It's Not Your Money

by Tosha Silver

  During their first year together, the sale of Sara’s artwork ground to a standstill. The retreats she taught around the world stopped filling as well. She couldn’t fathom what was happening until one day, she understood.

  Her resentment toward Joelle, combined with grasping to keep her at all costs, had dammed the flow of abundance. Sara was blocking it to avoid supporting her partner!

  When she finally offered her painting, finances, and relationship back to the Divine, Sara became clear. She knew she needed a self-sufficient partner and could no longer carry Joelle. She offered the relationship back to the Divine and let go.

  A couple months after they broke up, her finances went back to normal.

  The act of offering is a holy process. Anything truly surrendered is indeed made sacred. You’re not just throwing some mess at God, saying, “Hey, I hope You can handle it, dude, ’cause I sure can’t!” You’re no longer demanding, “How fast can I get my order delivered?” Instead you’re softening and wondering, What am I learning here? How can I be kinder to myself right now? You take that unbearable burden and say, “I can no longer be an ego lugging this around like a pack mule. Please show me the way!”

  And often you find that the problem that’s been your biggest nemesis is actually the key to your freedom.

  You end up in the present, trusting there will be enough. You’re not obsessed about what you must manifest next, or how great life will be later. You’re not fixated on past regrets or a fantasy future. You’re smack in the present, accepting the Now and open to Love.

  This can be done anytime, anywhere, smack in the middle of this frenzied world, in a traffic jam or at the gym. There’s no need for a cave in Nepal. No matter where you are, offering brings you back where you belong, right into God’s lap. You say, “May this burden that’s brought me such suffering become the road to You.”

  And it will be.

  I once read an interview with a guy from Ecuador who was called the world’s greatest hitchhiker. He’d written copiously about the 2,000 rides he’d caught, traveling over 100,000 miles through 90 countries.

  But here’s what I found fascinating: Radical acceptance was his secret. On days when he felt frustrated and impatient by the side of the road, he was always stuck the longest. And on days when he felt open and accepting, even despite bad weather or any other problem, the rides pulled up quickly, sometimes within moments.

  He’d also discovered that this acceptance worked not only with hitching, but with romance as well. For a long time, he’d doubted he’d ever find a partner adventurous enough for life on the road. When he gave up looking and accepted his solitude, she finally found him. They’ve been circling the globe together ever since.

  OFFERING AND MONEY

  From day one, we’re taught that all finances belong to ego. The message is constant: “It’s my money. How can I get more? Why do I spend like this? Why am I terrified of loss every minute?”

  But when all is offered to the Divine, the focus becomes “Okay, God, I hand this fear of loss to You. Free me from these worries. Show me the first step. I’m ready to know Divine Source!”

  New resources start to arrive because you’re finally open. You’re no longer saying, “This is my disaster and I’ll punish myself forever for creating it.” Or “I’ll be furious for all eternity at anyone who put me here.” You’re ready to release the past, arrive in the Now, and make the Divine your Source.

  The more you release blame, resentment, and shame, the more your inner door will open. You begin to feel a sense of oneness with everything rather than just chasing the next mirage of safety.

  Offering can be applied to anything, big or small. My friend Gayle was once fretting about whether to go to a certain yoga retreat in Costa Rica. It was crazy expensive, and she was already hugely in debt. Every day she vacillated about it; she wanted to go, but didn’t want to be reckless.

  But what a perfect opportunity for offering! Rather than getting into an ego wrestling match about yes or no, she could offer the retreat completely to God. She could say, “Okay, I’d love this, but show me Your will! If I’m meant to attend, make it clear. But if not, let me be fine with or without it.”

  After she offered, Gayle felt a huge wave of relief about not going. Instead she heard about an interesting one-day workshop coming straight to her town. She knew this was her sign to stay put till some of the debt was cleared. (I also loved that she wasn’t pretending Divine Source means you just burn through money on any old thing, assuming God will replace the bounty. Every case is different, as we’ll explore later.)

  You may be reading this and thinking, Oh honey, you have no idea. I’ve got way, way bigger problems than some silly yoga retreat. But here’s the truth; offering is a muscle. If you practice it with the small stuff, it will aid you with the big.

  PRARABDHA KARMA

  One of my favorite spiritual writers had a time when multiple illnesses plagued him. Someone said to me, “This guy is a total beam of light. You feel uplifted simply by being in the same room. So how can even he have all these problems?”

  One of the dark legacies of manifestation culture is that many people think we attract every single blessed thing. They assume if only we perfect ourselves enough, we gain VIP entry to a secret Disneyland where nothing “bad” ever occurs.

  And then they blame themselves when the inevitable challenges come that are a part of incarnate existence. Or they harshly judge others when difficulties arrive, assuming they must have done wrong. Some of them even coldly say, “Oh, pity she created that! But me, I’m different!”

  But here’s what’s missing. While the Law of Attraction is true, so is the Law of Prarabdha Karma. I mean, even the great Indian saint Ramakrishna got throat cancer. Or look at Jesus. He didn’t exactly die drinking margaritas in the Bahamas. What matters is how we handle our unique Prarabdha Karma, our own soul’s course of study. When embraced, it becomes the royal road to true abundance.

  MILLION-DOLLAR MYSTERY TOUR

  Did you ever hear about how the actor Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for $10 million from the Universal Bank long before he was famous? It spawned a parade of similar check writers all over the planet. Unfortunately, however, many came to believe their own gazillions didn’t arrive FedEx Express because they’d blocked it. Yet I’d say it happened for Jim simply because that was his Prarabdha Karma.

  This book comes from a singular premise: Everybody has a different set of abundance lessons they’re learning in any given lifetime. It may not be your own destiny to have $10 million. That might actually be the last thing your soul needs! You might be learning this life to trust you’ll always have enough . . . and the more you open to Divine Source, the more you will.

  Some issues are so fundamental to our soul’s awakening that we come back lifetime after lifetime to resolve them. Someone who accrues great wealth may be working out a certain karma—perhaps to see if they’ll be generous, grateful, and good-hearted with their largesse. If they’re not, they may well create a different karma in future lives. The Law of Attraction and the Law of Prarabdha Karma intertwine in every moment.

  The more you come to trust this Source, the less you’ll need vast wealth to feel abundant. If it comes, then fantastic, and perhaps you’ll be generous with it! But, you start feel prosperous no matter what your personal Prarabdha Karma.

  This also makes it easier to feel acceptance and compassion. A teacher of mine used to say, “Be grateful for the karma you don’t have. Your own is plenty!”

  I’m constantly struck by how resting in Divine Source is independent of wealth. Some insanely prosperous clients I’ve had were in constant mental torture, while some who lived month-to-month had such faith they rarely worried at all. They lived in a state of grace, where everything needed arrived like clockwork.

  Now one last point. For some of you, the eight weeks of this journey may make your money increase quickly. You may suddenly have much—and I mean, much, much—more.
But for others, while the dollars may not immediately grow, something else will in the most beautiful way.

  Your trust.

  You start to feel at the deepest level of your being that one way or another, perhaps for the first time in your life—every true need will be met.

  The right solutions for any financial problems will become obvious . . . and if you need something, it will come.

  INTENTION

  Intention is a part of the puzzle that’s often misunderstood. In Sanskrit the beautiful word sankalpa means a one-pointed resolve to focus on a specific goal. You could see it as a solemn vow formed by the heart and mind. In a sense, it means “You are what you focus on.”

  Indeed, sankalpa is an invaluable tool. I now offer this journey fully to Love. May everything that’s ready to open, open. May everything that’s ready to leave, leave. I long for the Highest to occur. May I be Abundance.”

  These types of intentions make space for the Divine will. They’re so very different from goals like “I will make a million dollars by February” or “My soul mate will come in 30 days.” Once you start to trust this Source, you stop insisting every passing desire must happen; you relax and know that one way or the other, your needs will be covered.

  This can feel like getting a 400-pound manifesting monkey off your back.

  To be clear, I’m not dismissing the power of the mind. For example, plenty of athletes have successfully used visualization and positive thoughts to enhance performance. And surely if you’re someone who habitually complains all day, positive thought is a huge improvement over negative. We’ll even use some in the abundance process. Nonetheless, intention without surrender can be a fast path to delusion.

  Take this story from one of my favorite shows, This American Life. Once, the cast of Riverdance, a well-known musical, bought a batch of tickets when the mega-millions lottery climbed into the stratosphere. A cast member who knew visualization assured everyone that if they believed strongly enough, winning would be inevitable. After all, that was the power of intention: Dream it and it will come! They just needed to feel that they’d already won.

  But as the week went on, they all got more and more obsessed with elaborate plans for how to spend their money. They even did a frenzied chant of “Lotto, lotto, lotto!” during the final performance before the drawing. (How amazing to have been a totally befuddled audience member for that one!)

  But then when they gathered for the drawing, chilled champagne at the ready, not a single number matched. Of course, they were devastated. Their intention had been pure and ferocious.

  Yet, isn’t it simple? It wasn’t their time to win. It wasn’t their Prarabdha Karma.

  I often laugh when someone says you have to know what you intend to create or God will be confused. As if the Supreme-Power-that-Created-All doesn’t know precisely what’s needed.

  When someone asks what my intentions are I often say, “Oh, you know, just one: that God takes over entirely and brings Her will.”

  Prayer for Transforming Money

  Okay, God, open me.

  I’m ready.

  I don’t want the exhausting burden of this topic anymore!

  I am done.

  Open me to whatever I’m meant to receive from this sacred process.

  Help me let go of any old beliefs and feelings that get in the way of Your plan for my life. May I know the good I can do as an embodiment of Divine abundance.

  Many of the money-focused books and courses out there are based on the idea “How can I get more? I want it all, and I deserve it!”

  But this is a wholly other way.

  So right here, right now, before we launch into the daily five steps, you can bless the entire process of opening to abundance with a direct prayer.

  Change me. Open me.

  Make me receptive to the unexpected.

  May I receive all that is meant for me over these next weeks and beyond.

  Let me know my own worthiness to receive.

  Let me play with these new ideas as an adventure.

  And then, let me embrace what happens according to Your will.

  I am Yours. You are mine. We are One. All is well.

  Okay, let’s start those steps!

  Please begin this week doing these five steps. I ask you to do them every day for the remaining weeks. They don’t have to take long, and soon you will find a momentum with them.

  STEP 1:

  SAY THE FULL ABUNDANCE CHANGE ME PRAYER

  This invocation can reliably lift you out of scarcity and worry into receptivity. Even if you’re in a bad mood when you say it, you may be surprised by what happens.

  Over the years, thousands of people have written to me describing the relief it can bring, sometimes instantly. But if it feels at first as if you’re doing it mechanically, don’t worry. It may take a little time to fully resonate.

  After a week or two, you may feel yourself stepping into this prayer, your voice resonating with the words. You may sense them vibrating inside you, melting resistance and fear. Let me reassure you, no matter who you are, this can occur. Try to be as fully present as you can while you say it. Stick with it even if cash isn’t flying through the air ducts the minute you finish.

  Invite Love to do the work and open you to both give and receive easily. (Since this isn’t self-help, no need to slave away to change yourself; God will do what you cannot.)

  I mentioned earlier that praying to be changed allowed me to be there for my mom in a miraculous and unexpected way I never could have imagined. Love came to the rescue, and obliged. Never underestimate what might occur for you too.

  I’ve kept this on my computer since the course began. When I open it each day, I feel like I have a waiting friend. This morning, as I sat here annoyed about paying bills, I read the prayer again. Suddenly my consciousness imploded! I saw that I was actually distributing God’s money in order to get my needs met. It was such an uplifting insight that I ran upstairs to tell my partner. Something inside is blossoming and I feel such ease. For the first time, I feel not only that there can be enough, I can imagine plenty for everything!

  As you move out of scarcity and resentment into being abundance, you may find similar shifts suddenly happen. The Flow is moving through you . . . and you can always receive more.

  STEP 2:

  START TO CLEAN YOUR HOUSE

  An important part of opening to receive is making room. I mean that in the most practical, physical way. This. Is. Critical. Especially if you have a lot of clutter, you’ll be “creating a vacuum” to allow the new to come. This clearing is actually connected to the Yoga Sutra term saucha, which means “purity” or “cleanliness.” While it applies both to the soul and the physical space, for now we’ll apply it to the latter.

  I’ve found the easiest way to start the clearing process—especially if you have enormous resistance—is by offering. Just like money, just like anything. No need for the ego to freak out: “Oh my God, how will I make time for all this cleaning? What will I toss? What will I keep? How will I ever decide?”

  Instead, right from the start, offer all your belongings to Love.

  After all, every belonging comes from and returns to the Divine. What can any of us take with us on the day we die?

  So perhaps you can say, “Dear Love, show me what I no longer need. Show me what needs to go.” If you pray with sincerity, you will be shown.

  The mind might protest, How will I know? Well, I’ve found with practice, the body and instincts guide you. The wonderful Marie Kondo was right when she said in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, release what doesn’t bring you joy. But even that advice leaves some people unsure, so knowing how to offer seriously helps. You may feel yourself drawn to start at a certain spot. Maybe it will be one particular drawer in your kitchen, maybe it’ll be your clothes. Trust yourself. You could pray, “Help me listen inside during this process!”

  While my own physical space has always been pretty tidy, my computer us
ed to be an ongoing nightmare. One day, I finally offered the whole thing, praying, “I have such resistance to organizing this! Show me where the hell to begin before I lose my mind!” (Yes, that was my plea. No need to hide your feelings from Love, who knows you completely anyway. Sometimes I imagine the Divine smiling at my hotheaded prayers of frustration.) Moments later, I started deleting four years of email.

  Love will show your own holy starting line.

  You may well head to that one closet that actually ends up being the key to your prosperity. Maybe 10 years ago you shoved old love letters there from someone you’re still mad at. Perhaps finally burning, blessing, and releasing those will be your own personal portal to abundance.

  I’ve seen this happen. Your home may have symbolic pockets of pus that simply have to be drained. When you ask Love to show you, It will. If you’ve got massive resistance (some people fear releasing anything at all), you can say, “Let a freakin’ miracle happen so that I may make space for the New!”

  Some of you may also need to start smaller than your home. You could start with your car, wallet, or purse. If you’re on the road, you could even reorganize your suitcase. Anything can be a symbolic and powerful beginning. As the musician John Cage once famously said, “Begin anywhere.”

  In truth, many people find the process infectious and unstoppable once they dive in. You may even discover ways to make it more pleasurable with music or little gifts you give yourself as you go.

  But here’s what’s most important. When you offer the process and stop trying to clean from your ego’s limited strength, Something Else steps in. The Divine begins to act through you and for you. Holiness itself makes the space.

  STEP 3:

  STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT MONEY

  Whether your tendency is to complain to yourself or to others, just stop for these weeks.

  Notice when you begin to say things like “I wish I could buy that, but I don’t have the money. I’m so mad, I never have it.” As an experiment, just stop all that for now.