People living in poverty is truly heartbreaking.
Just the thought of babies dying of hunger, people contracting preventable diseases and young girls being trafficked as sex slaves sends most compassionate hearts into a tailspin of gut wrenching empathy.
How can this happen?
With the work that I do helping people to build wealth, attract abundance and manifest their desires, I sometimes notice an inner conflict within people wondering how they can thrive in a world of suffering.
It poses the question that if we do indeed create our own reality, then why do people choose to be born into suffering, into poverty, into violence or into disease?
Variations of this question tends to pop up in comment threads or prosperity affirmations that I share:
How can I believe in manifesting (and The Law of Attraction) when the world is suffering?
Do people attract violent crimes? Does a baby intentionally choose to be born to a terminally ill mother? Did I manifest my cancer? Why does war manifest?
This topic is heavy. It can also potentially trigger annoyance and disbelief in the powers of the Universe – that we as human beings have the consciousness to construct the fabric of our own reality.
What I want to offer here is my perspective on this issue. This is my own unique take on the energetics of this hefty subject. This doesn’t mean it’s doctrine or truth – it’s just my own version. So with that in mind, I encourage you to feel your own way into alignment with it and see if it resonates.
Here are the tools that I use in order to ‘remember’ the spiritual aspect of suffering and honor all beings for the life journey they have been destined to play out.
Remember Gratitude
There are over 7 BILLION people on this planet and most of them live in poverty. This doesn’t mean we also deserve to stunt our own abundance. In fact, if anything, creating wealth consciously means that we are able to help and impact more people and more lives.
Gratitude is a way to be thankful for our lives and to remember that others can have a much tougher time out there in the world.
We all have different starting points that can get better or worse depending on what shows up in our reality. There are people that live in extreme poverty and their levels of gratitude, spirituality and consciousness are much more dialled in than people that have ‘first world problems’.
Remember Perspective
People that are born into a specific situation don’t know any differently – you included. This is the beauty of life – that there is so much contrast. We all enter this planet with our own pre-designed destiny and sacred contract. We all play our role from our own specific vantage point.
Remember Oneness
We are all part of the same consciousness. There is no separation, we are all human beings in our unity. We are also spiritual beings having a physical experience.
Remember Grace
Suffering is the way that the human spirit evolves. It’s an act of freedom to rise above the adversity and know that the way we perceive a situation can contribute to wellbeing. What we might see as suffering could be perfectly normal to someone else. Remember that God or The Universe never gives a person more than they can handle.
Remember Consciousness
You have a choice to bring light to what your role is in the world. Choose to see the beauty. Choose to see the possibility, the wonder and the bigger picture. When you act from a place of conscious awareness from wherever you have come from in life then you have something to be grateful for.
Remember the Power of Giving
You really can’t help everyone, as much as your heart bleeds for the world, you just can’t. The best thing you can do is help where you can in manageable ways. It doesn’t have to be a sizeable check or building a school or anything fancy. You can help eradicate suffering by donating clothes to charity, donating time to a local organization or supporting a fabulous charity like Kiva.org that empowers entrepreneurs in third-world countries with micro-loans. You even get your money back or you can choose to re-invest.
You can join my lending team here if you feel inspired.
In summary, you should never feel guilty that you were born into a beautiful life because every life is a miracle.
It’s all about perspective. It’s all about Oneness. It’s all about remembering to be grateful for everything that shows up in our lives because as much as thoughts become things. The Universe or God signs off on it all for the ultimate expansion of your soul and the awakening of our planet.
Do you agree? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know, so please feel free to comment below. xo
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(LAW OF ATTRACTION BOOSTER KIT): If you’d like to know how to really set a powerful intention and help it to manifest faster, then you might love my Ancient Manifesting Ritual. This is part of the deep work that I did in order to clear my past and move forward into the future, one present moment at a time.
I believe you made some good points. Other people’s perspective of their life situation is just that. It is how they view it. If they are happy and feel that they are fulfilling their destiny then that is fantastic. On the other side of that is, like you said, giving back. It doesn’t have to be money. It could be teaching, as we both have chosen to do. Teaching people their powers, teaching them oneness and enlightenment. As long as we are always serving, there is nothing wrong with attracting abundance. It is the greed that gets us into trouble.
Good words, Sarah
Love and light,
Tara – soullifeblog.com
Hi Tara – I think you hit the nail on the head there with the word SERVICE. And I totally agree that greed is what gets us into hot water very fast. Love and light to you too! xo
With respect, I think what you’re referring to is related to karma, empathy and compassion, I don’t really understand how greed can be relevant here. Greed means an excessive desire to possess more than one needs, especially material wealth, but if you are intending to manifest such abundant wealth, how can the universe determine what is greedy? Your version of greed might be someone else’s version of comfortable living. I can’t imagine that if you didn’t deeply desire to help others when putting forth the intention to acquire abundant wealth that there would be a force strong enough to deliver it to you. Some may just stumble upon such wealth (inheritance etc) and never spend a dollar of it on making another life/lives better…but you’ve gotta think they’d be leading a pretty stunted existence if that were the case.
xo
A great post, for those of us who are born into a life that is comfortable and abundant (in whatever way that means for the individual) will do so much more for the world if we lift our vibrations and come from a place of gratitude and joy. We have the ultimate choice in how we choose to react and feel about things. Thanks for yet another insightful post that reminds us to appreciate it all! If we lift our own energy those around us will be lifted too!
Hi Sarah, this topic is something I struggle with daily. It’s hard to feel deserving of wonderful things in one’s life when there is so much suffering. I have a sister who is experiencing a lot of crisis and tragedy. If I think about the great things happening in my life I feel really guilty, like I shouldn’t be able to have an extraordinary life until she is happy. Not sure how to move forward with this…..
Also, I’ve always had a problem with that phrase that “God/Universe never gives a person more than they can handle”. I personally know far too many who are not handling anything, just barely hanging on and/ or completely giving up with suicide. Heavy topic, yes. The weight on those of us who really have not suffered is so tough.
Hi Michele, thank you so much for articulating this so beautifully. Firstly, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I also have a younger sister that is suffering. I have also suffered things myself, but I believe that the thing that gets people through the tough times is AWARENESS that life is precious.
Suicide is really sad. It’s a very heavy topic for sure.
I also have a tough time with ‘God/Universe never gives us more than we can handle but I do believe it to be true. I also believe that everything that unfolds in life is the merging back into the Oneness of God/The Universe and that suicide is sometimes the fastest way to bridge the gap back to ‘home’. I know this might sound weird, but it’s the best way (I know) to view suicide with a sense of compassion. The flipside of this is that the people that then suffer are the loved ones left behind – giving us another lesson to grow from.
The best piece of advice I could offer is that you are allowed to be happy and guilt-free about your life. You aren’t responsible for your sister’s happiness and you are worthy to living life on your own terms. I’m sending you so much LOVE. xo
Thanks Sarah, comforting to know that most us have struggles that have to do with caring about the happiness and well-being of others. My son said recently to me that when he is talking to his friend who is in a particularly dark place, he tries to be a light that shines a bit in the darkness. He said sometimes people need to see joy to remember it’s still there and maybe even attainable. The balance between feeling joyful gratitude for the amazing opportunities in my life and retaining empathy without getting dragged into the despair of others is my everyday challenge. A work in progress, as we all all. BTW, I like your site, I’ll keep tuned, thanks!
Hi Sarah…I really enjoy reading your blogs and after reading this one wanted to write a quick comment to say that I really loved the way you answered this question, it certainly makes sense to me. When I read the piece about gratitude I was reminded of a holiday in Thailand and what my husband and I noticed was how happy the people were even though they had very little. Many thanks for your insights.