4 Practices Necessary to Achieve Abundance in Your Life

Abundance is a hot topic these days. In one form or another it has always been around, though the way it is articulated changes. Justifiably so, plenty, prosperity, and a life full of good things is something we all want. We all want to manifest abundance in our personal worlds. Abundance is as much an attitude as it is something objectively identifiable. It is a feeling, a sense, a comfortableness with who we are and what we have. Paradoxically the sense of abundance often precedes getting the things we want. Abundance eludes the desperate and dissatisfied. Abundance is something you set the conditions for so you can welcome it when it arrives. Like a traveler it will find somewhere to go and the houses with a light on are more likely to be visited.

There are many paths to abundance and you have to find your own. Many ideas are out there to help, but watch out for grand promises and hype disguised as truth. In my experience working with people seeking change and a better life I have seen how they succeeded and how they failed. I am convinced that there are four practices necessary to manifest abundance in your life; reflection, appreciation, creation, and action.

1-REFLECTION:

Reflection is underrated these days; our society seems anti reflection and introspection. We are always moving so fast being distracted, multitasking to the point of obliviousness to what matters. Instead of taking quiet time to ponder many fill their heads with anything they can to avoid the solitude of reflection and relevant thought. To me reflection is attending to my thoughts with generative intent, curiosity and wonder. Reflection at its best is open awareness with an expansive scope, rather than a limited range. It is letting thoughts come to mind lightly, considering useful ideas, and letting the others pass on through. What is valuable are the meanings I find, feel, see, and create. The attitudes of reflection are acceptance and anticipation. Knowing what I seek is within me somewhere to be discovered! Reflection is not ripping myself to shreds or depleting my energy by focusing on self criticism, regret, or doubt, let those pass on by.

All possibilities, ideas, plans, ambitions, and heartfelt motivation arise out of reflection; even if it just occurs unconsciously. What I advocate is conscious reflection, which will also naturally encourage the unconscious to keep working. It is power of both that leads to answers, solutions and revelation.

All too often we reflect on ourselves and our life only in times of crisis. When we realize something is not working in our life, such as when we lose a job or a relationship and wonder what’s next. It also happens when confronted with our mortality, such as during a medical crisis or even on our birthday. Reflection at those times can be amazingly productive and life changing once it evolves through panic and despair and toward acceptance and choices about what to do next.

But why wait to reflect? Considering where you are, where you’ve been, where you’re going, what you want, and who you are is valuable and necessary on the path to achieving abundance. Abundance is the product of personal growth; it is not something you’ll find on the shelf at your local supermarket!

2-APPRECIATION:

It often seems that we have to appreciate what we have before the universe offers more. Appreciation germinates a sense of abundance. Once you have let go of enough of the emotions, thoughts, and beliefs that have held you back; true appreciation can be yours. When you have come this far, you will have a greater sense of abundance than most people will ever achieve. What abundance has the universe offered you already? You have abundance when you have sense of gratitude for yourself as you are, including your gifts, your experiences, your wisdom, your hopes, and the struggles you have endured. Appreciation for what is creates the foundation upon which the house of your goals and desires is built.

There are least two very different parts to appreciation. First it just means acknowledging honestly what is right now. Reflection will help bring you here. Appreciation does not mean you have to be satisfied or happy about all that is now. It just means accepting, just for this moment, that this is how it is for better or worse. The second part of appreciation is noticing what is good in your life, what you have to be grateful for. It is appreciating the uniqueness of you and your experience in the world. It is also looking outside yourself and noticing beauty and patterns of interconnectedness. Like a child seeing everything with new and hungry eyes and feeling “It’s cool to be here in this amazing world.”

3-CREATION:

Reflection and appreciation free you. They allow your energy to thrive and your imagination to wonder. Each of us is evolving, growing, changing, and seeking, unless we suppress the urge (also see this article). We are naturally creative. A product of reflection and appreciation is a desire to create something new-so create! The good things that might be in your future are creative potentials; your dreams, your desires. All great things start in your mind, heart, or soul; it starts with you as an idea, a notion, a possibility. Picture it, feel it, hear it, touch it, taste it! Create what you want in your imagination. This is very powerful. The representation you create can be a driving force. How will you paint on the canvas of your life to make things even better than all those things you can appreciate now? What is the melody of your song? What is the texture of your tomorrow?

4-ACTION:

Creation without action is just fantasy. It may feel good, but it doesn’t last. At its extreme it can be a stagnant delusion, like waiting for Santa Claus in August. He’s not coming! It never ceases to amaze me the wonderful dreams people have that they never pursue. Create in imagination then take action to create what you can imagine. Believing something will happen alone will not make it happen! This is the fatal flaw in the law of attraction as some describe it. I believe that the universe rewards those that act in the world; especially if your intentions are benevolent. It does not seek out the dreamers who just sit on the couch imagining all that they want. Manifesting abundance takes action. Translate what your mental creations into action. Make choices, make a plan, take risks, and do something to go after what you want. It is then that amazing things can happen!

Tying it all together:

There are no magic wands. But there are processes at work that we experience as magical because we don’t understand them! Open yourself to those possibilities by embracing the mental, emotional, and spiritual tasks achieving abundance requires. It is a process with plenty of rewards along the way.

You need to feel abundance before you will manifest abundantly. There are four conditions toward abundance. Reflection is the first step. The second step is appreciation; it is here that feeling an attitude of abundance starts changing your life. The third step is creation, letting your creative energies flow imagining vividly what you want to create. Fourth, take action, do something to make your fantasies real!

It is critical that you don’t complete a step and say “all done.” You need to revisit each step regularly. For instance, practice appreciation then reflect again. Practice creation, appreciate what you have created, and reflect again. Take action, reflect on the results, appreciate what occurred, create some more based on what you learned, and take more action. With practice this becomes automatic, as you are capitalizing on your natural tendency to grow and actualize.

So one more time even more concisely, Practice reflection, practice appreciation, practice creation, take action, and repeat; and let your intuition be your guide. With all those pieces dancing in dynamic harmony abundance will come. Realistically, perhaps not for everyone, but it is your best shot! Take it.