December 2019 Board Message

Simple Abundance by Lisa Bjornberg

What do you think of when you hear the word abundance? Does it bring to mind the symbolic cornucopia of overflowing fruits and vegetables? Do you think of the great good you could do if you had an overabundance of resources? Does your mind wander to the desire for a nicer home/car/neighborhood? Do you think of happiness, gratitude, serenity, success, peace? Big Ocean Women “foster a positive culture of abundance” that is connected to all of the other tenets. We know that an abundance mindset comes from within as a response to the bounteous and infinite love of our Creator.

It is very easy to become obsessed with things, and specifically things we do not have. But if we recognize the power we have to choose what we want to focus on, and which lens we use to view the world,  then we can shift our perspective to a more positive and abundant outlook. We can find joy and comfort in the simple things of life.

A grandmother in Mexico recently became famous for sharing her traditional cooking on YouTube. Dona Angela of Michoacan is the self-described “shy” grandmother who doesn’t want to be interviewed, but will let her daughter record her working on her small farm and in her kitchen with an open wood burning stove and traditional cooking tools. Why does she cook? Because she loves her family. Does she complain about not having modern equipment? No. And in fact, in one video she responded to comments about her stove being too dirty by saying that it was stained from use, but that she cleans it every day. Then she proceeded to demonstrate how to make that day’s meal. Her YouTube channel, De mi Rancho a Tu Cocina (From my Farm to Your Kitchen) was launched on August 19, 2019. She has only 29 videos uploaded, but as of November 2019, she has over 1.92 million subscribers, and her videos have been viewed almost 55 million times. She is described as “soft, patient, and careful with her food” and makes people who may be living in much “better” circumstances long for the simple comfort of their grandmother’s cooking. Hopefully, those who are watching these videos are also learning the lesson that it isn’t how nice our kitchen looks, but the love for those who eat there that creates the abundance Dona Angela exemplifies.

One of the first steps we need to take in working to have an internal abundance is to recognize our patterns of internal scarcity. Do we let ourselves feel rushed, scared, anxious, and ashamed? Can we step back and identify the root of those feelings? Can we work to be more grateful, more peaceful, more satisfied? Can we trust our internal compass to help us make the choices we need to make? Can we be more generous in forgiveness, in gratitude, in charitable work and find therein more satisfaction and abundance?

The following metaphor is from an online article from Success Magazine, 11 Ways to Attract Abundance in Your Life:

“When you stand on the beach and watch the waves hit the shore, do you think there’s any end to the water? There is, of course, but we can’t comprehend it, so we think seawater is endlessly abundant. You would never deny a bucketful to a child building a sand castle because you can refill that bucket again and again. That’s how the abundance mindset works. You give away praise, recognition, ideas, knowledge and money because you know there’s plenty to go around. What you give away will come back to you a thousand times over.”

This hit me so forcefully. Can you just visualize yourself at the ocean? Can you see the seemingly endless waves in their undulating wonder? Can you imagine telling a child they could not take a bucketful away because it would reduce what was there for everyone else to enjoy? Certainly not! Likewise, you wouldn’t refrain from complimenting someone simply because you thought you might run out of your allotted amount of compliments. The most valuable things in this world aren’t things, after all, and there is an abundance of knowledge, love, respect, and kindness to go around.