Once upon a time we all lived in the flow. Life expectancy was a minimum of 50,000 years. Trees produced an abundance of fruit. Whenever we were hungry or thirsty there was food or water nearby. Beauty surrounded us. The temperature and humidity conditions were perfect. We lived in the present moment and all of our needs were satisfied. It was a true Garden of Eden and we were one with all.
Then someone got an idea. They came up with a plan. They decided that they liked a particular fruit and thought they would harvest extra and keep it. This was the beginning of the “fall” of humankind. For the first time someone “owned” something.
Instead of trusting that all our needs would be met in each moment we began to plan for the future. We quickly learned we couldn’t control the future. Sometimes other people or animals would find our fruit and eat it. Sometimes the fruit would just go bad.
Did we see the folly in our actions? No. We redoubled our efforts. We built shelters and then made them intruder proof. We put a fence or wall around our favorite fruit trees and chased others away. We found ways to stock pile our fruit and when others wanted some we would make them give us something for it.
From our first thought to collect extra fruit we created fear, scarcity, hoarding, lying, stealing, and negativity of all kinds. Our life expectancy dropped (a long life is dependent on protecting the lives of others). Our unhappiness increased. We were scared. Subtly at first, but after many generations fear was a major driving force.
All of these changes was based on a simple misbelief about how to ensure plenty of tasty fruit. We thought the fruit was somehow outside of ourselves and that we could control it by external means. Further, we thought that we had to control it in order to be happy. We didn’t realize that the fruit was part of all and that we are part of all. In that realized state, it is impossible to be separate from tasty fruit.
This morning, while out in my garden doing chi gung, I realized how we are reversing this process. I was thinking of a friend I just met who headed back to his home and business in central Mexico a few weeks ago. When I emailed him a couple days ago he said he was side tracked by beautiful beaches on the way back down and was still on the road. Wow, no hurry to get back to work! He was finding that he had enough work just where he was.
Next, another friend visited me. She had just changed careers and was doing what she really loved. She was raving about her schedule and how good life was.
And there is me. I’m beginning to “flow” more too. I have enough to pay my bills and am free of the focus on producing more than what I need. I’m committed to simple living and giving to others. I’m letting go of the idea that I need more or that I have to save for the future.
When I was nineteen, I started my first Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Last year I officially spent the last of it. My retirement policy now is to give as much as I can away. The law of cause and effect (karma) suggests that giving creates receiving. The law of attraction says that if I act from a place of abundance, if I believe in abundance then more will flow to me. Indeed, I won’t be able to stop the flow.
This is a maturation of a process I began close to 20 years ago. At that time, I decided to try an experiment. I’d heard said, “Do what you love and the money will follow”, and figured I try it out. I decided to not do anything I didn’t feel moved to do, especially if my only motivation was money, and see what would happen. I’ve had amazing results!
At the beginning I didn’t believe it would work. I figured I’d end up homeless if I continued. I’d get up, not feel like going to work, and quit the job. Radical and extreme action. Over the years, it was proved to me time and time again that letting go of financial insecurity was right action. Today, I continue to be debt free and I feel like I’m vacation most of the time!