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In Part 1 of this blog, I shared with you the first 3 Stages to a Fruitful Life.
You know, the kind of life where you get to follow your passions, share your unique gifts with the world, and enjoy a life of abundance, freedom and choice in the process.
You can read Part 1 here.
Putting the first three stages in place in my life was enough to help me avoid imminent bankruptcy in 2008, and to turn things around fast.
My business partner and I went from a situation of being about $3 million dollars in debt to having the debt fully paid off and about $3 million dollars in cash in the bank, in a period of 4 short years. That was a $6 million dollar turnaround in our business! So the crisis situation was well and truly averted.
But to really flourish and grow the kind of life I wanted, for the rest of my life, there were two more stages for me to attend to.
And they are…
Stage 4 – The Leaves
The Leaves of your Tree of Abundance represent knowledge and action in the world.
Once I had done the foundational work of the first 3 stages, I started to seek out knowledge and training that would support me in creating the life of freedom, choice and abundance that I truly desired.
I’m not necessarily talking about the ‘traditional’ kind of knowledge like going to college or getting a degree – I’d already done that in my roller-coaster gain and loss cycle (I’d previously spent 9 years at university, and that was not the answer).
I discovered that seeking knowledge (Stage 4) before doing the foundational work of the first 3 stages often leads to fruitless effort… to investing in the wrong kind of knowledge and taking the wrong kind of actions. And that’s usually because we’re acquiring knowledge and taking actions based on other people’s ideas about what a success path looks like. But their ‘path’ may not suit our own unique gifts and abilities.
A lot of people want to jump to the knowledge and action part first. And we’re encouraged to do that – set a goal, make a plan, take action. But often that’s like watering the leaves of a tree. It’s not the most efficient use of resources.
In my case, I spent 9 years studying finance, statistics and mathematics at university. All useful stuff, but it didn’t exactly light a fire in my soul. It turns out that my REAL calling was more about learning the inner workings of my subconscious mind, and sharing what I learned with as many people as possible, coaching, teaching, and writing… as I’m doing here. This is what lights me up and makes me want to jump out of bed in the morning.
How can you even set a good goal when we don’t know what you really want? How can you enact a good plan when your conflicting subconscious beliefs keep sabotaging your best efforts?
A lot of people don’t stop to ask themselves these vital questions.
Water the roots. Fertilise the soil. Protect the trunk of your tree of abundance… and the leaves will take care of themselves. Trust me on this, even though I know it might be hard for you to believe it right now.
You don’t have to tell a tree to grow leaves once the right foundational elements are in place, do you? Similarly, in your own life, once you get the foundations set correctly then the ‘right’ knowledge and the ‘right’ actions will reveal themselves to you.
When you’ve done the foundational work of tending to the roots, soil and trunk of your Tree of Abundance, then the right knowledge and the right actions will become obvious to you. They’ll show up naturally like the leaves on a tree. They’ll just kind of ‘appear’.
If you haven’t done the first 3 stages yet, then you’re probably not going to know what I’m talking about. Just trust me on this… stop wasting your time watering the leaves.
Stage 5 – The Fruit
The Fruit of your Tree of Abundance will depend entirely on how well you’ve tended to the first 4 stages of growth.
Everyone gets fruit of some sort. The question is: are you getting the fruit you want? Another way of saying this is the way my friend Dr. Sherry Buffington put it in my film The Abundance Code – “Everyone has an abundance of something… it’s just that many people have an abundance of things they don’t want.”
If you want your life to be filled with freedom, choice and an abundance of opportunity… then like any good gardener, it’s going to help you enormously to understand the 5 stages of growth.
When I was able to tend to these stages of growth in the right way and in the right order, my Tree of Abundance flourished. I avoided bankruptcy and my finances completely turned around. I was able to achieve a level of financial freedom I had never even dreamed of before. I also was able to create a wonderful work/life balance.
An unprecedented freedom of opportunity and expression took root in my life, leading to me writing a book called The Abundance Code: How to Bust the 7 Money Myths for a Rich Life Now (you can get it on Amazon here), landing an amazing publishing deal with Hay House, directing an inspiring documentary interviewing leading world experts on the topic of abundance (also called The Abundance Code), and writing a weekly blog.
When you get all 5 Stages to a Fruitful Life really happening in your life, then not only do you create abundance for yourself, but you also spread that abundant way of being around in a way that benefits the world. It’s contagious in the best possible way.
For me, this is what has happened as a result of doing this work: no longer a bonsai, I can say that my Tree of Abundance is now a mighty tree that provides shade and fruit for myself, my family and others as well. And it continues to grow. I’m able to share my knowledge, support charitable causes, and be a more loving member of my family and my community. I’m resilient. I’m much better at caring for myself and others. And I have the tools to overcome my own internal belief blocks and challenges, which I continue to work on uncovering and re-programming.
It’s a journey… mine is not over yet, and while I’m still on it, I plan to enjoy it!
As always, let me know in the comments if this post has helped you in any way.
To YOUR Abundance,
Julie Ann Cairns
P.S. This article first appeared in LivingNow Magazine. You can access that here
