Episode 171: 5 Tips to Create an Environment for Abundance
Our emotional responses can become an addiction. Yes, you read that right. And getting stuck in negative thoughts, in victimhood can activate responses in our bodies that we start to crave, and so we get stuck in situations that don’t serve us.
In today’s episode, I want to talk about how to set up a pristine environment to support you as you break out of those addictions and move toward abundance. The goal is to keep that feeling of abundance on a more consistent basis.
Tips to lean into abundance
In April’s Coffee With Coach, I talked about the power of abundance. We really dug into how abundance is a feeling and how you can access it even when you’re in a freak out moment.
That livestream really connected with people; we received so many private messages about how it was needed. We heard from people telling us how they didn’t realize they were focused on scarcity only on the negative.
Honestly, if you’re human it’s good to understand we’re addicted to certain emotions and sometimes those emotions are helpful, and sometimes they are harmful.
If we're addicted to negativity, if we're addicted to gossip, if we're addicted to feeling like a victim, if we're addicted to feeling angry – it sounds weird to call those addictions, but they really are – our bodies respond to that flood of hormones. Then the body starts to crave that emotional response.
The conversation in Coffee With Coach helped some people realize that we confine ourselves to these situations that don’t serve us simply because we’re addicted to it.
I talked about how quickly we can shift our moods and emotions away from what doesn’t serve us.
Here are some real-world tips you can use to create an environment where you’ll experience a more consistent feeling of abundance.
1. The five people you hang out with
You’ve probably heard this before, but if you were to take the salary of the five people you spend most of your time with and average that out it’s probably how much you make. It’s bananas but it’s true. It’s not just about money, it’s about attitude and perspective.
The conversations you’re having on a daily basis are so critical, and I don’t think we pay enough attention to the, to be honest. Those conversations make up our lives.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who's super jazzed and excited and inspiring, and they listen to you and you can tell they really care about what you're saying? Then they get excited for you about things that are going on for you and you're like, “Oh my gosh, I could do anything right now!”
That's a conversation. That is the power of a conversation, but you've also probably experienced it the other way.
If you’re running a business, you’ve probably heard the comments from well-intentioned loved ones who ask you, “what are you actually doing though?” and “have you thought this through?” That can really derail your day.
Try this exercise: List out conversations and maybe even people you could protect yourself from when you’re working hard. It’s important to protect your psyche and your heart and soul. So, if you need to show someone the exit sign that is completely appropriate. It’s ok to show people the exit sign when their behavior hasn’t been helpful.
2. Shift the gossip conversations
I want you to pick a couple of hours every day and I want you to think about how you can protect those hours from anyone who might have something negative to say. For example, maybe it’s from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Your phone is off. Social media apps are off. You spend that time either meditating, or being creative towards your business or your next project, and you do not allow any outside influences to creep in.
If you have friends who love to gossip, ask yourself how you can change the conversation. What was the best thing you did this week? Tell me everything about your favorite moments from this week. Those are questions you can actually ask that get everybody excited and engaged. They're actually on to deepen your friendship instead of having the friendship be built upon something you are not proud of, that is, keeping a pristine environment and listening.
3. Take two hours to be creative
Turn everything off. Own your power. You're going to need to look at what you look at while you're doing that. Doesn't that sound funny? Are there pictures that are distracting you? Are there unfinished projects on your desk that make you feel bad?
Remember that abundance is a feeling, it’s an experience of being alive. When I say abundance, what can you put around you that will have you tap into the flow of abundance? Do you need beautiful pictures of nature around you like a waterfall? Maybe a memento or a picture from your favorite vacation, where you just went and had the most delicious food. And maybe you met the most interesting people, and you had wonderful conversations. That is the feeling of abundance.
4. Clean up your social media feeds
When I say keep your environment pristine, what you look at while you work is part of that. This is why I really want you to watch your social media accounts.
We're not spending as much time with people as we used to, and inside of that is this new phenomenon that our relationships are online. So, who are you following? What conversations are you popping into on social media? That matters, that's also your environment. Who do you need to follow? Who do you need to start following?
How can you make your feed pristine so that when you “take a break” you go to social media and get lifted up, expanded, and feel joy and bliss and plenty?
5. Check your mindset
You know that rush you feel when you're driving and you see a police car behind you or you hear sirens. You just got scared. You just thought you were going to get caught right? (Drive safe everyone).
You can't tell me that your thoughts don't affect your body. So, if you've walked around your whole life, thinking “Woe is me, everybody's mean to me, why does this always happen to me?” that becomes your way of being.
When you go to expand and you're working to make your environment pristine, what do you think is going to happen? That homeostasis is going to fight to be maintained. I’m telling you this so that when it hits you, you don't freak out and think something's wrong. It's OK. You’re pushing up against this normal and your body's asking for another hit of the emotions it's used to.
Instead, we're going to start to break this habit and start to break this addiction. At that moment is when I thought affirmations were freaking fantastic. This is when your physical environment supports you with objects and pictures, and representations of abundance. This is when those come in.
Put your hand on your heart and recognize that you're OK. That right there breaks the pattern because when we have a negative thought, we can start freaking out and start to spiral.
Let's break the pattern the second it starts. Look at the beautiful pictures, put your hand on your heart, take a deep breath, and notice that the oxygen is always there for you. Stand in that for a minute and then get right back to work. I want abundance for all of us. I really do. When I talk about putting money in the hands of more women, this is what I'm talking about.
I want you to be able to take the vacations you want. I want you to be able to send your kids to the schools that you want. I want you to be able to buy the courses and the books and have the experiences that you want in your life. You deserve that, and the more that you tap into that feeling, the more that you remember that that's possible.
Let’s get to it!