We look for abundance, and no matter how much we say that abundance goes beyond finances (abundance of love, health, friends, joy, pleasure, beauty, time, you name it), the first thing that comes to mind is financial abundance.

Money is a hot potato topic. We say that money brings no joy and that if we follow joy money will follow — but what if it doesn’t? At the same time, lacking money brings much suffering, stress, and fear into our lives, so lacking money seems to do no good. On top of that, we humans seem to do quite extreme and violent things when we lack money — be it a real lack, or only a perceived one.

So we go after that money. Say we figure it all out and master the art of making — and sustaining — money. Now, what do you do with it?

In other words…

What do you truly want in life?

Not for others and their approval, but for yourself. Trust me, money cannot possibly answer this question for you — it can only help you act on your own answers.

See, money is an amplifier. What it does is amplify what is already inside of you — or what is missing.

If you are confused and have no idea of what you want in life and what makes you happy, money can’t solve that question for you — although it could support you by giving you the luxury of stepping back and connecting to yourself (if so you choose). That’s one reason why many people run away from success — they don’t know what they want, and just don’t know what to do with it.

Now, if you have a vision, a dream, and you know how you want to live: fantastic! Finally, you can use the money to amplify your vision and make your dream real. At the same time, if you lack the courage to work on it and embrace what you want (say you are scared of people judging you) now you won’t be able to hide from the fact you got the money, but not the guts.

If you have clarity, money is a valuable resource to manifest what you want — but for that, you need to know what you want and own it.

Money is certainly not the only medium and resource at our disposal to manifest our visions, but it certainly is an amplifier.

If you want money to have more impact on your activities, to help more people, to create better solutions to improve your life and projects, or to support your loved ones, then money will allow you to do that.

If you only wanted money out of fear, and you lived scared of poverty, if you don’t do something about that fear, regardless of the money, you will just keep being afraid — saving, investing, and hoarding, for money will amplify your fear. Now you have more to lose.

Living from Joy vs Living from Fear

Here is a huge key to turn to improve our lives: most of us, most of our time, are not chasing joy and fulfillment. We are just running away from discomfort and pain.

Think about it. You’ve been craving that chocolate pie the whole day. You finally order it, taste the first bite, and from the second bite onwards you are watching something on your phone, talking to a friend, or thinking about something else. You’ve been “craving” this the whole day, and now that you have it you don’t even rejoice in it. In fact, you barely taste it.

This brings the key reflection: were you really craving it out of pursuing gratification, fulfillment, and satisfaction — or was it uncomfortable to want something you did not have, and the “going for it” was about seizing the discomfort of a craving?

Let’s face it. If we strive for joy, we would be much better at it. Yet, life for many of us seems quite bland. That’s because we just want to minimize pain — and so that’s what we are good at.

What we practice is what grows in our lives

That’s why we are clueless about what we want, and think we want a bunch of stuff just to please others, for social status and the like: we are running away from the discomfort of not being liked and esteemed. Also, that’s why when we get those things, it is not that fulfilling for long: cause it was never about joy, it was about stopping feeling small and uncomfortable.

That’s unconscious, of course, as we don’t like to tell ourselves that — understandably. It’s fine, we all do it, all the time — we feel pain/discomfort, and we do something to get out of that situation. Who wants to feel pain?

That’s why in personal development and spiritual growth we talk so much about healing. Because unconsciously these inner invisible pains lead us to coping actions that are far from the possible ecstasy of life.

A life on autopilot, of unconscious reactions to discomfort, is a small life.

This is so subtle, for it is the very invisible root of our actions, and that is what dictates the experiences of our lives.

The issue here, the key to turn in everyday life, is to be more aware of joy: acknowledge what fulfills us and put energy on that instead.

Stop reacting to discomfort. Start proactively acting on joy.

Doing so takes a lot of self-awareness.

Now, how does that relate to financial wealth? As long as we are not surrendering to our joy, to our dreams, to what we love, there’s a big chance we will amplify something that is not as tasty as it might look at first.

But if you know what brings you authentic joy, money will get to amplify that. Wouldn’t that be great? Now we are talking about living the life of our dreams — whatever your personal authentic dreams and visions are.

Again, money is an amplifier, a catalyst that grows what is inside of you. What is inside of you is your motives, your invisible drivers, your confusion, your wounds – or your clarity and love.

Freedom to Be Yourself

If you are an expressive person, who loves arts and music, money will provide you with a bigger opportunity to do more of what you love. If you love radical sports, now you will be able to go on those dream trips and get the equipment you couldn’t possibly afford before.

When lacking money we choose many options that are not what we truly want — we just don’t see how to go for what we would absolutely love.

Money allows us to express ourselves, which is probably its greatest gift: all those times lack of money seemed to restrict us from simply being us.

Ultimately, money gives you even more freedom to be who you truly are — which is fantastic if you know who you are, and a bummer if you are clueless and full of emotional sores.

If you know who you are and what you love, money will amplify your ability to be you and to live a life you love.

That also means that if you are not well, and if you are self-destructive, money will give you a way to destroy yourself even deeper.

Exactly because of that, money is a great teacher, for it makes it harder for us to run away from our debts to ourselves.

Money shows us what is inside of us in a bigger way, a way we can’t avoid. It makes our solutions grander — but also makes our unresolved issues more unbearable.

Money or no money, as human beings with free will, we can always choose to not do anything about our problems, and keep repeating our same painful patterns — or, we can decide to change and do something about it, to expand love and authentic joy within our lives.

So, what is inside of you?

What do you want — for personal joy and fulfillment?