In the last post, I criticized the commonly understood definition of "abundance" as being primarily about wealth and health. While there is nothing wrong with desiring those things, this approach appeals to the ego-mind as opposed to the soul or higher self. Since selling the LOA has become a business model, I suppose it's natural to gear the pitch toward the ego.
There is nothing wrong with having money, but a surprising number of people believe that there is, at least above a certain amount. They tend to lose sight of the fact that obsession with not having too much money is not morally superior to obsession with having it. Obsession with it either way is a construct of the ego, and therein is the problem.
Just to be clear, this blog focuses on "The Fully Actualized Life", and material abundance is certainly an important subset of this. However, rather than focusing on the goals as the ego-mind might define them, the Fully Actualized approach takes a more integrated view of body, mind and spirit. The abundant life balances between all three. Life on Earth is really about the soul's journey, so it makes sense to look at this from the perspective of the soul.
I am actively working on applying the principles of "The Fully Actualized Life" to my own life. This blog is about sharing my thoughts and inspiration on this, but I also intend to discuss my own application of these ideas. I certainly don't want to be promoting a theory that doesn't work for me.
At this point, I will share a bit of my own personal experience:
Achieving financial abundance has been a personal goal of mine for a long time. While generally always experiencing that my needs were met, I believed firmly in the Law of Scarcity. My parents and grandparents lived through the Great Depression, and their struggles to eke out survival were deeply engraved in their psyche. It's understandable that my ideas about money were inherited from their experience.
The Law of Scarcity holds that success can only come from working hard, and that's only if you are fortunate enough to have a job. Also, it's rare to really enjoy your work. You essentially sell your time to The Man and endure stressful working conditions in exchange for a pay check. You may occasionally think of other things you would much rather be doing with your time, but just forget about that. You are a wage slave. Too bad if you are too tired and drained when you get home to do anything else - life wasn't meant to be a "bed of roses". If this all seems unpalatable, just remember that the wolf is howling just outside of your door. People without jobs can tell you a much more dismal story, so suck it up and accept it!
Then one day a magical thought popped into my head. I had been reading some teaching on the LOA by Abraham-Hicks. The teaching suggested that you can have anything you desire! Really? I suddenly wondered if that meant I could manifest an alternate way to achieve an income. Radical thought, that! Could I actually discover a way to "own my own time", and do things in life that I find fulfilling, rather than things "The Man" wants me to do?
I wrote down a list of goals, and began to focus on them with the intent of manifesting them. Top of the list was an alternate means of achieving an income that would allow more freedom. The LOA teaching said that you can't focus on what you don't like, or on your lack of what you want. This part proved to be extremely hard. Each day I reluctantly got into the car and drove to work, wondering how long it would take to change my situation. It took many years of struggling with this before I realized why it was so hard for me. In a word: Baggage.
The Law of Scarcity was a belief system that I had subscribed to early in life. LOA doctrine teaches that old beliefs that are contrary to your goals must be dropped and replaced with positive beliefs. This wasn't so hard for me on the conscious level; The LOA made sense on an intellectual level, and I read convincing stories of others having success with it.
But Abraham also said that feelings have a strong role to play in manifestation. It makes sense to feel good once the goals are manifest, but how can you do that when you are still experiencing the same old grind? This is the same conundrum I had stumbled over in my younger days in church - I was taught that God will grant your desire when you pray, but only if you believe in it first. Since the thing I was praying about was inevitably an issue I was fearful about, the strong feelings of fear that persisted must mean that I still doubted. How can you not doubt when you feel afraid? But doubting means you won't get what you pray for, so you have reason to fear!
Eventually things began to change. An opportunity came along to become a freelance contractor, with my former employer supplying a reasonably solid amount of work. I was quite fearful of giving up a guaranteed paycheck, but this arrangement allowed me to ease into independence with baby steps. It provided some flexibility in time management, and allowed me to work at home.
Around the same time, I met Marie (another item on the manifestation list), and later the vision developed between us for Earth & Water Wellness. It became apparent that this was to be my ultimate destination, a manifestation inspired by my original list of goals some 10 years earlier.
Still I was troubled by the fact that money only flowed when I worked hard on consulting projects. Pouring myself into things my soul desires, such as writing and our wellness business, didn't bring in much money. I keep reminding myself that following my soul's desires shouldn't result in poverty.
I began to look at the issue of emotional baggage, and how the unconscious mind plays a huge role in directing a person's thoughts. I realized that deep down inside, I felt very insecure. I also lacked self-confidence, although this had been overcome at times while achieving success in my career as a programmer. Still, my success was tied to the notion of working for others. It was (and still is) very difficult to believe that I could do something on my own that would result in financial success.
My current thrust is on clearing the baggage once and for all. It turns out that during bouts of anxiety and insecurity, my root and crown chakras are closed. It's difficult to manifest under these conditions; thus energy work and meditation are an essential part of this process.
I tell myself daily that Source is infinite, and material things are just energy manifest in physical form. That there is no shortage in Source, and we are connected to it. That if we could just live in the present moment, the soul knows how to manifest its needs. That the LOA really works, and has a solid basis in the physics of how reality operates.
There are several other insights that are working for me. More on this later...
