The Global Conversation

Tag: abundance

  • Take a ride on the abundance superhighway

    I recently had a conversation with a very dear friend about what could possibly be one of humanity’s most perplexing and misunderstood relationships:  our relationship with money.  This particular friend of mine was noticing how every time she dreamt up new and exciting ways to draw more money into her life, she found herself experiencing abrupt roadblocks being constructed in the pathway to that effortless flow of financial abundance that she continues to witness others experiencing with seemingly much more ease.

    Confused by more questions in her life than answers, she asked God:  “What the heck is going on here?”

    She is doing what she loves.  She is being who she knows herself to be.  She is creative and passionate and has a heart called to serve and help others.  She gives of herself openly and lovingly and asks for very little, if anything, in return from anyone.

    So why does the experience of financial prosperity continue to mock someone who is doing all the “right” things in their world?

    Then the answer revealed itself in the very next question from my sweet, wonderful friend:  “Is it bad or “wrong” for me to want to make money?”

    Ah, the sponsoring thought.  The underlying trap.

    Somewhere along the line, money has gotten a really bad rap.  We have been taught to desire it and despise it in almost equal measure.  Intimate relationships, friendships, and families have been torn apart over money, both in situations of lack and in situations of plenty.  Basketball players and movie stars make copious amounts of money.  Teachers and social workers barely make enough to pay their basic household bills.  And then there are those who have a deep desire to “make a living” in the spiritual community, those who consider themselves to be key players in the New Spirituality movement, who abruptly discover that they fall into a category for which many believe they simply should not get paid at all.

    If we want to take a ride on the “abundance superhighway,” we must change our views about money and refuel ourselves with the energy that flows and radiates deep beneath the obvious paper and coins we hold in our hands or deposit in our bank accounts.  One of the quickest and surest ways to experience the magnificence of our own abundance is to give to another that which we believe ourselves to be lacking; and in doing so, what we are then allowed to discover about ourselves is that we are already plentiful in what we imagined ourselves to not have.  And not only are we given an opportunity to experience already having it, but we are given the opportunity to experience it to the degree that we actually have enough to give away.  This is just one of the many extraordinary concepts offered to us from the Conversations with God material.

    If we change our belief about money, how might that change our experience of money?

    If our experience of money is changed, might we be given the opportunity to experience our abundance in a new way, in a way that has nothing to do with money at all?

    And if our natural state of abundance has nothing to do with money at all, what does it have to do with?

    I love money.

    I love receiving it.  I love giving it away.  And it has been my personal experience at numerous points in time in my life that I can live quite contently without having much of it at all. I have never been someone who has had what one would call a “lot” of money.  And I solemnly recognize the disproportionate number of people in the world who are barely getting by in their day-to-day lives with the amount of financial resources they have available to them compared to the tightly guarded segment of our population who holds and controls the vast percentage of our world’s wealth and resources.  It is my hope and my vision that one day that model of our world will change.  But in order to reach that stage in our evolution, we must reflect upon and restructure some of our most basic and fundamental underlying beliefs not only about money, but about who we are and about why we are even here in the first place.

    Where do we begin?  What can one person do?

    Perhaps we all can throw an extra dollar or two onto the tip for our next waitress.  Maybe we actually do have enough time and money to pull into that youth group’s car wash on the corner.  Might we allow ourselves to share 3 or 4 or 5 dollars with the homeless man or woman on the corner without worrying about how they spend it or why they are there to begin with?  What would happen if we bought our groceries from the local Mom-and-Pop store in our community, where the prices might be slightly higher, but the service is extraordinary?  Would we really miss the extra few dollars and cents in the long run?

    I’m just wondering…

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • Guiltless gift giving

    How do you feel about the gift-buying season? Do you feel a conflict between a wish to shower your child with presents and your desire to be spiritual? Does that necessarily mean eschewing an abundant holiday? Can you find a balance between the two?  Many of us enjoy shopping for our children; and while we are inundated with ads and sales enticing us to spend without limit, we may start to question how buying presents, heaped upon presents, fits in with The New Spirituality.

     As someone who relishes giving gifts, this is a question I have thought about at length. So while I don’t have the answer for you,God just might. Conversations with God makes clear that money, creature comforts, and, yes, even material objects are meant to be enjoyed, not feared or avoided. In the Old Cultural Story, we were convinced that “virtuous” living meant going without. There was great honor bestowed for doing what you loved and expecting little pay in return; why else would the helping professions require higher levels of education yet pay lower wages than, say, the sports or entertainment industry?  It is only because we have tolerated it being that way.

    Conversations with God disagrees.  No “virtue” is gained by denying yourself valuable pay for doing important work about which you feel passionate. Similarly, you don’t have to deny your children abundance in order to curry favor with God; so the conflict in the opening questions is an illusion. The goal, then, becomes keeping those gifts and possessions in perspective – not allowing them to consume or define you (or your children)–and finding your value, inside of you, based on Who You Really Are, rather than by your material possessions.

    A simple way to keep holiday gifts in perspective, within yourself, is to be conscious of the reasons you have for the amount of shopping you do. For instance, if you are living a life of love, it may not be most beneficial to give gifts intended to show others your wealth; instead it might be more beneficial to look at gifts as an opportunity to show the recipient love, while realizing that this is not the only possible way to show that love. Similarly, giving someone gifts because you are trying to get their love and affection might not be as beneficial to your growth as giving gifts because you wish to show your love to them.  If you look at gift-giving as an opportunity to compete, or to do more than others, rather than doing more for others than you have before, you might not be achieving the highest version of the grandest vision you hold about yourself.  If you spend outside of your means, or what is comfortable, you may be causing yourself more stress. Whereas carefully picking meaningful gifts, which you can afford, might allow you to give with pure love rather than having fear, which accompanies spending “too much,” attached to the gift.  Being aware of your gift-giving intentions will allow you to demonstrate pure love to your child.

    You can also directly help your child keep the holidays in perspective.  One way is to remind him that he is a complete, worthwhile being; and that, in concert with the CwG concept There is Enough, he is Enough just by his existence.  Guide your child to an understanding and feeling of gratitude by encouraging her to write thoughtful thank you notes for gifts she receives. Encourage her to share with others by assisting her in making small gifts for other family members.  All of these can help the child understand that the material things are just that…things which we have, not things which we are…and that being Who We Really Are is actually the best gift we can give the world.

    So really, as with all of The New Spirituality, there are no wrong actions, nothing you can do which offends God or makes you a “bad” person. There is only you and your opportunity to embrace gift-giving as one way (not the only way, and not even the most important way) to share your abundance, to express Who You Really Are, Who You Are in relationship to another, and your love for another,  as well as a chance to acknowledge your gratitude for the gifts (both physical and not) you have received.  In this way, you can feel free to spend as much or as little as you choose, be liberated from the trappings of “keeping up with (or doing more than) the Joneses,” and make educated decisions to spend what is comfortable for your family (whether that means zero or 100 presents) without guilt or fear of judgment, competition, or punishment…all the while keeping in mind that your presence may be just the present your child desires!

    (Emily A. Filmore is the Creative Co-Director of www.cwgforparents.com. She is also the author/illustrator of the “With My Child” Series of books about bonding with your child through everyday activities.  Her books are available at www.withmychildseries.com. To contact Emily, please email her at Emily@cwgforparents.com.)

  • Thanks for nothing, God

    As we once again find ourselves on the threshold of the Thanksgiving holiday, the season of gratitude, I want to thank God for everything in my life that is wrong, for all the things in my life that I have either lost or never received, and for all the outcomes that did not turn out right.

    …I want to thank God for the relationships that are no longer a part of my reality in the way they once comfortably were, for the friendships and lovers who transitioned out of my life and moved in new directions, and for the encounters with my Brothers and Sisters on Planet Earth that were less than pleasant and far from an experience of Oneness.

    …I want to thank God for the money that is not in my bank account.  I feel especially grateful for having to give up some of the things in my life I truly enjoyed because I could no longer afford to pay for them.

    …I want to thank God for the moments in my life when I felt alone, as though nobody understood me or even cared, the moments where the silence in the room echoed loudly, the colors of life were drained of their vibrance, and time stood dreadfully still.

    …I want to thank God for the professional promotions I did not receive, the career opportunities I was overlooked for, and the jobs I was matter-of-factly asked not to return to.

    …I want to thank God for the aches and pains in my physical being, the nights where I am plagued with insomnia, the extra body weight I have had a difficult time shedding, and the way my mirror stares mockingly back at me some days.

    …I want to thank God for the rattle in my car, the leaky faucet in my bathroom, the slowest line at the bank, the disproportionate number of red lights during my morning commute, last night’s quarrel with my spouse, the empty orange juice container, the paper cut, the stubbed toe, the neighbor who mows his yard at 6:00 a.m., and the one red shirt that mysteriously found its way into my washing machine along with a load of what is now formerly white clothes.

    Yes, God, thank you.

    The wonderful and lovely occurrences in life present us an obvious opportunity to experience and express gratitude.  Appreciation flows generously in moments of ease and abundance.  But how can we experience thankfulness in the midst of strife and turmoil?  How can we feel abundant when we feel as though we have nothing?  Is it possible that the events in life that reveal themselves to us under the guise of calamity hold within them the same opportunity for self-realization as those which seem to appear peacefully and effortlessly?

    The people, places, and things which show up as “wrong” serve to illuminate that which is “right,” remembering that it is only within the human understanding of “wrong” or “right” that anything can be judged as so.  There is not a single occurrence which does not lead you to a higher experience of Who You Really Are, whether you are being invited to that remembrance through an experience of having or not having, losing or finding, propelling forward or retracting back, feeling frustrated or feeling overjoyed.

    I will be expressing my deepest gratitude to God for the “nothings” in my life this Thanksgiving and thanking Her for the expanding awareness that continues to allow me to see the possibilities within what might otherwise appear to be “wrong.”

    How about you?

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

     

     

  • Having “nothing” and “everything”
    at the same time

    Financial uncertainty can create some real challenges in relationships.  Unpaid bills stacking up on the kitchen counter, an almost-empty gas tank in your automobile, looming medical expenses, kids in college, rising insurance premiums, maxed-out credit cards, all paralleled with shrinking paychecks or maybe even the threat of losing a job are situations that many, many couples are up against and struggling with.  These issues, demanding center-stage attention for couples finding themselves at the end of their financial ropes, are often significant contributing factors leading to the demise of even the most loving relationships.

    Modern conveniences, tantalizing advertising campaigns, and overly commercialized holidays cater to and feed our fragile ego’s desire to have more, do more, have it faster, do it faster.  Attempts to keep up with the seductive and frenzied pace of “more, more, more” draw us further away from the essence of our own innate abundance, misleading us into believing that the true measurement of “wealth” in our relationships, or lack thereof, is directly correlated to the way in which we measure financial wealth.

    Contrary to what we are being asked to embrace by society, could a shoestring budget and a dwindling bank account be just the thing that reconnects us with an experience of inner wealth, unconditional love, and deeply fulfilling partnerships?  Could the experience of having nothing remind us that we already have everything?

    A partnership is much more than the physical cohabitation of two individuals.  It is more than the wedding and the house and the kids and the careers, and is most certainly more than the unpaid bills.  A partnership is a Union of Souls on a Spiritual Journey.  Refocusing our attention on the larger purpose of our relationships and the ultimate outcome for All of Life helps us to measure how tightly we hold the day-to-day happenings in our life and how meaningful they are to us.

    When waves of panic, worry, and obsession dominate our thoughts, we lose sight of the experience for which our Souls yearn.  Sure, we still experience something.  We are in a constant state of experiencing ourselves in relation to every encounter in life.  But when the question becomes “Why is this experience creating conflict and tension, rather than joy and happiness, in my relationship?” we may want to ask the next important question:  “How can I CHANGE that?”

    Everything we experience in life — the perceived lows, the perceived highs, what we label “good,” what we label “bad,” those events that appear to propel us forward, and those events that appear to hold us back — are simply touchstones for us to choose in relation to.  Each experience weighs in somewhere on the “scale of life,” teetering in one direction or another, depending upon what we choose.   Perhaps today we will choose a long walk in nature, holding hands with our Loved One, engaging in heartfelt conversation.  Perhaps tonight, instead of eating at a restaurant, we will prepare a wonderful homemade meal together.  Perhaps this evening we will dance underneath the moonlight to our favorite soulful music.  Perhaps we will gift each other with a sensual massage and surrender to a lingering night of making love.  Perhaps in the evenings, after a long day at work, we will greet our Beloved at the door with a warm and loving embrace and each morning awaken them with a tender kiss.

    If we choose to experience this level of Soul connection, in spite of the unpaid bills stacking up on the kitchen counter, an almost-empty gas tank in the automobile, looming medical expenses, kids in college, rising insurance premiums, maxed-out credit cards, all paralleled with shrinking paychecks or maybe even the threat of losing a job, then we will have truly experienced what it means to be rich beyond our wildest dreams.

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)