For the next 26 weeks I will be doing the A, B, C’s Blog Series over topics relating to overall wellness and the importance of decluttering. Topics will focus not only our physical spaces, but also our mental space, financial life, work life, spiritual life, and relationships. All of these components make up how we experience the world and more importantly how we think about how well, or not well, we are doing in the “Game of Life”. My hope is that by the end of this series, you will be more in touch with yourself. I hope you will be able to answer what you envision for your life and maybe even pick up some ideas for how to make some positive changes. Remember, absolutely no shame or judgment about where you are. You always have to choice to start right NOW!
Now let’s learn some A, B, C’s!!
Abundance
Defined as a very large quantity of something (from: Google)
Physical Spaces– When it comes to your physical world, abundance can be viewed as positive or negative. It all depends on how you look at it. Maybe you have all of the kitchen appliances you need like a coffee maker, spice grinder, Insta-pot, other-pots, pans, forks and knives. The list goes on-and-on. You love all of these things, everything has it’s home and you always have everything you need to make your favorite dish or have guests over for dinner. That’s abundance! Abundance could also mean, you have 45 pieces of mismatched forks, knives, spoons, and plates. This type of abundance is causing you to have negative thoughts about your things. Maybe you don’t want to have friends over because you are embarrassed by the abundance of your things. An abundance of things can accumulate in the door panel of your car too. And I know everyone has a very abundant junk drawer, but too much abundance where it doesn’t belong or when it begins to have a negative effect in other ways can be detrimental to the contentment you feel in your home, car, or office.
I think it’s important to know, as someone who is trying to create a more positive space, that you can have lots of items and feel very positively abundant. You don’t have to join the minimalists. Minimalist life is not for everyone; however, for some of you, the fewer items you have, the better you feel. That’s why there is no perfect answer to: How much stuff should I keep? Or is this too much? These questions are very subjective and personal. I challenge you to think about the rooms and homes you have visited that made you feel the most abundance and positive. What did they look like? Were the walls covered in decorations? Or were they perhaps, blank or only had one very enjoyable piece of artwork? I have found that sometimes the best thing to do is take everything off your walls and then only add back what you really want to see everyday.
Mental Space– One of my favorite quotes about our headspace is by Anne Lamott “My mind is like a bad neighborhood, I try not to go there alone.” When I read this, I always laugh because I can relate so well. Your thoughts are the most powerful when it comes to creating your life and how you see yourself. And if you are anything like me, your thoughts seem to have a mind of their own, worrying and fretting about things that will most likely never even come close to happening. Don’t spend your creative energy on dooms day thoughts. While you may have an abundance of worrisome thoughts, that keeps you in fear….Fear of taking action, fear of creating results and this steals away your joy. You always get to CHOOSE your thoughts. It doesn’t feel like you do most of the time, but that’s just because you probably weren’t taught how to think and that you can always choose a different thought with your powerful thinking brain. And hey, sometimes our brains just want to think scary thoughts and that’s okay. If that happens just let it be, but don’t think you have to further investigate why your brain is thinking something frightening. Just choose a more abundant thought immediately after that stray thought. It will take a little practice, but here’s another challenge. Next time your catch yourself worrying about something, pause and tell yourself, “That’s interesting but that’s not actually happening right now. What do I want to think about consciously instead?”
So back to abundance, your thoughts are abundant. You think upward of 60,000 thoughts a day. (No, I haven’t counted, but that’s what “they” say.) Start to choose a few more consciously and you will definitely feel more abundance in your life. Pick thoughts that are in alignment with your goals and prepare to see some huge changes in all parts of your life.
Financial Life– I think it’s safe to say everyone wants to have financial abundance. You probably think that if you had a certain magic number in your bank account, you would be able to create everything you ever wanted. You would be right about some things being easier; however, not all of your problems would be solved and you would miss out on the journey of building your own abundance and the valuable lessons you learn along that journey. Often a quick assessment of your debit card transactions will show what you believe to be important to you right now. You can always trade some of those fast food and coffee purchases for more dollars in your bank account if financial abundance is what you want. The choice is always yours. You can have an easy, extra $1300 this year if you didn’t get that $5 coffee on your way to work everyday. That little trade is on the smaller end of the trade-offs. Remember every time you swipe your card you are making a trade of your dollars and the time it took to earn those dollars. Challenge: For the next week, ask yourself before every purchase, “Do I want this more than creating my financial abundance?” Bonus challenge is to enter all of your purchases from last month into a budget to see where you are spending your money and where you can cut out purchases. Question all your purchasing habits and create your financial abundance.
Work Life– If you are anything like me, you probably wonder how you could feel a sense of abundance at work. Most likely you are abundantly busy or abundantly bored. It really is possible to feel abundant at work. This can be done through how you show up with your clients and coworkers. Try showing up with a sense of purpose and service, the more abundance you will have toward your work. Trust me. Give it a try for a week and you will be surprised at how different your experience at work can be. Remember your boss, co-workers, and clients are people too.
Spiritual Life– No matter your spiritual or religious preference, the more abundant and connected you feel spiritually, the more you will show up and be kind to yourself and others. Spiritual abundance will create the sense that you matter in this life and that God or the Universe has your best interest at heart and is keep an eye out for you. You will feel a sense of peace and security in your being. This is so important for your overall wellness. I challenge you to pick one of these and try it for a week:
1) Start your morning with gratitude. Write down or say out loud 3 things you are grateful for.
2) Meditate for 5 minutes. I use Insight Timer App or just sit in silence.
3) Say a prayer for someone. Could be a family member, friend, a stranger, or yourself.
Relationships– This is perhaps one of the most imporant areas of our human experience. Everyone wants to feel abandance with the people they choose to have in their lives. The interesting thing is you only need to have a very small handful of close relationships that are additive to you life to feel abundance. Whether you have 300 or 3 friends, you won’t feel abundance if hanging around these “friends” makes you feel depleted. So the challenge for you here is to check in with your feelings when you are around each person in your life. After hanging out, are you filled with a sense of satisfaction or are you depleted? Now you may think well “I’m an introvert so I always feel depleted after socializing”. I bet that’s not true with all of your friendships though. Some people you are drawn towards and after spending time you are more energized or if nothing else not depleted after hanging out with them. Give it a go and you will be surprised what you learn about yourself and your relationships.
Final Thoughts on Abundance
To me abundance in all of these areas, equals freedom and security. I haven’t reached abundance in all areas of my life and I’m a work in progress, but I know that working toward abundance in each of these areas is worth my time. The struggles along the way are teaching me so much about myself and life. I encourage you to think about the abundance in your life. Is it positive or negative? Where are you most abundant? What area are you least abundant? How can you create more abundance in your life? The answers to these questions are in you my friend. Keep an open mind to listening in on your thoughts. They guide how you feel and act. You will be amazed at what you can change by exploring these questions.
I truly want to hear from you. Send your comments and share your insights from any of the challenges above. If you want coaching about any of these topic or how to create more abundance in your life, head on over to my contact page.