During a lunchtime webinar hosted by The Chopra Center, bestselling author and life coach, Martha Beck, spoke on how to create abundance that lasts – and what stands in the way of this goal for most people. She will be teaching alongside Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson this November at The Chopra Center’s signature meditation and yoga retreat, Seduction of the Spirit.

“Each of us has in our brains a very deep part called the reptilian brain, and it’s only job is to keep us alive by making us afraid,” Beck shared during the webinar. “The two things it fears I call ‘lack and attack’. It’s afraid something is going to happen to me, and it’s afraid there won’t be enough.”

Because of the structure of our brains, the feeling of not having enough is very dominant, and we back it up by telling ourselves stories about the lack of resources in our world, she said. We work ourselves up into a panic, and when we try to create abundance from a state of panic, it requires extra steps to get us there.

“The way I like to look at it is the universe answers all your requests and prayers for abundance, and it answers them immediately, but it sends all the good stuff to your real home address,” she noted. “And your real home address is peace . . . a state of being where you know there is enough and you are at peace.”

The problem most of us face is trying to manifest abundance while staying attached to the state of panic. When we are in panic, “we are not home,” and so we can’t access the abundance the universe is sending, said Beck. The key to reverse this is to dissolve our disbelief that abundance is possible.

“It’s where people believe they can get abundance that it comes,” she said.

Dissolving Disbelief
Beck told the story of growing up with a father who was a professor, and how she became one herself because after seeing her father do it, she believed it was possible. However, it took her years of personal growth work to become a successful author because she had not seen that modeled for her growing up. She needed to work on her disbelief.

Being a professor – although it was in line with her beliefs – was not her true path, and she eventually became bored by it. What reignited her passion was the thought of writing a book. After a friend suggested she read something just for fun, she picked up “Jurassic Park” at the supermarket and stayed up all night reading it.

“It came to me that I wanted to write books that people read for fun, and I knew that was what I wanted in a very deep way . . .  it was so strong I burst into tears,” she shared. “Then I had to start mining my past for anything that would help me believe I could succeed as an author.”

This process was not an easy one because there was so much telling her she would not succeed. So she went back to old papers she wrote where people commented she was a good writer, and continued to “focus intensely” on every experience she could remember to help her believe she could succeed as an author.

“It took me years, but I think it can take people much less,” she said.

The Emptying Process
In order to receive abundance, sometimes we need to make space for it. Beck compared this to an elevator filled with people. It can’t open to fill up with more people until those on the elevator get out. The same is true with abundance. It can’t flow into our lives if we are already full. There needs to be an emptying process.

“The first thing you have to do is clean out your mind of the clutter from thoughts of fear and disbelief in your ability to succeed,” she said. “Even if you can’t start earning money today, I guarantee you can start cleaning out and getting rid of stuff. You can do that even if you don’t have one penny.”

The first thing a person notices as they begin to empty themselves of the fear and beliefs holding them back is a mood of abundance and the ability to think of a time when abundance flowed more easily to them, she explained. After a while, it begin to affect the way a person behaves, and they begin to behave like someone who lives in abundance. This will then attract others who like abundance, and opportunities to give one more abundance, she explained.

“Have patience until the process results ultimately in the money, love and satisfaction you set out to achieve, but know you get lots and lots of rewards along the way and it starts immediately,” Beck noted. “This is how you know you are on track. It feels good all the way.”

The key is to begin believing and imagining it’s possible. If we can’t imagine it, we won’t try it, she said.

“The whole abundance game is about believing and disbelieving. We always try to add the belief that we can succeed, but the problem is the elevator is full of beliefs about not succeeding,” Beck explained. “What you are working with is a set of beliefs that are like clutter in a house, and you need to start to declutter. You can always throw things out, even if you don’t know how to get new stuff.”