Hi Kelli,
I want to ask: How to feel abundant when there are things that we used to love and afford to buy but we can’t now because they have gotten more expensive than we can afford? I guess I’m asking about the ability to spend money when you have no income or little income that can’t support what you want to buy. Should we just buy the minimum needs? How to feel abundant when we find that we can’t afford to buy some things we used to able able to?
To say that money is probably the number one issue that draws people to a teaching like the law of attraction is an understatement if there ever was one. Money is a big thing for us humans here on earth, and this is directly responsible for why so many people have trouble manifesting it.
Our mind does a very good job of convincing us that somehow money is ‘different’ when it comes to manifesting; that the ‘rules’ somehow don’t apply to it, that it is some sort of ‘exception.’
It believes it is very justified in feeling all the panic and fear; it makes stellar arguments as to why we have to do all these things we don’t want to do because we need the money. Again, the ‘rules’ of manifesting don’t apply here.
Isn’t our mind such a help on this journey?
It is important to realize money isn’t ‘different’; it isn’t the ‘exception.’ and I can confirm that as someone who did said ‘work’ during numerous periods of financial hardship.
Abundance Has Nothing to Do With Money
I get that it can kind of suck when you don’t have enough money to do the things you like to do. I remember in my leanest days, I wouldn’t even let myself buy a 5 dollar massage in Thailand. Talk about depressing.
Looking back, I should have spent that money, because energetically it would have actually been helpful to do something that made me feel good. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.
There is nothing wrong with wanting money; there is nothing wrong with liking to spend it. It’s okay to buy things you don’t need, but simply want.
I love that sweet cash as much as the next guy, so again, not discouraging you to want money. I am just hoping to present a perspective on money that might help you develop a healthier, more prosperous relationship with it, to help you see what it really is. Same goes for all the ‘things’ we want.
It is understandable you wouldn’t exactly feel abundant when there are all these things you want to spend your money on, and you don’t seem to have it.
Considering how the inability to spend the money is making you feel, it isn’t the things that are making you feel good, it’s the spending of the money. It represents something to you. Maybe freedom. Maybe the ability to contribute to your well-being in some way. Maybe a feeling of security.
These are the things you really want, and it is possible to feel them even in the absence of money. This doesn’t mean resigning yourself to a life where you don’t have a lot of money. It doesn’t mean ‘giving up’ on manifesting it.
It is just realizing the feeling you are after is not inextricably linked to your finances or buying stuff.
It’s just that money, according to your good old mind, is usually the most common translation of the energies that fall under the umbrella of ‘abundance’ And naturally, we tend to focus heavily on this particular manifestation since we think this is the only way we can feel these feelings, some of the most desired of all.
If you had a ton of money, but no friends, you might not feel as abundant. If you were filthy rich but in really poor health, you may not feel so abundant.
If you were able to buy whatever your heart desired, but were really depressed or anxious all the time, again, probably wouldn’t feel so abundant.
If you married someone really rich and never had to worry about money again, but you weren’t in love with this person, you probably wouldn’t feel very abundant.
If you constantly worried about money, no matter how much you had, no matter how much it wouldn’t logically make sense, you wouldn’t feel very abundant.
What is Being Triggered Here?
Like I said earlier, your mind has positive associations with spending money, and in the absence of the ability to spend it, it feels badly.
And again, whatever it is you were spending your money on before, whether it was material goods, dinners out, activities, etc…, wasn’t the true source of your happiness. It was the feelings these things were giving you.
The travel provided a sense of excitement. The massages made you feel relaxed and calm. The designer wardrobe made you feel attractive. The organic food made you feel like you were taking really good care of yourself.
That you can’t buy these things anymore isn’t the true source of your bad feelings now. This situation is just triggering energies that were already there. Your mind is assigning a meaning to this circumstance that feels badly. It is drawing some sort of conclusion that feels badly. It has attached a story that feels badly.
So what feels badly about not being able to spend money and having less money than you would like to have?
Do you feel restricted? Do you feel less than? Do you feel like a failure? Do you think people are judging you? Do you feel shame? Do you feel embarrassment? What else does it say about you that feels badly? What sort of beliefs about money is it triggering that feel badly?
You also want to think more about your motivations for spending money. We often spend money to fill voids, to quell uncomfortable feelings. We get a ‘high’ from buying something new. We want to impress people.
We look to material items to make us happy, and we may feel good for a bit, but since it actually isn’t the answer, we look for something new to buy, a vicious cycle from which an overwhelming majority of people will never extricate themselves.
If spending money was a primary coping mechanism, and you no longer have it to spend, this is going to stir up some uncomfortable shit. Be willing to let it come up and show you things that will be very helpful for you to see.
It will always be to our benefit to transition from wanting to manifest from a space of lack and need to feeling whole and complete now, and letting manifestations enhance our life, rather than ‘fix’ or ‘complete’ them.
Money and other manifestations will come a lot faster that way; you’ll open up energies that let the really cool stuff happen. When the goodies do come, you’ll enjoy them a lot more.
You’ll spend your money joyfully, without worrying more might not come, so you best hoard it.
You will already feel secure and free, and you won’t be holding money responsible for providing you these feelings because it simply can’t.
You won’t waste it on a bunch of stuff that really won’t add benefit to your life in any way, in an attempt to fill voids, impress people, project a certain image or distract yourself from negative emotions.
Money is a wonderful teacher, and exploring our fears around money, what is being triggered by our money problems, and the like, is a tremendous opportunity to make really big shifts in energy, that will not only benefit your finances significantly, but every other aspect of your life as well.
Feeling Abundant Now
Spending money, even in tighter financial times, can be a really good abundance practice. But I would say there are some caveats.
Feeling deprived doesn’t exactly lend itself to letting in more money; you will just continue to manifest a reality of deprivation. But you don’t want to go overboard here. You want to keep in mind buying ‘stuff’ isn’t going to truly make you happier.
You have to honor your current finances. You have to honor your resistance and fears around money. But spending the money you have now in a way that feels joyful is really helpful.
It is all about quality not quantity.
I wouldn’t recommend maxing out credit cards buying shit you don’t need, or spending 250 dollars on a fancy dinner if you only have 500 to your name.
Like I said earlier, I should have let myself get those five dollar massages. I love massages more than anything in the world, and that was a very small sum of money. It certainly would have helped with the immense anxiety that gripped me almost constantly during this time.
Maybe you have a work party coming up–treat yourself to a new dress. But it probably isn’t a good idea to buy 10 dresses.
Buy things that will enhance your life in some way, that will help you build more momentum behind positive energies. You want to eat healthier so you buy a blender to make healthy shakes.
Spend your money on things that will nourish your mind and spirit, like that photography class you have always wanted to take.
But let’s remember what I said earlier–abundance is not just about money. So there is plenty of other stuff you can do to create an energy of abundance, things that will have much more of an impact.
What else in your life is good? Do you have a really great family? Do you have awesome friends? Do you have a really supportive and loving partner? Do you have a great community at your church? Do you have a cool job?
What does money represent to you feeling-wise? What could you do now to evoke those same feelings?
If money represents being able to help people , you can help people now by volunteering your time. That won’t cost a dime.
If money represents being able to nurture yourself, there are things you can do now to get that same effect, like taking a nice hot bath with some candles, making more time to yourself by scaling back on commitments, or getting up a bit earlier each morning to have some nice quiet alone time.
I know when we are unhappy with our life now, when we are really feeling negative about a particular aspect of our life, these sorts of suggestions seem really annoying.
I get it. And you can choose to dismiss the ‘good’ in your life, claiming it has nothing to do with the issue at hand, and you get to focus on that and feel badly.
You can scoff at the idea of doing other things that will evoke those energies, insisting it’s ‘different.’
I really don’t recommend it though if you have any interest in creating a different life for yourself by the way of managing your energy.
Your mind will always make a great case as to why feeling sorry for yourself, focusing negatively, letting outside appearances dictate your feelings, and listening to its conclusions, is the way to go.
It will never stop doing that. What you can stop though is automatically listening to it, and letting it run the show.
Make peace with where you are now and don’t fight against it. This is not the same thing as resignation–not even close.
Focus on the abundance you do have already, and bask in those energies. This will allow you to start feeling better now, regardless of the amount of money you have, or what you can or can’t buy. This is all you want anyway, and you don’t have to wait for anything to change first. You just have to give yourself permission to do so.
Your Turn
What did you think? Any tips for creating an energy of abundance? Looking forward to your comments as always.
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Baby stepping up your spending is sound advice. Just dropping a little more here and there AND really feeling good about it, celebrating, dancing around like a loon. This is how to feel abundant, when circumstances seem to scream otherwise, at your monkey mind. Super insight as always, KCB.
Hi Ryan
Thanks for your insight and celebrating the spending is a great advice. It will help us attract more to spend!
Hi Kelli. Excellent advice as always. From a guy’s perspective it can be really hard not making enough money. For generations we’ve been taught that we are supposed to be the bread winners and provide abundantly for our families.
Of course, those antique ideas are going away and there is absolutely no reason why a woman can’t provide for herself or provide the primary income for a family.
Still, it can be challenging to overcome generations of programming.
What works for me is to rely on my experience. Even when times get lean we have always had enough to eat and a roof over our heads. Always, even when it seemed impossible.
I work from home, so I’m with my kids all day long. We keep each other laughing all day long, especially my daughter and me. And that costs absolutely nothing.
I was at the book store a couple days ago and my daughter found a book that I wanted. My initial response was to put it back until the soft cover came out in a few months. That would save me a few bucks. But I decided to go ahead and buy, for the very reasons you stated. It wasn’t expensive and would bring me a lot of joy for a few days as I read it. The benefits far outweighed the cost.
I know my business and income are going to go back up again. They always do. I just have to believe and work from that space.
Thanks for this very timely article.
Hi Wayne
Thanks for your comment and sharing such a great example of how spending the money can be helpful to our energy. The man as breadwinner is a perfect example of global/cultural belief that is overarching and can be particularly insidious. But the willingness to question the validity of it, and reject the not-so-sound reasoning that someone is less ‘manly’ if they aren’t earning all the money will take men far in releasing it. You seem to have an easy time focusing in on other forms of abundance and that is what lends itself to the money coming so you’re doing great!
Hi Kelli,
I’m the one who asked that question, thank you so so so much for addressing it. Your response triggered another related question, whenever I think about money, thinking about jobs always comes to mind; I’m currently jobless and have no income of my own and on top of that I have no idea what job to do, I’m like what they say jack of all trades a master of non. I have several interests but I don’t care about any of them enough to master it and often times I get the feeling that I don’t want to work at all. Is it possible to get a stable income without working?
Hi Tina
There is a part of you that knows the type of work that would make you happy and you will be able to access it. You have to do your best to relax though and not ‘try’ so hard to make these insights come.
You might already have an idea but aren’t fully letting yourself consider it because you think it isn’t ‘realistic’ or your mind sees other reasons why it isn’t possible. That happens with a lot of people so take a moment to think about that. On some level we often know exactly what we want but we just don’t think we can have it. If you have ways you think you could earn money now, even if they aren’t your dream job, it could be helpful to consider pursuing them, as a stepping stone. Having some money coming in might help with your energy a bit and provide some relief.
Yes, it is certainly possible to find ways to earn money without directly working for it–investing in something,etc… You can also create passive sources of income. In most cases, there would probably be some sort of initial action necessary to set these sorts of channels up. Could you find a way to earn money without doing anything at all? Sure, but most of us would have a really hard time believing that and probably wouldn’t be able to make the shifts necessary to allow money in that way, especially given the amount of resistance, fears and limiting beliefs we have in this area in particular. That we believe we need to do something to earn money is technically a limiting belief but one that isn’t necessarily ‘harmful.’
I love this, and it was very timely for me. I’m someone who has always spent money to feel better, to fill a void in my life. You are so correct – it does not work! I’ve recently started looking at how the way I feel that lack in my life is actually holding me back from getting what I do want (which isn’t a closet full of clothes and a house full of stuff!). Thanks so much for your wise words, as always. I really like the way you frame things and encourage people, instead of making them feel awful for every negative thought that flits through their heads. ?
Hi Rachelle
Thanks so much for your comment and glad you enjoyed the post. I always try to account for the ‘human factor’ in this work!
AWESOMENESS BLOG…..God Bless you!
Thanks Lashana! So glad you are enjoying it
As with all things, balance is needed here. Spend money, yes, but as you mentioned, don’t max your credit cards out on crap you don’t need.
Thanks Barry…balance is key!
Yes I feel lucky to have discovered your blog Kelli. It’s so insightful and I read them many times over. They really help with these issues of not earning enough and how to move past it.. It’s so hard to not feel that panic and anxiety. I am looking for a job to pay the bills (you replied to one of my comments before Kelli) and I get that panic every so often.. and start looking back at job adverts for an area that I don’t like and am trying to get away from but only look at because I am familiar with it… I am working also on listening to my intuition for help and guidance. That’s not always clear either but I guess it’s also a wip.! Thank you. Jane
Hi Jane
Money is a massive trigger and if we are willing to embrace that, major shifting can be done. I think you are down for the task. Don’t worry so much about trying to remove your thoughts and fears–they’ll come. The real goal, especially at first, is removing the ‘charge’ that gets activated when you think about your finances,etc..That is what gives those thoughts and beliefs their real power. Your willingness to approach your life in this way has already opened up energy and possibilities so you’re already on the right path even if you don’t feel like it.