The other day, I found a ten-dollar bill on the sidewalk a few blocks from my office in Manhattan. I considered yelling out, “Hey, did anyone drop a ten-dollar bill?”  But even I (a trusting soul) could see that that would produce the closest opportunistic person, not the rightful owner of the money. So I stood around near that spot for a while, to see if anyone would come along with their eyes glued to the sidewalk, searching for the cash they dropped.

But no one did. After a few minutes, it seemed that there was no way to give the ten dollars back to the person who lost it. So I walked on to my office contemplating the question: who am I supposed to give this ten dollars to? In ThetaHealing, we learn to trust our own intuition and to connect with the Source of All That Is to guide us, in matters big and small. So I kept checking in as I walked along. Should I give this to the nice doorman of my building? I got a no. Or the girl at Sweetgreen’s with the red ponytail? No. Buy my secretary lunch? No. How about the guy who always begs near the 23rd Street F train? No.

I was stumped. What was I supposed to do with this money then? I was getting just a little irritated about the whole situation. I was off the elevator and opening up the door to my office before the idea even occurred to me: I could KEEP this ten dollars. I’m lucky! Thanks, Universe!

The whole thing is a tad pathetic. Why wasn’t I happy when I found ten bucks? Being a ThetaHealer, I began digging on myself for what beliefs I had that prevented me from being able to joyfully and immediately accept a small gift like that, after it was clear it was impossible to return the money.

Did I not know that I deserved a measly ten dollars? No, I knew that I deserved it.  Did I not understand the definition of money, that it’s just energy, not something evil? No, I had a good understanding of money and wasn’t avoiding it because I was afraid it was bad. Did I not see the flow of abundance? Was I afraid that if I took up some abundance, there wouldn’t be enough for someone else? That was close, yes. I felt like I shouldn’t take the money, because that would be taking it away from someone else who needed it. I could barely bring myself to even consider keeping it, even though it was a pretty negligible amount and there was no way to return it.

So these are the beliefs I had that needed to be cleared:

There’s not enough for everybody (changed to There really is enough for everybody).

It’s impossible to take care of others’ needs and my own needs (changed to I know how to take care of both).

I must always take care of others before taking care of myself (also changed to I know how to take care of both).

I very much believe in sharing my resources with others, and I do so all the time. But this time, I felt the Universe wanted to teach me something about how things flow: that things flow in toward me as well as out from me, that there is enough for everyone, including me. A pretty great lesson for ten bucks. And by the way, that ten-dollar bill? I bought an Oprah magazine and some snacks. It was all free, on the Universe, no strings attached, no animals harmed, no humans deprived, no guilt required.

If you want to learn even more than you already know about manifesting abundance into your life, consider ThetaHealing. It really works!