Where are you in your life currently?
Do you think you’re farther ahead or behind than most people you know?
I was cleaning the new apartment that I’m moving into soon and a thought popped into my head “this place isn’t good enough for me.”
At first my mind latched onto it.
I should have a home that has marble countertops and a soaker tub.
I deserve brand new appliances.
Look at this! There’s small cracks in the tiles and the bathroom looks like it belongs in a nursing home. (We have some grab bars from previous tenants).
I was picking at its imperfections.
Sound familiar?
But then I realized that while I feel great in my new and spacious home, with a huge balcony, washer and dryer and the biggest kitchen I’ve ever had, my mind wanted to convince me it wasn’t good enough.
That my life as it is right now isn’t good enough.
We share things on social media and add twenty caveats to it:
“Trigger warning: [insert whatever is going on in your life].”
“I know a lot of people are going through hard times right now, but I really want to celebrate …”
“I am privileged but …”
You know the drill.
You post about something celebratory in your life yet feel bad because someone you know is going through the opposite to you.
I don’t believe we can compare our stories to anyone else.
As the saying goes, the race is only with yourself.
While we are all connected, we have our individuality, agency and sovereignty. We are a drop in the ocean, but we are also a world unto ourselves. A unique being that is not comparable. And does not need to apologize for their life.
I believe our struggles and triumphs need not be measured to anything or anyone else.
And the beauty of this, is that when we embrace our wholeness and our uniqueness, we can honour someone else’s full humanity and experience. Dark and light and everything in between.
Which means of course that we are free to go through whatever it is we are going through. And we are free to celebrate who we are and what we’ve accomplished, manifested and created.
Look, I understand that our societies aren’t built this way and that our humanity tends to veer toward “keeping up with the Joneses” and wanting to fit in with our tribe.
It’s in our DNA.
But if we don’t create our lives from the inside out and constantly let the outside world influence us, we’re going to miss out on the knowledge that we are way more than enough.
I love beautiful and well made things. I deeply appreciate luxury and prefer it to “roughing it” or going without. I like, well, abundance.
But, while I compare my chapter 5 with someone else’s chapter 20 (or 2), I miss how much richness my own life has.
Abundance isn’t something you acquire, it's something you step into.
It’s not something you gain, but something you realize is in you all along.
Come home to yourself, come home to your abundance.
While there is certainly nothing wrong for desiring and working toward more in our lives, we have to start with all that is abundant right now for us. Which, ironically is everything that we desire.
Because it’s all within us just waiting to be received.
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Honour your abundance and connect to it within yourself.
When you stand at your front door facing into your home, your abundance + wealth area (or gua) is generally the farthest left corner in your home from where you stand.
How to honour your abundance through your environment in the abundance + wealth gua:
Clear away the clutter
Choose items that create an abundant, rich or opulent feeling within you. (Whatever that means to you.) This could be luxurious window coverings, well-made furniture, beautiful artwork, high thread count sheets, textures that feel great on your skin.
Add a water feature like an indoor fountain or wind chimes (hang these just outside of your home if you can). These symbolize abundance flowing into your life.
Choose a bold red or dark rich colours to paint your walls and/or decorate with.
Create an altar to practice gratitude of your abundance everyday.
