What is prosperity?
My definition of prosperity is when you are thriving and flourishing in all aspects of your life. So prosperity is not just financial.
“Indeed, you are prosperous to the degree that you are experiencing peace, health, happiness and plenty in your world.” —Catherine Ponder
Are you experiencing peace, health, happiness, and plenty?
Because your thinking is creating your reality in all those areas of your life.
I want to share nine questions about your thinking that relate to your prosperity. Now, don’t feel bad if these questions shine a light on the fact that your thinking has been anything but prosperous. That’s OK. Start where you are. It’s all good.
What you have in your life today is the result of past thinking. It doesn’t have to be part of your future if you change your thinking today.
If you change your thinking today, you also will change the vibration you are offering. And when you do that, Law of Attraction responds. You can and will create a new reality, a more prosperous reality.
“Each of us is a magnet! And as a magnet, you do not have to force success and prosperity to yourself. Instead, you can develop that exalted, expectant, prosperous state of mind that is a magnet for all good things of the universe to hasten to you, rather than entertaining the tense, critical, anxious, depressed, unforgiving, possessive state of mind that is a magnet for all kinds of trouble and failure.” —Catherine Ponder
Here are nine questions to know if you have a prosperous state of mind that is a magnet for all good things.
1: Are you focused on lack?
Another way to ask this would be: Are you more focused on what you don’t have rather than what you do have?
“If you focus upon whatever you want, you will attract whatever you want. If you focus upon the lack of whatever you want, you will attract more of the lack.” —Abraham
Be honest with yourself. Focusing on lack can come in many different shapes and sizes, and you may not even realize you have a lack-based mindset because it’s so second nature.
You might tell me you’re thinking about what you want, but your thoughts are really about the absence of what you want to manifest.
The bottom line is when you have a lack-based mindset, you disallow what you want. Because it’s this simple: Prosperous thinking is not lackful thinking.
“In absence of awareness of lack, abundance flows powerfully.” —Abraham
Are you activating lack or are you activating abundance with your thoughts and feelings?
2: Are you impatient and demanding about what you want?
Often I’ll work with a client who is not enjoying the unfolding of her manifestation. And because she’s not enjoying the unfolding, the manifestation is taking its sweet time.
Are you fixated on what you want and why it hasn’t yet manifested?
- Where is it?
- When is it coming?
- Why isn’t it here yet?
Being impatient with the Universe about delivering what you desire is counter to prosperous thinking. When you’re impatient and demanding, you’re not in receiving mode, which means you’re cutting yourself off from the very thing you want.
Think about how amazing and wonderful it is that you can, right now, match up to the feeling of your desired manifestation. Meaning you can feel now how you’ll feel when you achieve the goal, acquire the shiny penny, have the experience.
That feeling is available to you right now—so there’s no need to be impatient or demanding. When you align with how you want to feel, you pave the way for all kinds of prosperity.
3: Are you worried what you want won’t come?
Worry is not an emotion of prosperity. You can feel that, right?
When you are worried that what you want won’t manifest—the raise, the promotion, the partner, the wellness—you cannot attract prosperity. Worry repels the very thing you want.
Usually doubt and uncertainty are beneath the surface of worry.
- You doubt your ability to manifest or you doubt the Universe is able to deliver.
- You are uncertain in your belief about manifesting what you want.
“This is a rich, friendly universe and I dare to accept its riches, its hospitality, and to enjoy them now!” —Catherine Ponder
When you believe the Universe is friendly and rich—and you dare to accept—you shift out of worry mode and into receiving mode.
4: Do you feel deserving of what you want?
This is a big one when it comes to prosperous thinking. Because for what you want to manifest, there can’t be friction in your vibration around this concept of “deserving”.
Many of us place conditions on our deservedness.
- I’ll be deserving when I lose weight.
- I’ll be deserving when I declutter my house.
- I’ll be deserving when I help more people.
Don’t buy into this notion of pre-requisites for deserving.
You are deserving—just because. Just because you are here. And just because you have a desire. That’s all it takes to make you deserving.
Your deservedness is not conditional. And the longer you think that way, the longer you disconnect yourself from the power of prosperous thinking.
5: Do you appreciate what you already have?
Appreciation is your superpower in so many ways. And specifically when it comes to prosperous thinking, appreciation is absolutely key.
Because when you take for granted what you already have, it creates friction in your ability to receive more.
- How are you appreciating what you already have?
- Are you noticing all the abundance you already have in your life?
- Are you having a feeling response to the abundance that’s already yours?
You know, sometimes it dawns on me: I have clean water. Every day. Every single day I can turn on the tap and drink clean water.
And yet many days go by, and I am not in appreciation mode for my clean water.
No, I’ve raised the bar on what warrants appreciation. Do you do that? You glance past and overlook all you could appreciate because you’ve raised the bar.
- If you get the promotion with more money, well that is something to appreciate! But the smile and friendly service this morning at Starbucks when you got your coffee, nah…no appreciation there.
- Or, sure I appreciate the three new clients I started working with this week, but my existing clients…well they’re just part of the backdrop now. (By the way, existing clients, that is not at all true. I appreciate each and every one of you!)
My point is this: We so often look past what we already have in our desire for more. Well, prosperous thinking is being appreciative.
“In my appreciation, I allow myself to receive wonderful things. The best way to accomplish an improved environment is to focus upon the best things about where you currently are until you flood your own vibrational patterns of thought with appreciation; and in that changed vibration, you can then allow the new-and-improved conditions and circumstances to come into your experience. Look for good things about where you are, and in your state of appreciation, you lift all self-imposed limitations (and all limitations are self-imposed) and free yourself for the receiving of wonderful things.” —Money, and the Law of Attraction Cards
It’s time to take your appreciation practice up a notch for the receiving of wonderful things.
6: Are you vibrating abundance or shortage?
“You cannot be in a steady feeling of poverty and allow abundance. Those two vibrations don’t go together. You’ve go to find the vibration of abundance. Humans often say, ‘How can I find the vibration of abundance when I’m standing in a vacuum where no abundance exists?’ And we say: You’ve got to use the power of your mind. You’ve got to find a way to offer a vibration that matches abundance before abundance can flow into your experience. You have to feel the way you want to live. In other words, you’ve got to be happy even in the absence of what you want. And in time, what you desire will come.” —Abraham
Just as the solution is a different vibration than the problem, the same is true for abundance and poverty. Or wellness and sickness.
In other words, what is wanted is a different vibration than what is unwanted.
Too often we want something—good health, abundance, a loving relationship—but the vibration we are offering is the opposite. We are vibrating illness, scarcity, and loneliness.
I like when Abraham says: “You have to feel the way you want to live.” Because if you feel the way you want to live, meaning if you feel now the good feelings of prosperity in all its various forms, that is what will attract what you want to you.
It really comes down to: How are you offering the vibration now of the prosperity you want? Because when you do that, prosperity will show up in your reality.
7: Do you have negative beliefs about money?
You might be tempted to answer “no” right away. Because you don’t believe money makes you greedy or a bad person. But I often hear limiting beliefs like these about money:
- More money, more problems.
- Money is hard to come by.
- Too much money changes people.
Now those beliefs might not equate to money is bad, but they are creating friction in your vibration that gets in the way of prosperity.
Believing money is hard to come by is not prosperous thinking. Believing when you have more money you have more problems—that is also not prosperous thinking.
Again, prosperity is about more than just money, but it is, in part, about your financial life.
Get right with your beliefs about money. And by right I mean make sure what you believe about money—the thoughts you practice in your head about money—really do serve you.
8: Are you holding onto a grudge or do you have a resentment?
Grudges and resentment get in the way of prosperous thinking. When you’re holding onto a grudge or have a resentment, you feel negative emotion, and that means you’re mis-creating.
You may believe your grudge is well founded and that you have every right to your resentment. Sure, you do.
But here’s the thing: When you hold onto that past insult or injury, it creates something in your vibration that prevents you from attracting what you want into your life. The grudge hurts you, not the other person.
Letting go of grudges and resentment is how you raise your vibration.
I’m not an expert on forgiveness, but everything I’ve ever read says you forgive for yourself. You forgive for your peace, your serenity. Because refusing to forgive holds you in a vibrational pattern of negative emotion—and that, of course, is counter to prosperous thinking.
9: Do you often talk about how expensive things are or say I can’t afford it?
Words are powerful. They are creative.
If you say (and think) I can’t afford it, then that is the reality that will show up for you.
So choose your words with care. Be intentional with your thoughts. That’s how you create the reality you want.
“When you are thinking of money in the way that it will come to you, you always feel good. When you are thinking of money in the way that keeps it from coming to you, you always feel bad. That is how you know the difference.” —Abraham
Start noticing how you think and talk about money. Does the way you think and talk about money make you feel good or make you feel bad? If the second one is true for you, that’s something to work on if you want the power of prosperous thinking.
“When you feel healthy and vital and alive and prosperous, you attract more of all those things.” —Abraham
Let’s recap the nine questions about prosperous thinking:
- Are you focused on lack?
- Are you impatient and demanding about what you want?
- Are you worried what you want won’t come?
- Do you feel deserving of what you want?
- Do you appreciate what you already have?
- Are you vibrating abundance or shortage?
- Do you have negative beliefs about money?
- Are you holding onto a grudge or do you have a resentment?
- Do you often talk about how expensive things are or say I can’t afford it?
It’s likely at least one of these questions—along with your answer—presents an opportunity.
Remember, prosperity in all its forms begins with your thinking. Use the nine questions to shine a light on where a change in your thinking will allow you to be the kind of magnet you really want to be.
“Prosperous thinking opens the way to prosperous results.” —Catherine Ponder
If you want to take this further, the next step is to sign up for coaching.
Schedule a coaching session and let go of your prosperity blocks.
