts! When you fully embrace this truth and recognize the potential power and abundance that can manifest from the proper thoughts, you have taken the first step towards prosperity.

Once you realize the truth of sufficiency - the idea that there is always enough - the next step is to bring this abundance into your life. How do you do this? By being focused and open to your good.

Focus on Your Gifts and the Ways You Can Help Others

Being focused requires you to really discern what it is that you need to express your gifts to the world around you. Is there a talent or a service that would enrich your life and the lives of others if you could provide it? If so, know that the Universe is waiting to give you all that you need. Prepare yourself for this by developing your gifts and exploring how you can best provide them to others. Keep taking small steps in the direction of this path.

The last paragraph may remind you of the Law of Attraction and "The Secret". If so, you are correct. These principles are a key part of manifesting prosperity, but they are ONLY a part! The second part is critical and is missed by many who have read popular self-help articles.

Accept Your Good

The second part of manifesting your prosperity is to be open! This means you must remove anything that would block your good. You may be conscious of thoughts that are preventing you from realizing your desires - feelings of "not being enough", fears of failure. You have to decide: in your life, do you want to thrive or merely survive? Are you ready to "hatch out of your shell"?

You, in fact, ARE worthy of everything that you need to be happy! No one is better than you, regardless of what others may have said. Create or find statements of your worth that you can believe in (eventually, if not now) and repeat them regularly. Find others who believe in you and enlist their support. Build your self-confidence with baby steps - gradually add more difficult challenges for yourself and see yourself succeeding. Learn to look forward to taking risks as a means of self-growth. Over time, you will become more aware of the power you always had inside, waiting for you to recognize and express it!

Remove Limiting Beliefs

Once you are able to consciously "see" your desires coming true, you may need to look further for other potential blocks. These could be beliefs that no longer serve you, but are still controlling your life from your sub-conscious mind. A big one for most people is a belief in LACK and LIMITATIONS! Do you truly believe that there is enough in the Universe for all your desires AND for those of everyone else? If not, you will always believe that your success is at the expense of someone else's misery.

Think carefully about the lives of very successful people - say Oprah Winfrey, as an example. She has used the principles of manifestation and a belief in sufficiency (no lack) to create a broadcasting empire that provides jobs to hundreds of people. Even more important, her messages have made millions aware of the tools of prosperity, and she has donated over $300 million to charity. Her success has not come at the expense of others; indeed it has been a boon to many!

Having Money Isn't a Sin!

Maybe you have been taught that "Money is the root of all evil". 1 Timothy 6:10 (ISV) actually says "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain." If we study this, we learn that money has no power of good or evil; it merely represents material substance. It is the LOVE of money or material things that is the potential distraction from our faith. That is why I asked you to find your gifts that need to be expressed and use these to create prosperity in your life. If you can focus on service, your material needs will be taken care of (even handsomely!). Don't bury your talents! Instead express them in service to the world and they will bless you and many others. This is true prosperity; it is a divine gift and your birthright as a child of God. God wants you to be prosperous (but not lost in materialism)!

To truly believe in a world of sufficiency -- where lack is an illusion -- you must study the power of your mind. We all have thoughts, and thoughts are powerful and creative! Faith and trust are a result of eliminating contradicting thoughts, being single-minded. If you can couple this focus with truly inspired ideas, prosperity will flow to you and those around you. To eliminate poverty, we don't need a war; we need training on prosperity tools and the laws of manifestation. This article can be the seed of that wisdom.

REFERENCES:
Personal experience

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/measure.html