Ines Lopez

They say to have abundance you must feel it first. And it makes sense. By the principle of as above so below, everything we feel within we are able to have it outside. So if you want to experience an abundant life, feeling it inside can be a way to get there. But reaching a state of abundance is not an easy fit for some. And I include myself in that journey. 

I’ve heard many times feel abundant and everything will start shifting. But how do you truly get there if that is not natural for you? Unfortunately I couldn’t find a manual of how does abundance feel and what steps to get there. When people talk about feelings they share the name of it at most. Not many would tell you how the feeling feels in your body. So if you are not familiar with that sensation, how do you replicate it on your own? As much as I repeated to myself I feel abundant I was repeating empty words. 

So I went for a proxy, something else that I could relate to and was in turn related to abundance. I’ve heard many times the biggest shift to become abundant is becoming grateful first. Gratefulness is a bit easier since I am used to say thank you to people. So I could work from there.

Doing lists of things to be grateful for is certainly a step and can help. I started doing that. The magic for me happened when I became more aware about little things that I was taking for granted and actually were worth being grateful for. Awakening and having a new chance to do things gets often overlook in the hassle of the daily life for example.

That lead me to entitlement very quickly.  Things that I expected from life or my family or friends. Yes there are social norms we live by. Friends are supposed to help you out. Parents are supposed to take care of their children. Provide food, shelter and emotional support. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. In my case it happened. I had parents that did the best they could. I lived comfortably and they supported me way passed 18 years old. In my entitlement I was not appreciating all the sacrifices they did so I could have food, a nice house and many other things that could be considered basic but they didn’t magically appear. They had to work and do sacrifices for them so I could have them. And I hadn’t realised or appreciated that fully.

Entitlement puts you in scarcity, you feel you are owed. That “owed” feeling brings the scarcity vibration in. The sensation that there is not enough around and you must have a piece of whatever. Someone must give it to you because of whatever social norm or belief you have. Which makes harder to feel grateful for whatever you have in life. You got it because it was their duty to provide it to you. And without feeling grateful it is very difficult to feel abundant. These are all interconnected like a domino effect. 

Entitlement made me expect someone should come and help me or give me something. Which also kept me in a passive situation regarding abundance, depending on exterior conditions rather than realising it can start within. 

Once I released that entitlement it was much easier to feel grateful for absolutely everything and seeing abundance everywhere, inside and outside. It also opened up my energy and my mind to feel more independent and autonomous about creation and co-creation with money.

So next time you are doing a gratefulness practice I invite you to consider how are you feeling when you write things down. Do you feel truly grateful for them? In an expansive way? Or  they feel somehow stiff and like a block?  Which could mean there is a part of you that feels entitled to them. Like a thought saying I am going to be grateful for this so I can practice gratefulness but deep down I deserve this so of course I have it! And I don’t mean deserve as in worth or value. I mean deserve with the sense of expectation and demand, with that feeling that represents an attachment to having it just because. 

Keep in mind these are treacherous waters. So much of your life experience is going to depend on whether you feel abundant or not. This goes even beyond to how many things or money you have. There are loads of people financially well off without a feeling of abundance. How do you identify them? When they have assets and capital that means they wouldn’t have to work if they didn’t want to but they criticise a drink that costed 5 dollars saying it was too expensive because you can get a beer for a few cents. I’ve seen this with my own eyes. And no, I’m not advocating wasteful use of resources either. It’s just that the mindset by which you judge the price of something it’s independent from how much money you have available to you. Not everyone wealthy lives luxuriously, some remain with a scarcity mentality. Not feeling abundant no matter how much they have. Perhaps because that is how they got started in life and regardless of their financial prosperity they never questioned their mindset along the way. After all it was working for them! 

A part of me believes all of this is also partly why there is this constant run for more things everywhere. Looking for the next financial achievement or purchase to be able to feel abundant. People reach that goal and they feel the same, because all along the abundance mindset is a parallel trajectory to the physical realm. That happened to me with my savings. I put a goal and feel I will feel abundant when I get it. I achieved it but then felt the same abundance wise. And no, I’m not saying money is not necessary or is evil. Money is part of being alive, having things and enjoying life is part of being alive. Money is not good or bad, all depends on how you use it and the intention you place around it. The whole point of this is which mindset do you want to have that experience with. Abundance or lack? Expansion and trust or feeling in a box and at the edge of a skyscraper? Because that can make a huge difference in your happiness and well-being .