I had a conversation with my daughter about her experience with abundance. She’d set an intention last year to call in abundance—abundance of joy, creativity, and all the good things life has to offer. But as she shared with me, that’s not exactly what showed up.
“Mom, I got abundance,” she said, “but it wasn’t what I imagined. It was an abundance of stress, unexpected challenges, and heavy emotions. It feels like life gave me everything at once, and I didn’t know how to handle it.”
I listened as she poured out her heart, and I could feel the weight she was carrying. Setting an intention for abundance can be a beautiful act of hope, but when you’re already feeling vulnerable, it can feel like life throws you into a storm instead of delivering the calm, flowing river you envisioned.
She admitted that in her weakened state, channeling the right energy to guide that abundance felt impossible. “It’s like I’m manifesting abundance, but in the wrong direction.”
We talked about how abundance isn’t always what we expect. Life can take that intention and stretch it in every direction, offering lessons we didn’t ask for. It can feel overwhelming, even unfair. But it’s in those moments—the ones where we’re confronted with what we didn’t want—that we have the chance to decide what abundance really means to us.
I shared that abundance is about more than receiving. It’s also about sifting—deciding what to hold onto and what to let go of. You don’t have to carry everything that comes your way.
We talked about her power to set boundaries, even with abundance. To slow down and reflect:
– What does she want to welcome?
– What does she need to release?
I reminded her that abundance isn’t just about material things or ease. It’s about life showing up in its fullness, sometimes messy and uncomfortable, asking us to grow.
We also laughed a little, imagining life as a cheeky force saying, “Oh, you want abundance? Here’s a whole pile of everything! Have fun with that!”
By the end of our conversation, she seemed lighter. Not because the challenges had disappeared, but because she could see them differently—not as failures of her intention, but as opportunities to refine it.
“I’m going to call it intentional abundance,” she said. “I still want abundance, but I want it to align with what strengthens me, not what overwhelms me.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
So now, I find myself reflecting on our conversation and wondering how many of us are carrying abundance that doesn’t feel quite right. How many of us are overwhelmed by what we once wished for?
If you’ve found yourself in a similar place, know this: you have the power to sift, to choose, and to shape abundance into something that truly serves you.
If abundance has been showing up in unexpected ways for you, how are you choosing to meet it? What’s one small step you can take to align it with what truly serves you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash
