Yes, you can live your dharma and have abundance!

Have you ever thought, “I want to be a good person, I want to make a difference in the world, but darn it I’d also like to pay my bills, and enjoy myself a bit…can’t I have both?” Well I have, often, and I’m still asking that question. More importantly, I’m looking for the answer, and I think I’m getting closer!

About a year ago, I wrote another blog about this exact same issue of abundance. I also talked a while back about how we, the “mindful” community, could (should?) be on the forefront of changing the money and business paradigm in the world. In other words we really need to be the bearers of a new model that is about collaboration and not competition.

I guess I didn’t realize that this would end up being such an important part of my life. Perhaps it is because I have struggled with the “money” issue for most of my adult life. I suppose at this point I am so ready to shift that, to have abundance in the financial area as well as all the other areas I have it in and I really want others to have that shift as well.

I guess I could blame it on my Catholic upbringing?

You know guilt ridden, feeling a bit unworthy and believing that the rewards are only supposed to come after death. Holy crap, I’ve never put that into real words for myself, this recognition that the idea that the meek shall inherit the earth, that “it’s all for the best” is so pervasive in my psyche.

Damn, suddenly this became therapy. I have often joked that I am a “recovering” Catholic, but I guess there is some truth to it, recovering from the dogma that was planted in my brain. When did your ideas about prosperity become dogma for you?

Someone’s got to be oppressed!

So there it is, overcoming this programming that says prosperity is evil or wrong. Well, that’s just one part of the trouble isn’t it?

I mean, there is also dealing with feeling inadequate. It’s also overcoming ideas that sales and marketing are somehow inherently evil, wrong, sneaky and depraved (am I the only one?). It’s also creating the belief that I have the time, talent and ability to make it happen.

So here I am the entrepreneur in the making, when all I really wanted was to teach yoga and change lives. Ya’ know? I just wanted to help people be happy and feel good and find that sense of peace and belonging that yoga has given me. But you know what? In order to help people they have to know who I am! They have to attend my workshops, download my work, read my blog, come to my classes, sit for a session…yep, it’s true, in order to help others you have to first help yourself!

And how do they find me? Sad but true: “marketing.” *big sigh*

So my journey began with seeking a way to walk my talk of spirituality, share my gifts with the world and experience abundance all at the same time.  Along the way I have met some amazing people that are doing it right!

Waylon and the whole elephant journal family have been instrumental in helping my find my voice and trust in my gifts and what I have to share with the world! Once I began to find my voice and confidence grew, I started to be drawn to other entrepreneurs that were seeking, other teachers who didn’t want to compete but rather to collaborate. Eventually, that led me to those that could really help us take this next step into the world of business.

Laura Brown, creator of the Flagstaff Yoga Festival and  Successful Spirit Summit and Dawn DelVecchio creator of Marketing with Heart have both been instrumental in helping me break out of old patterns and to accept abundance into my life. What I became most aware of as I worked with these amazing women, was that as I allowed for abundance, I was able to help and connect with more people.

Laura helped me realize I was not alone and that we could work together for mutual benefit and success. Dawn just continues to inspire me to think differently, to reach and to grow. Her recent blog about abundance is what inspired me to write to the land of elephant journal today!

Reading her blog got me to thinking—hard. You see, I believe that helping others live fully and joyously is my life purpose. If that is true shouldn’t I be the first to live in that manner? If I can help people be happy and fulfilled, shouldn’t they be able to find me?  And how about you?

Who is hearing your message? Who are you connecting with? How can you expand your reach?

If you have discovered your soul’s purpose, shouldn’t you be sharing that with the world and living well and joyously as part of your reward? Or are you still stuck in suffering and doubt?

The choice is, and always has been, yours! What are ready and willing to do today to share your light with the world? Are you ready to truly be the change in the world?

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta