Aperture of Abundance

Many of us are first drawn to Unity's prosperity teachings because we want more stuff. Then we start applying the teachings, and we're quickly plunged into the paradox of prosperous living: It's okay to want stuff. It's okay to have stuff. But if we make stuff the source of our happiness, we'll never amass enough to be truly happy.  It goes back to our second Unity principle...the divine is within us. Looking to outer conditions for our good never works.

It can be challenging to keep the focus on God within when the baubles and perks without are so alluring. That's what Jesus meant when he said it's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. The more stuff we have, the more we seem to want.

So here's a simple affirmation I use when the red flag of materiality gets raised: "All is provided." I use it like a mantra, speaking it over and over until I feel truly centered in God. After three or four minutes there usually comes a point when the energy of desire and the fretting about how and when I'll acquire my good dissolves. I keep repeating the mantra until I know with the peace that passes understanding that my every need is fulfilled. I end with a simple, "Thank you, God."