You know the phrase “money is the root of all evils?” Well, I don’t believe that in fact, it is quite a limiting belief. Money is a form of energy that we use to exchange for goods and services. We get our paychecks from the time and energy we spend at work. YouTubers make money from their energy, and also the attention of the audience. Money is just the value we assign to our energy. Sure money can be used for evil, but the root of it is just our energy. It’s the lack of money, the fear of not having enough, the fear of what would happen if we ran out, the fear of what people will think of us when we have less or more than they do. Money isn’t the root of all evils, fear is. Fear, as we learned from our amygdala, is responsible for fight-flight, freeze. All violence is a result of fear. All fleeing is a result of fear. All freezing, or inaction, is because of fear, in one way or another. Fear is a natural response designed to keep us alive in life or death situations, but most of the time today it’s an unnecessary response that causes a lot of unnecessary stress and disease. Imagine what the world would be like if we responded with love to each other and more importantly to ourselves, in times of fear. It’s like in the movie Frozen when the princess hurts her sister with her freezing abilities and becomes afraid of herself. Her parents unknowingly amplify this fear by telling her to hide it, to suppress her powers. Years later she finally learns that love is what gives her control and true power over herself. She conquers her own fear by learning to love that which she was afraid of. Overcoming our fears is how we step into grandness – living in abundance in all aspects.
Grandness can’t happen when it is the antidote to your fears. It has to become your preference. For example, if you are afraid of being alone in life, take the opportunities that life throws at you to be alone. It’s going to feel bad at first, but this is how you step into your fear, and learn that it is survivable, and maybe even enjoyable! And you’ll probably realize that you really aren’t alone, that you have great friends and family or support system. It’s stepping into the fear, realizing it’s not a big deal, and making peace with it. So now it’s, “Oh I can be alone, but I prefer to be with friends today, or with my partner today”. Now being with someone is not a craving, it’s not an antidote to any fear. Now you can work on the next fear. And each fear you do this with is one step closer to grandness. And also notice that grandness is not found in anything external. We tend to define ourselves by what we have accomplished, the amount of money we have, the house, the diploma, the mountains we’ve climbed...but what happens if those things or abilities are stripped away from you? Who are you then? Probably someone who becomes very afraid. So by stepping into your fears, ridding yourself of all cravings and aversions, you make yourself rock solid. You make yourself more available to all of the grand things in life. This is living in abundance in all areas of life. Your grandness becomes a preference, not a craving, and not an identity. Another important part in finding grandness and abundance in all areas is first seeing and feeling heartfelt gratitude for the abundance that you already have, and that is literally everywhere. The abundance of air so that you may breathe. Because if you can’t find love, gratitude, and feel happy with all of the little things in life that we take for granted, then it will be near impossible to be happy when we get all the bigger things in life (the beautiful marriage, dream job, house, financial freedom). And I don’t know if you noticed but the air we breathe is arguably the most abundant thing we have. Feeling the sun warm up your skin, smelling the trees, tasting your favorite meal, having a great conversation with a stranger, or just getting a smile from someone. Notice that you are connected to all of this abundance, effectively making you part of the abundance too. When you see and feel the abundance of life around you, and feel the connection, that you are abundance, you set yourself up to receive more. Abundance and grandness become a way of life and are no longer an antidote to any craving or aversion (fear would be an aversion to something). I’ll read you the first paragraphs of The Abundance Book by John Randolph Price:
I’ll end this with a quote from Wayne Dyer where he said, “If you knew who walked beside you at all times, on the path that you have chosen, you could never experience fear or doubt again.” I like to think this person or entity is the version of you that has already stepped into grandness.
Next lesson, we’ll learn how powerful peace can be, and how to step into a peaceful state of awareness.
