High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘abundance’

“Life is a gift, and if offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming something more.” ~Anthony Robbins

It’s not what we give back to life in return for the precious gift of being that enlarges us.  What makes us something more is that we listen to the voice of love that urges us to give in the first place, and hearing it, strive to give our very best.

To give back to life—of our gifts, our kindness, our patience, our encouragement, our time—is an act of gratitude.  It’s a recognition that we are channels of life’s abundance; we are its co-creators of goodness and joy in the world.

It’s through us, through the words we speak and the songs we sing, that truth and beauty flow into the world.  It’s through the expression of our talents and skills that life creates culture, and science, and civilization.  It’s through the expression of our love that families and communities and brotherhood are born–one giving act at a time.

Each of us gives back to life in our own unique way, according to our own sets of strengths and abilities and talents.  And life takes our offerings and weaves them together so that they bless and enrich us all.

“Abundance isn’t something we acquire; it’s something we tune into.” ~Wayne Dyer

“She’s nothing, if not extravagant,” Grandpa said, sipping his lemonade on the porch.  He was gazing at the field that he had spent the day cultivating.

“Who, Grandpa?” Sam said.  He didn’t see anybody out there.  “Who’s extravagant?  And what’s that mean, anyway?”

Grandpa chuckled.  “Oh, I was just thinking,” he said.  “See that tall grass over there by the fence post, gone to seed?  Go pick me a stem of it, Sam.”

When Sam brought it back, Grandpa gently stripped the seeds from it and held them in his open hand.  “Look how many seeds came from that one stem of grass.  It’s a lot, isn’t it?  Now think how many there must be in that whole clump.  If we planted them all in one long row, why they’d probably go from here all the way to Mrs. Radie’s.”

“Maybe all the way to Uncle Jake’s!” Sam said, as Grandpa blew the seeds away.

“That’s what I meant by extravagant,” Grandpa said.  “When Nature creates, she makes plenty.  Seeds, soil, earthworms, little boys, everything.”

“Why does she make so much, Grandpa?”

“She can’t help it.  It’s how she loves us.” Grandpa said.  “It’s her happiness, just filling up all the empty spaces, so when you look there’s always something there.”

“But what about winter?” Sam asked.

“Snowflakes,” Grandpa said, leaning back into his rocker and taking another sip of lemonade.

Sam smiled.  “Extravagant,” he said quietly to himself.  “Extravagant.”

Once, when my friend Holly and I were grocery shopping together, she stopped suddenly in the midst of the produce section, looked around with an expression of awe on her face and with a sweep of her arm said, “Look!  Right here.  Everything we need to live.”

I often think of her comment when I’m shopping.  And happily, my favorite grocery store is arranged so that my shopping begins in the midst of the produce section’s bounty.

Remembering how simple my needs truly are allows me to shop mindfully, to be peacefully content and pleased with the items on my list even as I stroll past the dazzling displays of products and packaging meant to tempt me.  Instead of being pulled by some vague unnamed desire, I’m free to enjoy and marvel at the variety of the store’s offerings—the imported delicacies, the fragrances, the artistry of the packaging, the sheer abundance of it all.

To be aware of the simplicity of your needs is freeing.  It cleanses you from the grasping feeling that you somehow require more and more.  It allows you to feel contentment and ease.  It opens your heart to appreciation for the abundance with which you are surrounded and provides you with a satisfying enjoyment of all that you possess.  It shrinks your assessment of enough and expands your view of plenty.  And because it puts enough so easily into your hands, it kindles your generosity and inspires you to share.

The next time you’re in a grocery store, stop for a moment in the produce section and look around at the miracle of it.  Let it inspire you.  See what happens.