Before we can "see" as an artist - never averting our eyes - we have to be willing to face the lies we allow ourselves to believe that keep us bound. Let's look at lies about money and ask yourself (be honest) if you've ever said each one to yourself - take the time to think about it before quickly moving on to the next.

1. I'm too busy to think about it - dealing with money takes too much time and energy.


2. My wife/husband/significant-other handles the money. I don't have to think about it.


3. If I could just have one bill a month, I could let the debt management company/settlement company worry about it and I won't have to think about it.


4. If I just put my bills on auto-pay I don't have to look at my statements, analyze for errors or handle any of the other "mundane" tasks of paying credit cards... I have better things to do.


5. As long as I can afford the minimum payment, so what if I'm in debt?


6. My job is safe and secure.


7. I've been with that company/bank/store for years and they value me as a good customer/employee. They wouldn't do anything to harm me or our relationship; they're looking out for me.


8. The salesperson is my friend; therefore, I don't have to worry about the fine print.


9. They told me this was best for me.


10. Money is bad/a necessary evil and if I don't think about it I won't be corrupted by it.


11. I don't care about the money, I just want to do a good job.


12. I still have checks so I must still have money.... or the ATM says I have money I can withdraw.... or the debit card/charge went through so it must be okay.


13. Somebody will bail me out if I really get over my head so I don't have to worry, think, or plan for the future.

Ok. I know that's more than ten. But I'll bet you can come up with an even longer list. Start to really think about the things you tell yourself every day that allow you to stay in debt or in an otherwise bad situation that is not in your own best interests.

Remember, your own best interests is not the same as your self-interest. Your best interests must involve the context of the people in your world, not just you. It isn't greedy or selfish to do what's best for you and yours - keeping in mind the circumstances and long-term consequences for yourself and others. Getting past the lies is a major stepping stone to becoming No More Prey!

Writer Rosanne Bane, author of The Bane of Your Resistance, has these words of wisdom to offer:

The renowned Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa said “To be an artist means never to avert your eyes.”

The desire to avert our eyes, to not see, is at the heart of all resistance.... what are you trying to not see? What resistance has been born of your desire to avert your eyes?

Are you willing to look anyway, to wrench your eyes back to what you want to not see? It’s hard, but it’s worth it. It’s life.

It’s making art out of your life.

Oftentimes we resist dealing with our finances. Sometimes out of habit, sometimes from early childhood beliefs about money that wield great influence if not consciously overcome, sometimes because we just have too much other havoc going on.

To become, No More Prey, however, we have to wrench our eyes back to focus on those "pesky little details" of finance that can otherwise turn a burdensome debt situation into a catastrophe.

To become a Victor over our financial lives we have to be willing to do that which can be uncomfortable, annoying, and tedious, including just plain paying attention. And we have to find a way to overcome the anxieties that often accompany breaking old habits. Make art out of your life - become No More Prey, today!

Late night HGTV...I don't know the name of the episode, but it involved two young girls trying to salvage their $6000 security deposit.

They had a cat and a dog and neither were well trained and had ruined the carpet. The girls were determined to replace the nasty carpeting with laminate flooring before the landlord came to inspect the apartment. They spent 4 days and $3000 all told, per the epilogue, when they could have replaced the carpet, including installation, for $500.

The video chronicled their failed attempts to do the job by themselves, the need to call in professionals and the point here, the vast amount of motivation they had to outdo themselves getting the job done, as the tv show, repeatedly emphasized, before they lost their security deposit and their home.

Their belief that they could possibly lose a $6000 security deposit over $500 worth of carpeting and be evicted, to boot, was probably unfounded on a legal basis, number one. Granted, the carpet was nasty (it took them 5 hours to clean the floor after ripping up the carpet and throwing it off the balcony - again, probably longer than was necessary had they used the right cleaning supplies).

But their fear, took them to another level. Without planning, without thinking it through, without calculating their capability to do the job or effectively gauging the necessity to call in professionals long before they did... they reacted, in fear, and spent way too much, protecting against a relatively nonexistent threat.

Not that they didn't have to do something, just that they didn't have to spend $3000 of something.

Lesson Number One: If you want to be No More Prey! you cannot allow yourself to make financial decisions while in a state of fear, particularly compounded with confusion and sleep deprivation.

Financial decisions need to be made based on fact and logic.

If you don't have enough information to feel like you are making a decision calmly and rationally, you don't have enough information to escape predation, either by another party or your own irrationality.

Seek competent advise before you spend money - it will save you every time.

Reality Check: Following the advice above is harder than it looks. Money is like a fly strip for all kinds of emotions and depending on what was buzzing by when you developed your early beliefs about money, you will have more or less trouble being completely logical when it comes to financial decisioning.

Whistle-blower Paul Bishop on 60 Minutes "World of Trouble"

Paul Bishop tried to stop his employer from exploiting customers. Tried and failed... three years before the mortgage crisis... and got canned for his troubles after threatening to tell all to Wachovia, about to buy a boatload of bad debt from World Savings. He appeared on 60 minutes last night in a segment called "World of Trouble". You can watch the video below.

What I want you to focus on, besides learning the back story of what brought Wachovia Bank down, is the story of Betty Townes, who received a series of loans from World Savings with them using her dead husband's former income to qualify. Focus on that "Deer Caught in the Headlights" look on her face. Pause the video and really take a good look. That's what you don't want to look like.

No More Prey is designed to take that look, forever, off your face.

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