What Emotions are you Addicted to?

The ability to change the course of our lives has long fascinated us all. The power to change completely the way things are happening in our lives is a thought that is always crossing our minds. To take control of every aspect of our lives and be able to remain unaffected by stressful situations seam sometimes an impossible dream to pursuit.

Knowledge is a great ally we can have to help us in anything we want to achieve. If we buy a new washing machine, new model full of new functions, the best on the market we will need to learn how it works and all the programs it can perform otherwise we won’t have all the benefit that it offers to us. If we want to become an accountant or a good cook we will need to acquire the proper knowledge to do so. However, when it comes to how we, human beings, operate we don’t give much attention about it and just switch on the auto pilot and live our lives in the lowest level of our real capacity.

We can be addicted to certain emotions and even worse use the powerful tool of our thoughts to feed these addictions. Emotions like victimisation, feeling guilty and feeling unworthy are as addictive as cocaine or heroine and can destroy our lives just as much. Surprised? The chemistry behind the emotions starts in the brain where we have stored all our memories and experiences and also emotional inheritance from our parents.

If the addiction is to be a victim it is because we have a program running in our brain saying that we are a victim. It can be because we had experiences in the past that made us believe we are a victim in all situations. It can also be inherited from our parents. So every time we have an experience that reminds us of these past experiences our thoughts cause the brain to produce certain chemicals that are flushed into our body and bound in our cells. After doing it over and over again in our lives these cells get addicted to these chemicals and if they don’t receive their fix they will start to send signals to the brain asking for it. The next thing is that from anything we experience in our lives we will find a way to start thinking about something that will make us feel a victim and the cells will then have their fix. This process will go on and on.

Sound crazy? Let me give an example. Let’s say you are in a queue in the bank and when it is almost time to be served the cashier closes the till. This event will probably trigger thoughts of how things happens just with you and how it was always like this, everybody is unfair with you and then before you realise it you are experiencing victimization emotion and giving your cells a fix.

Now as our body is addicted to these chemicals we are always going to find a way to have a fix. This means that we are unconsciously going to search in our everyday life for every opportunity to feel this way. Just the same way when we buy a car or we know someone who bought a specific car model we are going to see it everywhere. Before we wouldn’t notice this model at all but now we tend to see it incredibly often. The same way, we scan for situations that is familiar to our past memories and experiences of victimisation or unworthiness or angriness or guiltiness.

Avalanches of chemicals can be triggered by a single thought. When our body is begging for a fix and sending signals to the brain we will suddenly remember something from the past and from a fine state we will change our mood in seconds to feel angry, a victim, unworthy or guilty.

That’s why some people spend years and years in abusive relationships and can’t get out or work in a job that makes them extremely unhappy. They are addicted to feeling like this and even if they break up the relationship or find another job they will end up in another similar situation.

As I mentioned before knowledge can make all the difference. If we make an effort to learn how our brains work we can transform our old selves into who we want to be. So next time you catch yourself having these thoughts to fix your addictions just interrupt them and think the opposite.

How Does Stress Affect The Human Body

Stress is the way our bodies respond to physical or emotional demands. The body responds in two ways neurologically and chemically. The neurological response is a very fast process where our bodies prepare us to fight or flee. Adrenaline is produced in huge amounts and our blood changes its course to our extremities. Instead of going to the internal organs like digestive system and others the blood is directed to the muscles so we are prepared to fight or flee.

The chemical response is not as fast as the neurological one but is more worrying because it can be activated by thought. Just by thinking about a stressful situation will cause our bodies to respond by realising colossal amounts of the two hormones Adrenaline and Glucocorticoids (the latter more commonly known as cortisol).

By flooding our system with these stress hormones our body will stop crucial activities like regeneration and repair, digestion, taking up glucose which may cause diabetes and our immune system will be put on temporary hold. For the immune system be put on hold is quiet a disaster for the body defences as it stops the fight against viruses and bacteria that can lead to infection and illness. An efficient immune system can detect and get rid of cancer cells in their very early stages. Unfortunately cancer cells multiply at a merciless speed once they gain a foothold.

Stress has always been part of our lives and our bodies have developed to cope with a reasonable level of it but if we are constantly living in survival mode our bodies will not be able to cope because we are not designed to live under continuous stress. Whether we are running from a bear trying to save ourselves or having stressful thoughts like trying to meet deadlines, the body responds in the same way to give us the extra energy and other important functions are put on temporary hold.

How about our heart? Again, no matter if the stress is physical or mental the response will be the same. If we see a bear in the woods our heart beat increases and the blood pressure rises to store additional energy to send to our legs for running or to our arms for fighting. We do not need to be brilliant to conclude that this will continue until the danger is past, causing arrhythmia, tachycardia and high blood pressure.

In stress mode even eating healthily will not be of much help as the digestive system is compromised and cannot metabolize the food properly. Similarly, even exercising is not as effective in relieving stress if your emotional state is upset.

Recent studies have shown that as many as 90% of people visit their doctors because of some physical illness which is stress related. Pain in the shoulder, migraine, stomach ache, or high cholesterol is just a few that can be connected with stress.

How to Use Our Brain Effectively

The first step on how to use our brain more effectively is by learning at least a little bit about this fantastic ‘thing’ we have within our heads. Unfortunately it doesn’t come with a manual – it would be so helpful!

Within our heads we keep this precious and incredible organ that represents just 2% of our total weight and is always switched on, never turns off, since we were born to until death no rest, even when we are sleeping.

Made of 100 billion very small cells called neurons. These neurons work in groups and the groups interact with each other forming a huge network of information. When you think about a lime, one group has the green information, another one has the round information, another has the texture information and another has the sour flavour bit and so on. You can even have groups of neurons that store other information about lime connecting it with a sad or happy memory that can make you have some other emotions attached to a lime.

The point is every one of us has our own memories, beliefs, skills, abilities stored in these groups of neurons. Therefore every time we encounter a situation in our lives these groups in connection with other groups are going to fire off and make us respond in a certain way. It can make us react in exactly the same way every time we have a specific stimulus.

However when we do something new a group of neurons will form new groups connections creating a new network of neurons. If we do it only once it will not create strong connections in these networks. If you repeat it again and again it will form stronger connections that will last. This is the process that the brain uses to learn and can serve us immensely but it can also make it difficulty to break unwanted connections i.e. bad habits. Luckily neuroscience tells us that we can also break the unwanted connections. If we are really willing to stop any mental or physical pattern we just have to continuously interrupt the pattern until we get the neurons network to stop working together in that particular way.

The learning process occurs is two ways through our intellect where we have to study long and hard to master a subject or through experience and the latest is the most powerful one. That is why we never forget how to ride a bike or drive.

The frontal lobe is an area of our brain located in the front. The frontal lobe is responsible for our focus and concentration. It allows us to make choices and decisions. It represents our free will.

When making choices we have two ways to do so, first is the biological response that allows us to save our lives in a danger situation the famous fight or flee reaction. The groups of neurons interact with other groups activating an entire network to have a response that will save our lives. However the same applies to habitual behaviours. Which not always are good ones.

The second way to make choices is by using the power of your frontal lobe, the power of focus and concentration and separate ourselves from the environment and observe. Observe as if we are outside the scene of our experience, as if we are a second person. If we, using the power of observation, can unplug unwanted neuron connections and plug new connections than we have the power of building an entire new network. A new ‘me’ and a new ‘you’. Observing we can realise – I have these neuron connections that fires and cause me to blame someone or something else for the unwanted results I have in my life.

Being observers of ourselves we are using our consciousness to make our brain examine all our choices and possibilities. We can make our brain work for us and not against us. Plug and unplug we have the power!

How We Perceive Reality And How To Change It

Behind perception there is a very sophisticated process that involves the way our brain interprets the information we receive from our senses. The interpretation is directly related to what we believe and feel about the information being input.

Neuroscience explains that we don’t see with our eyes. The job of the eyes is to send data to be processed by the brain. The eyes send the picture so the brain can interpret it using our memories, emotions and beliefs. The same applies to all our sensory system.

The amount of information sent to our brain from our sensory system is a staggering 400 billion bits per second. Just for us to understand how much information that is I’ll give an example. 8GB (gigabytes) is enough to store 8 thousand songs and 8GB is equal 68.8 billion bits. That is definitely a lot of information. Of course our brain has to process it and get rid of the info that doesn’t match our memories, emotions and beliefs.

It seams surreal, almost impossible that our brains can take this amount of information each second. However when we think that while we are driving although we are not aware of it our brain is receiving information about the temperature, the texture of our clothes, the pressure of the seat belt, the pressure of your feet against the pedals, the noises around, every single thing we see, all the number plates and advertisements. That’s when our filters begin to work and keep just the important information in and pushing to the very bottom of our subconscious the ones our brain considers not important.

Here is the catch. The judgement our brain makes is solely based on our memories, emotions and beliefs. If the information doesn’t match these criteria then it is filtered. Therefore the world we are able to perceive is compromised by our beliefs, emotions and memories. In the same environment people can perceive the world around them quite differently. Inside our little world that we swear is the real world we create our realities.

How many times have we said to ourselves “of course, why didn’t I think about this before”! Or when we see a very creative and simple invention and we think: “It is so simple and logical why wasn’t I able to invent this myself?”  Simply because our filters were preventing the information to access our conscious mind. We are confined in an imaginary boundary that allows us only to experience what we know.

To perceive outside that boundary, to experience more happiness, more creativity, more imagination, more intuition, to be wiser and insightful we need to break this boundary. A way we could do this is by increasing our knowledge. More information in our neuronal nets will expand our perception. Asking questions to ourselves is another way to get outside the boundary. Is my emotional state affecting the way I perceive the experiences I have?  Are my decisions based on my emotion state? We can also experience new emotions. We can do that by finding out which emotion is more predominant in our everyday life and substitute it consciously with a more positive one.

Being attentive to our behaviour will help us to perceive when we are falling into the same old habit then once trapped we can switch the behaviour/emotion until we do it unconsciously.

How Our Mind, Body and Soul Became So Disconnected

History is a very powerful tool which certainly helps us to have a better understanding of the present facts. We hear a lot about how the mind, body and soul have become so disconnected and there is this avalanche of alternative therapies which try to make ourselves whole again. Let’s look historically and see if we can understand it better.

The Sumerians were the first known civilization around 4000 B.C. According to historians they were very organised socially and politically. In the science field they developed studies of mathematics, astronomy and other sciences. They also studied and developed astrology and had a strong belief that the stars controlled all events in the universe as well as our fortune. Polytheistic the Sumerians thought the gods controlled all aspects of their lives including the forces of nature.

The next stage of evolution brought us the almost unbeatable power of the church – the age of priesthood. The church axed the worshiping to gods and established their own truth and laws and proclaimed their omnipotence over everything including death condemnation – Welcome to Inquisition Time! Any intuitions, significant dreams or science findings could be a reason for a human barbecue. The disconnection had begun.

However the truth always finds a way to emerge. Nicholas Copernicus to the horror of the church proclaimed that the sun was at the centre of our universe, not the earth. He was lucky enough to die from natural causes before the church barbecued him. Later Galileo Galilei presented Copernicus’s ideas as proven facts but he was forced to recant and was house arrested by the church. Some people say that he was not burned because he and the Pope were friends.

Later came Rene Descartes announcing to the world that the universe and humans were mere machines that worked like clocks. Then Isaac Newton came with his classic mechanics finds plus a lot more. The mechanic approach was then applied to everything within the sciences. Disconnection was strongly implemented!

The discoveries of these scientists were crucial to our material development today but it came with a high price. We became disconnected in such a way that our minds and bodies were dissected and disassociated by the medicine science. Leading us to believe that if we are not connected within ourselves then, the events outside are not related to us at all. Truth again had to find a way to emerge.

Einstein then came with the quantum theory saying that the so called physical world was not physical at all. Einstein along with other scientists investigated the matter in such a profound level that they were absolutely amased with the finding – PURE ENERGY – something that was more comparable with intelligence, consciousness or information. Re-connection had now begun!

The little atoms in their orbits were energy packets and between them is this pure energy so powerful that one cubic centimetre – a sugar cube – has more energy than all solid matter in the universe. Mind blower!

The quantum theory basically says that everything in the universe is connected and our intention can impact results.

The world is changing radically and time urges us to be more sensible in the way we behave, in the way we think, in the way we perceive everything around us. It is time to stop, observe and change.

You must be thinking how will this information help me? If everything is energy and as scientifically proved energy attracts similar energy, then thoughts, behaviour and beliefs are energy with a specific consonance being sent out and attracting similar energy. We are creating our own reality every second….. Now I ask, what can YOU do to make this information work for you?

How Anger Can Affect Your Life And Health

Feelings are intangible nevertheless powerful enough to sweep our lives with the force of a hurricane. Who is in charge of your life, you or your feelings?

Anger is one of those very powerful feelings that we have to keep an eye on all times. Anger can dominate and slowly destroy your relationship with family and friends, sabotage your professional life and jeopardise your ability to connect with people in general. Anger can also cause physical illness. A study made by psychologist Stephen Bruehl, Ph.D. showed that chronic pain is associated with expressed and repressed anger. So no matter if we expressed or repressed it we will get the consequences. The American Academy of Neurology Journal published that people who had strokes experienced anger at least 2 hours before the stroke.

Learning and understanding the functioning of a certain feeling can help us to keep it in control and free us from addiction. Yes, that’s right addiction. Do you know that we can get addicted to certain feelings the same way we can get addicted to drugs? Every time we experience anger strong chemicals called peptides are released into our brain and they literally dock in our receptor cells. This process causes an intense avalanche of biochemical actions. As a result we became addicted to this discharge of chemicals meaning that we at some level feel a morbid pleasure to these reactions.

Once addicted and UNAWARE of the whole process behind it we have no choice but to repeat it over and over again until it gets to a point of exhaustion. At this point we can’t change or control our anger because we are trapped in the vicious cycle of stimuli and responses.

Once we are AWARE of what is happening we can regain control of the situation using the power of observation. Through observation you can start looking closely into your anger patterns and start changing your behaviour radically and consistently until it is permanent without effort. If we can’t do it by ourselves let’s seek help before it is too late.

Ask yourself this question: Can I control my anger? If not, you are addicted. You can ask this same question to check all other feelings and find out if you are addicted to any of them.

Richard Gross in his book ‘Psychology The Science of Mind and Behaviour’ says: “Mr Spock in Star Trek often points out to Captain Kirk how much energy human beings waste through reacting emotionally to things, when a more logical and rational approach would be more productive. But would we be human at all if we didn’t react this way?”

Tips On How To Make More Assertive Decisions

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion” – Chinese Proverb

Although we are not always aware of it, making decisions is part of our daily life. We deal with simple ones like what to wear or eat to the more challenging ones like what university to go to or a business decision. Due to the high number of decisions we have to make on a daily basis it is almost impossible to make rational decisions all the time because our ability for reasoning is limited. Therefore it is extremely helpful to know how our minds work when making a decision. We use different methods to make decisions and recognising which method we are using at that particular time will give us the chance to overcome it if needed.

One of the ways we make decisions is by using the most “readily available information”. The recurrence of a piece of information in our minds makes it a strong probability that we will make a choice considering this information. A classic example of that is a study from Hastie & Park asking a group of people if the letter K appears more often as the first letter of a word or as the third. Most people answered the first when actually it is the third. The reason for that is this information is more available in our minds as we think more about words where the K comes as the first letter.

“Preconceived ideas and stereotypes” is other way to make a decision. A study from Tversky & Kahneman can perfectly illustrate this way. They asked a group of people to decide if a student from University X (where 80% of the students were studying humanities) was either a computer science student or a humanities student based upon him being described as neat and tidy, dull, mechanical and a poor writer. Guess what? 95% of the group decided in favour of computer science, ignoring completely the base rate factor. The conclusion is that even if the frequency of two things is even we tend to make our decisions to meet our beliefs and stereotypes.

The “trapped feeling” is also a way to make decisions. Usually it happens in relationships or businesses. We feel that we have invested so much that we feel obliged to continue even if huge losses are involved. It is the false feeling that too much investment would be left if we withdraw.

Another way is the “fear of losses”. We are more inclined to say ‘no’ to risky decisions even if they can be more worthwhile unless the risk is to avoid a big potential loss. We are a lot more predisposed to look at losses as investments or costs. Makes it more bearable but delusional sometimes.

Next we have a “framed decision”. When your options are displayed in a way to trick your judgment. We naturally would go more for a product in the supermarket that says 80% fat free than 20% fat. It is just a different approach to present something so we are more susceptible to buy the idea. Another very famous example of this was when Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, read this statement to a cheering crowd in front of 10 Downing St. when he came back from seeing Hitler in Munich in 1938 and said: “My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace in our time.”

We all make decisions everyday and these are based upon our previous experiences or our knowledge or our preconceived notions or even preconceived wishes for the future outcome. Be aware of why you come to the decision you have made because by using the wrong concept it is possible to make a totally erroneous decision which ignores the obvious facts of the case and in hindsight is completely stupid. Be realistic and be alert so that you make balanced decisions.

Tips On How To Deal With Problems

“It’s not the strongest of the species nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin

A crucial truth we have to completely embrace about life is, nothing is static or linear. Life occurs in waves or cycles. Just look at all kinds of charts on inflation, unemployment rates, interest rates, stock market, etc. Life occurs like the waves in a chart, some up and some down with a support level. If we were to make a chart on our lives called the ‘happiness rates’ it would not be linear would it? The key point is to place our support level line in such a way that the ups and downs are not so steep.

One of the best definitions of the term ‘problem’ I have ever read was “a problem is a situation in which there’s a discrepancy between the present state and some goal state, with no obvious way of reducing it”. It is vital to keep in mind that there is always a solution even if it is not obvious. We just have to look for it with an open mind.

Be flexible and adaptable, changes are inevitable. Just think about all the changes in communication since the invention of the telephone. The speed of change will be quicker and quicker. So let’s fasten our seat belts and be flexible and adaptable. When facing a problem explore every possible solution even if it appears rather weird at the time, just brainstorm and write down everything that comes to your mind.

Try the solutions you have brainstormed and follow the trial-and-error route until you succeed. Use your intuition it is always a very powerful tool. The best way to do so is by asking yourself: “What is the best move to make in order to overcome the discrepancy?” Let it incubate for some time and remember what Einstein so wisely said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge”.

Past experiences are also a good source to even-out the discrepancy. Use events from the past that would help you with this new situation. It could be something that happened either to you or someone you know. Try also to distance yourself from the discrepancy and pretend you are the advisor. We always show more wisdom when we are giving advice.

Be very wary of the thought ‘I am OK, the problem is everyone else’s’. This is very tricky because we have a tendency to see what is outside a lot more than we see our most recondite feelings, thoughts and emotions. That’s fine! It must be God’s fault as He put our eyes facing the outside. WRONG! We can close our eyes more often and meditate and we will see those recondite areas and have some answers thrown out.

Be humble seek some advice and feedback. Talk to somebody you trust listen to what he or she has to say and be receptive and do not be prejudiced. If what you have tried before is not working try something new even if you think it is not going to work. Keep trying until you eliminate the discrepancy.

3 Tools Responsible For Shaping Your Destiny

“When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.” Carl Jung Psychiatrist

Although humans share more than 99.6% DNA, we are incredibly different. Our appearances are just the tip of the iceberg. Our real and profound differences are on a much deeper level, they are in our hearts and heads. They are our beliefs, values and thoughts. So the next times you hear the words: “what counts is what’s inside” you will not only agree but understand the wisdom behind these words.

Most of our beliefs and values were silently built into us during childhood by people we grew up with. These were formed by our first experiences and also by the society we live in and the culture around us. Unfortunately most of us are unaware of them. We don’t even realise they are built so solidly inside us and already playing a decisive role shaping our destinies.

Values, beliefs and thoughts design who we really are. The ways we perceive everything around us are greatly supported by our values, beliefs and thoughts. They dictate how we see life, how we judge people and events, how we communicate, how we interpret what we hear and see. They determine our destiny for they can sabotage or support our goals.

Values, beliefs and thoughts are the reason we do and say things in a certain way and consequently produce the results we do. The results will of course reinforce our values, beliefs and thoughts forming a never ending cycle.

Our minds work to guarantee that our values, beliefs and thoughts are not contradicted. The conscious mind can only be occupied with a maximum of two things at the same time while the subconscious mind can perform zillions of tasks simultaneously. The subconscious mind commands our behaviour and our communication on all levels. It also controls the information we take in. If the new piece of information doesn’t match with our values and beliefs the subconscious filters it.

This process as you can imagine has quite a big impact in our lives as we will walk through life perceiving only things that are compatible with our truth and disregarding the ones that are opposite to our truth. We only see what we believe is possible. A very famous example of it is ‘The Christopher Columbus Story’. When the Columbus ships were approaching the Caribbean Islands, the Native American Indians couldn’t see them at all even though the ships were right in front of their eyes. The Shaman was the first one who started seeing weird waves over the water and it wasn’t until they actually landed on the beach that The Indians eventually saw them. The ships were so unlike anything they had ever seen before that their subconscious completely disregarded them.

Are you able to see the opportunities right in front of you? Or is your subconscious mind filtering them out? What are your values, beliefs and thoughts? Are they leading you in the right direction? If not, it is time for reflexion and a switch of values, beliefs and thoughts.

Out Of Debt FOREVER!

If I could show you a system which would help you pay off ALL your debts in just a few short years, would you be interested?

Would you believe me if I said I could show you a way to pay off a total debt (including a mortgage) of £125,000 in under 9 years?

What if I said I could show you a way to pay off the same debt in under 7 years?

All of the people I asked these questions have replied positively and of those people I personally know who are implementing the system, all are well on their way to achieving their ultimate dream…debt free forever!

The system which I am about to show you is really very simple and straight forward. Absolutely anybody can follow it.

(Note: The numbers used in this example are not in any particular currency. Therefore, no monetary sign is associated with the figures).

Here’s how it works.

1. Write out a list of all your expenses (needs vs. wants). Don’t miss anything out as this is the most important part. You need to know EXACTLY where you are before you can ever begin to get where you want to go.

2. Now take those expenses you have listed and separate ALL the debt from the usual monthly expenses which cannot be avoided. For example utility bills, telephone, TV licence are considered to be monthly expenses whereas mortgage, credit cards and student loans are considered debt.

3. Once a list of all the debt has been established, we can start to put them into a table along with the total amount owed for each debt and also the minimum monthly payment.

(Note: The following types of debt and figures have been made up for the purpose of this exercise)

4. Calculate how many months it will take to pay off each individual debt. Take the figure in column 2 and divide it by the figure in column 3. Put this number in column 4.

(Note: For the purpose of this example interest rates have not been included)

5. Prioritize column 4 from the least amount of months it takes to pay off the debt to the highest. Put this into column 5.

Now we get to the part where we can see the debt being paid off. To help with paying off the debt quicker, an accelerator is used. The accelerator used is a percentage of your income. For this example we will use 10%, however it can be as much or as little as you like. Therefore if you earn £2,000 per month we will use £200 as the accelerator.

6. The Store Card payment (#1) has the highest priority so this is paid off first.

1. Monthly payment = 250. (#1 monthly payment of 50 + accelerator at 200)
2. Debt paid off in 5 months. (Total Owed ÷ Accelerated Monthly Payment)

NOTE: ALL OTHER MINIMUM PAYMENTS MUST BE PAID AS BEFORE.

7. Once monthly payment #1 has been fully paid off you can start to pay off payment #2 (Visa Card).

8. 

1. Add the monthly payment from #1 (250) to the minimum payment for #2 (140).
2. The new monthly payment is now 390.
3. To pay off the entire debt of 2,300 it will take 6 months.

9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 of adding the previous monthly payment to the next debt in sequence after each individual debt has been paid off in full.

The final table will look as follows:

(Note: No other loans are to be taken out from any source as this will greatly affect the time it will take to pay off all the existing debt).

Calculation Summary

1. Detail list of expenses (needs vs. wants)
2. “Accelerator” (10% of income)
3. List all:
   1. Debts
   2. Balances
   3. Minimum Monthly Payments
4. Debt balance divided by minimum monthly payment
5. Prioritize least to most
6. Monthly payment #1 plus Accelerator Base
7. Monthly payment #2 plus #1 plus Accelerator Base
8. Pay minimum monthly payments except Accelerator Debt
9. Pay off Debt

Special Note:

This example is based upon a single person with a monthly income of 2,000 using an accelerator of 200, (10% income) and no interest added to the loans each month.

The accelerator figure should be adjusted to a suitable figure for each person applying this strategy. The more of an accelerator which can be used, the quicker the entire debt will be paid.

• A couple with a joint income may be able to pay 400 as an accelerator. If so the same debt would be paid off in 83 months or 6.9 years

• A person with no accelerator would be able to pay off the same debt in 138 months or 11.5 years.

This is a simple illustration of how to apply the strategy and the figures will be different when applying interest rates from the lender.

It is strongly advised to use an accelerator when using this system as interest does have a great affect in the duration of time it takes to pay off a debt when simply paying off the minimum amount each month.

A quick illustration of how interest will affect your payments can be seen in the amount of time it will take to pay off debt #1 using an interest rate of 1.3% per month.

• Without an accelerator it will take 38 months (3.2yrs) to pay off in full
  • 1880 paid in total, an extra 380 (25%)
• An accelerator of 200 will see the same payment paid off in 8 months
  • 1565 paid in total, an extra 65 (4.5%)
• An accelerator of 400 will see the same payment paid off in 4 months
  • 1525 paid in total, an extra 25 (1.5%)

By Russell Beese

www.beeseproperties.com