Financial Hardship and the Soul

 

Many people have been taught to believe that if they are suffering from prolonged financial hardship, it is because they have not cleared from their karmic and historical reservoir, beliefs about scarcity. Such beliefs can include several fundamental ideas: 1) that the Universe will not provide for them because it does not care, 2) that the present collective external reality of financial downturn means there is not enough of jobs, money, resources to go around, 3) that one does not deserve success or wealth. There are other ideas connected with beliefs about 'scarcity', but these three are held by a great many people.

For those awake spiritually, thought and intention are often invoked so that positive beliefs replace negative ones, and so that one strives through the expression of positive energy to attract to oneself the financial wealth and resources that are needed. Often, this shift makes a significant difference. But sometimes it does not, and it is easy to think one is doing something wrong when financial hardship persists.

The perspective of personal error can be painful and enduring when no explanation can be found of why hardship persists despite one's best efforts, intentions, and positive beliefs. Especially in such a situation is it important to know that many souls have determined, prior to incarnating, to come to the Earth during a time of darkness and contraction when inner light does not meet outer light but rather meets only obstacles. Such souls have often agreed to be a point of light in the darkness, and a point of faith and trust during a time of severe challenge. They do this in part for their own personal learning, but also and more importantly in order to uphold an energy of love, trust, and truth for the benefit of the Earth.

Souls who have chosen to serve in this way may not know it consciously. They may only feel the pain of limitation. Nevertheless, their service lies in their being, itself, in the light and hope that they carry despite very difficult outer challenges.

For those experiencing limitation in this way, it is centrally important to feel connected to spiritual purpose - the purpose that lies behind one's having accepted difficult circumstances in life - and to release ideas of 'having done something wrong'. This may not immediately change the financial picture, though embracing trust and purpose are powerful forces for change. However, even if the situation were to continue for a while, it would no longer seem like the obstacles were of one's own making, but rather that a place within the self that was strong and pure had chosen to engage with these obstacles by coming to the Earth during a time of contraction in order to be a point of light in the darkness. This perception, and the understanding that the force of expanding light is having a progressive effect on the Earth in lifting the contraction, can lead to a deeper sense of courage and connection. Such courage and connection, no matter what the external situation, is a direct manifestation of the presence of the soul.