Have you ever noticed how you can go your whole life not seeing a particular car model—and then the minute you decide you want to buy it, it’s everywhere? Like suddenly every street corner and freeway stretch is crawling with Volkswagen EOSs, and you’re wondering if they were all just wearing invisibility cloaks until now.

So what gives? (Besides magick, obvi.)

It’s neuroscience.

Those cars were always there. But your conscious mind has to filter through 11 million bits of information bombarding it every second and choose just 40 or 50 to pay attention to.

That’s an awful lot of EOSs it has to ignore.

So, which 40 bits make it past the gate?

That’s entirely up to you.

And here’s where this gets fun.

(rubs hands together like a supervillain)

Your brain notices what you habitually think about—whether by choice or by conditioning. It clings to the well-worn neural pathways you travel day after day.

You didn’t notice the EOSs before because they weren’t relevant. That doesn’t mean they weren’t IN your reality. They were just . . . invisible.

Which means that the first step to eventually parking one in your driveway is choosing to notice them. To think about them so often that your brain wears a new groove—a groove that starts directing your attention, intention and energy toward making that car your reality.

And if it works for Volkswagens?

Just imagine what it can do for abundance.

Abundance, Reimagined

Here’s the essential ingredient that makes this whole game work:

You’ve gotta release the idea that abundance only looks like fat bank accounts, yachts and vacays in the Maldives.

Abundance is everywhere—but it takes a trained eye to catch its subtler, sneakier forms. Your goal is to fine-tune your awareness to the universe’s winks, instead of holding out for a slap in the face with a stack of hundreds.

Remember: Where focus goes, energy flows. Tony Robbins said it, so it must be true.

Seriously, though, just watch. The more you practice noticing, the more there will be TO notice.

I’d like to offer the following as evidence.

Here’s Some Recently Spotted Abundance

• A heart on a note I posted months ago
• A new paid subscriber while I was sleeping
• A settlement check from a class action lawsuit I didn’t know I was part of

I legit have no idea what this is for 🤷🏻‍♀️

• An elegant stranger who looked me in the eyes and said, “You look just beautiful”
• Random Stripe payments (I say thank you to every single notification)
• My doctor telling me I’m his favorite patient
• A day that’s cool enough for two separate walks without dying of heat stroke
• A massage paid for by a client (bless him)
• A friend treating me to lunch
• A compliment on my hair after I just got it cut
• Discovering the hybrid I want—with the tow package—costs less than the cheaper trim with the same upgrades
• A surprise “I thought you two would love each other” email from someone I met at a networking event
• My cat climbing into my lap to make biscuits
• Finding the last pack of passionfruit La Croix at the store (yes, I have a problem)
• The podcast episode that said exactly what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it
• A full hour of creative flow where I completely lost time
• My neighbor being willing to water my plants while I’m traveling
• Discovering a $20 bill in a coat pocket I haven’t worn since last winter
• A perfectly timed green light
• An unexpectedly beautiful conversation with nine strangers at a networking dinner
• Breezing through airport security
• Snot-laughing over a video of someone narrating a nipped-up cat losing its mind to the rhyming meter of “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.”1
• An idea that woke me up in the middle of the night and turned out to be gold for my novel
• Fresh bedsheets
• Getting to introduce one of my favorite foodies to her first churro
• Being next in line just as they open up a second cashier
• A mint plant that looked dead after too many days away—cleaned up, watered and sprouting a forest of teensy baby leaves

The Bottom Line

You don’t have to earn abundance. You don’t have to chase it like the one that got away, or bleed for it to prove you’re worthy.

You simply have to start noticing it.

Every time you recognize something as abundance and let yourself feel a little joy hit, you’re sending up a flare that says, “More of this, please.”

When the starving artist narrative has been stitched into the story of your life, it’s revolutionary to think differently.

To practice abundance spotting.

To delight in how much there is to be grateful for, even in a capitalist world that keeps telling you you have to struggle for scraps.

Alicia Joyful gets it. She posted this on Substack while I was writing this draft.

More of this, please. 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼

More artists reclaiming their joy.

More of us opting out of the scarcity script.

Will you join us?

Have you seen any universal winks lately? Tell me in the comments so we can make a whole damn highlight reel.

This post was originally published on Substack.