Living In Abundance- Observing the Abundance Around You

There's an old joke about two elderly women on an airplane complaining about the food. One says "This food is terrible! The meat is overdone, the vegetables are bland..." and the other woman chimes in "Yes, and such small portions!". Woody Allen uses this joke in the beginning of one of his films as a metaphor of life: it's difficult and way too short. I see it a little differently. I see it as a metaphor of how the vast majority of us views the world as lacking, as scarce. This is the myth we abide by: there is not enough. Lynne Twist wrote a thought provoking book about this scarcity myth in The Soul of Money. Her thesis was that the state of the world is the way it is based on 3 main scarcity myths that drive both the financially rich and poor. Until we believe differently, there is little hope for change. In the interest of changing the world for the better, I decided to focus on changing this scarcity paradigm to an abundance paradigm. With that in mind I invite you to look at the world, your world, in a different way. The road to attracting and living in abundance is to observe abundance. It is literally surrounding us all the time. Why don't we notice? First, we are very invested in our myths and beliefs of scarcity. These are programmed into us by our parents and communities, just as it was ingrained into our parents from their parents. Secondly, because we are seeing evidence of scarcity, we spend time accumulating and consuming more and more to make up for it. There is literally no time or space to just enjoy what we have. Let me give you an example. I am a foodie. I love food. I like shopping in grocery stores that have lush produce sections and enjoy cooking from scratch, when I am able. When I'm in "scarcity mode", I don't see what I want in the store, I complain about the prices, and I am speeding my way through the cooking process. I end up eating my delicious food that took me hours to prepare in 5 minutes and then sit there in bewilderment. "All that work for nothing!" It's a very unsatisfying way to live. However, when I am in "abundance mode" or living in abundance, that is, consciously observing the existing abundance surrounding me, I take time to marvel at the incredible variety of color, shape, and texture of the produce. I take time to select my ingredients and am awed by the amount of selection. I am thankful that I have the resources to buy such fresh food to nourish my family and myself. I have a pleasant chat while paying. I take time to prepare this recipe and enjoy the continual layers of aromas that build as each ingredient is added. And finally, I sit and eat this dish slowly and really taste each bite fully. I am constantly on the look out for the abundance and it is overwhelmingly there. By the end, I am bowled over by how much I have. That shift then brings even more to me. Here's an exercise so you can have this experience: Take an everyday activity that you don't mind doing. Grocery shopping, driving your child to school, washing dishes etc. If possible, slow the activity down so you can observe all the details of what it entails. (e.g slowly walk through produce isle to observe the produce. Enjoy the view. Pick up fruits and give them a smell. Look at all the colors! Hold an orange in your hand and feel it. You get the picture..) Observe what is around you. If you are outside, are there trees or buildings? Are the trees tall, fully green? Take a look at the buildings. How many stories are they? Of what materials are they made? Look at the sky. Is it a beautiful blue with white clouds or is there an abundance of clouds and rain? (Rain is also a sign of abundance!) If you eat quickly, slow it down. Really taste the food. Even if you selected a food that you don't like, it has a taste that is usually abundant. To reinforce this experience, write about it in a notebook. Include your feelings about this experience, as well. By the way, this is great modeling for your children to see. It helps them see the abundance in their lives as well. Consistently taking note or journaling on observing abundance of things and within things and events will start to help you to creating holes in the pervasive scarcity myths out there. It will help you shift to a new paradigm of our world. The paradigm of a world with more than enough for everyone. A world where you want to give and receive freely because you are confident that you will always have what you need. When you can believe in this way, even a little bit, you not only experience your world in a richer way, you attract more abundance that you could imagine.