Abundance Is All around Us--and Deep within Us

When you have too much month for your paycheck, then what
you need to do is realize that there is abundance all around you,
and focus on the abundance and not your lack and as night
follows day abundance will come to you.   ~Sidney Madwed


Sadly, we live in a society in which advertisers and marketers constantly do their best to convince us that we need certain things in order to be happy.  Day after day, we're bombarded with the basic message that we don't have enough, that we need more if our lives are going to be happy or meaningful.  And unfortunately, many people accept this message as fact--they think they can't be happy with what they have already and that they need many more things if they're going to live their lives fully.

The message that we don't have enough, though, is simply an attempt on the part of someone who makes something to get you to spend your money on their products.  That's it.  But we allow them to convince us that we actually need something when the truth is that although we may want it, it's not necessary to us.  The job of marketers and advertisers is to convince people that their lives aren't as full and rich as they could be--at least, not until we purchase their product.

What this approach does, though, is it blinds people to the abundance that they already have.  It doesn't allow them to appreciate the abundance in their lives because it creates discord in their minds, a discord that keeps them from seeing how good things are because they're focused on how good things could be--if only they had this car, this brand name, this clothing, this phone.  And we tend to make ourselves miserable until we actually do have those things, so when that miserable state of wanting is gone, we think that it's the thing that's made us feel better.  It's not, though--it's simply that we've stopped making ourselves miserable with our desire.

When I was young, our family didn't have much.  My father was in the military, so money wasn't something that we had tons of.  But in our house, wherever we lived, we had furniture for all of our rooms, we had dishware and silverware and pots and pans and bowls and food with which to use them, we had a car that got us places, and we even had "luxury" items such as a television set and a stereo.  And we had clothes to wear.  And that was about it.

And that was fine with all of us.  Of course, those were the days of far fewer television channels, so we weren't constantly bombarded with messages that we needed more, and we were able to be satisfied with what we had.  And because of that, we were able to see our lives as abundant--virtually all of our material needs were taken care of, so what else did we need?  Of course, there were other issues that we dealt with, but who doesn't?  We were able to deal with those issues, at least, from a position of material abundance--an abundance that I believe most people today would call lack.  We did go without some things, but none of those things were necessary for our survival or well-being.

These days, we have more than enough.  Virtually everything that we have is modest, but it's all been affordable and it all fills exactly the function that we got it for.  When I look around our house, I see only one thing that's newer than three years old, and I see many things that were bought on sale 10-15 years ago, but which we still really like.  I've bought many of my clothes in thrift stores because I don't care about brand names or even if something is completely new when I wear it--and some of my favorite clothes have come from those stores.  We actually have much more than what we need, but none of what we have has been bought because we couldn't get by without it.  We recognize that we're quite fortunate to have what we do, and we recognize that there's a great deal of abundance in our lives.  There are some things we would like to have, but that doesn't mean that our lives are incomplete or that we're unhappy if we don't have them.

"Count your blessings," they say, and they're on the right track.  Doing so will help us to understand how good we have things, and just how few other things we need.  When we focus on our blessings, on the abundance that we're experiencing, we're much less likely to focus on lack, and much less likely to feel that any sort of material objects can fill a perceived hole in our lives.

One trick that I've learned over the years is to wait at least 24 hours before I buy anything on impulse or something that costs more money than I usually would spend on something similar.  This strategy keeps me from buying something that I convince myself I need simply because I want it.  If I still think it's a good buy 24 hours later, then I'll get it--and it doesn't always have to be a strong need.  Sometimes I do buy things just because I want them, like a book or a cd or clothing.  Not everything has to fulfill a need.  But with a waiting period in place, I find that I buy fewer things on impulse that I really don't need, and that's important to me.

Another strategy that I use is to remind myself of the things that I own but almost never use--and I ask myself if this new thing would turn out to be one of those.  If I foresee myself using something very little, then I simply don't get it.  Let it sit on someone else's shelf for a while.

Abundance isn't all about what we have.  It's also about our perspective on what we have and how it fits into our lives.  Abundance is just as much a realization as it is a situation.  We have a lot in this world, and most of us could live the rest of our days with the same things that we have now, and be very happy doing so--if we were only to stop listening to all the messages that tell us that we need more, more, more.  Those messages are really saying, "We want more of your money, so spend it on our product."

It's up to us to be discerning and to make decisions that are conducive to an abundance lifestyle.


People individually and collectively are entitled to life in all abundance.
El Dorado, a country rich beyond all precedent in gold and jewels, lies at
every person's door.  Your bonanza lies under your feet.  Your luck is
already at hand.  All is within; nothing is without.

Herbert Seibert


More thoughts and ideas on abundance.

This Has Been Hard

It's kind of amazing to think that we've been in the throes of a pandemic for over a year now.  The last year and a half has seen the world turn topsy-turvy in so many ways, from giving us a subtle sense of dread at the beginning, when things were going so very badly in Italy and Spain, to the deep sense of loss and unsureness that we've felt as we've seen more than 500,000 people die in the United States alone--and 2,300,000 (and counting) worldwide.  So many mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, colleagues, neighbors simply aren't among us any more, though there was good reason to think that they would continue to bless us with their presence for years more.

No matter how we look at it, the past year has been extremely difficult for most of us.  People have lost family members, have lost jobs, have lost hope, have lost savings.  We've been under a constant barrage of pressure and rules, from social distancing to mask wearing to customer limits in stores and restaurants.  We've been worried about our loved ones, worried about our jobs, worried about getting sick ourselves and facing the debilitating effects of a brutal virus--up to and including death.

Sometimes, though, my mind tricks me into thinking that life is going on as normal.  This happens even though pretty much all the rules have changed.  I start to wonder why I feel so tired, and I start to think that I'm overreacting to certain things.  I start to think of how nice it would be to just pretend that there's really no pandemic, that I can stop wearing my mask and hang around with people like before, and that there's no need to worry about going to restaurants or stores or cafes or anywhere else that I feel like going.

But then I read the headlines from places other than where I live, and they're not good.  There are still people dying miserable and painful and frightening deaths that they didn't need to die; there are still people who are catching the disease and potentially facing years of painful and debilitating symptoms in their future.  And I know that this isn't over yet, even if it isn't nearly as severe a problem as it was a year ago.

I've run a few ultra-marathons, from 80 to 100 miles.  And believe me, I got tired long before I reached the finish line.  And after 90 miles of running, no one in the world would have faulted me for giving up and saying I was done (heck, the same can be said for after 40 miles, or after 60).  But I still had some distance left--I wasn't done with the experience.  If I wanted to finish what I started, I still had a couple of hours of running ahead of me, and I didn't want to give up.

It's an apt analogy, though the idea of giving up now on the safety measures against Covid-19 is far more drastic--giving up now could get me very sick, or even worse (in my eyes) cause me to get someone else sick, possibly even causing their death.  That's something that I'm not willing to risk.

Allow yourself to be tired.  Allow yourself to be exhausted, even.  Give yourself some very real treats to celebrate having come this far and having given up this much.  Don't berate yourself for feeling exhaustion--very few of us had any preparation at all for this type of experience.  But please try to stay the course, if not for your sake, then for the sakes of people whom you've never met, who one day may otherwise be exposed to the virus that you may end up carrying inadvertently if you're not careful with what you do and how you do it.

Take good care of yourself, and give yourself a break.  You're tired, too, and that's okay.  Allow yourself to be so.

What I Hope for This New Year

The calendar has renewed itself once more:  we have twelve months ahead of us that will belong to one measured unit of time, another year in our lives.  We're going to see winter, spring, summer, fall, and winter once more in the next year, and we're going to experience pain and joy and love and heartbreak and exciting times and boredom.  We're going to be happy and we'll be sad; we'll go through grief and joy, sickness and health.

But all these things happen every year.  Year after year, our lives follow a course that in many ways we have no control over, no way to change.  But because they are our lives, though, we do have opportunities to make sure that other things also happen, things over which we have a bit of control.

There are tons of things that I'd love to see happen in our next year.  No more wars, no more poverty, no more Covid, no more violence against the helpless--etc., etc., etc.  But it's important that I realize that these things are beyond the control of individuals, and if I want to focus on things that I may have a bit of control over, then I may find a bit of success in this year.

I also need to keep in mind that I need to focus on me when I think about what I want to see happen in this new year.  As soon as I start focusing on what I want other people to do, I'm trying to exert control over their lives--and I simply don't have any control at all over the lives of other human beings.  I'm setting myself up for tons of disappointment if my desire is to see change in others.

On the other hand, if I choose to do a certain sort of work to accomplish a goal with others, then I may want to hope for change in others.  Perhaps I hope to see more people wear masks in public places, and I start to volunteer for an organization that's trying to educate people on the importance of masks during the epidemic.  Then it would make complete sense for me to want to see change in others, wouldn't it?  As a teacher, I may want to see my students improve their writing--and in that case, it's my responsibility to try to bring about change in others.

It's also good to keep in mind that there's a difference between hoping for something and expecting something.  I can hope for more people to wear masks, but if I don't do anything to try to bring that to pass, then I shouldn't be disappointed if it doesn't happen.  And that's okay--I can still hope.  I can hope that the politicians in Washington do what's right, and I can hope that the people who work in our hospitals can get a bit of relief from the pandemic.  According to some schools of thought, the mere act of hoping is sending positive energy out into the world that may, indeed, contribute to the outcomes we hope for.  And hoping for positive outcomes is a way of sharing our positivity instead of being dragged down into the negativity that so many others show so often.

The trick is to detach ourselves from the need for the results that we desire, and allowing for the results that actually happen without letting them affect our spirit or our peace of mind.

All that said, here are some of the things that I hope for this year:

I hope that more people become willing to wear masks and practice social distancing, so that we may see the number of deaths actually decrease rather than grow, so that those who work in the medical field may get a bit of a break from the horrible situations in which they find themselves now.  And I hope that the vaccines work well and help us to slow the spread of the virus and keep more people from dying in such an awful way, before their time.

I hope that we have some clear logic and reason and compassion coming from Washington this year, and that more of our politicians become concerned about the people they represent rather than their own careers.

I hope that we see much more rain in areas that are dealing with drought conditions all over the world.

I hope that we see the end to the splitting up of families by our immigration services, and that the world over we see an end to the refugee camps that keep people from getting on with their lives for so long.

I hope that the businesses and services that have been affected so strongly by the measures put in place because of the pandemic are able to recover well and move into the future in very positive ways.

I hope that more people decide to spread love and compassion rather than anger, fear, and divisiveness.

I hope that in my life, I'm able to continue to grow and to learn, and that I'm able to share that growth and learning with others, passing it on as much as I can.

I hope that I do all that I can to stay healthy and to stay in good shape in order to stay that way.  The better I take care of my body, the less I'll be affected by many of the minor medical issues that are avoidable.

I hope that more people realize the harm that they do to others in their lives, and do all they can to stop doing so, whether that be spousal abuse, child abuse, or the lack of consideration for their neighbors or co-workers.

I hope that we all have plenty of good times, especially when we're able to get together safely in groups once more, and enjoy each other's company.

I hope that we don't lose the many important lessons that this pandemic has taught us--let's not just go back immediately to the "norm," especially if there are parts of that norm that are negative or harmful.

And I hope that you have a beautiful year in spite of the many challenges that we face.  Let's face those challenges and develop our courage and optimism in the face of a huge obstacle, so that they may stay strong always.

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