How Is Your Ability to Connect With Abundance Right Now?
By: Shona Keachie
Tags: Personal Development, Self-awareness, Beyourself, Self Improvement, Money

This week I have been clearing through boxes and boxes of old paperwork and sentimental things I’d had stored in the attic for — in some cases — decades. It’s been a journey that has been cathartic and very insightful.

It’s obvious to me that some of the criteria I had previously used in deciding whether to keep things related to the time and energy I had spent on them. Some of it was good energy, some not. Too much of the piles of things “I might need at some point” were about defending positions, decisions or actions should they ever be revisited, a real echo of the defensive child part of me within.

While I haven’t watched or read a huge amount of Marie Kondō, I certainly heard her famous phrase ringing in my ears “Does this give me a spark of joy?”

This physical task and these physical boxes seem to me a good metaphor for all my life’s baggage, and the ways in which I’d been unintentionally buying into scarcity — a lack of faith in my right to make my own decisions and have my own opinions, that I’m not worthy somehow, that it’s not safe to let go of the defenses I’ve built around me to name a few.

When I hear the word abundance my mind automatically takes me to thoughts about money. And while money is certainly an indicator, I’ve had quite a few reminders lately that how money flows to and from me is just one part of a much bigger — and more meaningful — field of energy.

Rha Goddess, in her audio programme Making Money, Making Change, subtitled Build Your Business, Make a Profit and Serve the World, talks about the economies of Love, Truth and We. About a new level of generosity that is sourced from something different than obligation and pressure. She also cites the existing Economy of Scarcity “which invites this obligatory giving as a way to prove you’re a good person; which is painful”. I can attest to that.

For Rha it’s about how we attract, how we earn and how we spend. She sees the opportunity to do that in ways that actually forward and further more love, generosity and communal wealth. Her priority is to contribute to economies that are life-giving, where people can thrive and prosper; economies that carry dignity, honour and respect at their centre.

“In the Economy of Love” Rha says, “I’m tapped into a more prosperous supply. When I’m giving from that place — a well sourced and well resourced place — I can be more generous. The giving contributes to my expansion as opposed to my contraction”.

“In the Economy of Truth, I’m accountable and responsible for the choices and decisions I make and the impact they have on me and others. I’m willing to see where I’m a part of the solution and where I’m part of the problem. I’m willing to be actively engaged around moving to places that enable me to be more a part of the solution than a part of the problem.”

“In the Economy of We, it’s a story of us. It’s the fact that we are not on an island unto ourselves. We have seven billion neighbours that we share space, air, water and energy with. How do we do this together so I’m not dominating, obliterating or subjugating you? How do I expand you? How do I contribute to you? How do I uplift you? How do we work in ways that make the pipe bigger and the world better, which we have all had a hand in and an active role to play?”

I love this way of looking at my life and the world I live in, it provides a compass for my personal and work existence. I can see clearly the areas where I’ve been acting out of obligation and in accordance with unhelpful beliefs that no longer serve me. I’ve been doing the work to build my self esteem and healthier boundaries and will continue to do so.

Dr Sue Morter agrees true abundance reveals itself through love, compassion, joy, connection, adventure, play, laughter, invention and imagination. She encourages her clients to reconnect with the memories of abundance in their life in order to stir up and reactivate those more positive and potent energies within.

Rha, who is a sought-after entrepreneurial soul couch, also recognises that people hold core beliefs that hold them back from abundance. Beliefs such as:

1. There is not enough to go around

2. I am not worthy, I don’t deserve it

3. It’s not safe for me to stand out

4. I am afraid of what it’s going to take, what am I going to have to trade?

5. I might become corrupted or changed or compromised

6. The moral dilemma of capitalism generally

In a podcast Making Money, Making Change, she talks about healing our relationship with capitalism by separating the culture of capitalism from the principles of economy. She also talks about healing the original experiences that created the other dysfunctional beliefs.

I read a clear example, written by Heather Shumaker, author of It’s OK not to share…And Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids, of how these types of beliefs come about and where we typically constrain abundance in our society. She says:

“I’m all for cultivating generosity in our kids. It’s our job to help our children deepen their care and awareness of others. But the way we generally approach sharing backfires…

Here’s a typical scenario involving preschoolers: One child is busily engaged with a toy when a new child comes up and wants it. A nearby adult says “Be nice and share your toys” or “Give Ella the pony. You’ve had it a long time”.

What happens? The child is forced to give something up and her play is interrupted. She learns that sharing feels bad. It’s the parent here who’s sharing, not the child.

Traditional sharing expects young kids to give up something the instant someone else demands it. Instead of you saying “Five more minutes and then its Ella’s turn” teach your kids to say “You can have it when I’m done”.

This teaches positive assertiveness. It helps kids stand up for themselves and learn to set boundaries with other kids. What a terrific life skill. How many of us adults have trouble saying “no”? The best part of all is when the first child willingly hands over the toy it’s a joyous moment for both kids. That’s the moment when your child experiences the rush of good feelings that comes from being kind to others. It’s true generosity.”

So, as I see it, there is this idea that the person we arrived as gets sort of parked, frozen, and layer upon layer of self limiting beliefs are added that we adopt in order to be accepted within our family, and our society.

But as Rha Goddess says “The question is, are those beliefs what you want to believe? As you sit in that belief, does it empower you?” And, most importantly “Would you be open to an upgrade (of these beliefs)?

Not to suggest that changing our beliefs is easy, but it can be done with awareness, practice and persistence. Dr Morter believes “Those ideas of inadequacy and insufficiency were part of the plan, that you would then conquer them, rise above them, and remember the masterful being of abundance that you truly are”.

Rha asks “In your time to think (over the last eighteen months), have you recognised that you do have power? Have you recognised that there are things that are important to you? Have you recognised that you do matter? That the choices you make matter, that the decisions you operate from matter?”

And she continues…”That the things that have happened to you matter, and that it all shapes the way in which we see ourselves and the degree to which we believe anything is possible or not possible in our reality? Step one is to consider the possibility that you can actually do something about it. But if you really want to change the game, you must embrace the fact that you’re a creator.”

I also like Dr Sue Morter’s audio meditation on money miracles with Marci Shimoff, which is worth a listen. I enjoy bringing memories of abundance back into my awareness, memories of playing as a child out in the street where we lived, for example, where I was free to connect, laugh and imagine as I was climbing the street lights to cross over garage rooftops and find new hiding places.

It always resonates with me when Dr Morter then says in her lovely mellow voice:

“This life is mine; I am generating this entire experience so that I might fully reveal in my own true abundance. I reveal as love, compassion and joy. I reveal as connection and adventure, I reveal knowing that all I need is right here and will rise up to meet me the moment I engage, that everything is in my favour. This is the world of abundance.”

Is it time for you to clear out some of those old boxes of beliefs stored in the attic of your mind and create space for some new beliefs that serve you with abundance?

If you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy Clear the Fog of Trauma to See the Magnificence of Your Being, What’s Your Relationship with Money? … And a simple technique to improve it, Put Money in its Place, Autonomy — Break Free of Money Fears and How Dead Does the Horse Need to Be to Want to Get Off? To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog.