SIMPLY CELEBRATE NEWSLETTER JUNE/JULY 2012
This week I've been practicing a lot with some old karma around scarcity. For me it mostly shows up as scarcity of money. You'll sometimes hear me say, "I'm so rich with love and creativity, an amazing family and wonderful friends, and incredible experiences." And then I'll follow it up with a sigh or half-laugh and the words, "But man, that cold, hard cash seems to ever elude me."
Like a gift, yesterday I stumbled upon something I had recorded as part of my audio self mentoring practice. It was an energetic recording I made after a coaching call with a delightful client, Lisa, who had been struggling with financial scarcity. This recording was so helpful to me. I want to share it/Lisa's story with you.
Lisa was a participant in my "Scarcity to Abundance: Talk Yourself into It" group coaching class. During the class we'd been exploring a variety of ways to turn scarcity on its head. One day in the class discussion, Lisa shared how she'd been getting a lot of telemarketing calls requesting donations for various causes. Each call would make her feel bad because it reminded her of her financial scarcity. Not wanting to have those feelings of scarcity, Lisa came up with an idea. Every time she got a call from a tele-marketer, she would deliberately offer that person as much encouragement and presence as she could. She'd say, "Wow, I love the work you're doing in the world and applaud you for it." She'd let them know that she couldn't support them financially, but she wanted to offer her gratitude.
Can you imagine how this kindness and generosity must have felt to those telemarketers? We all know that most of us either hang up or are so curt when we get those calls. I bet lisa's callers felt great when they hung up. And Lisa told me that it felt really wonderful for her, too.
That in itself would be a wonderful ending to the story. But then the next week when our class met, Lisa said, "I had some amazing financial abundance come in." She told us about a weird letter she got from the IRS. How she called them and they said they'd finally settled her case. (A case she wasn't aware of existing.) The IRS (yep, our government) said they were sending her a check for $3,000 that they owed her from several years ago due to some calculating error. Could there be a more unexpected place for abundance to come from than the IRS?!
I love Lisa's story because she had the willingness to give abundance in a place where it often isn't given. And she was offered it from a place where it often isn't offered. I also love that Lisa felt an abdundance simply by giving abundance. This is one of the biggest secrets to living a life of abundance. It feels so counter-intuitive, but always, always works.
Another secret, which Lisa learned by her experience, is that that place of fear and scarcity feels so closed. Clenched. It can be difficult to let anything in. When she opened herself to giving in the way she was able, she said she felt like there was a new spaciousness that allowed room for something to come into her life.
One of the things I teach in the Abundance to Scarcity Class is that whenever we feel scarcity, it is a great time to give. Especially to give in the area we feel scarce. So right now, I'm taking my own advice. I just paused my writing, visited the Make a Wish Foundation website, and made a financial donation. It feels so delicious to smack monkeymind upside the head and do something from a place of love and openness instead of fear and scarcity.
I have this visual in my head of opening my clenched hand — and offering something and receiving something at the same time.
Here's to abundance and celebrations — in all the expected and unexpected places!
Photo © Can Stock Photo Inc. /Paha_L