A Lens of Abundance
We have come a long way in learning about and practicing letting go and surrender. Do you feel a shift in yourself? In your perspective?
Now that we are in the 2nd half of this 8 week series, let’s look at everything through a lens of abundance (as opposed to scarcity).
Remember- you can start at the 1st session of this series at bexb.org/letgo.
Looking at everything through a lens of abundance is easier said than done.
It all sounds lovely when we think about it theoretically. Everyone can read a post and think, “that’s a nice idea.”
What Happens When You Face a Test
But what do you do when you are living your life, in the day-to-day and something happens.
What happens when you face a test or challenge? Or when what you decided you wanted to do doesn’t work out the way you thought it would?
Do you just drop everything and hide and call it letting go?
Do you surrender like you’re giving up and admitting defeat?
This week, let’s uncover what it takes to “pass tests” and stick with experiments along our letting go journey.
There are three main ingredients: wholeness, trust and learning.
Wholeness
Wholeness is when we appreciate our worth: our wholeness, as in, nothing is missing. Nothing is broken. We are and have everything we need to survive and thrive.
Let’s just talk about you for a minute.
You are 100% worthy and whole.
You always have been – since birth. Arriving, and being, on this planet means you have met the ”price of admission.”
You are not more or less worthy or deserving than anyone else on this planet. You are a whole human and nothing is missing.
Consider yourself on a journey or a path you are following as you live your life.
We have all heard the expression “it’s the journey, not the destination.”
So, as we’re following along on this journey or path, we have an idea of who we are, we know what we want (or our inner wisdom does) and it also knows why we want. Our who, what and why can be thought of as our purpose and guiding values.
What we don’t know is how we will get there on this path. We don’t know when we will get there and we don’t know where specifically the path will lead.
Whole vs Hole
So, on this path we can feel whole – as in we have everything we need and nothing is missing.
If we are on this journey feeling like we’re missing something, then we would be looking to fill that hole (h-o-l-e) or close that gap.
We would be thinking there is something missing in us. Thinking something is missing or deficient creates fear. As our minds detect fear, we lean towards lack or scarcity.
If we remind ourselves we are whole and nothing is missing, we can lean towards abundance and wholeness.
One of my favorite expressions in recent years is “you can never get enough of what you don’t really need.”
When we think of ourselves as “whole,” we realize we don’t need anything to fill the other kind of “hole.”
When we know we are whole, we know there is nothing missing.
When we try to “fill up” with something we think is missing, it’s not really going to fill us up, because there is no hole. We are whole.
When Wholeness is Tested
Sometimes, our ego, or the mind, out of a sense of threat and wanting to protect, may suggest that we’re not whole.
We may get an idea that we are not ok.
Can I still feel whole even if I don’t get what I want or what I think I need?
Can I still feel whole when the ego tells me I’m missing something?
This is my wholeness being tested. It’s not an external test from an outside teacher or organization where I will get a passing or failing grade that will go on a record and decide my future opportunities.
This test is a way for me to learn about myself when I notice that I do not control and when things do not go the way I prefer.
Not 1-Size Fits All
Everything I am sharing right now sounds a little vague and theoretical, even to me, and I’m the one saying it!
The reason it’s hard to explain is because this is not a 1-size fits all explanation.
We all have different experiences and associations with the word “test.”
Some people have test anxiety. Some people love to “ace” tests.
Test Yourself
If it helps, think of tests in the context of this question: how can you show yourself you know what you know?
How do you prove to yourself that you have a skill that you need? By testing yourself.
Whenever we build or create anything, once we get to a certain point, we say “let’s test it.”
Then, we apply stress or pressure or a problem or simulation to whatever we just created to see if it works, if it can pass the test.
If it doesn’t pass the test, we don’t quit or give up, we figure out why and make adjustments and test again.
If it does pass the test, we trust and we keep creating and building.
Trust
That was an example in theory. In reality, we trust ourselves and life.
Last week when I was explaining the 3 stages of surrender I offered you the memory device of using the 6W questions: who, what, why, where, when, and how.
This week, we can continue to think about those questions as we notice and consider tests and experiments as we trust.
We might not want to think of those 6 W questions in terms of what is my business and what is not my business but instead, what do I trust and what can’t I know.
I do trust what I want. I trust who I am. I trust why I want what I want.
I can’t know when I will get what I want or where the solution or delivery will come from or how things will unfold as I go about my life.
Distrust as Self-Protection
You always have the option to trust or distrust.
Think of how you feel when you trust.
Think of how you feel when you do not trust. Sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to trust out of a sense of self protection.
When this happens, we can check in to see if we are “protecting” ourselves from a true threat or from a possible future threat (or unknown) that might not even happen or can’t be known in advance.
We can consider if our self protection is helpful or overbearing/trying to control.
Testing our Trust
My theory is that tests can be our own internal decision making points, not some outside authority consciously testing us.
There is a sense of relief in choosing to think “oh, this is just a test.”
We can ask ourselves “what is this testing? Why is this test showing up? Or what will I learn about myself from this test?”
Learning
As we go, as we notice our tests, we commit to continue to learn.
When I was a teenager, I tutored a little girl in elementary school. Her parents and her teacher told me it was important that I point out when she made a mistake or got something wrong, because that’s how she learned.
At the time, it seemed like a novel idea to my teenage brain: we learn better when someone points out our mistakes?
But now, after years of application and experimentation and learning, I get it it. Sometimes the lessons that stand out the most are when we failed, or when we were called out for being wrong, or had to learn the hard way.
Think about everything you know now that serves you and makes your life meaningful and enjoyable, and even just the things you know that make your life operational and bearable.
How do you know what you know?
How did you learn it?
What have you learned and figured out in just the past five years?
What will you learn in the next five years?
You can think of everything you are trying and failing and succeeding at and testing as experiments.
Just like the scientific method, your life on this path can just be a series of observations, hypothesis, experiments, and analysis. Sometimes your hypothesis will prove true, sometimes your conclusions will show that you were way off, so you’ll start a new experiment.
It’s all learning!
Verse to Practice Surrender
Let me remember my inner wisdom is always present.
Give me awareness.
Let me see the bigger picture.
I know I am rational.
Let me also be imaginative and creative.
Let me discern between intuition and primal fear.
Let me know who I am.
Let me surrender.
Chakra and Maslowe’s Hierarchy
This week, we have moved up to the third eye chakra. This energy center is all about imagination and insight.
The idea here is to make decisions without emotional attachment – sounds like trusting ourselves and letting go, right?
In Maslowe’s Hierarchy, we are staying at the 4th level, esteem. We are noticing our personal acceptance and self-belief.
Journal Prompts
What signs and nudges from my intuition have I followed in the past?
What does my instinct feel or sound like? How about my intuition?
How can I shine my light without restriction?
Wrapping up, Links and Final Session Next Week
In the final session of this series, we will be noticing how we can make this an ongoing practice and we will be appreciating and celebrating how we have transformed. That session is ready for you – bexb.org/peace
Let me know about your transformation below.
There are 2 opportunities for us to connect in the next 2 weeks.
This coming Tuesday on 2/21/23, join me for a workshop and discussion about Abundance and Scarcity.
Then, the following Wednesday 3/1/23 we are starting a 60-day experiment of doing a Self Awareness Exercise each day.
I started this experiment by myself back in November and loved the results. I immediately knew I wanted to share this with you too – so now we can all do these daily exercises on our own, together.
I’ll explain everything and demonstrate the exercise on the 1st and then we will celebrate our new, extended awareness at the end of 60 days.
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