Opening Your Abundance
“Summoning gratitude is a sure way to get our life back on track. Opening our eyes to affirm gratitude grows the garden of our inner abundance, just as standing close to a fire eventually warms our heart” -Alexandra Katehakis
Ever heard of a certain short story of a woodcutter who accidentally dropped his old axe deep in a lake one evening? Poor guy isn’t a swimmer.
All he could do is fixing his despaired gaze on his sinking axe until it disappeared into the depths of the lake.
The axe was his only tool for earning food and shelter for his family. His long hard struggle is nothing without the assistance of his axe.
Now that it is gone, it will take him days to make a new one or even buy one.
The sunken axe has been with him since his starting day as a woodcutter and he thanked it for all the hardship they’ve gone through.
More so, it has been around since his father’s lumbering days. As he was muddling in his own thoughts, the lake bubbled with flashes of light coming out from it.
The woodcutter was shocked at the sight of a water creature emerged from it.
The creature assured him that it meant him no harm and wish only to seek confirmation of a certain axe that fell on the lake where it resides.
It was holding 2 axes, one is a striking golden axe and another is a used, battered looking axe.
He told the water creature that his axe was the old one and thanked the creature for returning it for him.
Touched by his honesty and sincerity, the creature gave him the golden axe as a gift.
At first the woodcutter refused the creature’s offer, afraid that there might’ve been something that it would want from him in which he couldn’t afford in return.
However, the creature convinced the woodcutter to accept it as a remembrance for all the sacrifices and good deeds he has gone through all these years with humility and patience.
Overjoyed by the creature’s sentiments, he accepted it wholeheartedly and promised himself to remember this day.
The day where his long-years of struggles was rewarded.
For once in your life, you would like to feel the magic of receiving wealth beyond your wildest dream for all the struggles you have gone through.
But as much as you want it to happen, things won’t necessarily go your way.
As for our woodcutter, should the water creature not emerge from the lake to offer him a reward for his honesty; he will lose his dear axe for good.
Worse, his only means to earn money for his family. But it did, and gave the amount of gift it dubbed equal to the woodcutter’s patience and perseverance.
Remember the first paycheck of your life?
Try to recall the excitement and exhilaration when you first cashed out the money.
The excitement of earning money using your own hands gives a much more personal meaning to it. However, it doesn’t come without ample obstacles and struggles.
This includes your attitude towards accepting the money as well. Why is it some people who struggled as much as you do didn’t receive what they deserve?
Has this happened to you, your close friends or family members? Do you know what caused it mostly?
Within the next paragraphs of this article, you will uncover the one true manifesto of your abundance.
It is more than just your well-known struggle but it starts as early from the way your mind commanding your nerve system to act upon it.
This command is highly influenced by the result of conflict between your mind and your heart.
Slowly, you utter words reflecting your feelings and eventually you act the way you are feeling now.
Manifesto #1: The Voice of Your Mind
“There is a lie that acts like a virus within the mind of humanity, and that lie is, “There is not enough good to go around. There’s lack and there’s limitation and there’s just not enough.” -Michael Beckwith
The path to great wealth and health starts from within. It hinges especially to your acceptance to the world around you.
The result from the positive outbreak of your mind is a clear definition of what you desire from and for the world.
Rather, the world itself will find you worthy of your altruist mind. Slowly, all the abundance in the world will open itself up to you.
You see, our mind is made up of constant rewiring of our thoughts, past experiences, expectations, actions at every second, minute and hours of our life.
The ‘final product’ of our thoughts is the one in charge of the further reaction towards everyone around you.
Let’s start with when you first wake up for today. This would be one of the simplest things for you to do. All you need to do is to utter gratitude into your mornings.
It is true when people say how the very moment you open your eyes to confront the day ahead of you highly influence your activity throughout.
Waking up to a silent, happy prayers or routine helps your subconscious mind to react positively to the days ahead.
You won’t even have any room in your mind left to spare for all the negativity that you might’ve accumulated yesterday.
Why should you even have one if you are so focused on searching for something greater than yesterday.
Life continues to those who believe in themselves; believe in their own capability that they are worthy to feel good every day.
Of course, there are days when you feel like it should just stop because no matter the amount of motivation you feed yourself, your optimism continues to deplete.
Trust me when I say it is all because you started your day feeling lesser than you should be.
You are demotivated by the upcoming day that you don’t even know what’s going to happen.
Rather than breathing in all the goodness around you, you let your mind trapped within your own uncertainty.
Remember, your mind is the inquisitor of your actions. If I’m to exaggerate it, our mind is the all-seeing eye of our knowledge and physical capabilities.
It can control us and bind us to our demise if we do not feed it with ‘magical’ ingredients surrounding us.
Remember your first, “what do you want to become in the future?” question back in middle school or kindergarten?
Most of the initial dream you wanted to be back in the days changes gradually.
Some still believe that they could achieve their dream and that’s great. But that is the start of everything is it not?
You wanted so much to project to your future according to what your mind told you to.
Throughout the years, if it is deemed worthless, your mind will reject it immediately and started searching for something new to work on.
If initially you wanted to become a simple salary man, working your 9am-5pm job, your mind will keep it that way.
Only until one day you realize that it is not enough and you wanted to become financially free that your mind will reprocess itself to suit your demand.
But stop for a moment. Isn’t the demand to change your predicament itself starts from you? Your heart?
The little voices you hear inside of you whenever you started thinking seriously about your future? Ever wonder what those voices are?
That’s you, subconsciously speaking to yourself from deep within. Some people believe that this is nonsense. But try to recollect your morning.
Say, you woke up early because you wanted to put your clothes in the washing machine so by the time you finished making breakfast, it is ready to be hung.
You started calculating the time and when that is done, you wondered about your breakfast menu. As you are deciding it, you realized that you need to make the bed.
The entire decision making, the implementation is of course done by you and you witnessed it being done but what you didn’t see is the top process of your action.
The silent conversation of ‘what am I going to do today?’ or the ‘I wonder if I have some milk left for cereals?’ that you had in your head is the all-seeing eye manipulating your every movement.
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius
Thus, the very beginning of abundance starts within you.
Be grateful for the life given to you every day because not everyone who slept the same night with you woke up today.
The boon of gratification is stronger than you think, and it is more powerful when you are giving it to yourself. You will end up feeling content with yourself.
Slowly you will feel more alive and ready to take on the day ahead of you the way your mind wants you to be; in a state of gratitude and happiness.
Everybody knows when there’s any lack of money going on with your life, all sorts of negativity will come knocking to your head and it will seep through your heart.
Worry, envy, disappointment, doubtful or fearful will drain your all-seeing eye and eventually you.
No matter the situation you are in right now, the very fact of not having enough money to satisfy your need is a huge ungratefulness to the money that you currently possess.
Why must you torment yourself over something that is not even there in the first place?
How would you expect abundance to come your way if you are not even grateful with what you have now?
Accepting it wouldn’t mean that you are incapable of increasing your money, in fact it is the opposite.
Acknowledging what you have now is one of the most important way to attract abundance. It is a challenge, trust me I know.
But believe me when I say, once you understand that your life won’t be changing to a better one until you are grateful of what you have, you will be inspired to do more than what you’ve accomplished.
Back when I was a child, money is a taboo subject around my parents.
None of us, me and my siblings, dared to even question the amount of food or money (back then we don’t even have pocket money) that was given to us.
More like, it was never important to us kids those days compared to this era. We pack food from home to school and share them with other kids.
Point is, didn’t both of us, as kids, always have food on our table? Don’t we always being brought to the doctor when we are sick?
Don’t we always have electricity and water to be used around the house?
Do you realize that you don’t even have to pay a single cent for it? Aren’t you thankful for what it has given you?
Those money earned by our caretakers back then were all for your well-being. Be thankful.
The world knows of your existence and your struggle. So, have faith in every single act of gratitude you’ve done.
Your money will show its increase given that your mind is constantly positive in dealing with the uncertainty.
Feeling grateful for the once you used to have and still have. Your mind will help you.
All you need is a little bit of faith and a reminder to be thankful for the day that you are given to increase your abundance.
Remember life continues and it waits for no man.
Wherever you are, no matter how far or hopeless you think you are from getting the wealth you deserve, you are never totally at lost.
Close your eyes and start by counting your blessings.
The money you never have to spend growing up, the air you breath waking up this morning and the gratitude of money that you still have at this time.
Finally, have your mind setting up your goals. Study it and appreciate how you still have the life to set up a new goal in life.
Manifesto #2: Words of the Abundance Seeker
“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears” –Anthony Robbins
At this point of time, you must’ve been to many seminars and talks.
Most of them talked about attracting money, the tricks and tips of the world to a better future for you or even how to add the extra zero into everything that you earn.
When you do, sometimes the speaker will take the opportunity to liven up the crowd by increasing the energy in the room and force you to yell or speak your oath and goals.
Initially, don’t you find it disturbing? There are people like me, who would rather keep the goals I have, to me and not telling others about it.
Afraid that when I do, it won’t go the way I plan. Whilst some refuses to share it because others might take their idea of your own goal and make it their own.
Worse, they excel in achieving it but you don’t.
Let us observe the reason behind the reading your declaration out loud in a seminar or yelling positive motto does for you.
When you first step into the room, everyone is a stranger. You may come with a friend or not, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is the mood that is lingering in the room from the very beginning of the seminar remains uncertain and everyone is distant to each other.
Of course, that is normal.
Why would you joyfully think that this guy is in the same boat as you and the reason he is here, in ‘the secret of earning more money’ seminar is similar to you.
Sure, some might share your predicament, but the act of assuming everyone is like that is unhealthy to the seminar.
There will be mixed interpretation to the purpose of the seminar and the last thing the speakers would want is the angst of negativity running wild amongst the participants.
Thus, the speakers’ job is to let everyone in this room acknowledge that struggle.
Let everyone know that you are better than who you are yesterday and no man is the wiser.
Your struggle is for your own to decipher but remembering the reason why you are participating in the seminar is important too.
To do so, everyone will need to declare their sacrifice by utter the seminar’s motto or any form of positive declaration.
When everyone is in unison, you will feel the world’s acceptance. The world heard you and acknowledges your existence and most importantly, your worth.
Those who chase after their dreams are those courageous enough to declare their goals in themselves.
Having a solid mind about your dream is good, but to actually materialize it into a form of oath, using your own voice, is a different thing altogether.
People might call you crazy for talking to yourself at times but trust me, it gives out some form of vitality within you that you would never believe existed.
All the nonsensical feeling you have about money is slowly being pushed away because you just declare your morale to the world that nothing can stop you from gaining it.
Back during the days of war, men didn’t just graze the field clad in armors and weapons.
Upon facing their opponent, they brought with them the drums and horns of war, all to intimidate their opponent and motivate their allies.
One modern example of this modern ‘wars’ is in the sport of Rugby. The team to be highlighted is New Zealand’s All Blacks.
At a final match, before the match begins, a ‘Haka’ is performed by the players. Rhythmic words and syllable are chanted for as loud as the crowd can hear and cheer.
These are the people who slowly prepare their mind to a battle between themselves. Yes, their opponent is right in front of them.
But if their mind is not set, encouragement is not made; they could just easily run away from the battle in front of them and be branded a deserter.
“Intentions compressed into words enfold magical power” –Deepak Chopra
You have already experience the act of appreciating the money that you have and will have instead of what you don’t have earlier on.
That is why it is imperative for you to understand the ways and method to channel that money into your life.
The moment you are not grateful with money that enters your pocket, slowly and surely you will eventually stop the process of abundance flowing to your financial life.
Just remember, you cannot be grateful for the money and fearful of it at the same time.
Once you stick with the abundance mindset, say it with pride. Exclaim it to yourself, in front of the mirror to embed it into action later on.
Options to assist you in your abundance trekking journey are always there.
But because you didn’t voice out your dreams and desires, they remain stagnant and eventually, ended up being pushed away because you shut your eyes to the wonders of the world.
So, wake up, feel the gratification life has given you when you open up your eyes and declare your dreams to the world.
Slowly but surely, you will see the different path suddenly emerge in front of you, waiting for you to take that step.
Manifesto #3: Take that Step
“If you believe it, if you can see it, if you act from it, it will show up for you. That’s the truth.” –Michael Beckwith
Remember how I talked about your voice and intentions are shaped behind the different goals you’ve set out to your mind?
It is easier to make those dreams alive by looking up the doors of possibility within you.
Being grateful is one thing but voicing that dream to the world comes hand in hand with the action that will open the door for you. All you need to do is step in.
But surprisingly, most of us won’t even do it.
Honestly, the only way about it is the gratitude that you could offer to yourself. It has always been there for you.
It couldn’t and wouldn’t let you own because the more you depend on it, the more it will show you how much you are worth.
Inevitably, it will show you the door you need to pursue your dreams.
All you need to do is accept it. We all heard how action speaks louder than words, but do we even know how it actually works in all this?
Every day in our life, as Lenka said it, problem is a friend. It is ridiculously loyal and will follow you till the end of your day.
Surprisingly though, problem wants you to solve it and when you do, it will disappear and give you this nonexistent trophy of relieving itself from its duty to you.
A temporary relief of success that you’ve achieved for the day and you can hear it cheer for you from a distant.
The fact that you can hear it means that it will never let you go. Now don’t think about it that badly.
The thing about our overly attached ‘friend’ is how it is there to remind you that you are strong.
There are days when money seems to be the only source of negativity in your life and at the same time, problem appears.
Before you conclude that problem is all about the bad and wicked things, it is naturally neutral, initially of course.
Its nature shape-shift according to your acceptance and reaction to it. You either turn it into your best of ally or your arch enemy.
That is why problem is a friend, a definition of a ‘person’ who would betray you or assist you.
Going way back to our first manifesto, how do you exterminate the negativity of being ungrateful to what you have and will have?
The result of your gratitude will determine the identity you give to your daily problem.
The more ungrateful you are, the more problems will turn to your worst nightmare.
It will haunt you until you are exhausted of all options and start turning into a distorted version of you.
You will start pushing away your loved ones and worse you neglect your health, both physically and mentally.
When that happens, you will have a hard time turning back to that path you once were.
While all that is happening, problem breeds to more mini problems, and it will stand above all the important things you once knew.
It all boils down to your action.
Trust me when I say it is heavily influenced by the firmness of you mind – the way you view things from the very beginning of your day and voicing out your positive intentions to the world.
That’s why some people can see problem as an opportunity in every situation, and others cannot.
They simply can’t comprehend that problem is actually the solution to everything that they’ve gone through.
The whole point of attracting abundance is allowing yourself to accept all the things that are happening around you, and the biggest influence is the many problems that are following you.
Be grateful of all the problems that helped upgrade a better version of you.
In time, abundance will recognize your effort and the brimming positivity you brought with you.
You will be surprised at the close connection you have with abundance if you start looking at the world in a new and diverse perspective.
Remember the story of that friend of mine?
When she voiced out her concerns and dreams to me, I was ecstatic!
Not because she finally told me her long overdue secret or something, it’s because she finally opened herself up to others. She even started sharing it with her parents.
To me, that is the greatest accomplishment she has ever done in her life.
She is looking at all the problems she is having in a different light. All she needed to do is take that first step, quitting her job.
She told me how being called in her manager’s office regarding the letter of change she gave earlier that day gave her chill.
She did all this without any back up plan, she didn’t scout for other job opportunities nor did she was expecting any offer from the people around her.
But she was content. Deep down she felt relieved. Not because she is a month away from being relieved off her duty, but because she has problem by her side.
It is helping her conquering what she once afraid of, problem itself.
Every morning, she is thankful for all the lesson she received from all the struggles she has faced throughout her long working years.
Surprisingly enough, she called me one day, a week after her official resignation; a company is offering her the job that she always wanted.
This time, she is earning enough to have her own savings and her working hours is as flexible as she always wanted.
I can see her more often now and she seems more relaxed at everything she is doing.
All it takes is for her to believe in the decision she has long ponder about and start fresh.
“It is quite possible to leave your home for a walk early in the morning air and return a different person – beguiled, enchanted” -Mary Ellen Chase
The Universal truth about life is that that there’s always more than enough good to go around for everybody.
There is more than enough abundance and wealth ideas to be extracted by the enlightened.
All the strength and love are waiting for you. So be grateful, speak your mind and start taking that step.
You longed for that business you wanted to pursue, longed to travel around the world, longed for financial freedom and the only thing holding you back is you.
Stagnant and lost in the uncertainty of the future?
The only way to break free of it is to be aware of your mind’s influence against your voice and your action.
Abundance is waiting, and it is more than enough for everyone.
To Your Abundance
“Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.” -Alexander Dumas
At any time you feel lost about your financial life, just remember that many are struggling the way you are and the path to freedom is never a walk in the park.
No one would expect money raining over them every step along the way.
But despite the entire struggle you are going through, try to execute just this one exercise – count your blessings.
List them down if you must. Wake up to it, read them out loud to yourself, start visualizing them and give thanks to all of them.
Drag yourself out of bed and start walking around the house. Walk out if you must, breathe in the morning breeze around you.
Feel the air on your face, telling you that you are still alive to be grateful of the life you still have with you.
Doing all the things you are capable of, chat with the ones you love and realizing all those dreams and goals you have set.
The emotion that comes after it will give you a whole new meaning to your life.
Personally, I just love to give myself some time alone. Some of my friends realized this and thought I’m a loner for some reason. But that’s not it.
The thing is I rarely have time for myself back when my financial life is in crisis.
That is why, this time around, I promised myself to devote a day or a night just for me and my own thoughts; feeding it with all of my attention and no distractions.
Only I can allow myself the privilege of spending my time the way I want it.
Be it in the park, sipping tea or coffee in a café, taking a lonely drive or for me, it’s spending hours in the gym.
Before the end of your day, make yourself a routine before going to bed.
It can be prayers of being grateful on what you have right now. Most of us missed the opportunity to embed the feeling of gratification that makes us who we are today.
Especially if it helps you get to your day. Your actions, the people you spend most time with and the world for giving you the opportunity to do all this.
With time, you can see all the prospect of abundance come flowing in to your life.
Because eventually, after practicing gratitude for a long period of time, you will automatically feel it deep inside your heart.
Everything around you seem better than before – your working environment started to feel different, working opportunities started knocking from every corner, your paycheck seems bigger than usual and all the chances to showcase your talent are open.
When it happens, give yourself the love you deserve. Without self-love and gratitude unto yourself, there’s nothing that you cannot do or accomplish.
Remember, you are not without any accomplishment!
You’ve struggled across every door that you opened, every path that you took lead you from one problem to another.
But because you believe that you live for a reason will allow improvements in every action of your production, especially one closely related to your prosperity.
Once someone becomes incredibly productive, it’s amazing what it can do to your financial life. So, start producing the result of your gratitude and share it.
Eventually, fruitfulness and abundance will be blessed to your very own enterprise.
Here are some of the things you can do to keep yourself on track with the positive vibe around you:
Activate
Use your present problems to activate all the harmonious thoughts of productivity, be it creativity, kindness, love, beauty, and peaceful receptivity.
Remember to make the choice in your life with these feelings to activate your gratitude to the world.
Eventually, your present moments will activate all the thoughts that make you feel good. This is an indicator that you’re reconnecting to your mind’s intention.
When you do, it is actually a form of thanks to yourself, gratitude in disguise.
Even if what you desire isn’t there yet, just be thankful that you have the opportunity to move closer to it.
With time, the item of your desire will recognize you and it’ll move towards you instead.
Value
Start adding value to everything that you do.
Just because you do not have the intention to make about the reality you wish you could have, that doesn’t exclude you from valuing what you are doing to the world.
Reality isn’t limited to what you are doing right now, it actually begins with your sub consciousness remember?
The moment you realize this, you must value that thought.
If you realize that you are choosing to believe something, then you can choose to believe that you can do something to add value to it.
Especially the ones that empower you.
Commit
Construct the reality that you want rather than just dreaming about it.
List them down, the list you want to improve upon especially your financial life.
If you want the extra zero in your paycheck then start listing down the things you need to do get it done. No more ‘talking’ about it in your mind.
Time to do something about it. Talk it out to your loved ones, listen to their opinions.
Even if it doesn’t vibe well with what you would expect, be grateful that you at least gotten a different perspective of others.
Just remember the words of Thomas Edison, ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work’.
When you do, strike them off your list, start anew. What’s important is your commitment towards your dream and you are not backing down on it. It all starts with you.
What’s stopping you from moving further from listing it down?
Doing so grant you that one step closer to realizing your journey to attract all the abundance scattered around the world.
Whenever you think that the world is separated from you, one thing I would advise is to look outside, to the sky.
It may seem like it is always above you, but look around you. It’s on your right, to your left and below you – it is surrounding you all this time without you realizing it.
Understanding this is going to open your view to the many things you’ve taken for granted.
The beauty around you, the health that is sustaining you and the money you have and will have.
Once you’ve established the existence of the things that deserves your gratitude with the world, you just achieved a certain personal relationship with the world.
That relationship will open your hearts and minds towards everything that you receive.
It will touch the lives of others around you and it will most definitely attract abundance.
Appreciate that closeness with the world because when you do, despite the problems and hurdles coming your way, you are armed and ready to receive any forms of attack.
May abundance be with you!
