The Seat of Prosperity

The heart is the seat of prosperity. If one's prosperity is achieved without an open heart, one will still feel poor. No matter how much is accumulated on any level, something will be missing.

What needs to be fully appreciated for prosperity to manifest is the way of the heart in the world, the way of giving and receiving. The basic movement of the heart is mirrored by the in breath and the out breath; the inhale receives from life and the exhale offers itself back to life.

Receiving is conspicuously absent from our lives. Notice how most people react to compliments, for example, it is not unusual for any of us to shy away from them, saying - often with our body language - that we are unworthy of receiving such recognition. On the other hand we might be so starved for support that we are continually seeking new ways to market ourselves, thrusting ourselves on people whether they would benefit from our gifts or not.

Both sides of this polarity indicate an inability to receive. Receiving has to do with having a fundamental openness toward experience, a willingness to accept all that life has to offer - the good and the so-called bad. Often we do not allow ourselves to receive because we have not developed a strong, centered ground. We simply cannot hold the energy of bounty. We are bowled over by heightened spiritual experiences or by perceptions of "too much" money, authority, responsibility, and so forth. In order to receive we must begin at the root, establishing ourselves in our fullness and in our right and need to be exactly who and where we are.

Receiving can operate on many levels. We can learn to receive praise or constructive criticism; we can allow ourselves to accept money, beauty, and affection, as well as quality friendships and quality items, not feeling unworthy or awkward at participating in all of life's treasures.

Receiving also involves accepting rejection and pain without blocking it out and forming judgments that will not allow us to transform the energy. When it is our time to drink from the cup of poison, we can drink it completely. In this way we receive the impact, and hence the wisdom, of the experience. In the midst of our darkness we then find a jewel forming, a treasure that is ours to share because we have allowed it to form through our genuine openness. If we are unwilling to open to rejection, criticism, or illness, we waste much energy trying to push these things away and are therefore constantly in a defensive position.

In order to receive such gifts, we must be convinced of our innate goodness and value. We must believe that we are inherently worthy.

Finally, in order to receive we must give, for giving opens up our field and steps up the flowing circuit of prosperity. But in order to give, we must believe that we have something to give.

~Rick Jarrow

NOTE: So this explains why the project on giving was no where near as effective as we had hoped. It's because first we have to be on the receiving end! It makes so much more sense now!