Creative Abundance
Money.
Lack of money. Fear of not having enough money. Believing there isn't enough money. Feeling like more money would solve all problems.
So many thoughts and fears surround this loaded topic. I've had most of them, too.
A lack of abundance is one of the most cited reasons for not pursuing a creative project or idea and one of the largest obstacles that stands in the way from claiming a creative life.
But here's the truth.
At its core, money is just paper and metal to which we've attached meaning and energy.
It's ultimately our beliefs about that paper and metal that will shape our experience of it, having little or nothing to do with how much money we actually have.
In fact, studies abound showing that wealth and happiness are not directly correlated and that those who have more money often tend to be less generous, more isolated, and less satisfied. This is not to argue that more money wouldn't actually make life easier or less stressful or that money is evil and rich people are greedy. This simply confirms that it's our thoughts, not our finances, that will shape our world.
Indeed, where attention goes, energy flows.
If all our attention is on our lack of funds, that's what we will see. Conversely, if we can turn our attention to all that we DO have, to all the ways that we are already enough, that too is what we will see.
Julia Cameron writes in The Artist's Way:
We want a God that feels like a fat paycheck and a license to spend as we please. Listening to the siren song of more, we are deaf to the still small voice waiting in our soul to whisper "You're enough."
If we can lay aside the ramblings of our mind and the dictates of our culture to have more, want more, be more, we can begin to see that the universe is actually a place of deep abundance.
There is not one snowflake design but an infinity. Not fifty pink flowers, but hundreds. Not hundreds of stars but hundreds of billions. The universe is wildly, flagrantly abundant - not sensible in the least. So what might it be like to trust that, if the universe's creativity is boundless, it is creating through you as well and providing similar abundance?
It is not the universe that limits us. It is us, ourselves. We are the ones who say 'there isn't enough'. We are the ones who say 'I can't'. We are the ones who seek to convince our soul that it can't have or be or do all that it truly desires - which, I might add, is usually not the Prada bag or trip around the world or thousands of dollars in expensive recording equipment, but instead the chance to see something awe-inspiring or connect with a dear friend or the opportunity to self-express.
According to creativity expert Julia Cameron, lack of money is never an authentic block to creativity. The real block comes from a sense of constriction and powerlessness. The antidote, she believes, is self-care and giving ourselves the luxury of time - time to pursue hobbies, enjoyment, and a life. These are what make a life feel fulfilling, abundant, 'enough'.
As we practice self-care and begin to accept that we have and are 'enough', our creativity has room to breathe, expand, and take flight. And delightful synchronicities begin to occur. Maybe we can't buy the space in the theater to present our own work, but maybe we'll be inspired to sit in a coffee shop with a friend who happens to know someone who is interested in what we yearn to present - and we get paid to do so instead. Maybe we can't afford to produce an album, but we can give ourselves the time to sing a song for a friend who, as it turns out, has another friend who's working for a recording agency.
The universe is abundant and wants to share it with you. Can you be willing to believe and trust it?
