RELATED AUDIO PODCAST LEARNING SERIES (complimentary)
Money, Sustainability, Abundance and YOU
with Lynne Twist, author and
founder, Soul of Money Institute
Lynne shares moments of insight from her grounding-breaking work, sharing inspiring stories and offering practical ideas for action from her personal journey.
In these tough economic times, it seems one of the best things we can do is fill our minds with thoughts of abundance. Some time back, Maureen shared a post, The Abundance Mentality, and recent communications we received from others indicate most of us are looking for ways to realize the promise of abundance in our lives --- not just in money, but in the abundance of opportunities, abundance of love, abundance of new ideas, abundance of safety and security, abundance of everything we need to reach our full potential and live a productive, rewarding and meaningful life.
Because of all the interest that seems to be emerging from many of our lives, I wanted share a story from my own discovery:
Some years ago, I had an opportunity to meet Susan L. Taylor, Editorial Director of ESSENCE Magazine at a women's conference I was producing. I've not seen her in years, but her impact on me is enduring. So many of her beautiful messages of encouragement are in her book Lessons in Living. Last week, I once again pulled her book from my shelf and opened it somewhere in the middle and found a passage I had marked:
"The abundance we want is closer to being realized than most of us might think. All the good that we are seeking is already ours in formless energy...just waiting for us to say yes by doing the work that will bring it into existence. There are no dreams too great to dream, no ambitions or goals too lofty to achieve. We have the inner vision, wisdom and strength to create the life we want, if we will. But most of us unwittingly sell ourselves short by adopting a self-limiting behavior that can only produce a limited life. We are so much more than we seem....Few of us have an awareness of how precious and powerful we are and of all the blessings life has in store for us."
Susan goes on to tell how Oprah Winfrey had shared with her, years before her phenomenal rise, that she had a point in her life she realized that God wanted more for her than she wanted for herself.
Is this true for you?
Where are you in allowing that abundance of our own strengths,
talents and contribution to blossom?
Each of us has everything we need to "open the gates" so the abundance we seek can come in---abundance of things like: courage, faith, health, wealth, connections, creativity, determination and knowledge. What else would we need if we had these? What this asks of us is to exercise our will to replace any negative self-defeating thoughts with positive, life-supporting thoughts---to truly believe in our dreams and begin living them.
Affirm this day, I CAN, I WILL, I MUST, I AM.
Your thoughts?
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
The podcast was great -- thanks so much!
Posted by: Lynne | July 04, 2007 at 08:07 PM
Lynne,
Thanks for sending in your feedback! I do think they are very inspiring for anyone with big dreams for their life. If you get this thinking right, meaninful live unfolds.
Posted by: Debbe Kennedy, Global Dialogue Center | July 05, 2007 at 07:52 PM
This is a wonderful sharing! It reminds me of the story of a Chinese female war corrspondant. She was the only woman at the battle field in Baghdad and Afghan, away from the bomb spot about 100 meters and slept among a heap of male refugees on the street in Indonesia. And she told us,we all have some sort of hidden potential and capacity that we did not know until we are dragged to that stage.
Slipping back to the economic crisis, isn't it also a time to pull us out of settled circumstance and thinking, to dig out our unexposed potential and explore the life abundance as you may say?
I guess, that is the meaning under the Chinese intepretation of 'crisis and opportunity'.
Great we have a connection on this theme....
Posted by: shiny | March 22, 2009 at 02:38 AM
Dear Shiny,
This is a most beautiful message for us all.
I do think we are exposing some timeless truths in this time of crisis and opportunity. I am moved to share with you that it was the Chinese wisdom that you mention that touched me as a young leader in my 20s. Lao Tzu was my messenger also. Now through your meeting across the world, I have found deeper meaning in it through your current perspective in words and by your spirit and action. Thank you.
Debbe
Posted by: Debbe Kennedy, Women in the Lead at the Global Dialogue Center | March 22, 2009 at 07:57 AM