I’m rich,” I say to myself in the hot shower.
“I’m rich,” I say as I watch my dog go wild over his tennis ball in our beautifully green backyard full of wildflowers.
“I’m rich,” I say with an armload of fresh produce.
“I’m rich,” I say to myself as I sit on the floor of our nursery eight months pregnant.
“I’m rich,” I say after waving to my neighbors.
“I’m rich,” I say as I lay in my bed snuggled in for an afternoon nap with both of my cats.
“I’m rich,” I say after I kiss my husband.
“I’m rich,” I say entering into my home.
“I’m rich,” I say after opening my eyes and watching the morning light pour into our bedroom.
Because I am rich! I look around and see nothing but abundance. An abundance of pure life. There is no scarcity to be found when you wake up in the morning and are able to take a breath.
It’s easy to always be desiring more — To feel like you don’t have enough. The harder thing to do is to look around and realize just how rich you really are.
This world doesn’t necessarily advocate for the kind of wealth we all have — Society is always telling us what to get and reminding us of what we don’t have. And we’re getting robbed of our wealth by constantly focusing on what we don’t have. Society tells us we don’t have enough. Then when we believe the lie, we fall into a scarcity way of living. And living scarcely is no way to live.
But living scarcely is so common and so easy to do. Worried about who is getting what, who is more successful, or who is “getting ahead”. And thinking things like “I can’t give anything away (anything being: information, time, money, etc.) because what if there’s not enough?” We turn others away to self-preserve, to think we’ll get ahead instead or “beat them”, so nothing is taken from us. It’s easy to fall into living starved.
Focusing on material things for a moment (And I think we can all agree our abundance doesn’t come from things.) But let’s look at the things we do have a bit more closely for a moment. Do you have a favorite coffee or tea mug? Rich. A favorite pair of overalls? Rich. What about your thriving houseplant? Rich. Your collection of books? Rich.
I know this is elementary, but if we don’t just stop and look for a moment, we will miss out. We’ll be robbed. Appreciating the things that we have, use, or love in our lives is an amazing exercise in realizing how abundant our life is.
And it’s not just things that this world convinces us we need, it’s a large part of it, but it can be non-material things too. A spouse, a different job, a different body, a better personality, to be funnier, have more friends, followers on social media, the list goes on and on. Really it comes down to this world wants to convince us that we aren’t enough, that we don’t have enough, and we are in need. A constant cycle of desire and feeling less than.
Think of the phrase, “robbed blind.” We are robbed of seeing our abundance by believing the lies and living in this constant state of desire. We can’t see how rich we are because we’re so caught up in chasing what we think we need or want. And it robs us blind of the riches around us.
The easiest thing to do is to begin to notice what you do have. Start whispering to yourself, “I’m rich” when you find little pockets of joy or thankfulness throughout the day. A hot shower, a cuddle with your pet, helping someone, a smile from a stranger, a fresh load of clean laundry, your family, a phone call from a loved one, a walk in the neighborhood, a good book. These are the things that life is all about, these things make us rich beyond belief.
When we begin to realize how rich and abundant our lives are, we can begin to extend ourselves to others. When we aren’t living in the starved mindset, we can step into a mindset of giving, security, and abundance.
Because there really is always more where that came from.
“True riches do not consist in worldly wealth. They consist in the virtues that we make part of our lives and that will become our eternal treasure.” — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
I pray you feel rich today—I pray you see how rich you are already are. I pray you take notice of the abundance in your life and after noticing it, you’re able to extend yourself to someone else.
Thank you so much for being here & reading.
— Jak
Beautifully said xx
Love love love everything about this. What a difference this mindset makes!