The Foundation for Abundance

"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." ~Eckhart Tolle, Author of The Power of Now

How often do you feel genuinely grateful for what you have in your life?

There is a big difference between acting grateful and feeling genuine gratitude in your heart.

Our ego wounded self, which is the part of us that wants control over our feelings, others and outcomes, loves the idea of acting grateful as a way to have control over manifesting abundance. The wounded self wants to believe that rattling off affirmations and statements of gratitude will give it this control.

I allow my wounded self to do this as much as she wants, because it makes her feel safe to believe that she has this control and it does no harm. It's a way she can feel in control without doing harm to me or to others. However, I know from my personal experience that mindlessly spouting gratitude doesn't really create anything. It's a good way of keeping my wounded self occupied, but it's not a good way to create abundance.

True gratitude cannot be faked. For me, real gratitude is a welling up in my heart of love and appreciation for the abundance that God gives to me daily. It's a feeling in my heart of being deeply blessed for my life and for the journey of evolving my soul in my ability to love ever more deeply. It's the joy I feel for my deep connection with my family and friends, for my work and my ability to help others, for my dogs and horses, for the beauty of nature – trees and mountains and flowers and sun and rain and snow and clouds, for nourishing food and the health this provides for me, for still having tons of energy at my age, for sleeping well, for my hands and feet and my eyes that see and my ears that hear, for a hot shower and clean drinking water – and for so many other things.

It is when I genuinely feel this gratitude in my heart that I'm open to Spirit manifesting through me.

I've experimented with the difference it makes when I'm expressing gratitude from my ego wounded self or from my loving Adult self. I'm frequently amazed at the difference. Life seems to flow toward what I want when I'm fully present with genuine gratitude, but it seems to get stuck if I try to control outcomes by expressing gratitude.

Wanting More

The ego wounded self always wants more – believing that more will make you happy. More money, more love from someone, more things, more time, more fame, more attention, more food or alcohol or drugs or sex. How long have you felt full and joyful inside as a result of getting more of these things? A day? A week? A month? And then you want more again.

In my experience, the only thing that fills me inside with peace and joy in a permanent way, and creates the foundation for abundance, is genuine love in my heart for myself, others, the planet and God, and genuine gratitude for the many blessings in my life. And the only way I feel this genuine gratitude is when I'm fully present and connected with myself and my spiritual guidance. There is no way for me to feel this if I'm focused on the past or future, which is what the ego wounded self loves to do.

If you practice being fully present right now with the blessings you have, you will see how powerfully Spirit manifests in your life.