The feeling of abundance that you forgot about

Remembering it... one tiny step at a time (part one).

Dear Kula Diaries,

Before I get into the nitty-gritty details of abundance, I wanted to share a little bit of a personal update on the ‘assignment’ that I included at the end of last week’s post. Specifically, I suggested that each of you could choose one object to think about… and then eagerly watch for that object to appear in your life experience. The purpose of this exercise was not to test how woo-woo you are. The purpose of this exercise was to provide a very simple way for anybody to observe the power of focusing gently on something while simultaneously holding an expectation for that item to arrive. As you might recall… the items I suggested included: a peace sign, an octopus, a pineapple, a smiley face, a lightning bolt, an amethyst, and a shooting star.

Almost immediately after I finished writing that post, my husband and I went to Bellingham, Washington for a short overnight stay to see a concert. Since my normal bed time is at 8pm… and since the concert didn’t even start until 8:30 pm, we decided that it was a good idea to find a hotel overnight, so that I didn’t have to drive home at midnight. We stayed at a really beautiful hotel on the water in Bellingham, and even though I didn’t get to bed until after 11pm (unthinkably late for me - ha!), I still woke up in the morning to go on my walk.

After I wrote that post, I felt a little bit of a sense of giddiness — in fact, I felt downright playful about it and decided that I wanted to think of all the items… and just see where they turned up. Well, I’m pleased to report that it didn’t take long.

I headed out on my walk in the morning… and almost immediately, the first thing I saw was this sign:

I laughed out loud as I saw it… but don’t worry, the fun was not over. Then, I headed into a marina and as I turned a corner, I saw this boat:

Since I was walking on the waterfront, it seemed obvious that I’d find the octopus (although when I first started my walk, I had no clue I’d find it!). I thought to myself, “Well, the octopus was easy, but where would I see a lightning bolt?!” I kept walking, and got curious about a path that went through a building (rather than around it) … so I headed on the thru-route and, of course, saw this next…

I laughed out loud again… and I have to admit, I was feeling pretty spry and bouncy at this point — the feeling of satisfaction and excitement was absolutely delightful… like I was playing a game, and couldn’t wait to see how it turned out. I walked back to the hotel to get some coffee, but the coffee in the lobby was being refilled, so I went out onto a beautiful patio to do some solo dancing. I put in my earbuds and danced on this amazing stone veranda completely by myself. A few people walked by and smiled at me, but it felt like I had my own personal gigantic dance floor. Does it surprise you that the word ABUNDANCE contains the word DANCE? I don’t think it’s a coincidence:

Actual drone shot of me dancing on the patio alone.

After the solo dance session looking out at the water, I was feeling particularly inspired and zesty — like I had really worked myself into a true abundance lather. I walked back into the lobby… grabbed some coffee and then sat down to look through a random magazine about the town of Bellingham. I started reading an article about a local PNW entrepreneur named Ellē Nicole… and as I looked at one of the photos in the article… I almost spit out my coffee:

SO MANY YELLOW SMILEY FACES!!!

It really felt like the universe itself was giving me a giant hug and saying… “See, you can do this!!”

About a week ago, I had a funny vision about making a waffle Kula… and then I happened to discover that there is a restaurant in Bellingham called Sweet as Waffles… so, in advance of our little trip to B-ham, I decided to make them a very special Kula as a gift…

I love when I go someplace and get to say, “Hi, I made you a pee cloth!”

We ended our little weekend in Bellingham by going to the waffle place… and eating the most delicious waffle-breakfast-sandwich that I’ve ever had. It was so satisfying and wonderful and I tried to savor everything about the entire weekend.

I mean… c’mon!!! It was so good!

Oh, and what about the peace sign, amethyst and shooting star? The amethyst I am still waiting to see — excitedly. However, I saw three different buildings with the word PEACE written on them (I didn’t take photos since I was driving)… and, I was gown shopping yesterday for my Benaroya Hall concert in April, and I opened up the ‘dress’ category on a website, and this was the first dress I saw:

Now, I probably won’t wear a shooting star mini dress on stage at Benaroya Hall to play my violin… but the shooting star pattern made me smile. What does it mean? Well, I don’t believe that these little ‘discoveries’ mean anything other than the obvious: they are simply clues that what you focus on is what you find. Which means that if I focus on what I want… I can create more of what I want. Isn’t that nice to know?

I want to add: Many years ago, I was never happy where I was — even if I was doing something that I thought would ‘make me happy’. I still remember being on my backpacking trips… I wouldn’t be half way through the trip and I’d already be feeling stressed about what trip would be next, so that I wouldn’t keep being miserable. I was never able to see the magic along the way… expect the best… and just enjoy where I was. I’ve stayed at so many AirBNBs and gone on so many vacations where I never actually took the time to savor where I was. I never looked for the octopus or the lightning bolt or the smiley faces… I didn’t notice the infinite abundance that was surrounding me in the moment. I was always wishing or needing the next thing to happen in order for things to get better.

It was exhausting. And spending time deliberately practicing the feeling of abundance magnetizes your cells to attract and see more of the goodness around you. You can change your focus. You can change your life as you change your focus. You can be a part of the solution for all of us to enjoy.

The abundance faucet

Two weeks ago I wrote about the concept of abundance (and I’d recommend reading that post first, because it will provide a lot of important context!)… and this week I’m going to talk about how to use this new understanding in order to allow the flow of goodness into your own life. Think of abundance as a faucet — the universe has an infinite supply of it, but if your faucet handle is in the ‘OFF’ position… nothing will flow. Feelings like fear, doubt, and worry turn the faucet OFF, whereas feelings like love, creativity, joy, and gratitude turn the faucet ON.

What happens when we can live in a place of abundance? From a place of abundance… anything is possible. Abundance does include money, but it does not only include money. Living in a place of abundance means that we are finding and cultivating the feelings of freedom, love, connectedness, ease, wellbeing, fun, joy, and openness. It is from this place that we have the ability to make a meaningful difference in the world. When we can step past all of the ‘rules’ that we have been taught about the ‘way the world works’ … we can experience life and create goodness in a way that is abundant and helpful to all beings, not just us.

Unfortunately, focusing on things that are fearful, doubtful, lackful or worrisome has become a trained habit — we do it automatically as our default. As we contemplate one worrisome thought… it usually leads to another… and another… and another… until we’ve worked ourselves into a very upsetting lather that feels confusing and hopeless. But, friends, this is not bad news — because the simple premise that we can create our environment by our focus means that we can change our environment if we change our focus. All it takes is a bit of self-awareness and a commitment to being open to trying something new. When I reached this point in my own life — a point where I found myself saying, ‘There has to be a better way!’ — I was willing and open to try anything. What I was doing was not working, and I was curious to see what I might find if I put my beliefs aside. What happened if I stopped believing everything that everybody told me about how the world works?

How it all begins

We are ‘asleep’ for a large part of our lives. What do I mean by that? I mean that we are not aware that we are thinking. Simply put — we are our thoughts. If we think something, it is true. The world that we see is perceived through the lens of thought. If we have a conversation in our mind… or if we envision a ‘what-if’ scenario… the unconscious human does not have enough self-awareness to know that the thought form they are ‘seeing’ is not real. This is a very difficult, but important time in our growth as humans — it is difficult, because it is usually very painful. When I was in this phase of my own existence… I felt like I lived in a state of suspended paranoia: I connected ‘the dots’ between things that were not connected… I got angry at people for things in my head that were not real… I created drama that did not exist… and I treated people poorly based on a version of them that existed in my mind. It was a troubling, scary world where I was the victim of my circumstances and people did things ‘to me’ all the time.

So what happened? Well, it didn’t happen overnight … but slowly and gradually, I woke up to myself as a consciousness residing in a human body. What does that mean? It means that the non-physical part of who I am (the part that nobody could ever specifically point at)… is like a blank canvas… and ‘my life’ is what happens on that canvas. In other words, the ‘deep I’ (as Eckhart Tolle calls it) is the observer of everything that is taking place. Life, in the wise words of Homer Simpson, is, ‘just a bunch of stuff that happened.’ Now, this is obviously over-simplifying a topic that is impossible to write down in words. The only way to fully ‘understand’ it is to feel it for yourself. For me, this understanding began to emerge during meditation — when I noticed that there was a voice speaking in my head sometimes. “Who is that voice,” I wondered, “If I can hear the voice… then who am I?” Meditation was the first time when I was able to notice that I could observe my own thoughts. And… if I was the one observing my thoughts… that meant that I could not also be my thoughts at the same time. Suddenly — it felt like a chunk of something within me had broken free. “Wait…. you mean… all this stuff I tell myself isn’t always real or true?!”

As I began to wake up from my unconscious slumber… I started to notice that I had spent most of my life focused on all of the things that I didn’t’ want: I spent a lot of time arguing for my limitations and a lot of the time talking about why things didn’t work out for me. I started to wonder… if I could change my focus and change my story… would my life start to change too?

The first few steps.

Finding the feeling of abundance is not going to be the same process for every human on this planet, because each of us are in a completely different place when we start on this journey. Some folks are in a place of feeling very hopeless… other people might feel dissatisfaction or frustration… still other people might be in a good place in their life, but experiencing a sensation of wanting to expand beyond where they are. Every single place is the right place to start — so wherever you are now, that’s where you are supposed to be.

If you are in a place right now where you do not feel particularly hopeful about where you are — and you find yourself living in an uncomfortable place of scarcity… it’s very tempting to want to try and ‘fix’ this feeling through action. However, I want to offer an easier solution. The process of shifting gradually from scarcity to abundance does not happen by changing things outside of you … it starts by shifting the energy within you. You brain might throw a little bit of a temper-tantrum… because we’ve been taught that we need to ‘do things’ in order to ‘make things happen’ — but, remember, if you are in a place right now where you don’t want to be… trying to make things happen has not been working for you.

It is very easy to meditate. It is very, very easy to set aside 5-10 minutes per day to simply sit in quiet. And yet, it is also very easy not to do it. It is very easy to convince ourselves that we don’t have time for it… or that other things are more important… or that is isn’t ‘doing anything’. However, I promise you — if you are at the very start of your abundance-shifting journey… meditation is the place where everybody can start. It does not matter if you are feeling hopeless or enthusiastic: every single solitary human being can sit or lie down with their eyes closed for a few minutes per day and focus on their breathing. Your brain might tell you things like, “What does this have to do with feeling more abundant?”… see if you can remember that those thoughts are not true. Raising your energy has everything to do with abundance, because it is through the raising of our own energy that we tune ourselves to a new frequency… upon which we can be open to the ideas, inspiration, opportunities and creativity that open that universal faucet.

How does meditation raise your energy? When you meditate… you might have a few moments where you aren’t thinking. And in those moments where you give yourself a teeny-tiny break from worrying… you are sending out a new signal. Keep in mind — you might not feel different immediately… and you might not notice anything right away… the power is in the consistency. Every single day that you meditate, you are adjusting your signal a little bit more… and a little bit more. As you continue to do this… new thoughts or ideas might arrive… and these new thoughts and ideas, since they were created in a moment where you were open to the possibilities of life, are thoughts and ideas that are aligning you with a new way of living.

As you begin to meditate, you might start to feel a bit more hopeful in your life… a bit more creativity might start to flow… and maybe you have a few ideas or maybe you can find a little bit of relief as you move through your day. As this happens, and as you start to feel slightly better, you begin to attract more thoughts and ideas that are also slightly better. Gradually, you start to notice and feel that you are experiencing a definite shift in your life… things are moving in a new direction, and you are starting to feel the momentum that is heading in a new direction. Occasionally, you might still have thoughts or worries that are based on your previous programming — but, instead of believing all of your thoughts or worries instantly — you are able to acknowledge their existence and then re-direct your mind to what you want to create, rather than the things that you don’t want to create.

Once you have a noticeable feeling of momentum in your life… other opportunities and ideas will start to surface. Things will start happening, ‘seemingly out of the blue’ — and there is a sense that you can expect magical things to start falling into place. You start to feel really good and excited about things, and you see evidence of what you are creating in all areas of your life. In general, it just feels like things are ‘clicking’ into place… and you feel really excited about it.

Right now is a good place to start

I usually recommend meditation as a starting place — because EVERYBODY can do it. It doesn’t matter if you are despondent or joyful — everybody can meditate, and so it is a wonderful place to begin the process of shifting your energy in a new direction. The compounding effects of a consistent meditation practice are astounding. I think I’ve shared this many times before… but my entire journey of starting Kula Cloth started with the realization that I was living in a place of lack… and my subsequent decision to do a 1 minute meditation every single day. That was it. It didn’t start with the idea for Kula Cloth. In fact, the idea for Kula Cloth could not have possibly been available to me from my place of lack. It wasn’t until I was able to gently work my way into an abundance lather.. that the idea arrived.

In the beginning of this shift, meditation is not the only way. There are other things that you can do from where you are right now that will help you shift and change your energy — these are things that most of you are very familiar with: spending time outside, taking a nap and resting, enjoying a warm shower or bath, eating delicious food and savoring it, doing something creative, listening to music, dancing, hiking, walking, knitting, etc…. Whatever feels good from where you are right now… that is a ‘thing’ that will help us make this shift. It’s easy to dismiss these things as ‘not important’, because we can’t possibly see what they have to do with shifting our financial situation… or our feeling of scarcity… but trust me, they have more to do with this shift than any amount of ‘trying to figure it out’ you can ever struggle or effort through.

The most important thing that you can remember while you do these things is that it is not necessarily what you are doing… but how you are feeling while you do it. So, for instance, if you are taking a warm bath but you spend the entire time in the bath worrying about how you are going to find your dream job… the bath itself is not going to be able to wash away the strong expectation of lack that you feel about finding your dream job. Whereas, if you could sit in the bath and do a 10 minute meditation… and find even a brief moment of stillness… you will be much closer to your dream job than you ever would be by trying to ‘work hard’ to ‘make it happen’. The moral of the story is: meditation is exercising the muscle of your awareness. It is training you how to be the conscious observer of your thoughts — so that you can notice when you are expecting and focusing on something that feels like scarcity. Then, from a place of gently loving yourself, you can shift your focus to something that feels a little better… like your breathing.

I’m having a lot of fun re-energizing my own abundance practice and energy in my life as I am writing these posts — so I’m going to share them as small bites: easily digestible nibbles that you can take to easily and gradually shift yourself towards the abundance that you want to cultivate in your life. To get started, I’ve prepared a full week’s worth of meditations that you can try (one per day!). If you aren’t sure where to begin — this is a great place to start. And, if you’re reading this and simultaneously feeling like you need to shift something… this is, most likely, the start of that shift (which is really exciting!). You can find the meditations by clicking on the hyperlink above, or on the image below:

Be kind… eat a waffle

Next week, I’m going to talk about noticing and changing your story… and we will take a few more little steps in the direction of shifting ourselves from a place of scarcity to a place of more abundance. Keep in mind that this process is perfect for wherever you are in life. As you do this, you open the faucet even more and you allow even more goodness, love, creativity, connection and kindness to flow to you and through you.

There is nothing hard about this. The idea that we have to work hard to get what we want in life is absolutely contradictory to our natural state of being in this world. It took me decades of working really really hard to finally admit that I was making things worse… and still not even close to creating what I wanted to create. The same way that the goose returns to the same lake every single year… so to, can we find our way home by following our heart. Don’t overthink this. Start where you are and take a few minutes each day to meditate without ‘trying to get anything’ from the meditation. Just be open. See what happens. Expect the best… and expect things to go right. What if this is just the beginning of an incredible journey? What if good things are coming right now? What if doors are opening? What if you are about to embark on something beautiful? What if it all works out perfectly?

Eat a waffle… dance… do something for yourself… have a little bit of fun today and let yourself smile. Find the magic and the aliveness that lives within you and then see what happens. I’m sending you all so much love — thank you for being here!