Abundance is a word ripe with meaning, whether it’s money, success, love, you name it, really. Therein lies the problem – we name our abundance or the lack of it. We decide through our power of choice to have it, or not. Maybe we have it in love but not in finances, or the other way around. The point is, we are always seeking something but we often come up empty-handed; we have to look at what we are thinking and feeling about abundance.

It may be easier to focus on one area at a time, so let’s go with the money. Lack of it, not having enough to feel comfortable or secure, to live the life you truly want to live. You must look at your thoughts on money. Did you grow up hearing comments about scarcity?

A lot of subtle programming is absorbed unknowingly when we are young, so if your dad always said, “We aren’t rich, do you think money grows on trees?”, you may be running a poverty script without even knowing it. Another area you might have some trouble with is in feeling worthy to receive money. You may feel deep down that you are not good enough to have it; if this is so, when abundance tries to find you, no one’s home.

Watch your feelings about money and you will gain some insight. Do you feel left out, as if other people can have abundance but you can’t? Is there a sense of defeat, fatigue, resigning yourself to your lot in life? Or are you panicked, worried about it not being here, or afraid it will disappear? We may have deeply rooted feelings that don’t show themselves, but if you look you can find these too. On the surface, things may be okay, but consider making a big purchase and all sorts of red flags sprout up.

The more we see what’s lurking behind the scenes, the more clarity we have. The more clarity we have, the more ability we have to let go of what we know doesn’t serve us and move into the light of abundance. It is deceptively simple. It’s also a huge life lesson, so go on and take the plunge, examine your thoughts and feelings about abundance and start telling yourself, this can change, I can change, I Am abundance!

Risking is taking a chance on something or someone in order to reap a possible benefit.  It is daring to venture out on a limb for potential gains. It is giving something a chance to work in order to gain an advantage.  In risking there is always something to gain and something to lose, and if you are a wise risk taker, you carefully weigh both. Prudent risk-taking is essential to operating your life effectively because the gains you make by taking wise risks can help you accomplish the things you want in life.  As a good risk taker, you only take advantageous risks, and you avoid risks that are going to cause you loss.

There is usually an emotional component to any risk you take.  This is true whether the risk is of a physical nature such as starting a business, or of an emotional nature such as asking someone on a date.  This emotional component exists because of the hopes and expectations that are built on risk-taking, and the sudden change, either positive or negative, in going from hope to certainty when the outcome is known.

Risking consists of two parts:  The first part is the ability to take a risk when necessary without being afraid of taking that risk.  The second part is the ability to control your risk-taking, that is, to know when to take a risk and when to avoid taking a risk, in order to accomplish what you want.  In order to control your risk-taking wisely, you need to recognize both good and bad risks when you come across them. If you can recognize which risks are most likely to produce positive results, you also know which risks are worth taking.  This knowledge can prevent you from plunging headlong into harmful or dangerous situations. If you can recognize when a risk is a good or relatively safe risk, you have a great advantage because this helps you know whether to take the risk or avoid it and save your energy for other things.  If you can distinguish a good risk from a bad risk, you rarely lose what you risk.

If you have trouble with risking, you also tend to have trouble knowing how to use your energy to accomplish what you want.  Because you have difficulty telling a good risk from a bad risk, at times you end up in dangerous situations, and at other times you waste your energy by putting it into things that have little chance of success.  There are also times when you are afraid to take a chance on something because you don’t know if it is a good risk, even though the potential for gain may be substantial. If you are afraid to take a calculated risk, your life tends to be somewhat boring or mundane.  You may know that “nothing ventured means nothing gained”, but you are too afraid to venture, so you give up the gain. When life forces you into taking a chance on something, you tend to get angry with the world for asking you to take the risk involved. All this can prevent you from accomplishing many things in life, and from living life to the fullest.

If you would like to learn to take better risks, consider changing your outlook in a couple of areas.  Work at becoming more aware of your capabilities and limitations. If you know what you can reliably accomplish, you have a powerful tool to help you determine not only whether a risk is worth taking, but also how dangerous it may be.  Improving your ability to accurately judge what you can and can not do, will help protect you from taking unsafe risks.

The ability to take wise risks is also improved by learning where to put your energy so it is used most efficiently.  Use your experience and past results to estimate how much energy to put into something in order to be most effective. Only put energy into those things you think will be fruitful and produce positive results.  This will help you take risks that are most likely to succeed, and will keep you from taking the type of risk where you either bite off more than you can chew, or waste your energy by putting it into useless things.

By learning to increase your ability to risk, you not only become better at taking risks when necessary, but you also become better at understanding the difference between a wise risk and a foolish risk.