Recovering a Sense of Abundance

Week 6: The Artist's Way.
Recovering a Sense of Abundance. It was interesting to hear what each person in our Artist's Way circle had to say about luxury. One described a wonderful facial treatment she has four times a year. One friend described taking a limo to Chicago for botox every three months. One lusciously recalled a spa treatment she affords herself every six weeks. We'd been prompted in the book in the chapter before, to think about things like "If I were 20 and had money. . . " or "If I were 65 and I had money. . . " but honestly, for the life of me I couldn't think of a list of THINGS I would buy. Sure, a nice big house would be great, but once again I found myself yearning for the month by the sea.

Abundance? Money. That's what holds many people back, I guess. You'd think I was rolling in the dough with my lack of concern about that. I consider my family very blessed. We have a nice, modest house which is paid for. We have cars which are paid for. We've paid off our student loans and we live without credit cards - but none of that is because we inherited money or make a lot of money. I'm convinced it's because we've been able to let go of money as a luxury. I find that in life, whatever I yearn for most, is what I am most lacking. I learned long ago to live without much, and to make do with what we have. The thing that I'm seeking more than anything now - is time.

Time! The biggest luxury I can imagine now, would be the gift of more time. They say that as you grow older time speeds up, but I can't comprehend how much faster it can go. I'm getting dizzy spinning at this speed.

It's interesting this week, to think about money, at this time in history when so many in our society are struggling with the deep recession we're in. We grew up with nothing, made it through college with nothing, started our marriage with nothing, and have built up such a wonderful life, with very little. I'm glad to say that in our house it's not so much the 'things' that matter - it's the things that we can't buy that are most valuable. Love. Energy. Peace. Acceptance. Self respect. Friendships. And on, and on. If I could work on creating a sense of abundance, I would like to get a grasp on time. More time to learn and grow. More time to love. More time to share. More time to do nothing at all.

I'm thankful that in a world where many are feeling great need for 'things' we are truly blessed with all that we need and much of what we want. I'm thankful that I understand the concept that in giving we receive, and I'm able to share some of what we've gotten.

But if you have any ideas of how to create more time, I'm all ears. Please let me in on the secret.