I recently sat down and calculated how many Distance Reiki sessions I’d need to do to quit my job. It was an astonishingly small number, and I was thrilled! So much so that I shared this number with my partner. “If I do just 5 Reiki sessions a day, 5 days a week, I’ll make more than I do at my job and I can quit.” He got on board immediately and challenged me to double that so he can quit his too. Deal.
The next day, he shared a thought with me that never even crossed my mind. It was something that, even a couple of years ago, I might have thought on my own, but in my present state, didn’t even consider. “Be careful how many people you teach to be Reiki Masters because that will leave fewer people for you to teach.”
Now, the old me would have gobbled up and internalized that fear so quickly, you’d think I’d come up with it myself. Actually, the old me would have beat him to the punch. How many people did I think I could reach, anyway, just little ol’ me? How could I possibly support myself with something that many people already know how to do? How could I even think that this is a viable plan for my own financial stability? There are only so many people in the world, and only so many of them really want to learn what I have to teach. And only so many of those people would actually make the financial investment in learning. So now we’re at a pretty small number, right? All those thoughts blow my lofty fantasies out of the water.
Thankfully, the new me is so much wiser, and so much more practiced in seeing crap when it’s in front of me. I immediately recognized his statement as fear. It didn’t even come close to fitting into my vibration, and it only served as the inspiration to write this particular blog. His intentions were good – he was looking out for me. He didn’t want my dream to be crushed by my generosity of spirit. He wanted to protect my passion and keep my plan intact. But he was also, unknowingly, undermining my faith in all things abundant. Or he could have if I wasn’t so savvy.?
Any time you think, “I can’t give _____ because then I’m giving _____ away, and then nobody will need _____,” you are cowering to fear. But here’s a little tip: that’s a load of bologna! There is not a finite number of people. People are being created every single day. A child born today could potentially find me in 20 years, with a dream of becoming a Reiki Master. And I’ll only be 64 then, so still very capable of teaching. Replace Reiki Master with your passion, change the age, and that statement applies to you, too! The world is constantly expanding – in population, in belief, in desire, in adventure, in vibration. And the secret I want you all to know is: there is no limit!
Instead of buying into his fears, and shutting down my dream before I even begin the journey, I smiled. I acknowledged that he was speaking to me, but I didn’t verbally respond. I recognized all of the things I discussed above – his good intentions, the fear they came from, and the lie that fear was telling. Then I discarded it. I am armed with abundance, just as we all are, and the only thing I’m unwilling to give away is my total trust in the fact that it is there for us. I will give my time, my heart, my energy, my knowledge. But I absolutely, will not, under any circumstances, give away my complete knowing that abundance just is.
Let me confess, this is not what I’ve always believed. And there are days, lemme tell ya, when I really have to talk myself into allowing that belief to survive in me. But when I started to pay attention, I noticed far too many examples of how abundance can beat the tar out of fear to ever turn back now. And honestly, I promise you, that is all I did: started to pay attention.
Look around you. If it’s too hard to look at your own life, look at someone else’s. Focus your gaze on abundance. Do they have a lot of money? Do they have a lot of clothes? Do they have a lot of cars? Do they have a lot of family? Do they have a lot of friends? Do they have a lot of _____? What do they have a lot of? That, my friend, is abundance. And they don’t have it because they’re special. They don’t have it because they worked hard. They don’t have it because they knew the right people, or were born into the right family, or they made a deal with the devil. They have it because they tapped into their birthright. They allow into their life what they deserve because they recognize we all deserve it.
Fears force us to narrow our vision down to a pinpoint. “I’ll never find my dream job because there just aren’t that many jobs available.” “I’ll never find a partner because there just aren’t that many good people available.” “I’ll never find my dream house because there just aren’t that many houses in my price range.” “I’ll never whatever because whatever!” Look at all those statements. Fear lives in the first half of the sentence, and lack of abundance lives in the second half. But if you truly embrace that abundance just is, then you can disprove every single one of them. Every. Single. One. How ridiculous would you sound if you were complaining to your friend, “I’ll never find a boyfriend because there is an abundance of great men out there.” Or, “I’ll never find my dream job because there are just so many amazing jobs available!” You get my point.
The first step is to practice catching yourself telling those fear-based lies. Once you recognize you’re doing it, you are in the perfect position to flip that bitch and tell it straight. Simultaneously, practice noticing abundance around you, even if it’s not in your own life (at first). Once you get into the habit of recognizing abundance, you’ll start to see it everywhere!
Practice the art of thought u-turns with your best friend. We all want nothing but the best for our bestest friend, right? So when they are feeling fearful and sharing those fears with you, try restructuring their statements with abundance. Now, demote that best friend to 2nd best friend, make yourself the #1 bestest friend you’ve got, and do it for yourself.
Be gentle with yourself. It takes time to rewire thought patterns, and even when you’re really good at it, you’ll never be perfect. If you have anyone in your life who’s an Expert-Level Abundant-Thinker, go to them when you’re struggling. You can borrow some of theirs until you figure out you’ve got your own. Believe me, they’ll be more than willing to share their abundance with you, because they know there’s enough to go around!
How do you fight your fears? How do you embrace your birthright of abundance? What keeps you on track? I’d love to hear all about it!
With much love, light and gratitude,
Jen