The Keys To Abundance
Learn foundational practices and exercises that will help you overcome a scarcity mindset and open to the energy of abundance. I share a powerful analogy that will help enjoy the natural unfolding of your personal and business growth.
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Podcast Transcript
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Art and Business Meditation Podcast. My name is Lou Redman and I share this podcast as someone who is really devoted to helping you figure out your path, figure out how to make your art through meditation, through helping others along their journey. I quit a corporate job in 2015 to figure out my own path, and it took a while and I've learned some things along the way and I hope to be able to share that with you through the content that I post on this podcast. So if it's your first time joining, welcome. If you're an avid listener, thank you. I'm sharing this episode. This is a special episode because I am recording this not on my normal recording software. So maybe there's a difference in sound that you notice, or maybe not. Maybe my editor is really good and can make this sound just as good. Because I am in a room right now looking at the Dolomite Mountains in northern Italy, about 3 1/2 hours northeast of Milan. I'm in the town where my family is from on my mom's side. I know I don't look like the most Italian dude or have an Italian last name, but my mom's side is fully Italian and they immigrated here and has a lot of roots here. And I still have family here. And so I share this, not to just tell you what I'm up to, but also to be kind of that guy, that person who starts to promote this lifestyle and you'll see this often. And so I want to call it out as I speak to it. You might see people promote, hey, you can get into this work because you can work from anywhere. You can be on the beach, you can have this freedom. And all of that is true. And I am an example of it. And so I share this with you today to one inspire that that is a possibility, that this was a dream of mine. Holy moly. To have the freedom to take as much time off as I'd like to go different places around the world, but still have a connection, to be able to do work, to see clients, to create content like I am right now, to create meditations that I'm still able to do this as I travel. And I share that as inspiration. And I want to emphasize that that was never my North Star. It was a dream, for sure. It was, oh my gosh, this would be really exciting if I could have this freedom. Because what that would mean is I have reach that level of success that I was hoping to reach, but it was never my North Star. My North Star was always to inspire and was always to actually give and share. And so I just, I. I believe if you're listening to this podcast, your heart is in the right place. Because what you'll see sometimes is marketers promoting things to promote this lifestyle as if this lifestyle was the goal. And it's not. It's not. I would take being in the same place for over and over and over if it meant I was actually doing the work that I feel called to do. Fortunately in this world is that when we do that, we are also opening up space to travel and do these other things. So sharing this as some inspiration and also just a reminder of that, that's not the point. The point is not to have this cool lifestyle. That's great. And that might be a byproduct and it might also be a dream. It might be exciting, it might be a reason. In some ways, however, I want you to think about that. True North Star is really to live your soul's calling, to be the creative source that you are here to be. And that's what this podcast, I hope, is helping you to do. And so that little story about where I am now is a segue into the content that I want to share with you today, which is around abundance, is around having money coming in to our life to support the things that, that we want to do. And I There's a podcast episode earlier on in this series about transforming your relationship with money that was actually in the older style of this podcast before it shifted to art and business of meditation. I talk a lot about the relationship with money in that episode, so definitely check that out if you haven't. Today I'm going to talk about some simple practices to do that have helped me really come from the inside out and expand the amount of financial resources that are coming into my life. Before I do that, I want to share an analogy that's important to think about when we think of money because so often we have judgments around taking money for this work. And I'm not going to get all into those judgments and limiting beliefs on today's podcast. But I heard this analogy and I want to express it here because it's really important. Money is like the fuel of our journey. Just as if you were going to go on a road trip to have an adventure, you need fuel. And so money is the fuel for our business and our creativity, so that we can see more places, that we can reach more people. However, you don't go on a road trip just to visit gas stations, meaning we don't do this just to get money. That's not the point. That would be like going on a road trip to just visit all these gas stations to get the fuel. But that is not fun. That's not what the adventure is about. And so I share that because so often we could think that money is the end all, be all, and is neither the end all be all or. Or it is nothing. It is the fuel. It is the fuel that allows us to feel at ease as we take our road trip. Because imagine having enough fuel where you're never worried. You're just. You're able to go. I can go to this place that's a little farther off. I can. I can see those people. You're able to do it without the worry. And so what I really want for you is to be able to share your gifts, to be able to create the programs, the products, without the feeling like, oh, my gosh, if this doesn't work, I'm broke. Or being so stressed out about money, because that is going to take away from your own creation. That is going to seep into your decisions. And yes, we have to make sure that we are taken care of. And I really want to encourage you to connect with the creations that really want to come through. And money, and improving our relationship with money, letting it flow in and out of our lives, allows us to let that fuel come in so that we can use it in the best ways possible. And so, story time. As you know, I love to share stories from my own experience. Imagine that you walk into a house, and on the house wall, you see a bunch of checks and pieces of lined paper with quotes on it and sayings. You might think that that person was a little crazy. And you can guess. This was my kitchen wall for a while. For so long, I struggled. It took a while to actually get any sort of money for the work that I was doing. And I remember the first time a library, I was promoting my book, and they actually paid me $125 to come do a talk about the book Guided Meditation. And that check was in so many ways, a realization of a dream that someone would actually pay me to hear what I have to say, to share a meditation with them. And I took that check and I put it on my wall where I looked at it every day. And every day I looked at it, and I felt so, so much gratitude. I just showered that wall, just saying thank you. Just feeling it, seeing it, seeing that it is possible. This is proof that it's possible I could actually see it. And that first one, $25 I made in so many ways, was sweeter than the thousand dollars I just made for my last school self care workshop. And so all the checks that I started getting, like, the. The foundation of this episode is one of my favorite quotes from Eckhart Tolle. He says, gratitude is the foundation for abundance. What we appreciate appreciates. And so even though it was only $125, I appreciated it. And I literally watched the checks, the money that were coming in, start to grow. Not radically, not like my Next one was $10,000, but with that sense of gratitude, of feeling so lucky to be able to do this work and be supported. I started this foundation of expansion, of abundance. Abundance is not a specific dollar amount. It is an eternal feeling. It is an internal source. And it can be imbued on just sensing that this is enough, this is enough. $125. Oh, my gosh, this is am. This is enough. And enough expands outwards. Enough expands outwards when you give it that abundance. And so wherever you're at, however little money you have coming in, I want you to really start the habit of appreciating it. Appreciating what comes in. I do this practice still every month, especially with the revenue that I receive from Insight Timer, because for so long, Insight Timer had no source of revenue. And then in 2019, after they tested courses for a year and they started actually having a paid version, I remember getting my first payment from Insight Timer based on place through my meditations. It was $500, January 2019. I remember it like it was yesterday because it was the first. This moment of, oh, my gosh, this work that I put in for a couple years, I'm starting to see it sprout. And every year, right, those revenues have continued to grow from that January of $500 to now. And I still. In the same way, the practice doesn't change. I still slow down. And I just do a prayer of appreciation of thanks for this money that is coming in to my life. It's a really beautiful, sacred practice, honestly, to me, because I know how hard it was. It was such a struggle to not have that support for. And so I never take it for granted and never take it for granted, especially when it's coming in a way that's quote, unquote passive, where it's like, oh, my gosh, I put all this work out there and now, now money's coming to me each month, and I don't really have to do much for that. It's amazing. And it Starts by wherever you're at on your journey, appreciating every little bit that comes in, and you're like, oh, Louis, what if I don't have any coming in? And this is the other side of this practice, is spending the money, appreciating what's going out. Because what's going out is giving us something and letting what goes out, imbuing it with the energy of courage, viewing it with the energy of generosity, of investment, that this is going out. But there's a flow. We talked about this in that episode of transforming your relationship with money. There's a flow to money. That money is not yours or mine. It's actually just this movement of energy in the universe that's coming to me. It's moving out to you. It's coming over there, and it's just moving, it's flowing. And so allowing our money to flow outwards with that same level of appreciation, of excitement, of joy, that's the energy that we're imbuing it with. And so if you don't have any money coming in, well, you probably have some money coming in in some ways. So do this to wherever that money is coming in, Whether you're at your regular job, whether you get payments from child support, wherever it's coming from, wherever it's coming from, there's an energy to how you're receiving it. And the practice here, the core of this lesson, of this episode today, is can you practice receiving however little or a lot money that you have coming into your life with gratitude? That's just simply opening your bank account. I love this practice. I still do it to this day. Opening your bank account or your credit card statement, I would do both. Because often the money is going to come into the bank account and go out, sometimes through a credit card statement. And you go through the money that's coming in and you stank it. You appreciate it, and then you go through the money that's coming out and you thank it for the opportunity. You thank it for what it gives you. You think that your light turns on when you walk in, that your refrigerator is running and keeping your food cold, that the food that you're buying is nourishing your body. You thank all of those transactions. And what this practice helps us to do is not only develop a more appreciative relationship, more open relationship with money, but it also helps us to see the places where we're spending that actually don't feel aligned, that actually don't feel good after the fact. And this is not to make us feel guilty or to berate ourselves. It's to just notice. To notice that actually when I spent $200 on that pair of shoes, I'm not really getting that value from it. I don't feel like that was a aligned purchase. And that's okay. That's okay. We can use this practice to then remember in the future to steward our money. As Lynn Twist talks about in the Soul of Money, that we are stewards of this, and where do we want to steward it in a way that creates the most amount of value? I am lucky that I quit a job that was making $40,000 a year, because $40,000 is not a ton. There's not a golden handcuffs to $40,000. It was risky nonetheless. But I also had a much lower bar. Like, for me, making it was getting to $40,000. So I know a story of someone I talked to recently, and he's not. He's more in the men's coaching realm. And I. I asked him what it would take for him to quit his job and, you know, go full in on being a men's coach. And his answer just was so surprising to me because he felt like he really wanted to do it and it would really make him a lot happier. But he responded with $185,000 because that's what he was making at his current job. And by all means, I think he can do that, and I hope he would do that. But there was a part of me that was like, hey, man, like, like, let's lower this bar. Because really, again, it's not about getting to the gas stations. It's not about getting into gas stations. It's the journey and the experience of getting to share your craft and the love that you have for life. And in the beginning, letting enough be enough, and then it grows, and by no means there's a limit. I've been fortunate where my growth has been. I call it slow, juicy growth. That it has been steady. There's been some leaps, but it hasn't been crazy. And it's continued. And I'm so happy with that because I'm able to just feel a sense of steadiness and grow into myself. There's definitely moments of. Of having to look at when I'm falling into, am I in a state of greed? Do I feel like I need to want more? And those have been very helpful to look at. And if you want to check out more about what I talk about in that episode that is in that transforming a relationship with money episode where I share a story about greed. At least I think I do. Maybe I'll have to. You let me know if that's not in there and I'll share it on another episode here. So one last thing here when we talk about really a key to abundance is we hear it all the time. Given, you shall receive. And what's important is you don't give so that you can receive. It's can we think about especially the people, the programs, the charities that are doing work that we feel aligned with and can we allow our resources to help others, to donate to others? I love getting the opportunity to share the blessings that I've received with other people who I feel are doing work of something greater, are really doing something that is aligned and helping others in some profound or not so profound way, but are doing it in aligned and creative way that is true to them. And I always tell this story of being at a meditation retreat and we get to donate to the teachers because they don't actually take money. This might be a separate, separate topic, but at these retreats your donation to the teachers is an add on. And someone asks like, well, how, how much do we donate? What's right? And the person at the front said, whatever is in your heart, only you can know that. And he also encouraged us to go on the edge of what is a little uncomfortable, what feels like just like a little more than feels easy. And whenever I've done that, I've somehow I've seen that it does come back in many ways. But again, irony here. But again, the irony is here is we can't do that just for that, because that's the intention. It's always coming back to the intention behind it. So keys to abundance, gratitude, appreciating what's coming in, appreciating what's going out. It's really that simple. And I want to encourage you, if you don't do this already, to start, I'm probably going to talk about this again. I probably talked about this before, but this is such a crucial part to dialing in our relationship with the money coming in and now of our life. Remember, it's not about pouring gas stations. It's about using it to fuel the things that are most true, most good and most beautiful in our lives. So I thank you for listening. Let me know if you have a question. You can ask a question directly through this link via a voice question. Just check out the link below in the show notes to ask a question directly to me and I would love to hear if you do this practice how it goes for you, how your relationship to abundance or money is going, and I hope to see you again another podcast episode soon. If you haven't checked out my free course on creating unique, powerful guided meditations, that's also in the link to the Show Notes, so check that out. It's completely free and I love getting a chance to share and support you in this beautiful journey. Till next time, friends, sending you lots of love. We'll connect soon.