If you think you can “get to abundance” by using the tools, teachings, and tricks of the gurus, profits, and spiritual guides you have learned from over the years, you will be wrong. Abundance is not a destination. Without abundance, you cannot have abundance.

This morning while meditating, at my girlfriends home in San Diego California, I was going through my list of things I was grateful for. As a Canadian that had just left the temperatures of a cold spring (zero degrees Celsius) for the warmth of California, I was truly grateful. But, as I spent more time thinking about the gift of having the opportunity to actually make the trip, I was struck by the idea that I was not moving towards abundance, or trying to reach an abundant life, but that I had abundance and I was taking advantage of it.

You might be thinking, “well that is all good for you, you can afford to travel.” Well here’s my dirty little secret. I help my clients make millions of dollars more than I make for myself. I have 4 kids at home (all teens and older), a commitment to the college for teaching, a husband that is tied to a job, and many payments that make it difficult to allocate money to travel, for business or personal use. It wasn’t that long ago that I had to work hard not to appear desperate when I was showing up at networking meetings or on my sales calls. I needed the work and “being” abundant was not even something I understood.

Abundance is not the things we wear on the outside, it is the feeling we have on the inside. Abundance is not a thing you can pay for, collect, own, or gift to someone else. You cannot give away abundance any easier than you can purchase it.

So if abundance is not a place you can plan on getting to, nor an item you can own, what it is? It is a mindset of gratitude and a state of being that you must master. Abundance is the ability to be grateful for the food on the table, a roof over your head, clothes for your kids, and a way to pay your bills. It is also the ability to appreciate the gift of friendship, a sunrise, a great meal, the best things about your marriage, and love that fills your life. It is purpose and service and accomplishment and fulfillment. Being abundant is about having both the things that you can and cannot purchase.

To become abundant you must first feel abundant. The only way to feel abundant is to be truly grateful for the things you currently have, no matter how minimal you initially feel that is. When you feel abundant you change and you show up differently for your sales calls, networking, in your client meetings, with your friends, and any place you are. Abundance is who you are not where you are. Don’t wait to take advantage of what you already have. Be abundant now and attract more to your life.

Sound too ‘hokey’? Try gratitude every day for a month, be actively focused on your work, and then let me know if you are attracting more to your business and your life.