Wealth Beyond Money: Embracing True Abundance
If I ask you, "Are you abundant?" what is the first thing that comes to mind? You will probably answer based on your financial situation, your status, or your material possessions. But what if we explore the meaning of wealth in a more holistic manner? This blog is an invitation to see wealth from a different perspective. It is an invitation to develop a broader view of what true wealth is really about.
We have learned what wealth and abundance are from a very young age. The beliefs and ideas surrounding this concept are very unidirectional; there isn’t much room to look at wealth from a different perspective than money since it is the only way we really seem to be able to measure wealth on a collective scale. Our collective beliefs about wealth all point to the same kind of wealth, and unfortunately, most of us didn’t get the chance to relate to it from a different angle. My life experiences, blended with some metaphysical and philosophical concepts, allowed me to tap into different realities of abundance and wealth.
My perception of abundance has changed dramatically throughout the years. As a kid, I remember very vividly the first impressions I had about what abundance was, which is very similar to how most of us grew up attributing abundance to money. I grew up in a family, social circle, and overall environment that constantly reinforced the idea that people with nice cars, houses, and shiny material possessions were abundant. As a consequence of this narrow view, I grew up with the belief that I wasn’t abundant. Money was always a struggle within my family; it was the root of most of the problems and conflicts within my family circle. So, from a very young age, I came in touch with the scarce reality that was being manifested in my circle. However, that wasn’t the major issue. The main issue was that in my environment, there wasn’t only a lack of monetary resources but also a lack of awareness of what abundance truly was. The abundance narrative was extremely unidirectional. It wasn’t only about not having external resources but also that there weren’t people in my close circle talking about all the other sources of abundance available to us. There was a scarcity mentality in my parents' beliefs that probably came from my grandparents, and now they were being installed and conditioned into me. Growing up with such a limiting belief system around abundance and wealth could have negatively impacted my future life in many ways, as it does with many people. But luckily, a thirst for expanding my perspectives arose in me at a very young age.
(I should mention that all of these beliefs were 100% unconscious, and nobody in my family meant any harm by giving them to me. It was all happening at a subtle and subconscious level. There was no bad intention, and just as they gave me limiting beliefs in some aspects of life, they also gave me very expansive beliefs in other areas. For the sake of this post, I am focusing on the abundance aspect.)
This interest in broadening my perspectives and challenging some of the ideas and notions I was made to believe allowed me to delve into a broad spectrum of ideas and perceptions. I started reading many spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical, and self-development books. I remember at a very young age, perhaps 14 years old, buying a book called "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. I remember not wanting to tell my dad I was reading the book. As I was reading the book and started to reflect and internalize some of the ideas, I was trying to purposely open dialogues with my dad about the relationship with money, just to see how much contrast and comparison there was between the ideas I was learning from the book and the ideas my dad had, which were very subconsciously integrated into me. The more I asked him about certain aspects of abundance, the more I realized that his narrative was completely opposed to that of the "rich dad" in the book. I quickly realized that there was something wrong with the way I had come to relate to abundance and wealth. It was a very eye-opening moment. I thought, "Wow, there are really other realities going on here, other psychological traits to develop, and many other ways to interact with abundance." To be honest, I can’t even remember much about that book; that particular book wasn’t of real importance. What was important was what reading the book at that time symbolized to me and meant to me at a deeper level. The realization that from that moment on, I could be totally in charge and could reconstruct my belief systems in order to live a life of more abundance and fulfillment. I realized that I didn’t need to keep acting out the same beliefs and could create ones that served me better.
This was when I was around 14 or 15 years old. Even though I was in an ongoing process of changing my beliefs around abundance, I was still very young, and grasping abundance beyond money was still a challenge, especially at that age when I was still financially dependent on my parents. But soon, I started getting in touch with other types of abundance. At the age of 16, I left the country for good. I almost had no money, but I was starting to see other forms of abundance that allowed me to open big life opportunities. Creativity and synchronicities started to show up in my life. I started to get certain opportunities in life that normally you would think you can only get through money. I remember at 16, my dad told me there was no money to keep pursuing a tennis career and that I had to retire. In that moment, I started thinking about the different ways that I could potentially keep playing without having to pay for an expensive tennis academy. I contacted an Argentinian tennis coach by email, who I knew liked how I played and had faith in me and my tennis. He was working in a tennis academy in Rio de Janeiro. I explained in great detail what was going on in my life and asked him to give me a hand, to talk with the owner of the tennis academy to see if there was any possibility to go there with a scholarship. A few weeks passed, and I got the confirmation. My dad was extremely confused; he couldn't believe I found a way to keep pursuing my dream without having to spend money. This situation was just the start of seeing wealth from different eyes. I was now embarking on a journey to Brazil that normally would cost a lot of money, and I was going there by being able to express another form of freedom.
That was the start of a crazy sequence of synchronistic events in my life. Events that from the outside may seem to require a lot of money to achieve, but in most of those events, money was barely available. I was starting to get in touch with other forms of abundance that were allowing me to keep moving forward without the limitations of the only form of abundance that we grow up believing in: money.
All of this was happening at a very young age. I still didn’t fully understand or have a concrete mental framework about what was going on. I just knew that I was moving in the right direction and being able to achieve many of the crazy dreams that I once had. Now, with a more metaphysical understanding of the things I was going through, it is obvious to me that the greatest form of abundance in life was something I was constantly experiencing at that stage in my life. And that abundance was an abundance of excitement, an abundance of feeling enthusiastic and driven to pursue my higher purposes and dreams. Following our highest excitement is the highest form of abundance. Now, I see it as a fact that when we follow our passion, when we follow our bliss, doors open where we didn’t know there were doors, as Joseph Campbell famously
said. When you follow that inner guide, that inner fire, we don’t even need money because when you are truly acting from that genuine and authentic feeling of passion and alignment to what makes you click in life, all the other forms of abundance are called to be manifested in your reality. The right people show up at the right moments to help you take life to the next level; synchronicities and divine help start arriving from all directions, often in ways that your rational mind could never predict. It's as if the universe is conspiring for you to keep achieving your higher goals. Money becomes a very limited aspect of abundance as there are so many other forms of abundance that start showing up. I know these concepts may sound very strange and abstract for some people, but for those who have connected with this realm, they know this is more tangible than anything else.
Years kept going by, and this reality about the different types of abundance and wealth we can experience in life became so crystallized in my life, so real. So many incredible opportunities came my way that I never believed possible in the past because I thought you needed so much money to make certain things possible. Life gave me the opportunity to embrace these other forms of abundance and have experiences I never thought possible, such as spending weeks in a water bungalow in the Maldives, doing a three-month camper van trip around Australia, seeing wild mountain gorillas in the African jungle, supporting non-profit organizations in Uganda, traveling to over 70 countries around the world, and many other crazy experiences that I wouldn’t have been able to have with the limited belief system that the only form of abundance is money. The purpose of this isn’t to brag about my life but to serve as proof that things can be achieved from other sources of abundance. It is an invitation to question your relationship with abundance and reflect on how many forms of abundance you are igniting in your life. Abundance is following your bliss; abundance is being creative; abundance is being resourceful; abundance is creating a meaningful web of connections; abundance is knowing about cultures; abundance is speaking languages; abundance is being flexible and adaptable. Abundance and true wealth are found when we are in love with life. When these types of abundance are part of our lives, we start vibrating so high that all the people and experiences that show up in your life match that frequency. I wish you abundance in your life.
Much love, Matias