Transcript:
Today’s topic is about what is life really about? Is it only for working and working and earning and striving to survive? Or, is it about consuming, playing, and indulging to just simply have fun and entertain your mundane life? These questions have plagued me for the last 43 years of my life since living on this earth. When I looked at the world and observed people’s choices and their particular journey about making more money so that they can travel and experience life. But then you can also hear another story that there’s so much you can do with the money, eat at a certain restaurant. However, over time, just like anything else in life will eventually become ordinary.
So what is life then? How can we make this boring life extraordinary? Why is it especially in the Western culture that we’re constantly told to do more, achieve more, and gain more to feel fulfilled in life?
Life is composed of:
As it turns out, life is not that just fulfilling when you’re constantly stressed out and overwhelmed with unending chase of tail that you could not even grasp.
1. Daily Routines
Perhaps life is composed of simple and boring routines and habits that if you make it special and enjoyable by creating magic. For instance, cooking, cleaning, or dressing up. Then that’s what life is all about. That’s worth living for. I used to believe that you have to live in the most luxurious place or a nice neighborhood to feel important or special when in reality you can create that feeling by simply investing in yourself and how you show up for yourself every single day.
Example: It could be wearing the most comfortable outfit that boosts your confidence or rearranging your furniture or simply organizing your stuff.
2. Creating Something With What You Already Own
The beauty lies upon the integration of working with something you already own. The only thing that everyone is trapped in is that the idea to constantly consume and purchase that feels hollow. There’s nothing short of stuff that we can buy. Just today or recently, I’ve been trying so hard to minimize on my spending habits especially holidays are right around the corner. I have realized that I don’t have Christmas tree. However, I would like to feel the spirit of Christmas. So instead of splurging on a Christmas tree, I decided to just use whatever I had. The garlands and the old ornaments that used to hang on the tree. I made a use of that. Although I just purchased a little bit of trinkets here and there like a candle holder. Anything that is not really that expensive.
Think About It: We have too much excess, too much stuff, and we are nothing short of these so-called possessions such as books to choose from, clothes with different styles and colors. And I realize sometimes that if we’re not careful, we can fall into this trap of overly buying stuff and wanting for more. Then we just accumulate them and hang them in our closet and never worn them.
3. Intentionality
Reasons: This is why I would like to promote that being intentional of what you have. Owning the things that you will really enjoy and really going to use. Life is the little things that it offers. The simplicity perhaps of a cup of coffee in the morning by sipping it slowly, reflecting about life without rushing and usually finding contentment and being aware of one’s breath. When I think about life, it’s not about the splendor of constant chasing. But it is in the enjoyment of one’s company. By being content with the now and not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow is something we don’t know whether we are going to see. The past is already been gone. It’s already done and you can’t really take back the past. All you have is today, this present moment. If you’re not attentive of today, you’re going to lose it with hurrying and worrying about the things that you cannot control. And so, we must be intentional that life doesn’t have to be always glamorous
Be Creative: Turn any space into a home theater with this easy-to-use, highly portable projector.
Although glamour can also be added in the simplicity of things. Sprinkle of glamour in here and there and how you arrange your hair and how you do your makeup as a woman.
Also, life is about abundance. I think abundance in a way that there isn’t really no limitations in the world. When you look at the world, we are surrounded with many things that are abundant. The only thing is that our mindset feels scarcity. We live in a world that we think that we have to have more money to feel abundant, more stuff to feel abundant, and maybe more experience to feel abundant.
However, when money is short and there are plenty of things you can still do for you to enjoy the abundance of what life offers, there are things that you can do for free that doesn’t cost you a fortune such as if you somehow is fortunate enough to live nearby a museum or a library, a park. These are the things that you can actually add a little bit of magic into your day by visiting and going to these places.
#4. Abundant Mindset
Another thing that you can do is also the abundance of maybe in your mindset that it has to be believing that you have more than enough. Sometimes we think that the more you have the happier you’ll become, the more you earn, the happier you’ll become. Apparently that is not always the case. Scarcity mindset is not so much about how much money you have in the bank, but how much you have and work with what you have and making to a point where you are content. Whether you don’t have a million bucks in your bank account, it’s all about your healing, your inner dialogue that goes in into your mind. We think because of what social media portrays just because you don’t own a yacht or live in a mansion therefore you are not abundant.
Abundance starts with how you are feeling in this moment. Look around you and compare yourself to what other people’s have per se. Maybe in a third world country. Every time I look at people comparing to the poverty of the third world country, right away I would feel less insecure about myself because you cannot really think that you don’t have a lot.
Especially when you live in United States of America, you are richer than the rest of the world. So it is all about your perspective in life. When you really think, of course, you cannot compare yourself from a millionaire because you’re not there yet. You cannot compare yourself with someone that’s already have billions of dollars. You can only compare with someone. It’s not so much about comparison because according to Eleanor Roosevelt that comparison is a thief of joy. It’s more about trying to understand that there are other people out there who has less fortunate than you do.
And if you really look it at that perspective that there’s a lot of people out there who is more starving. They are struggling financially. They could barely afford to eat without really trying to scrape off a barrel or somewhere in the garbage dump where kids cannot really survive by not working at the young age. So, these are the things that we have to be mindful of. So, abundance I think in this country is so much more than just stuff. It’s really about learning to find happiness in your own self. As I’ve done a podcast many months ago about happiness lies upon you within yourself. It is not something that can be given to you by people.
Although happiness is added by people who truly loves you and who truly cares. You feel happy, when people are concerned about your welfare.
When people are thoughtful and they will get out of their way to really ask how you’re doing and spend time with you, these also can contribute your happiness. Nonetheless, sometimes when you’re constantly looking around to fix you, this is going to usually going to be disappointed. When you are not fully whole as a person, you are going to just create drama. As I always like to say, toxic people and dysfunctional human being who have not yet been healed, they will try to poke you and will try to get your attention because they lack of attention themselves. And so when we deal with narcissistic people that are mostly selfish and they want you to pour into them your time, your energy and your effort, they expect you to keep on giving and giving and pouring your attention to them. But if you don’t get that to give that to them, they become the victim and they wallow in self-pity.
So this is why when you are whole as a person, you don’t have time for drama because while your life is fulfilled, your life is abundant, you have so much going on in your heart, you have so much going on in your mind, you have so much going on in your schedule that you don’t have time to cater to people’s ego.
Glennavelle
So my next point is that abundant is not something that can be given to you by other people if you are not fully whole as a person. It is something what Jesus said the fountain of living water. It is the inner living water that has to reside in inside of your soul that no matter what happens if people do not give you the time of the day. I’m not saying that people’s attention is not wonderful but if you’re not if you’re not giving it first and if you’re not asking for it then how do you suppose that people are going to give it to you?
As I said with anything in life, it is about sowing and reaping. What you sow, you will reap. You cannot expect people to give you the time and energy and the attention when you yourself are not willing to give that to people. You will get what you put out. That’s just what life is. Because people are also busy with their own drama, busy with their own problems.
Abundance is not something that it’s external per se, it is internal.
But if you are dealing with someone who are constantly wanting for your attention instead of having a reciprocity and a mutual understanding. That’s why sometimes in relationship when we come into relationship with someone who has mother wounds and father wounds and you try to fix them up to be their mother. Instead of your their partner, instead of your partner it becomes exhausting. Because when you’re supposed to marry someone they’re not supposed to expect you to be their own mother who constantly have to give you their validation or give them the attention.
Because that’s not really your job as a partner, as a wife, as a husband. It’s not your job to constantly cater to people’s craving of attention. I’m not saying that quality time is not important. Of course, it is. Who doesn’t want that? However, abundance is also, are you comfortable being alone in solitude, being silent? Do you enjoy your own company or do you prefer loudness and too much social butterflies? I myself love people. However, there’s also this line between too much of it and too much socializing. Socializing actually exhausts me sometimes.
Although I do love to interact with other people, communicating with them, especially when it’s a conversation that’s meaningful, a conversation that is doesn’t consist of gossip and drama. I’m all ears for it. However, what exhausts me sometimes are dealing with people that are going to just suck you into their own drama or suck you into the same nonsense, the same games that they play, whether they play the victim and you heard the same story over and over again. And at that point you are becoming so exhausted and you have no I have no patience tolerating with those kinds. So abundance without getting out of tangent.
Abundance is really something that you feel. It is something that is overflowing out of your heart. It is something that you will sit with your pain and says I will acknowledge this. this. I will not run away from this because even if people are not going to give me the support that I need or the emotional attention, I will have my back. I know that I will figure it out. I know that I’m abundantly sustained. I’m abundantly provided or given some wisdom from above.
So abundance is not something that it’s external per se. It is internal. It is something that what Jesus said the kingdom of God is within you. He provides everything that you need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Per say heavenly abundant is nothing like the worldly abundance. The world will all will always try to convince you that there’s nothing enough. There’s never enough money. There’s never enough energy. There’s never enough resources. There’s never enough time. But when you really look at the heavenly realm, it doesn’t have the same economy when it comes to the earth because heaven is something that is not bound by time nor by place. It exists by itself. It doesn’t have this fluctuation of goes up and down like the market. It is stable because the currency of heaven is abundant. When God said the world is good, when he looked at the world, when he created it, he said everything is good.
Everything is abundantly flourishing. Everything is beautifully created in my in the image of God. Every one of us. So when you really think about having this abundance, it’s really about what we have been programmed. It is what the media portrays. It is what the society have told everyone that you have lack. Why do you think that they will sell the constant lack? Because they want you to believe that you need them. And the moment people will convince you that you are lacking of something, which means to say you are incapable of creating that kind of abundance or that kind of life for yourself. That is what you call control.
So people will try to convince you that you’re being convey this narrative that you are lacking. There’s a scarcity because they want you to depend on people. And if you know that you actually dependent upon the creator instead of humans, I’m not saying that we don’t need each other. But if you’re constantly consuming your time, always obsessing that if I don’t have this person, if I don’t have this job, if I don’t have this money, then I’m actually lacking of something. That’s why faith is important. Faith without action is also dead.
So when you think about abundance, you really just have to have faith that God will be your provider. That he’s going to use people to bless you. He’s going to use people to open doors of opportunity so that you can actually become the person that God created or intended you to become into this world. So this is why when we talk about abundance, it’s just something to do about who you are as a person, what you believe about yourself, whether you have lack or you have a scarcity. When you grow up in a family that they constantly talk about not having enough, of course, it takes a lot of unlearning patterns.
It takes a lot of tackling those dialogue that tells you that my parents grew up with lack therefore I’m going to also grow up with nothing. You have to really understand that you don’t have to be your parents pro. You don’t have to copy what your parents did or follow their footsteps. You don’t have to continue their legacy that is not really worth keeping. I think that you do have a choice and each one of us have a choice to start a new generation. Just because your mom and dad were broke, it doesn’t mean you have to die broke. Just because your mom and dad had addiction problems doesn’t mean you have to do the same thing.
So these are the abundant mindset, the belief system that we really have to take the time to understand of why we believe what we believe of where did it originate from. As I like to always say, you have to locate the source in order for you to understand why a certain belief comes up into your mind. Most likely, it’s not coming from you. It’s it did not come from you originally. It came from somewhere. Maybe you grew up with a family that was very stingy who are not willing to be generous of other people. And abundance is also giving generously. If you really give something not because you must give or it’s an obligation but it’s coming from your heart. It is something that you naturally give to people because you want to bless other people.
That is also coming from the abundant people that are scarcity mindset is going to say I will give only when I have more than enough. I’m only going to give when I have the money. But that is really foolishness because even if you don’t have the money right now, maybe you can give time or your presence to people that doesn’t cost a thing. But the gauge of generosity is not so much about having so much money in the bank, but it’s about giving what you have right now and willing to share what you have right now, even if it’s not million bucks in your bank account.
Because I guarantee you that if you’re stingy right now that you have no money, it will just going to magnify your stinginess when you have money. If you are so not a giver right now that you have nothing, guess what? You’re also going to most likely not give to people because you’re going to think to yourself, well, these people do not deserve my generosity. I work so hard for it. So, you have this scarcity mindset.
So, as I said, abundance is not so much about the money that you own. It’s about your mindset. It’s how how about you is about you how you treat your money because money really equates to abundance. Most people would say when I when I think about abundance, I equate it with money of how much money I have in the bank. But you’ll be surprised that there are many people today that are rich.
But they are have a scarcity mindset that their mindset is always lack there’s never enough that they’re going to be striving and they’re always worry about money and for me that is not abundance abundance is really coming from a heart that is I have this much money I’m content right now.
If I want more money that I can gradually work towards it and but and at the same time you will simultaneously give something to people because you have so much to give and you’re not afraid of really giving something to people because it’s coming from a generosity of heart is a coming from not an obligation not not out of fear but it’s out of a service of saying if God could if God has blessed me with this much it is also my turn to bless others.
