There are many times when we, as individuals, get “caught up” in the thinking that having a certain amount of money in our bank account will somehow make everything in our lives OK – that it will fix everything and all will be well and glorious when we have the money we want.

Granted, money can buy a lot of things. It can provide us with the security and safety we need to be well and warm. It can give our children a better education and a better chance at life. It can allow us to experience the true pleasure we desire for our lives.

But money truly is not everything. It’s certainly a lot and very important for many reasons, but it just isn’t everything, no matter how you look at it. Money can’t buy healthy relationships or create balance in your life or wipe away the true source of your depression. Yes, it can help those things for a time, but it won’t get to the root source of fixing any of them. It takes real work to do that.

And maybe that’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid when we place a price on our happiness and set an amount that we want to see in our bank accounts – facing the hard issues and questions. Because the unfortunate truth is that it’s a heck of a lot easier to go shopping or out to dinner than it is to face the reality of what needs to be fixed in our lives.

And the irony there is that once we do face our problems and move beyond them, which is the one thing we DON’T want to do at the time, we’re in a heck of a lot better place mentally and emotionally and we automatically attract better things into our lives as a result, including money and better opportunities. But at the time, our desire for the money almost acts as an escape mechanism, allowing us to avoid dealing with our issue until we have “enough” money to feel like we are in a good enough place to deal with them.

So in actuality, aren’t we really robbing ourselves from experiencing TRUE ABUNDANCE by only going after the money? Aren’t we missing out on what should be a full, joyous, wonderful, healthy, happy, abundant life by denying ourselves to move beyond our need for ONLY the money?

Instead, what about wanting more fulfilling and healthy relationships, the home of your dreams, the perfect family? What about just plain feeling amazing every day? Being filled with a sense of wonder and excitement when you wake up each day because you know you are fulfilling your purpose and expressing WHO YOU ARE to the world to the fullest extent possible and even more each day?

If you ask me, too many of us don’t focus enough on creating and allowing this balance into our lives, and as a result, I truly think we are missing out on fully experiencing abundance in our lives, what it REALLY means and what it can do for us because we’re too busy focusing on how much money we have or want.

So take a moment and ask yourself … “What does abundance mean to you?”