How To Feel Abundant When You Are Broke

Ok here's the problem, life somehow seems to have conspired against you and the cash you had or were expecting to have is gone, maybe you've unexpectedly lost your job, found that your partners emptied the bank account and left. Perhaps you've just overspent and have high debts.

Life can be like that, stuff happens that to the best of your awareness you did not want to happen, thought and hoped wouldn't happen etc. None the less it did and the upshot is you now feel _anything_ but abundant.

What is to be done? Well, I suggest that all change, growth and challenge follows a similar path of broadly seven stages.nn* Denialn* Ange
* Bargainingn* Depressionn* Acceptancen* Renewaln* Creatio

So in this case of our finances, *denial* might represent where we are pretending there isn't really problem and is likely tied into the warning signs that we've skipped or ignored along the road of getting into this predicament _even_ if we felt powerless to do anything about it.

The *anger* part is pretty self explanatory. Having attempted to ignore and evade the problem we finally begin to admit its not just somehow going to go away and we feel angry, at our selves, at whoever or whatever we may feel is to blame and at life and God even. Why me? we say, look at those other lucky people how come they are having it so easy? However our being angry still won't solve the problem but at least some energy is moving now. If you you haven't felt angry yet, your still in denial and the situation is quite liable to get worse.

Now *bargaining*, this one is lovely (in hindsight). Having got past our anger we now want to shift the problem with very little real change or effort on our part because after all It wasn't our fault in the first place right? Maybe if we can just do something very kind and nice so that life will smile on us and shift the problem, send us some money. Under this attitude lurk feelings of guilt on our part were we do actually feel that maybe we had not done enough in terms of cash management etc. and other "should-haves" and that somehow we did bring this upon ourselves and that by a few simple acts of kindness we can now make amends and the problem will go away. It may take the form of thoughts along the lines of "Ok God just make this go away and I'll do anything you want". This is illusion, fear based, and leads to the next stage.nn*Depression*. The problem still hasn't resolved itself and now we experience periods of hopelessness and withdrawal. We just feel like escaping, sleeping, being alone where no one can get us and hurt us anymore. We feel grief for the lost good times when we had money when life was good or better. We may feel that we are bad and undeserving in various ways. This is a tender time, allow yourself to process these feelings of sadness and withdrawal for they will lead you back out into the stages of recovery.

With *acceptance* we begin to take responsibility for finding a way to move on. We realise deeply that whatever the challenge we are experiencing that it simply *is*. Now we feel neither depressed nor angry the challenge is simply accepted and we can start to really look at and question what we can do positively to move forward.

This is a time of *renewal* when feelings of abundance can now start to be accessed in spite of our challenge of apparent lack. This is the stage when it does become possible to _Feel Abundant When You Are Broke_. Its time to allow alternative possibilities and solutions to present themselves and its a time to begin making changes, to look at what is really important to you and act on that. Who and what do you really love, who are you? Any crisis financial or otherwise is a time for a personal re-evaluation and a clarifying of what it is you do want and do deeply value. It s a time of growth and change like the seasons in nature, you've been through the winter of your discontent and now it is spring, renewal.

By consciously recognising and observing the earlier stages of our process we can allow them to move through and be explored, enjoyed even, as they become ever more familiar territory that we know we shall pass through as naturally as a running stream. Life is about growth and evolution, a crisis merely bumps us out of our comfort zone and the more conscious we become about this the easier it is to reduce and traverse the "bumps". The challenge is serving to bring us new resolve, new creativity and new life. To feel abundant at times of apparent lack we need to access simple feelings of love, for our children, family, friends, life and for particularly for ourselves. Look for the things that really matter, that truly give us joy and hopefulness. Abundance is a feeling, always present but not always readily accessible. When we learn to feel blessed and abundant even in times of challenge and lack then we're really getting a "handle" on the game of life. Its all about love. Love life and life will love you back. Accept and embrace your challenges, take the "bull by the horns".

Having moved into the more hopeful and optimistic phase a time of *creation* comes where we feel motivated to finally get stuck in and move on. We get a more encompassing vision of how we wish our life to be beyond the current situation and that allows us to feel better in the moment and move towards our new life creatively. So long as we make some action in that creative direction then life will provide the necessary circumstances, serendipities, epiphanies, ideas, and discoveries required to effect positive change. However, we may still have to make many more "journeys" both long and short through these stages of change as our lives move forward. This does take courage and commitment but it can be fun if we practice looking at it that way. There is no escaping from life so lets choose to enjoy it.

Ask for help-

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,ncourage to change the things I can,nand the wisdom to know the difference.

Enjoy,