Abundance All Around Us

I know on a forum like this it may seem strange to write about the incredible abundance in my life: I have a running donation tracker next to this post detailing exactly what I DON'T have, what I NEED, what I LACK in order to reach my goal, and the ratio of that to what I've raised is certainly higher than ideal with four weeks left in my challenge. I'm asking for money and exhausting my resources of time, energy, space, contacts: possibly even sacrificing friendships (though I certainly hope not!) by being all-consumed with a project involved in raising MORE.

All of this is true. And my life is ABUNDANT. I'm going to write about THAT.

I am SO blessed: truly. I come from an amazing family that always provided consistency and structure and security and hot casseroles on holidays and out-of-tune birthday songs at monthly gatherings, that still welcomes me home with open arms. I have long friendships that make my heart sing and love me absolutely unconditionally. I have new friendships that inspire me and support me in being my best self and living big. I live in the best city in the world, full of creativity and energy and culture and art; and I have the BEST possible weekend getaway a few hours away, full of sacred woods and organic food and cuddly people piles, beds in quiet nooks, and rose petals that litter the floor, inside! I have music in me, and a strong healthy body that allows me to express it. I have a strong spiritual faith that guides me and supports me and helps me trust that all will be well. The Universe has got my back. I have a happy little apartment with hardwood floors and a soft mattress and giant windows that let in the sunshine. I have food to eat. Sometimes it's dark chocolate and berries. I have a cat that cuddles under covers and waits up for me until bedtime. I've had the enormous gift of discovering INCREDIBLE pocket families of support at literally every phase of my life: from my hometown, to Young Americans, T. Schreiber Acting Studio, Integrative Nutrition, Sonic Yoga, IntenSati... and hopefully Off the Mat, Into the World. I have consistently attracted GOOD PEOPLE into my life; this is not something I take for granted. I am capable of connection and compassion and have the capacity to use these gifts as an artist. I have my deepening beautiful yoga practice, and an awesome community in which it can grow. I have my IntenSati practice and the ways it changes my life for the better. I have the awareness that I am part of a human experience far beyond myself, and so I am never alone. I come from the life-promoting Earth, and so I am never beyond growth. And I have a belief, unshakable, that the world is a GOOD place, full of LIGHT and LOVE, and healing is all around us.

I am blessed with abundant HOPE: the very foundational belief, sometimes unsupported, in a positive outcome. I was born with this, it's absolutely innate and guides my life always. It's what some LOVE about me and what sometimes drives my mother crazy (only because she doesn't want me to be disappointed and the actions hope drives me to take are sometimes hard to keep up with - love you Mom!). In the darkest of dark patches in my history, the light of hope has remained, at times dimmed but never extinguished. And this is in part because of all the many gifts of love I've listed above that have been liberally poured into my life by the Universe... resulting in the support of my enthusiastic, inextinguishable Hope. What an abundant blessing!

The practice of gratitude in my life that began a year ago this month created a brand new chapter and has radically changed my experience. And it instigated a series of events, choices and opportunities that ultimately led me to this challenge. And as difficult as this challenge is proving to be (and it IS, trust me - it's making me come up against every single wall and look at every ugly piece and rubbing against every rough spot that exists within myself), looking back it makes me drop to my proverbial knees as I write this and reverently say THANK YOU for all of it. I am grateful for the goodness in life that made me take this leap of faith, and grateful for the obstacles that are being placed in my way. Regardless of outcome, I am being blessed by this experience and the growth in me that is required to keep moving forward.

Because I do believe in this project and its success. I believe Off the Mat, Into the World is going to radically positively shift the conditions in Cape Town. I believe that these shifts will in turn positively affect every. single. beating. heart. on. this. Earth. I believe this will heal a corner of humanity in ways so profound that every one of our little microscopic cells will have a microscopic benefit. I believe that every single little healing that occurs for one helps enliven and heal the human condition and benefits our larger human body. Because we're all a part of that one great body, after all.

What a blessing to have something big and profound to believe in! The entry of Off the Mat's Global Seva Challenge into my life is an absolute GIFT, reigniting my hope from a flicker into a full-blown wild fire!

And it has CONFIRMED for me the subtle hunch that showing TRUE GRATITUDE for our abundant blessings is done through GIVING: our time, service, resources, love, funds... it is in the giving back to the greater good that has blessed us that we are again rewarded with renewed beauty and blessing.

So today, I will continue to move forward, continue to share this project with anyone who will listen and with enormous GRATITUDE say THANK YOU to all who are supporting it with your energy, enthusiasm, encouragement, and of course donations, since that's the tangible marker of the challenge's ultimate "success."

But the marker of abundance in my life? It is already done. It's everywhere, all around me, unshakable. It's renewable and regenerative and constantly reminding me of the grace and beauty that is inherent to every single human experience on this Earth. It's in you reading this post.

For that, I am grateful.

And Love is everywhere.
And collectively we will Heal.
And I am blessed.
And Life is Sweet.

the divine light in me honors the divine light in you - Namaste.