I’ve been thinking about what abundance and wealth actually mean to me. The words are generally used with financial affluence in mind, but each person can define their own understanding of wealth differently. In today’s post, I’m sharing more of my personal views on what makes a life abundant.

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100 Liminal Days is an experimental project of embracing my current transitional season after exiting my business by sharing an honest, real-time account of my self-initiation experience in daily posts. I’m using The Artist’s Way as a guiding tool, and sending shorter weekly recaps only via my newsletter. Visit Day 1/100 to learn more and sign up in the footer of this page to get the weekly recaps delivered to your inbox.

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My Money Paradox

More than a month ago, a close friend reached out to me after reading You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero asking if I’d be interested in forming a wealth mastermind together. Given that I want to discover my next vocation – better named as my dharma, ikigai, purpose, or calling – I felt that learning how to master a wealth mindset and intentionally taking action toward earning money seemed like the right next move. I said ‘yes,’ and invited another friend to consider joining as well. After we all finished reading the book and shared a few calls between us, the three of us decided to move forward with forming a private mastermind group that meets weekly and supports each other through this process of building wealth.

I jumped in full steam ahead, reviewing my beliefs about money, journaling to help me identify a target number I wanted to earn, and beginning to ideate around ways to bring in that specific amount over the next 12 months. When it came to identifying a number I want to earn, I felt stuck for weeks. I made up a “starter number” that I knew would cover my monthly expenses and allow for some level of savings to begin. The primary motivator was to take on more of the financial load so Emily might feel free to work a little less than she currently does.

But I didn’t feel connected to or motivated by that number. I told Emily that it felt arbitrary. Later, I heard someone talking about how manifesting what we want requires a mix of high desire and high belief. When I heard that, it occurred to me that I am destined to struggle to reach my goal if I don’t feel an emotional connection to that goal. I believe I can earn more money, but I don’t really desire more.

I’m not currently motivated by acquiring more wealth in the form of money. When I think about why I’d want more than I have, I think about people I love who I would love to give more to financially. That’s a big reason why Emily is driven to earn more – she is the most generous person I know and wants to be in a position to give even more throughout her life, and I love this idea, too. But even with that in mind, I am missing that key emotional connection to a ‘why’ that ought to fuel my desires.

I may not have high desire for abundance in terms of finances, but I do have desires. I am a passionate seeker of more – it just turns out to be in other forms of “currency.”

Redefining Wealth: Beyond the Bank Account

Time Abundance

When I think about my desire for abundance, what comes to mind first is time abundance. I have a high desire for time – time with loved ones, time in solitude, time with God. Yes, I know the famous idiom, “time is money,” and I agree with it on one hand. Time, like money, can be spent, saved, or wasted.

But where it differs is that money can always be earned back, but once time has passed, there is no getting it back. There’s no replacement for it and truthfully, every moment is priceless because we have a choice in how we use that time. If we choose to use our time in ways that give us high-value experiences, it is worth more than we can say.

Having the luxury of 100 days to linger with intention, to deeply discover more parts of myself is one of the most abundant experiences of my life.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

The more I learn about myself, the more I understand that this exploration of self is the highest value thing I can do for myself during this season. I intend to always stay curious about myself and keep learning more, but this particular time in my life is extra special and a more dense experience of discovering more of who I am. It’s how I’m gaining more agency over my life.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” – Carl Jung

Having time to practice qigong, hike in nature, cook dinner with Emily and friends, paint, play, travel, and live a life true to who I am is far more valuable to me than building up my bank account. Obviously, some of those things still require money!

Would I still have this abundance of time if I pursued financial wealth?

Embodied Abundance

Another way to look at abundance is to notice how we can embody abundance. These are the aspects of wealth that we can simply choose to accept into our lives.

If we are breathing, we can embody the abundance of a deep breath and a long sigh. If we can walk, run, lift, jump, laugh, cry, or sing, all we have to do is notice how abundant those abilities are to us. If we do those things often enough, we might also notice the wealth of a regulated nervous system. Should we choose to focus on it, we can also notice the abundance of wisdom in our bodies. And further, should we choose to meditate or practice qigong, for example, we can cultivate our internal energy and appreciation for our body’s abundance, and more freely share that abundance with others around us. Embodied abundance is more available to us than anything else in the world. We only need to notice it to have it.

Would I still notice and receive this embodied abundance if I pursued financial wealth?

Creative Abundance

Another way I acknowledge wealth in my life is to allow myself permission to create without limitations and to welcome creative abundance into my life. As I’ve written about numerous times in this project, I have long wrestled with the lie that adults should create to solve problems and make money, and to corral our creative expression in the penned in corner of our lives that we call ‘work’. This is not true. Instead, creating without these expectations and from a place of true authenticity has the power to spread a sense of abundance and emotional or intellectual wealth to numerous others, too.

Writing Daily Pages is another element of my creative abundance. Once I moved past the resistance to hand writing two full pages of stream-of-consciousness journaling, I found a treasure trove of creative ideas, and gained a deeper understanding of my feelings, desires, and needs. It continues week after week.

My creative abundance is evident in this project, too. I didn’t choose to write once per week or to do this only for 30 days. I chose to do it for 100 days – to express myself creatively every single day. That feels incredibly abundant to me, and I’m grateful to God and the parts of me that have deeply desired to accept this creative abundance.

Would I still have this abundance of creativity if I pursued financial wealth?

Relational Abundance

Another container overflowing with wealth in my life is that of relationships. Relational abundance has found its way into my life in countless ways.

First and foremost, my relationship with my wife, Emily, is the most abundant, fulfilling, and joyful relationship of my entire life. When I reflect on my past, I can truthfully say that over the last nine years, my relational abundance has been nothing short of incomprehensibly fulfilling because of my partnership with Emily. We have navigated challenging seasons, constantly worked compassionately to overcome or integrate our differences, and ultimately built a life that seemingly lacks nothing.

Beyond my marriage, I don’t have to look far at all to find various levels of even more relational abundance. I have close friends who share my love for business, personal development, qigong, art, conversation, philosophy, reading, or hiking. I have acquaintances who share my love for tacos, cold brew coffee, or live music.

And I often have abundant interactions with strangers, too. A few months ago, I saw a woman in the airport that I thought was someone else I know. I walked right up to her and said the name of the other person as I realized it was definitely not who I thought it was. But oddly, both this woman and I reached our arms out toward each other and shared a hug. Here I am hugging a complete stranger in the airport and later describing it as a highlight of my day! I don’t know why it happens, but once or twice a month, I have a special moment similar to this with a stranger. Sometimes it’s a long deep conversation, other times it’s a simple smile that felt more warm and genuine than any other part of my day.

Would I still have this relational abundance if I pursued financial wealth?

Spiritual Abundance

My spirituality is also one of the most abundant aspects of my life. One might argue that spiritual abundance is the only one we need, but my view is that this is the abundance that makes all of the other buckets of abundance matter, too.

In reading The Artist’s Way, this quote stood out as something powerful and I even read it aloud in our first mastermind meeting.

“Because everyone can draw on the universal supply, we deprive no one with our abundance. If we learn to think of receiving God’s good as being an act of worship – cooperating with God’s plan to manifest goodness in our lives – we can begin to let go of having to sabotage ourselves.” – Julia Cameron

I love this quote because abundance is boiled down to the “goodness in our lives,” not just money. I see so much goodness in my life and I appreciate that because I am in communion with my Higher Power, I never feel like I have to do life alone. With faith, I can see how even an empty liminal space becomes abundant with possibility. Because I have learned to work with my dreams, to pray, and to tune into the whisper of my soul, I have an abundance of guidance, conviction, and even magic to support me along the way.

Would I still have this spiritual abundance if I pursued financial wealth?

Abundance is a Fountain, Not the Ocean

In each of the sections above, I ended with a repeating question wondering if I would have this abundance if I put more effort into acquiring more money. The answer to the question comes to me without hesitation – no.

In my experience, even just the primary pursuit of financial wealth (pursuit emphasized because pursuing it doesn’t mean I obtain it) has cost me varying levels of my time, my health, my creativity, my relationships, and my spirituality. When I finally acknowledged that I’d rather have those other types of abundance that I was repeatedly sacrificing versus amassing financial wealth, the scales tipped back into balance very quickly.

I think abundance works magically like that. When we mentally and emotionally put “first things first,” we return to a balanced state fast and create space for even more to flow in – including money. (Maybe there is truth to that whole bit about seeking first the kingdom of God and righteousness and everything else will be given to you.)

I believe that it can be a good thing to desire financial wealth, as long as it is not at the expense of what already feels abundant. Abundance doesn’t need to rob from one area to fill another. True abundance in our lives looks like a multi-leveled fountain, not the ocean. It’s not about expansive acquisition of more, it’s about integrating the different types of abundance and cultivating the flow of wealth up and down every aspect of our life.

Now that I have returned to homeostasis – a systematic balance that prioritizes my time, my health, my creative expression, my relationships, and my spirituality – I feel more capacity for the pursuit of financial abundance, too. But for me, it’s important to realize that the work will be to build a healthy relationship with money while always cultivating a desire to protect the riches already present in my life.

Closing Reflection

Learning more about my personal definition of abundance feels like a key step in acquiring more financial wealth. Shifting from excavation to expression mode feels like a way to underscore my values and prepare myself for abundance in all of its forms. Now, it’s time to go do some qigong.

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