A for Abundance. Less can be so much more!
What comes to your mind when you think of the term sustainability?
Our journey begins right here because, in order to embrace a sustainable lifestyle, we need to understand what we mean when we talk about sustainability in the first place.
“Sustainability incorporates the understanding that everything is interconnected. That the decisions we make today have impacts immediately and in the long term. We can actively make informed, more elegant decisions that seek to reduce the impacts that our individual and collective choices have on the natural systems to sustain life on Earth. It accounts for the social impacts shared with our fellow humans. The economic outcomes that motivate the industrial economy, and of course, the well-being of our planet.”
Leyla Acaroglu, founder of the Unschool of Disruptive Design
What is Abundance anyway?
In simple terms, Abundance is a significant quantity of something.
Yet while that something could adopt many different meanings, in the Western world, many of us associate abundance with our ability to monetize everything.
We were brought up to believe that the busier we are and the more we own, the better it is.
We were taught to measure success in terms of the salaries we make, how much we are able to spend, and the level of attention we get.
Abundance to us, is about being more, wanting more and always having more.
That, they say, is what will lead us to happiness. But the irony here is that this recipe only leaves us craving more and more.
How do we know when to press pause? When is it ever enough? As a result, instead of finding happiness, dissatisfaction and frustration eventually start showing up at our door.
So how can we break that mindset? How can we be truer to ourselves and act responsibly instead? It starts with us being open to thinking differently.
Let’s redefine abundance.
How about setting “The More, The better” narrative aside – pausing for a second – and looking at everything we already are and have – rather than the things we lack?
Instead of our glasses being half empty, could we consider them being half full?
Can we start embracing the idea that we may be enough? That we may have enough?
Hopefully our health capitals, our safety and security, a roof over our heads, food to satisfy our bodies, our intelligence, ability to love…are not those fantastic manifestations of Abundance in our lives?
People often say that Less is More.
There is more than one good reason for that.
Think about it.
Let’s look back at the definition of Abundance: a significant quantity of something.
What if we replaced the word something with all the things we did not waste to satisfy our compulsive decisions, infinite desires and superfluous wants?
Can you imagine the time and space we would benefit from? And – even if we wanted to discuss the economic side of things – can you imagine the money we could actually save?
Aren’t those more encouraging ways to look at abundance? How about shifting our focus on quality rather than quantity?
An Invitation to Journal
- Think of a time in which you have impulsively bought something and ended up not making the most of it? Can you identify more than one instance?
- List of wants. Does this ring a bell? Good. Go through that list of yours and identify which of those are wants and which are actual needs.
- What matters to you more than money?
- What brings true happiness to your life?
- What does abundance mean to you?
Biweekly Experience:
- Over the next two weeks, try to catch yourself when your tendency is to look at your glass being half empty.
- Bring abundance back into your mind.
- Ask yourself: “Do I really need this? Will this truly bring abundance to my life?”
What to expect?
Expectation is a product of our society.
Our invitation, for once, is not to expect anything, to perform our intentions the best way we can without thinking about the outcome, the result of our actions.
That is what we call “practicing non-attachment” and that, in itself, is Abundance.
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