last week, i received snail-mail from the irs.  for a brief instant, i was gripped with anxiety — oh no, are they going to reclaim the tax refund they sent me earlier this month?!

but the fear was unwarranted — inside was a notice that i was receiving an extra $600 as an ‘economic stimulus payment‘.

i was elated.  wow! i thought to myself.  the money just keeps cropping up to chip away at my debt with!  how lucky i am! and i knew immediately that once electronically deposited to my ingdirect checking account, i should send a bill pay payment with the funds to the credit service.  so i did.  i paid an extra $600 this month, and am that much closer to my goal of paying off that debt!  huzzah.

again, as with the tax refund, i felt a momentary pang of annoyance and indignation thinking, why can’t i use this money for something else?  to save for myself?  to put into my emergency fund instead? i felt as if it was just going to ‘waste’ in making a debt payment.  but i quickly silenced the detracting thoughts from my mind, got on the computer, and took care of business.  it had to be done, it was good for me, i reminded myself.  and it felt great.

i wish i could remember where it was that i read something that went like this*:

if you wholeheartedly pursue a goal, the universe will work with you to help you succeed.

so if you try to get something accomplished with all your heart, things start happening around you to support you in your endeavor. in my case, i want to pay off my debt badly, am excited about the prospect of becoming debt-free, and am doing what i can day-to-day to reach this goal.  suddenly, opportunities appear to crop up regularly; money appears here and there!  first, it was my old apartment’s deposit return, then my tax refund, and now the economic stimulus payment.  i also realized that i have the options to use some of my ira funds, can try to raise extra money on the side with new interests, and/or freelance my programming skills in addition to my day job.  (i recently found at least one promising client, and found two more potential ones just this past weekend at a family gathering!)

indeed, the universe appears to be working with me.  it may all be a coincidence, but it feels wonderful anyway and is doing a lot of good for me.

if you received one too, what did you do with your tax economic stimulus payment?
have you experienced a similar sensation with things seeming to work your way in pursuing a financial goal?  if so, what had happened?

*it might have been one of brian tracy’s books. brian tracy is a well-known self-improvement/motivation guru.