Living a Life of Inner Abundance

Dear Friends,

No doubt you’ve come across articles, talks, even plaques on abundance--it is a buzzword in our culture these days. Much of the focus seems to be on attaining external abundance. And while there is nothing wrong with that, perhaps an even more important and more deeply fulfilling practice is the practice of cultivating internal abundance. What if there is a richer way of experiencing all of life from the inside out? What if we can walk through life with an ongoing felt-sense of joy and peace regardless of our circumstances?

This is not just a “pie-in-the-sky” idea. It is a real, attainable state of being. It’s just that most of us have never been taught how to access and stay in the calm “understory” of our lives. We have not been guided in how to connect with the innate, subtle melody of well-being that runs underneath our louder, surface song.

Many ancient and contemporary schools of thought can guide us in tapping into our internal resources of abundance--Somatic (body-based) psychotherapy, Yoga Nidra meditation, and Jungian psychology to name a few. Starting this April, I will be offering a six week group course focused on helping you learn how to access your internal resources and make your inner abundance the main foundation of your life. So I would like to offer all of you a small taste of this six-week banquet of abundance…

Take a few slow, deep breaths as you feel your feet connecting with the floor. Notice the sensation of each in-breath and each out-breath. After several moments, float with ease through your mind until you land upon a memory or an experience of joy, well-being, or goodness. Perhaps it is a memory from a long time ago. Maybe it is a more recent experience. It could be a place in nature, or time spent with a particularly safe, loving person. Allow this experience to be as real and three-dimensional as possible. Note all of the sensory details of the experience--the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and sense of touch. And take a slow moment to notice where you feel the goodness or joy of this experience in your body. Tune into that body sensation and spend a few moments with it. Next, find a word or a phrase that describes the essence of this positive event, and repeat that word several times to yourself, allowing it to be the only thing you focus on. Now, get a clear, image (a single snapshot) from your memory, or alternately, find another image that represents your essence word. Take some time to continue to hold space for this inner resource of goodness and see if a particular song comes to mind that might also represent the essence of your positive memory. If you land on a song, set an intention to listen to that song regularly for several weeks. You may also want to print out a picture or image that represents your internal resource, or find and read a poem that connects you to this experience of inner abundance. Allow yourself to “bake” in your memory, your positive body sensations, and any images, or music associated with it. You are not only accessing an internal resource, you are helping it to embed deeply into your being. The more you grow and embed these memories or real-time encounters of abundance, the stronger they are inside of you. They become a strong foundation, so that times of pain, though still experienced, do not shake your internal sense of groundedness and well-being.

This is just one of many “techniques” we will explore in the six-week Inner Abundance Group starting April 6th (see flyer below). I hope you will be able to join me as we step into a more expansive and fulfilling way to journey through life.

A big part of the abundance in my life is the relationships I have been blessed with, and that includes all of you who are receiving this letter. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making my life more full, meaningful and joyous. May we all be blessed to live from a deep, well-spring of inner abundance.

Beauty for the Bleak Times

A new day dawns.

The dark of rest

Gives way to newness and light..

I grab my basket before I go out.

Today I will gather beauty and joy.

I will bring them home in my heart

And weave them into

An exquisite wreath of fullness.

When bleak times come,

And the waves of loss crash against me,

I will treasure my wreath of wonder and delight.

Then my soul will sing,

Even while the storm rages.

(by Mari, 2018)