Abundance
“Abundance
is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.”
Wayne
Dyer
Last
month, I had some big bills—plumbing, pruning, credit card, travel—and by the
end of it, my bank account was sucking wind. I’ve spent the last few weeks spending
as little as possible and counting my change. When this happens, I get a glimpse
of what it’s like to live without. To pinch pennies and try to figure out how
to cover the necessary expenses. Just about the time I’m starting to feel sorry
for myself, I realize the sort of abundance I live with every day and how much
I take that for granted. I think about the billions of people who just scrape
by every single day of their lives.
Abundance
is not something that comes from having too much. It is, instead, the awareness
of much in the face of little, if that makes any sense. When I am pinching
pennies, I have the advantage of being able to eat from the freezer, from the
pantry. I figure out how to make meals from the things I already have, and how
to enjoy the taste of plain food—like buttered rice, or a big pot of pinto
beans. Creativity is the product of scarcity, not abundance. I’ve made the
incredible discovery that the best way to save money is to refrain from
shopping. Amazing, right!
Abundance
has little to do with money, though fear captures our attention when dollars
are scarce. Abundance is much more than that—it recognizes that most of us have
everything we need, and in fact, more than we need. Once aware, one no longer
feels deprived. The Buddha taught that to feel abundance, we must “count
nothing as one’s own.” Take nothing for granted. We are here temporarily and
all the things we think belong to us are only on loan. We can’t take them with
us; and when we’re gone these things will belong to someone else. In other
words, enjoy what is around you now, but don’t cling to it. It’s temporary.
Expectation
has much to do with our perception of abundance. As Wayne Dyer wrote, “You’ll
see it when you believe it.” If we are caught up in a pattern of believing
that we don’t have enough, we will always feel cheated. If we take pleasure from
our good fortune, rejoice in it, then the perception of abundance is what we experience.
In her book Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote, “Whatever
we are waiting for—peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of
simple abundance—it will surely come, but only when we are ready to receive it
with an open and grateful heart.”
Look
around you. Do you have what you need? Do you have life and health? Is the sun
shining, the rain falling? Are you taking deep breaths and looking at this day as
the gift that it is? Then abundance is yours. Count your blessings.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment