How to Create an Abundant Life

While preparing my New Year's menu, I had to ensure my black-eyed peas and collard greens were ready. It is one of my favorite, most nostalgic moments of the year to soak the beans overnight and wash and cook collards like my grandmother did.

It is a southern tradition to cook these two dishes, with the greens representing prosperity and the peas representing luck. Of course, you want both in the upcoming year.

We all want to live a life that exudes an overflow of health and wellness – in our finances, relationships, physical and spiritual bodies, and emotional well-being.

The following are three ways we can do just that.

Find your abundant mindset.

To have abundance means that we have much more than what we need. Some can look at that definition and feel instantly guilty – wouldn’t it be “too much” to ask for abundance in our lives? What about the people who have nothing? Having more than we need for some feels wrong and selfish, conjuring negative emotions like shame and disgust.

That mindset reinforces the belief that there is not enough to go around – that there is a limit to who can obtain abundance and that it is fixed. That worldview has been created, and it can be broken down. It is a construct or paradigm we hear as children, the media, and society. It’s simply something we have allowed ourselves to believe.

What if the truth is that there is plenty to go around? What if we change our mentality to love the gift of abundant health and prosperity, believe we deserve it, and have it love us back?

This new way of thinking incorporates a more positive outlook about the essence of abundance – one that, if we embrace this year, will change how money, success, wealth in relationships, health, and our ability to thrive flows freely into our existence.

Plan for the presence of abundance.

Once we have the right mindset about abundance, we need to prepare for what that looks like. Don’t play small – shoot your shot. Forget everyone else’s opinion about “what’s possible” and ask yourself… How do I want to feel abundant this year?

For some, this means writing a book, hitting new records, or changing careers. For others, it's loving how they look and feel again or getting a clean bill of health at their next physical. Get specific about your purpose in this season of life and how it looks and feels to be that future you.

What do you need to create this future? What habits do you need to break? How do you need to spend your free time? How do you need to set up your environment? What steps must you take to ensure this becomes a reality?

Write down your goals, but more importantly, write down the plan to make sure those big goals become reality using small steps. Then start to change your behaviors to ensure your plan works.

Get prepared for big changes. You may do things, act in ways, and prioritize in ways you never have before. You may limit or remove unhealthy relationships and start creating boundaries that weren’t there prior.

Maybe your life looks drastically different – sometimes, it takes that kind of radical remaking to achieve what you want.

Leave behind what does not serve you.

I always tell my clients that how we spend our very limited time and energy tells us everything about our priorities. Suppose you add up all the resources spent tending to ego, blaming others, judging, justifying unhealthy behaviors, negative self-talk, and telling stories (which a lot of the time aren’t true!). It’s a massive weight that can be lifted and moved to something else.

Instead of taking those things that don’t serve us along for the ride, we can replace them with something else. We could pour that freed-up energy into focused intentions for our life.

Ditch the extra weight and focus your attention elsewhere. Start focusing on being present through mindfulness, self-reflection, and gratitude instead. Dive into your purpose using inspiration and motivation from others you admire. Staying curious and open-minded gives you the gift of time freedom.

Conclusion.

It may take significant life changes, but we can create the life of abundance we want. We just need the right mindset, plan accordingly, and remove unhealthy emotional habits.

Unhealthy and healthy choices and mindsets both take our time and energy. So I ask you, what are you choosing to spend your time on this year?

I hope that you spend it on positive changes that lead to an incredible amount of abundance.

Always cheering for your health & happiness, friend.