Abundance vs. Fear

Open your eyes and what do you see? A world full of beauty, love and endless gifts or a world of danger, lies, and threats to survival. Maybe you see both. Maybe it depends on the day. The interesting thing is that the world isn't one or the other. What you see rests squarely with you and your perception of reality. Reality is up to you. To us. So why choose fear over abundance? 

Welcome to the next installment of the Self Care R-evolution! This week the political game has been surreal. What seems to be the only truth that anyone can say for sure is that no one knows the truth of what is happening. There seems to be seven different versions, and even more opinions, for each event that takes place washing around in the media. This is undoubtedly purposeful on the part of those in power but let us for a moment use it to our advantage as a tool for self care. If this week has shown us anything it is that truth and reality are subjective. What seems like firm ground is always in motion, ever changing and no one person ever experiences it the same way. We choose our realities although we often do it unconsciously. If seven different versions of a story are printed then which one we choose to believe and repost says more about our own minds than it does about anything else. Those that analyze such things are busy building "big data" banks from which they generate targeted media that even further plays upon our hidden insecurities and tendencies. For more on that read this fascinating and disturbing article here. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win

How does this have anything to do with Self Care? Well often we choose realities that don't really serve our highest happiness or peace. Why? For millions of valid reasons but none of them really are anywhere near as important as the realization that we have a choice. We can choose to open our eyes and see a world of abundance. It exists. There is Moonlight. Clothing on our backs. Clean water we can drink. Electricity that comes on. Friendship we can call upon. Oak trees, dark chocolate, hot baths, cute dogs, our favorite music and on and on. Especially in the 21st century and the In US we are awash in the level of abundance that is rare in the whole of history. Even if you have none of those things the Earth herself is abundance manifest. The dandelion flower does not produce one or two seeds it has hundreds- in fields of thousands. The law of nature, of life, is putting out more than is needed. Always a little extra just to be sure. Diversity and generosity are the strengths of every natural system (ahem- take notes here politicians!)

In a world of abundance why would we choose to see fear? We wake up stressed out. We don't have control of anything and nothing we do makes a difference. The problems of the world are too big to handle. We don't know what to do. We are sad, overwhelmed, afraid of what tomorrow might bring. Yes- this too is valid. If we look at the problems they are manifest. Huge. Complicated. We dive in and as hard as we swim we will never reach a safe shore. We feel exhausted and afraid. We are vulnerable and alone. There isn't enough resources for us all. Sound familiar? This is the news we listen to everyday. The media love fear. The worldview given to us through movies, books, television, social media is that we are at a constant war with some force or another (crime, drugs, terrorists, cancer, hunger, other nations etc) and that our chances of losing are good. In this view the law of nature is dog eat dog- survival of the fittest and better watch your back. Here is of course where most of us live in our heads and why we feel so depleted and helpless to effect positive change in our lives or in the world around us. 

Here's the Good News! You can choose. Choose the world you live in. Choose what you pay attention to and what you give energy to. I'm not saying to drop out of reality- I'm saying to change your reality. It is the most powerful and empowering thing you can do for yourself and by extension everyone around you. This is free. It's absolutely within your power because you are the only person who can do it. You are the super hero who can save your own world from all the enemies in your head. Simply choose to live in abundance. See it everywhere. See it even in scary scenarios that would normally seem evidence of the other fear based world. Generosity exists everywhere. Love exists everywhere. It's on full display as long as we are looking for it. Look for it. Expect it. Foster it. Encourage the abundance you know is the basis of our planet and our beings. I promise you that when you are looking for it that it will be a constant delight to meet the next person or take on the next challenge. It is excellent self care too because living in abundance means that there is enough time, enough money, enough peace to go around. We can ease up. Relax. We can stay present in our bodies and start enjoying this amazing beautiful life we have been gifted. When we expect abundance it arrives in piles and heaps. Smiles, new friends, new experiences, open minds, beautiful vistas suddenly appear everywhere. The fear and hate mongering no longer have a hold of us. We are not tired because we are receiving all the energy we need. 

Now I hear some rumblings from the old fear based world that this is not practical- this is only something rich people can afford to do- only something privilege allows you to do. The real world is dangerous, hard and scary and we need to be on the defensive at all times. This is born out of experience and so it must be true. To this I say it is true. But truth is what we make it to be. There really is no risk here of choosing abundance. What have you got to lose? If you want to fight the powers that be this is the most revolutionary way of all. You just step out of the reality in which they control your experience. Free your mind and the rest will follow. I am not suggesting we ignore the problems of the world, I am suggesting that we see and respond to them with a completely new awareness. I would also suggest that anything else but this just reinforces the fear reality (no matter what story you choose to believe within it). 

So easy but not so easy. Changing your reality is uprooting some deeply held perceptions. This is the undoing of habitual thought. We are also hardwired through our limbic (our primal) brain for fight or flight survival instincts- just like any smart animal. It takes practice. Becoming happy when we are used to being stressed takes letting go of what we think makes us who we are. We define ourselves by our ability to fight, to be strong, to make it, to push, to succeed etc. This is what our culture hands out metals for- what wins trophies. Being happy and at peace is not something we have good role models for is it? That's because to be happy you just need to drop out of fear and you realize that you don't have anything to prove or to struggle for. You receive your life as your divine right and not as something you need to earn. It's pretty radical. My hope is that everyone starts practicing radical self care and abundance as a political strategy. The power of the people to change the world starts in our realization that world is not in need of changing- our own heads are. 

How? Choose meditation whenever you can. Choose positive affirmations daily. Listen. Observe your thoughts and slowly you can start to adjust them from fear based ones to ones that based in wonder, gratitude and happiness. Stay in the present moment. Notice what is going on right now. Slow down. Appreciate your food. Take time to do kind things for others. Stay checked into your body and treat it with respect. Trust that life is what you make of it- so make it awesome! Now go forth with your new super power and see how much happiness you can manifest for yourself today! Seeing you shining will remind me to remember abundance too. We are all in this together. Inspire each other to see our way clear of delusion and embrace this gift that is life.