My friend, Marlow Felton, has an affirmation that I love:  “Wealth is there, I just have to look for it.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  And, the conclusion I’ve come to is that we find what we look for.

Things get very interesting though because very often there is a difference between what we want and what we look for.  For example:  we might want success but spend most of our time looking for comfort and familiarity.

Now there’s nothing wrong with comfort and familiarity.  However, I doubt that any truly successful person will tell you that the secret to his/her success was never leaving his or her comfort zone.

As human beings, what we do all day long is search for evidence, evidence that supports what is in our head.  For example, if we have a scarcity mentality, we will search for evidence that proves that scarcity is the nature of things.  If we have an abundance mentality then we will search for evidence of abundance.

Look around your environment right now and search for 3 pieces of evidence for scarcity.  Then look around the same environment for 3 pieces of evidence for abundance.  As I said earlier, we find what we look for!

We are also really good at ignoring inconvenient evidence, evidence that does not support our worldview.

I recently worked with someone who had a worldview that it was hard to get new clients.  I pointed out to her that just that morning she had gotten a new client and the process was fun and easy.

She got to see how her head trash did its thing to where that bit of evidence just didn’t count and that the truth still was that it was hard to get clients.  She got caught with her hand in the cookie jar of selective evidence gathering.

One of the most powerful things we can do is to consciously intentionally change the evidence we search for.

Let’s say a person has the habit of searching for evidence that proves he/she is not good enough.  Of course they will find that evidence.  The opportunity for this person is to actively search for evidence that proves he/she is good enough.

Then we have to stick a label on their experiences:  Look I just got a new client, that’s evidence that I’m good enough!  Look, that person smiled at me, that’s evidence that I’m good enough!  Look, my kids love me, that’s evidence that I’m good enough!  Etc.

It is all about changing the habit of what kind of evidence you look for.  When you do this, you change your life because you will find what you look for!

Okay so how does this all relate to the title of this article, “Is it okay to seek after wealth?”

As I said earlier, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we find what we truly look for.

This morning I started reading “The Richest Man In Babylon” and I had to stop after 7 pages because I had a concussion from all the whacks over the head I received from the proverbial 2×4.

Bansir the chariot maker says, “From early dawn until darkness stopped me, I have labored to build the finest chariots any man could make, softheartedly hoping some day God would recognize my worthy deeds and bestow upon me great prosperity.  This he has never done.”  (OH MY GOSH!!!! That is what I have been doing for at least the last 25 years.)

Two pages later Bansir’s friend, Kobbi the musician, says to Bansir, “Thou bringeth to my mind a new understanding.  Though makest me to realize the reason why we have never found any measure of wealth.  We never sought it.”

Bansir sought to be a great chariot maker.  Kobbi sought to be a skillful musician.  Neither of them sought wealth.

The line, “We never sought it.”  Was another whack to the head from the cosmic 2×4.

Say out loud, “It is okay for me to seek wealth.”  Then notice what comes up with that.

For most people, something is going to come up because this is an area that is ripe for head trash.  Do any of these sound/feel familiar?

• Money is evil
• The pursuit of money is evil
• Somehow the pursuit of wealth just isn’t a noble goal or even an acceptable goal
• That’s just not who I am
• That’s just not what I do
• Pursuit of wealth isn’t spiritual
• Money is not important
• I cannot seek wealth and also be a good person
• Etc, Etc, Etc

Any of this sort of head trash is going to make it difficult for you to seek wealth much less to obtain wealth.

As Bansir and Kobbi learned, wealth doesn’t happen by accident.  The first step on the journey to wealth is to seek it. ~ We find what we look for.

In order to seek it you just might have to do some inner work on your head trash to create the freedom to seek wealth.  That is job number one.

After you have created that freedom then job number two is to seek wealth.

Remember Marlow’s affirmation, “Wealth is there, I just have to look for it.”

Much Love,

Jonathan
photo credit: Gibson Claire McGuire Regester via photopin cc