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Posts from the ‘Abundance’ Category

Flowers and Weeds

“My appointed work is to awaken the divine nature that is within.” – Peace Pilgrim

“To realize that you are not your thoughts is when you begin to awaken spiritually.” – Eckhart Tolle

To get flowers, you need to plant seeds, to bury bulbs in the dirt. Weeds need no help. They sprout on their own and can easily take over our landscape if we allow. Flowers require intention, attention and nurturing to flourish and bloom. Plant good seeds to take root and sprout to overshadow the weeds. Flowers and weeds will always co-exist. Nurture the flowers, stop feeding the weeds.

To arrive at a higher elevation, a steady state of joy and contentment, we need to focus on the flowers as we coexist with the weeds. It’s not enough to pull the weeds of negativity. Weeds keep coming back (our thoughts, other people, circumstances). We need to plant the seeds of optimism to absorb the energy and beauty of flowers.

Infuse positive thoughts, allow optimism to do its work. Get out of weed-only existence and dance in the field of flowers, open your lungs and breathe it in. Dance here awhile, every single day.

“Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbert

Daily Gifts

“Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary.” – Blaise Pascal

A wave
A breeze
A floating leave

A blooming flower
A spring shower
A sunrise and set

A smile
A laugh
A hug

In music
In art
In nature

Simple
Soft
Subtle

Ordinary
Miracles
Daily

Find
Be found
Embrace

“Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.” – Jon Bon Jovi

Beyond Your Comfort Zone

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.” – Richard Bach

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

We have been out of our comfort zone for a year now.
The pandemic has put us into this place.
Or has it?
We are stuck.
Or are we?
Question your assumptions, dare to entertain a different answer, flip the narrative.
Go deeper.

The pandemic is certainly not nothing and it is also not everything.
We long for certainty, take comfort in familiarity and sameness to ground us.
Were we comfortable and content before the pandemic?
When the pandemic is over, you’ll need another excuse.

Difficulty makes us grateful for what is gone.
Gratitude can be a way of life rather than a momentary feeling.
What we think serves us, often binds us.

Scarcity, fear, negativity, assumptions, stories, a pandemic justify our “stuckness,” frame our view, limit possibility.
In protecting ourselves from uncertainty, chaos of circumstances, unreasonableness of others, not us of course, we create blind spots and live small.
We long to figure out the ending before we take a step, find comfort in blame and try to organize life into boxes we can label and understand.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it?

We are meant for joy, light and fruition.
Born with a purpose and purposes, with talents and gifts to give away not to bury.
To move forward pre, middle and post pandemic and any other life transition and transformation, we must lay down what we think has served us well.
Moving forward does not negate the past, it honors it by living in the present and writing a deeper narrative by taking hold of the pen and finishing our own story.

Move into the day from a place of abundance, a thirst for mystery and a capacity for joy.
Open up to ambiguity, uncertainty and possibility found in a blank page, in the confidence and trust that we are built for metamorphosis, going from cocoon to butterfly hundreds of times though life.

Finding the holes, problems and gaps in our life, in others and in the world traps us in rearview mirror living, scarcity and cynicism. Identify and integrate the lessons and move to the next grade by applying them. Open up to new learning and expansion. Release offenses both received and given to transform the holes into wholehearted joyful daily living.

There is no real comfort in comfort zones. Ground in abundance and optimism, fueled by light and energized by possibility.

Brave, bold and brilliantly break the patterns and narratives that bind and restrict. Dare to be enthusiastic and optimistic found in wholeness rather than holes. Abundance, possibility and joy right now, today, not delayed for tomorrow, not post-pandemic or “someday” when things are perfect (not happening). From the comfort zone of the cocoon to the flight of the butterfly.

This is what my Dad would call a “kick in the ass” post. We need those now and again to wake up. I need it daily and miss him daily so this one is for you Dad.

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” – R. Buckminster Fuller

 

Stewardship

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” – Marcus Aurelius

“In the time one is given, the steward must make the most of the talents one is given by the Lord.” – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Pause.
Allow the river of life to wash over you;
Wander over race;
Observe over absorb;
Float over flail;
Gently hold over clenched fist;
Flow over upstream;
A net catching only what is necessary, releasing what cannot be held.

Shift.
Control to influence;
Map to compass;
Questioning to intuition;
Ownership to stewardship;
What we steward is cast forward, multiplied, remains through time.

Accept.
Cool water in the desert;
Blessings woven in burdens;
Depth beneath the surface;
Less becomes more;

What we grip, binds;
What we hold, embraces.

Steward your time, gifts, talents well;
Time is flowing, make the most of this life.

“Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.” – Jorge Luis Borges

The Premise of Enough, The Promise of Abundance

“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.” -Wayne Dyer

“The key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts.” – Marianne Williamson

When we begin with the premise of being “enough,” we stop the futile, exhausting search to find ourselves in far off places, different circumstances and other people. Enough is the invitation to journey within. Stop adding, comparing and counting. By taking inventory, we find all that is hidden in plain sight under the piles of self-made clutter that we’ve accumulated in our pursuit of more.

Create two piles – what to discard and what to keep. Get rid of the discard pile to create space for abundance. Leave it in the past, integrate it and move forward. Take back your power by detaching, discarding and begin to fill the space with only what’s necessary and nurturing.

Move to the “keep” pile, create order for easy access. The categories include lessons, habits, practices, rituals, dreams and plans. Fueled by optimism and abundance, begin using the “keep” pile to build something from the materials that you already have available right now. It’s been beneath the clutter of “someday” and “more.”

You’ve already arrived and today is your “someday.” Begin with enough and move forward from a place of abundance to pursue contentment, joy and discovery of your unique place in the world, your purpose for being.

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let out true selves be seen.” Brene Brown