The Life-Changing Power of Redefining Deserving

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Are you deserving of all good things?</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Deep down, do you FEEL deserving?</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When I asked the folks in my Abundance Breakthrough that question, I got a mixed bag of answers. Some people said yes, others said sometimes, and some said, “I feel like I have to earn my deserving.”</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many of us grew up with ideas from religion or household rules or other life philosophies about deserving being a prerequisite to having good things, so it’s understandable that the idea of deserving is deeply ingrained in many of us. Deserving presupposes that we have to achieve, do, or prove something to be worthy of having what we want.  </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s my next question: Who decides what or how much you deserve?</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are some sobering things I’ve observed about the concept of deserving:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Deserving assumes we have to do something to have good things. And if you don’t do those things, then you don’t deserve the good things you want.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">If we’ve done “good,” then we might feel entitled to those good things — like somebody owes us something.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Then entitlement puts us at effect because we’re expecting people or situations outside of ourselves to fulfill a desire.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">A feeling of deservingness can lead to inaction. If we feel like we’re already deserving, it can lead to an I</span><em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">-should-already-have-it attitude</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and a failu