There is not a lack of abundance in the universe.

It was designed with all that is needed. The challenge is to change your dream with respect to abundance and the roll of abundance in your life.

Very often in our lives, we feel like we are lacking what we need – whether it's money, time, energy, love, compassion, understanding, happiness, etc. However, there isn't a lack of abundance in the universe. Nature never lacks for what it needs in its natural, harmonious system. Because the world was created in a state of abundance and harmony, you can tap into this same state of being. Your challenge begins with changing your dream with respect to abundance and what abundance means to you.

The first stage is to change your worldview. Our western worldview is dominated by the concept of scarcity —scarcity of natural resources for our insatiable demands, scarcity of food for those starving in other countries, scarcity of time to spend with our children and loved ones, scarcity of money to pay off our credit card debt, etc. —this is the common worldview as is evident by listening to the evening news. However, the more you concentrate on what you lack, the more you cannot see what you have. Essentially what you focus on grows.

What does it mean to change your worldview? It means to change your perception of your world. Perhaps you think that you’re not good enough, or not thin enough, or not healthy enough, or not wealthy enough, or some other variation of these "not enough" views. Rather than tell yourself that you don't have enough of something, be grateful for what you do have. Instead turn these inner conversations around to being grateful for what you do you have. Instead realize that you’re good enough in many areas of your life, that you have food to eat, that you're alive and healthy in many ways, and that you have money to pay for things like a computer and internet connection to read these tips.

The daily exercise for this month is to write down every day what you are grateful for by completing the following sentences with as many ideas as occur to you:

I am grateful for...

I acknowledge and/or praise myself for...

Throughout the month, every day, keep up this journal of abundance and gratitude. Please do not underestimate the simplicity of this exercise. Changing your worldview can begin with seemingly simple exercises that change the conversations of scarcity that go on in your head. As you focus on what you have rather than what you do not have, you might find that you have all you need. You might find that you do not need some things you believe you do or could do with less.

With practice, you will change those inner conversations to ones of abundance rather than scarcity. Because the more you focus on scarcity, then that is all you have. The change in perception and change in focus will change your world. If instead, you focus on abundance and gratitude, then you have that in your life. What you focus on grows. What do you want to focus on?

For more about changing your dream, see this month's book suggestion: The World is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes by John Perkins (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books © 1994)

Next Month: Recognizing abundance – It’s more than money.