Fiscal Fitness And Financial Abundance

Though it certainly doesn’t buy happiness, money is a tool and a resource that can bring many happy experiences. Yet, one of the most stressful areas of life seems to be around money: making it, wisely spending it and saving enough for the future.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to feel fiscally fit? To feel enthusiastic and empowered around your finances? This is what financial abundance really is. After 25 years as a CPA and thousands of conversations helping people manage their finances and achieve many different financial goals, I’ve found at the heart of all these different financial goals is this universal goal of financial abundance. So let’s open the door to that possibility today!

First, consider these two statements:

“I really want that… but I can’t afford it.”
“Hmm. Interesting. I would love that… I wonder how I can create it?”

The first statement closes the door to possibility. The second opens it up. I like to use “wonder” questions with my clients to gently help them move from “scarcity thinking” to “abundant thinking.” The “I wonder” question does just that. It engages your genius mind and sets it on a path to find the easiest resources available, just like a puppy that has picked up the scent of something wonderful.

WEALTH VS. ABUNDANCE, TRUTH VS. REALITY

So financial abundance is not actually having all the money you need. Instead, it’s the empowered mindset that allows you to create whatever you want. This is really good news if you want to change your personal situation, because you don’t actually have to be wealthy to feel financially abundant.

Wealth is the accumulation of material items. Though this is a great part of the whole picture, the formula for success is focused on a way of feeling and being that connects with a spirit of abundance. I like to think of it as a “calm certainty” and a “knowing smile” that all is well.

But how do you get to that “calm certainty” and the “knowing smile” when the numbers in your bank account and the circumstances in your life look anything but calm and smile-worthy? The first step is to remember what I call “the Truth” — that your wise self knows that a solution exists — rather than “the Reality” of your circumstance or challenging situation. When you can connect to your wise self, you enter a realm of problem solving that goes far beyond linear solutions.

Consider Albert Einstein’s words: “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”

The blocks to creating abundance and wealth are not what you would think. In my many years as a financial advisor working with hundreds of clients, I’ve found that it’s not your conditions or your education or your family lineage… it’s always about your creativity and your attitude and your feeling — in your body — of prosperity: those joyful, happy feelings of enthusiasm and enchantment that we feel when we’re on our game.

Here’s an example of creating a smile-worthy situation, when on the surface it looked quite the opposite. A client of mine was trying to sell his home and create a fresh start. The home was on the market for many months. He was obviously quite frustrated. So I asked him to tell me about the happy memories he experienced in that home. “Well,” he said “there were a lot of arguments in the house, I can’t really think of any.”

I shared with him that prospective buyers can feel that energy as they walk through. So I asked if he was willing to take a second try at it and walk through his home with new eyes. He shared with me that as he approached each room and stood in it, he did remember some sweet, happy times and he stood there recounting them to himself.

The first thing that changed was that he felt better, more peaceful, and he enjoyed recalling the goodness in his life. Guess what the second reward was? Yes! The home sold.

END-OF-YEAR BONUS

With the end of the year approaching, I love to use the energy of a fresh new year to help my clients jump-start their financial abundance. Here’s one of my clients’ favorite rituals to honor and celebrate your past, present and future creations.

PART I — THE PAST

If you choose, you can (safely) light a candle and speak of your learnings, accomplishments and successes from the past year. Then speak about something you wish to let go. Perhaps a belief, an old story of suffering, a past hurt, a quality that you would prefer not to take with you into the new year.

This is the process of forgiveness, a willingness to let yourself have the peace of clearing out the old and the joy of recounting your successful moments. Give yourself the space to allow clearing and calm to wash through your body.

PART II — THE PRESENT

Now light a second candle and speak of your current life. Speak with deep gratitude and satisfaction of all that you currently have. What is working in your current life? Where does it feel like there is “enough?” What are you proud of and happy with that you have created?

This is the process of gratitude. Feel the softness in your body that comes when you acknowledge your goodness and the goodness of those in your life. Give yourself the time to really enjoy this part.

PART III — THE FUTURE

With this candle lighting you will speak of your dreams and wishes for the new year. Speak with enthusiasm for the fresh new future. Speak about the joyful anticipation of what is to come. It’s a great time to speak of both the wealth you want to create in the form of material desires as well as the abundance you want to create in the form of qualities like happiness, excitement, community and heartfelt experiences. “I have a bright future” is a great belief to strengthen.

This is the process of creation. It’s a mindful and soulful setting of intention that gathers momentum in ways that are quite often magical. This is also the time to make a commitment to follow the actions that surface as a result of your wishes. Know that it is your responsibility to take the tiny actions that create the reality of your dreams.

MORE ABUNDANCE

You can connect with your wise self by listening to Joy Principe’s guided meditation on abundance. She also has a special offer for 24Life readers: her “Creating Calm” audio download. As Principe explains, calming the pattern of panic is the single most important tool to staying connected with your wise, creative, problem-solving self.

Find more on abundance in these resources:
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort & Joy – Sarah Ban Breathnach
The Abundance Book – John Randolph Price
The Trick to Money is Having Some – Stuart Wilde