Conscious Choice: Abundance Step by Step

July 2000

Abundance Step by Step

by Julie Winsberg

"My name is Beth, and I am prosperous!" Beth goes on to share a chain of events that anchor her belief in her own prosperity. Having worked in the advertising field for close to thirty years, the long hours and deadline pressure had taken their toll. She had felt as if her soul were dying. So she meditated, prayed, and opened herself up to whatever the universe had to offer. In that surrender, the possibility of creating her own business formed. Consciously working to let go of old, fear-based patterns and using the principles of prosperity she had learned, Beth gained the courage to actually quit her job and work full-time from her home.

Shortly after she and her students collected seventy-five dollars for the Red Cross to spend on victims in Bosnia, Candace found that the money her middle-school students raised had been stolen. She struggled to apply the principles of prosperity to this, to see the lesson in what had happened. The next week, the lesson was clear. When they heard about the theft, the parents of the students got together and raised even more than the original amount. Prosperity, Candace saw, was not money, but positive action taken and the inner feeling of gratitude created.

Every season, between fifty and a hundred people gather at Unity in Chicago once a week for an intensive twelve-week course in which they identify, examine, and perhaps change their unconscious patterns concerning prosperity. They deal with their relationships to money, family and other people, health, jobs, and their dreams.

Created in 1988 by Unity Minister Stretton Smith, the "4Ts Prosperity Program" is modeled after the twelve-step program of recovery. It is based on the idea that people can be "addicted" to old beliefs of lack and limitation. To prompt a "recovery" from these counter-productive beliefs, participants in the program use affirmations, practical behavioral suggestions, prayer, pattern-altering techniques, and quotes and ideas from various prosperity mentors. Participants in the program make a commitment to "Tithing of Time, Talent and Treasure (for Prosperity and the Fullness of Life)." Giving and being of service are central to the class, which has been formulated as a training program for living life to the fullest. It’s a popular formula; the class is now being offered in Unity Churches around the globe.

The Four Ts

One thing that separates this class from other self-help programs is its conspicuous independence from literal thinking. For example, we saw that the first of the four Ts is tithing. Participants may take this proscription literally and tithe by giving ten percent of their income to the church or some other cause. But they can also tithe their time, energy, or skills. The point is not money, nor even giving, but shifting one’s focus from fear to faith, from self-preservation to trust that there will, in the future, be more money, time, or talent.

In fact, a basic practice in the course is for people to see themselves as prosperous. Participants listen for the sound of themselves whining about their luck or complaining about what they can’t afford. The principle is that if see yourself as limited, limitations will occur. If you see yourself as prosperous, however, you make room for abundance. Smith points to a study at the University of Chicago in which three groups of students shot basketballs through a hoop. The first group shot a few baskets and was told to forget about the test and come back in thirty days. The second group was told to practice shooting baskets for one hour each day for the next thirty days. The third group was told to imagine shooting baskets for an hour each day for thirty days. When tested again, there was no change in the ability of the first group to shoot baskets. The students who actually practiced improved their ability by 24 percent. The students who imagined shooting baskets improved, too — by 23 percent. Changing their thoughts changed their performance. This class is an exercise in apply those results broadly, in other areas of life.

Bonnie’s experience working with the 4Ts has altered her life profoundly. The twelve-week course helped her understand and formulate what prosperity really meant to her in regards to money, jobs, and relationships. With visualization, prayer, and a serious commitment to change, she was able to identify and shift old patterns that kept her from moving in the direction she desired. Realizing her true worth, she was able to gain clarity on the kind of partner she wanted to draw into her life and engage in a new relationship. She also left a bad work situation and is now working happily at a job she loves.

Albert Einstein once said that, "the significant problems that we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." In accordance with that philosophy, this course works to shift something deep inside. It creates an environment in which the mind and the heart can work together in harmony and create new opportunities — in abundance.

The next 4Ts class at Unity is Saturday, September 23 from 10:00 am to noon. Unity in Chicago, 1925 W. Thome Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660; 773-973-0007.

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