Sunday Story…You’ve come a long way baby

If you aren’t growing you are dying. There is no future sitting on the couch waiting for the coroner to arrive and load you in his wagon. If your idea of a good time is sitting around watching other people live their lives, you might want to re-think your position. This is your life, whatever it is….whatever it looks like, whatever you do or don’t have. It is your life, not my life. I have mine, thank you and I think I will keep it.

Every once in awhile I look out at the world and wonder what things might have been if I had only done x, y, or z. What would have happened? Who might I have become? Or if I did not do some of things I did do? What then?

This is an exercise in futility. There is no way to know what those outcomes might have been. It may be nice to fantasize about what could have or should have been but the fact is it is only a fantasy.

Even worse is to look out and see what other people have and feel envy and desire for their things. You do not know what they may have given for those things. You do not know what demons are eating at them, driving them to do, be, and get the things you covet. This is not even a fantasy; this is the root of suffering, desire. Besides, do you really want theirs? Or do you want your own that might just look like theirs?

I live an abundant life in an abundant universe. All around me are people who live in the same universe, yet they are racked by anger and sadness at their unfulfilled desires, dreams and hopes. They are living in a scarce universe. A universe where there is never enough, one where each thing is limited and there won’t be enough to go around. A universe like that does not sound like a lot of fun to me.

So how do we get from one to the other? How do we go from scarcity to abundance? How do we get from living in regret to living into our dreams? How do we stop living to die and start just plain living?

It all starts very simply, and with gratitude. When I start and end each day with thoughts of gratitude and thanks, the world will begin to change. When I am thankful for all the things I do have it is hard to be mad about the things I don’t have.

In India, Mumbai, I believe, there is a whole culture around what is known as “rag picking”. This is just a nice way of saying I live in a dumpster and pick out the recyclable and re-usables that I can re sell for money. In India the dumpsters are like large bins…think of the areas we put dumpsters in…and yes people live in them. And they protect them, like you protect your home. Because my trash bin is better than yours. That is right, people are coveting each other’s trash bin. The ultimate in scarcity mind set, yet that trash bin is better than no trash bin. Maybe having gratitude for what you have would start changing your world there too.

After gratitude comes acceptance. I accept the way things are. I cannot go back and change them to be something else. What is done is done. I can’t change the color of my skin or my place of birth. I can’t go back and get a redo on past decisions. Accept those things with the gratitude of lessons learned and move on.

After acceptance is change and growth. I will change my mind about the things I cannot actually change and I will change the things that are within my power to change. If I want to earn more money I can set goals and make a plan and earn more money. If I want to live somewhere else, I can get a map, make a plan and go. If I want to travel the world I can figure out how to do that too.

Envy does not serve you; it serves some portion of your ego that wants you to be unhappy. Scarcity is not a fact. Neither, for that matter, is abundance. The world just is. The trash bin I live in the trash bin I live in. I get to create abundance or scarcity in every moment. The reality of scarcity or abundance only exists in my mind. Just like when you look through binoculars…one end brings things closer, the other end further away. And the truth of the matter is that neither end is the fact they are just the looking glass we are using today.

Wake up in the morning thankful for another day that wasn’t promised. Wake up and express gratitude for all the wondrous things in the world, including you. Get up and accept those things that just are…rain, shine, snow, traffic jams, or sniffling children. Decide what things you can change today. Make a plan to do that and implement your plan to change those things in your world that will give all the joy, stuff, or satisfaction you really want.

Fear is only false evidence appearing real. You get to create what is real and what is not real. Decide to live abundantly, today, tomorrow and then some.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

Follow me at:
Twitter --- http://m.twitter.com/jmariotti
FaceBook --- John Mariotti
Blog Spots…John Mariotti
http://feel-good-friday.blogspot.com/
http://sunday-stories.blogspot.com/