A Framework for Feeling Rich
The Practice of Cultivating Abundance
Dear reader,
Pull up your seat at The Kitchen Table. Abundance has been on my mind as we move into the fullness of summer.
We tend to associate abundance with the accumulation of things, money, opportunities, and/or success. But true abundance — the kind that is sustainable — is not something you earn. It’s a technique, a way of seeing and being that you must learn to cultivate.
Before I go any further, I want to acknowledge that abundance discourse can quickly veer into spiritual bypassing. There are systemic barriers in place, and not all people and communities have equal access to money, land, time, rest, safety, nourishing food, clean water, transportation, care, or support. Any deconstruction of money has to hold the material truth that we need it to cover our basic needs.
We can’t love and light our way around inequity, nor can we pretend that money doesn’t matter when so many people are underpaid, under-resourced, and structurally gatekept from the conditions that make abundance easier to access.
I don’t want to insinuate that money isn’t a thing I’m hoping to expand our understanding of abundance while holding these realities.
Summer as a teacher
Summer to me is a picture of abundance, and nature is the ultimate source. When I need to remember what abundance looks like, I go outside.
As we move through this season we’re surrounded by its symbols: lush canopies, wildflowers spilling over fences, sparkling bodies of water, market tables overflowing, and the long hours of sunlight stretching into evening.
When the conditions are right, there’s more than enough to go around. There’s space for everyone, and an overwhelming supply of beauty, sustenance, and wisdom.
Nature teaches us that abundance is interdependent. Nothing thrives in isolation. Everything is shaped by timing, space, repetition, and attention.
The same is true for money, creativity, and health.
Abundance is relational
I always return to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book The Serviceberry, where she writes about economies of reciprocity through the serviceberry, which fruits generously enough to feed an entire ecosystem.
Within this system, generosity begets generosity. Taking only what we need ensures that it can continue. There’s no urgency or illusions of scarcity. There is trust in the cycle, and a genuine sense of value.
In this sense, abundance is relational. It’s not owning more, but experiencing more.
This way of thinking challenges our cultural understanding of wealth. Capitalism conditions us to scan for proof of merit through the accumulation of finances via productivity.
Abundance primes us to notice what we are in exchange with and the quality of that exchange. This is where generosity and boundaries go hand in hand. Enoughness is the ground from which we can choose more consciously.
A framework for cultivating abundance
To cultivate abundance, we have to look at how we relate to our resources: money, time, energy, attention, space, support, creativity, food, and care.
The practice is not to reject money, deny desire, or romanticize having less. It’s to raise awareness and become more honest about what comes in, what goes out, what we value, what we avoid, and what we are available to receive.
Here’s the practical framework I’ve been working with.
