Creating True Prosperity

Creating True Prosperity By Shakti Gawain
True prosperity is not something we create overnight. In fact, itis not a fixed goal, a place where we will finally arrive, or acertain state that we will someday achieve. It is an ongoingprocess of finding fulfillment that continues to unfold and deepenthroughout our lives.
In this chapter, I will outline seven steps on the road to anincreasing sense of prosperity. These are not steps that arenecessarily taken in any particular order. Rather, they describedifferent elements of the journey.
We each have our own unique path. We may focus on each of theseelements at various times and in various ways. At times we may evenwork on all of them at once.
*** STEP ONE: GRATITUDEWhether or not we feel particularly prosperous at the moment, thetruth is that most of us in modern Western society are enormouslyprosperous, materially and in many other ways. We need only compareour lives with the struggle for survival and subsistence that mosthumans in history have experienced, and that a majority of peoplein the world today are still experiencing, to realize how trulyfortunate we are. Many of us live better than the kings and queensdid a few centuries ago.
Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it'simportant to pause every nöw and then to appreciate all that wehave, on every level.
We need to literally "count our blessings", give thanks for them,allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience ofprosperity we already have.
One simple way to do this is to write a list of every single thingin your life that you feel grateful for and appreciate. Keep thelist in a notebook and add to it whenever you think of somethingelse, or whenever something especially good happens. You can evenmake different pages or different sections in the notebook for eacharea in your life, such as home, relationships, work, and so on.
When you wake up in the morning or before going to sleep at night,take a minute or two while snuggling luxuriously in your bed tothink about what you appreciate in your life. If you are feelingtroubled about something, you needn't brush that aside. Acknowledgethat feeling as well, and simply let it be there, along with yourfeelings of gratitude for what is working.
You may not be able to do this everyday, but remembering to do itas often as possible will enormously expand your experience ofprosperity, and create space for more to come.
Make a practice, too, of expressing your appreciation as often aspossible to the people in your life who enhance your experience ofprosperity in many different ways. Let them know in your words andyour deeds how much they mean to you.
*** STEP TWO: AWARENESSWe all have certain ideas, attitudes, core beliefs, and emotionalpatterns that limit our experience of prosperity. Deep feelings ofunworthiness, a sense of scarcity, fear of failure or success,conflicting feelings and beliefs about monëy, and many other issuescan block our growth and fulfillment.
Also, we have each developed certain energies and disowned others,which leaves us out of balance and unequipped to deal effectivelywith certain aspects of our lives.
Most of these beliefs and patterns are initially unconscious; weare not really aware of them and yet they control our lives. Themoment we begin to consciously recognize them, we are on the roadto having a real choice about how we live.
The dawning awareness about what doesn't work in how we are livingis by far the most powerful step in our growth. It is also the mostdifficult and uncomfortable. As soon as we recognize a problem, weare on the road to healing it. However, that healing takes time.
Meanwhile, we may have to watch ourselves repeat the same oldself-defeating patterns a few more times.
It's difficult to do this without getting frustrated andself-critical. We need to understand how important this step of awareness is.
When you are unconscious, you can repeat a behavior endlessly withoutgaining much benefit. Once you have some awareness and can catchyourself repeating the same behavior, you learn an enormous amount.
You really feel the pain of it.
Then you are able to explore other possible ways of handling thesame situation. It's not long before things start to change. Youdon't have to make change. Focus on gaining awareness, and changewill follow.
*** STEP THREE: HEALINGWhile we can't force change, we can support and enhance the processof change that we are going through. There are, of course, manyways to go about supporting our healing and development. Differenttools and techniques are appropriate and helpful at different timeson our journey, and certain things are helpful to some people andnot to others. I believe we know intuitively what is right for usat any given moment and can learn to trust and follow that innersense.
The work of healing needs to be done on all levels of ourexistence. I have written about this extensively in The Four Levelsof Healing: A Guide to Balancing the Spiritual, Mental, Emotional,and Physical Aspects of Life. The book contains many practicalsuggestions and exercises.

There is no quick and easy way, for on a deep level this is trulyour life's work. Teachers and healers who promise a quick fix or aneasy way are either misguided, or eager to sell their products.(They may offer one piece of the puzzle, however.) I feel we needto surrender to the fact that life is an ongoing adventure inhealing and growth, and learn to enjoy the ride!
I also feel that it is very important to get help and support fromothers as we need it along the way. A good therapist, teacher,healer, support group, wise friend, or mentor can be an invaluableresource for our healing process.
*** STEP FOUR: FOLLOWING YOUR TRUTHWe all have within us a deep sense of what we need, and what isright and true for us. To access this we need to pay attention toour feelings and our intuition. We need to learn to listen deeplyto ourselves and to trust what we hear. And we need to risk actingon what we feel to be true. Even if we make mistakes, we must dothis in order to learn and grow.
Hëre is a simple way to practice paying attention to your innerwisdom:
Find a comfortable, quiet place where you will not be interruptedfor a few minutes. It's wonderful to do this outdoors if you canfind a place that's really comfortable; a peaceful place indoors isfine, too. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Close youreyes and begin to pay attention to your breath. Breathe slowly anddeeply. Whenever your mind wanders, gently come back to focusing onyour breath and relaxing your body.
Nöw shift your attention and the focus of your energy down intoyour heart or belly area. Imagine that a very wise part of youlives in this area of your body, and it has a message for you rightnöw. Ask what the message is, and then relax and pay attention towhatever thought, feeling, or image comes to you.
Take whatever comes and be with it for a few moments. Don't worryif you don't fully understand it. Just sit with it a little. Askyour inner guidance if you need to be aware of or be reminded ofanything else. Then thank your inner guidance. When you feelcomplete, open your eyes. If you wish, you can write a little aboutwhat you experienced.
Do this simple meditation as often as you can. It's great to dofirst thing in the morning or last thing at night. With somepractice, you will develop your ability to receive and follow yourinner guidance.
*** STEP FIVE: CREATING A VISIONWhat would a truly prosperous life look and feel like for you?
Where and how would you live? How would you feel about yourself?
How would your body feel?
What would your relationships be like? What kind of work orcreative expression would you have? What other aspects of yourlifestyle can you imagine? How would a typical day in your lifeunfold? How would you feel at the end of your day?
It's important to imagine how you would like things to be. Ourimagination is a powerful creative tool. Once we can vividlyimagine something, it often opens the door to manifesting it.
Remember that none of us exists in a vacuum. We are powerfullyaffected by the world around us, and we have an equally powerfuleffect on the world, whether or not we realize it. We are anintegral part of the whole. We can only have a truly prosperouslife to the extent that our world is prosperous. And our world canonly be truly prosperous when we learn to honor and respect theearth we live on, and all the other beings - human and otherwise --who live hëre as well.
Those of us fortunate enough to live in circumstances where we havethe luxury of pursuing personal growth have a responsibility to usewhat we learn to make the world a healthier, more prosperous placefor all.
Since we are all ultimately part of one consciousness, the mosteffective way to do that is to take responsibility for our ownhealing. The more conscious and balanced we become, the more welive in integrity and follow our truth, the more healing we bringto the world. We need to ask our inner guidance, too, if there arespecific actions we need to take to make our contribution to theworld.
Create a vision of prosperity for yourself and the world, inharmony with the earth. You can do this in meditation, or you canwrite out a description of your vision. Another wonderful thing isto make an actual picture of it by drawing or painting, or make acollage by collecting photos, cards, pictures and words cut out ofmagazines, elements from nature - anything that has meaning to you --and gluing them onto a large piece of paper or cardboard. Hangit on your wall, and it becomes your treasure map - every time youlook at it, you will give energy to your vision.
*** STEP SIX: SETTING GOALSOnce you have a sense of your overall vision for a truly prosperouslife, you can set some specific goals. There are times in life whenit is helpful to set goals, and other times when it is best to letgo of goals for a while and just see whëre life takes you. If youcheck in with yourself and it doesn't feel right, skip the goalsprocess for nöw. If it feels exciting, fun, or helpful, go aheadand give it a try.
You might start by creating a special notebook for your goals.Think of the different aspects of your life that are important andmake a list of them.
For example: Personal Growth Health/Appearance Relationships Work/Career Finances Home/Possessions Recreation/Travel Creative Expression/Special Interests Making a Difference/Service
Write one of these categories at the top of each page.Then think about your relatively long-term goals. Where would youlike to be in five to ten years, in each of these areas? Write oneor two long-term goals for each aspect of your life on theappropriate page. If you like, you can write your goals in the formof affirmations, in the present tense, as if they were already true.Go through the process once again, this time creating one or twoone-year goals in each category. Try to be realistic with yourone-year goals; pie in the sky will only set you up fordisappointment.
Nöw go back through each category, and write down one to threereasonable steps you can take toward each goal. Choose a few ofthese steps to take within the next month or so. Hëre are someexamples of long-term goals, shorter-term goals, and action steps:
* WORK/CAREER *Long-term goal: To become a family therapist.One-year goal: To go back to college and complete my master'sdegree.Action steps:1. Call local colleges and have them send me information andapplications.2. Read through materials and decide which schools interest me.3. Complete and send in application.
* CREATIVE EXPRESSION *Long-term goal: To learn to play the piano.One-year goal: To take piano lessons.Action steps:1. Ask musician friends about possible teachers.2. Call piano store about renting a piano.
Once you have created your goals, put them away for a while. Lookat them occasionally and update them as needed. Be sure toappreciate yourself for the steps you have taken, and the progressyou have made.
Goals can help us gain clarity, inspiration, and focus. However,they can also work against us if we hold onto them too tightly, ortry too hard to make them happen. Try to let go of your attachmentto having them happen in a certain time or way. Don't worry abouthow to make them happen; let the higher creative power handle thedetails.
Hold your goals lightly, and allow them to change and evolve as youdo.
You may find that certain things are going as you hoped, whileothers aren't. You may even find your whole life is going in adifferent direction than you expected. Remember that our souls havea purpose in this life that we may not fully understand yet, andeverything that happens to us is part of our soul's journey.
Learn from everything that comes your way. Continue to follow yourintuitive sense. If a certain goal is right for you, it will unfoldnaturally from this process. Let your inner guidance show you theway.
*** STEP SEVEN: SHARING YOUR GIFTSAs you follow these steps, you will find yourself naturallyexpressing and developing the special talents and abilities thatyou brought into this life. When you follow your heart, and arecommitted to your healing and growth, you simply can't helpbecoming more and more of who you are meant to be!
Often we have difficulty recognizing and appreciating our owntalents, because they come so naturally to us that they don't seemlike a big deal. The things we find ourselves gravitating toward,the things we can't help doing, are important indications of whatwe are hëre to do. The things we feel passionate about are clues toour life purpose.
Ask yourself, "What do I love to do? What do I just naturally findmyself doing?" For example, I just can't help talking aboutconsciousness growth. I'm fascinated by the process, and passionateabout sharing it with people. As things have unfolded, I've endedup teaching and writing about personal growth for a living. I didnot plan this, nor could I have predicted it. It's what evolved asI followed my interests and desires.
Unless we are blocked in our ability to succeed or receive, lifealways rewards us appropriately for what we give. Through answeringwhat calls us, we develop our right livelihood. Essentially, theuniverse pays us to be ourselves, as fully as possible!
The opportunïty to share our gifts and thereby make a difference inthe world is one of the most profoundly fulfilling experiences wecan have in life, and an essential ingredient in creating trueprosperity. As we live our lives with integrity and passion, ourexperience of prosperity just keeps expanding.