FEATURE - November 2015 - Kansas City

Creating Abundance

By Linda VanBibber

 

 “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”                        

                                                                              ― Anthony Robbins

 

I volunteered to write this article almost a year ago.  I had recently heard a friend and colleague lamenting about her lack of abundance.  She commented that she was saying an abundance prayer every day and spraying her feet with abundance oil every night, but it seemed that money only trickled in, no matter what she did.   I listened sympathetically, but noted that she was reasonably well dressed, and that she had a reliable car. I had not been to her home, but I knew she had her business there so I assumed it was at least moderately comfortable.  Ignoring my Capricornian urge to be judgmental, I pointed out that since everything is energy, perhaps the energy of worrying so much about this perceived lack of abundance was actually blocking it. 

Maybe shifting to an attitude of gratitude might get things moving.

 

This exchange prompted me to contemplate the concept of abundance.  Clearly, it means different things to different people.  Most commonly, in America, it seems to mean money.  There seems to be an abundance competition.  While there is an awareness that “money can’t buy you love,” or happiness, there still seems to be a perception that somehow if you have enough of the right things they will give us access to that love and happiness.  If we are not happy, we assume that “more” is the solution. 

 

Abundance is defined as plentitude; more than sufficient quantity.  Clearly what my friend already had was sufficient; she lamented not having more.   At the time, it caused me to lament the social expectations in America.  I knew that a young African woman being provided the education that my friend had, and the same clothing, car, and shelter would feel quite blessed and abundantly fulfilled.  I knew that here in America, the children on Pine Ridge Reservation who go cold and hungry would consider her situation to be one of privilege.  And I knew that right here in Kansas City, huddling under the overpasses in the winter for warmth, were homeless families that would greet similar material blessings with great gratitude.  Stories abound of the unhappy rich and grateful poor.  Clearly perspective is a factor in the consideration of abundance.

 

George Moon of Relaxation Station in Excelsior Springs recently commented to the bank teller as he made a withdrawal that “it’s not about how much money we have in the bank, it’s about the value we have for this world . . . Donald Trump, with all he has, could not buy the value I have in my life.”    

 

We live in a universe of limitless supply.  Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, California, informs us that

 

"There is a lie that acts like a virus within the mind of humanity. And that lie is, ‘There’s  not enough good to go around. There’s lack and there’s limitation and there’s just not enough.’  The truth is that there’s more than enough good to go around. There is more than enough creative ideas. There is more than enough power. There is more than enough love. There’s more than enough joy.  All of this begins to come through a mind that is aware of its own infinite nature. There is enough for everyone. If you believe it, if you can see it, if you act from it, it will show up for you. That's the truth."

 

Not enough: this is our reality when we come from a place of lack rather than from a place of plenty.   And if we buy into this scarcity perception of reality, we feel a need to compete, to scramble to get whatever we can before the next guy gets it. 

 

But when we create our reality based on the idea that there is “more than enough to go around,” we can relax.  We can love and share our creativity for the betterment and fulfillment of all.   “If we can believe it.  If we can act from it.”  How do we get there?  How do we access this belief in plenty?  It’s all in that “attitude of gratitude.”

 

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend,” says Melody Beattie, author of Make Miracles in Forty Days.

 

It sounds easy, but in practice it’s not always so easy.  We have been conditioned to believe in scarcity, so we have to make a real effort to shift this perception, and gratitude is our guide.   “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.” (Psalm 50:23).   I think that it is interesting to think of “thanksgiving” as a sacrifice.  The word “sacrifice” reminds us that effort is required to shift perspective; it doesn’t just happen.  When we have little, our gratitude can become our sacrifice. 

 

My favorite Native American prayer opens with “This woman comes with a grateful heart.” Before anything else happens, gratitude happens.   Alexandra Katehakis, in Mirror of Intimacy, affirms that “Summoning gratitude is a sure way to get our life back on track. Opening our eyes to affirm gratitude grows the garden of our inner abundance, just as standing close to a fire eventually warms our heart.”

 

A gratitude list was posted on Facebook via the Volunteer Spot page. It is a wonderful depiction, almost a roadmap, of the way we can shift our perspective from one of scarcity to one of plenty through gratitude.

 

Buddha tells us that all that we are arises with our thoughts and with our thoughts, we make our world.  This is a great power that we have, to co-create our world with our thoughts.  We can start by being grateful for this power.  Let us exercise it well, creating a world of plenty, a world of great abundance, not just for ourselves but for all.    

 

The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.  Psalm 37:11 

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Linda VanBibber is the owner of Harmony Energetics LLC, providing classes, workshops and vibrational therapies using sound, colo,r and form.  She has studied and continues to study a broad range of indigenous cultures and religions.  A member of Women of the Drum, she has arranged to have the World Drum in Kansas City four times and is in the process of arranging to have the World Drum here for World Sound Healing Day in February.  For more information go to www.harmonyenergeticsllc.com.