Abundance - putting my money where my mouth is

Image: Francesco Marino

Abundance seems to be quite the buzzword for the last few years or so.  Especially with professions like coaching.  It's a wonderful concept, and loaded with ubuntu and human connectivity, and all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings.  It is kind of like the world is looking after you. 

So why is it so difficult to put into practice?  Even for me, as a coach, whose mission it is to open minds to the world of opportunity out there, to realise potential, to defeat oppressive thoughts, etc. etc (insert superhero music here), it is incredibly difficult to practice abundance in all areas of my life.

Sure, I am involved in charitable causes, and I would rather give away old stuff than sell it, (switch to self-righteous theme tune), but I am finding myself blocked to the abundance in my career.  Why? because it is important to me that I succeed as a coach (I want others to benefit from it as much as I did€) and I want to be able to support my family with the income that is generated through coaching.  Also, I want to be reassured sometimes that the decision I made to leave my secure job was the right one, and the things I measure that decision against are (a) my happiness (I finally have some balance in my life), and (b) having clients in abundance.

Let me explain...

Image: Filomena Scalise

As a coach, I am a consultant.  I am in a slight catch-22, where I draw inspiration from other coaches, usually who I see as better than me (otherwise what is the point - no-one is inspired by mediocrity).  
Abundance is about having more than enough, and giving it away... I imagine it's like water that way - you can swim in it to your heart's content, and you can wet others with a stylish maneuvre, but if you try to hold it, or keep it, it trickles through your hands.  

The magic about abundance, though, is that you can create it out of scarcity - it's like the movie "Field of Dreams"..(really revealing my age here).. if you build it, they will come.  If you share even when you don't have a lot, you will have abundance.

I struggle to keep the faith regarding practicing abundance, and my petty thought processes creep up and sometimes I want to hoard the spotlight or get competitive.  If I were to do this, not only would I be inauthentic, I'd be denying the very people who have educated, inspired, taught and guided me. 

I learned a great lesson today - through another coach's blog (Tim Brownson - A Daring Adventure) - sometimes we need to act contrary to the laws of logic in order to be true to ourselves.  We can only achieve true success if we are true to our internal values. 

By the way, he's giving away copies of his e-books and has an incredible style of writing (yup, they're FREE - just click here), so I'm inviting you to give his blog a visit, and if you like him enough to follow him, let him know you found out about him through me.  :)

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