Receiving Has Nothing To Do with What You're Given

I had a sudden urge to clean out my small carrying bag, and what I found surprised me more than I expected. 

First, I found $15 hiding at the bottom of a zippered section of the bag. 

As I moved on to organizing my wallet and went through my gift cards, I found a Target gift card that I didn't remember having.  Just so happened we went to Target that night, and when I used it, it covered the entire cost of the items with a large credit left. I had $200 on it.

Then, I had the sudden urge to finally take apart my daughter's money lei that she received when she graduated from high school three years ago. 

That's when I noticed it—the same feeling I'd had earlier as I unfolded each bill, flattened it out, and placed it in the envelope. It was the same feeling I had when I found the money and gift card.

An energy that ran throughout my entire body.

But this time I responded differently than what I had in the past. Instead of following the energy of 'let's see what else I can find' or 'what should I do next with it,' I sat within the Echo of it.

And that's when I realized—it wasn't about the money at all.

The Echo Turning Point

It wasn't about the money or gift card I was holding in my hand. What I recognized instead was the energy that moved through me with each experience.

Where I could feel my mind just beginning to slip into the thought: What can I find next? What should I do with this?

Because that's what the mind tends to do when we're not fully aware of how easily it can default to searching for more.

It's not negative—it's just simply a familiar pattern many of us have used most of our lives to get to where we are now. Always looking for what's missing, what's next—believing that if we can just find the next thing, we'll be more of who we think we should be.

But what we often don't realize is that being fully present in the moment—aware of ourselves and the energy we're in—can show us more than searching for what's next.

Those many moments become our turning points.

Not where one Echo turning point is more important than the other—but a point inside us where decisions are made. It's also the point where everything we've already integrated can begin to unravel.

Because integration isn't a one-time event. And it doesn't stay in place just because we've reached a new level of awareness or understanding.

If it's not lived—and if we don't continue to move from this new awareness—we can unconsciously slip back into how we were before. The thoughts, behaviors, or beliefs that once defined us can return because integration doesn't hold itself in place.

We always need to be aware of what's happening within us—not only to maintain what we've integrated, but to deepen it. And even that desire to go deeper can become another turning point.

It's where we often re-enter the same loop: searching for something else to learn. And so the cycle begins again…

Where Integration Opens

We often think we're in a space of receiving because everything we've wanted begins to come in—money, recognition, success. Sometimes it's one of those things, and sometimes it's all of them.

But the thing is, you can have all of that and still not actually be in a space of receiving. Because often, what's coming in is being received as confirmation of what you've achieved from outside of yourself—not from what has opened inside of you to receive it.

And those outside accomplishments can override the awareness we gain from doing personal work—the expansion of our awareness and the integration of more of ourselves so that we can receive from a deeper place within.

That's why you can have success, money, and desired outcomes—and still not feel good about yourself. We hear about this all the time and wonder why that happens.

It's because the integration point—your Echo Connection—the part of you that holds and lives what you've come to know and recognize—isn't in congruence with the presence you're projecting to others, or even to yourself.

That's not true receiving.

True receiving happens when your integration becomes more than just internal—it opens into what you live and feel, not just in what you receive, but in how you meet the energy of receiving itself.

That's what I felt in those moments—holding the money I found in my bag, or taking apart my daughter's money lei. It wasn't about the money itself. It was the energy of receiving that I felt in me.

And recognizing that energy felt different and new—not because I'd never experienced it before, but because I didn't let my mind go into what's next.

It's because I'm embodying my Echo Connection—I'm living it.

I've always felt that integration isn't a "one and done" kind of thing. But through this experience—and by continuing to live through my own Echo Connection—I have been sensing this for several years, but now more clearly:

Integration is a center point.

And from that center, a new allowing—a new opening—is always beginning.  

Receiving isn't just about what flows in. It's about being in a state where your presence matches what your soul has already made space for.

It wasn't just about the outcome. It was about what I allowed myself to meet.

Receiving What's Always Been Here

As this reflection stayed with me—ever since that quiet moment of wanting to finally clean out my bag, and later, taking apart the money lei—I found myself wondering if this experience belonged in the Echo Foundations.

At first, I thought it belonged in a new space.

But I've come to realize it isn't. It's absolutely a part of the Echo Foundations—because the openness I felt in receiving wasn’t just about what came in—it was about what opened in me.

It was about receiving the Echo itself—as me.

We often think of receiving as what is defined by others, or as we define it for ourselves based on what we think we're allowed to have.

But what if receiving is less about what's available—and more about what's already in you?

That's the wholeness we all talk about—the one we try to piece together through healing or growth—and we know it's never missing or hidden.

But what we don't recognize is that it has always been in plain sight.  We just have to know how to see it.

Because the part of you that knows how to be, how to lead, how to live—it's always been there.

It just needs space to return.