Are you open to receive the love and abundance you long for?

Over the last few months I’ve been noticing in myself and in others, all the ways we are not open to receive and the seriously limiting effects this has on our lives. How can we ever experience the sweet taste of success, happiness and fulfilment if we are not open to experience the love and abundance that is ever flowing to us?

For me, being open to receive love and abundance is not just about what I want for me or what you want for you, although that is important. More important in the bigger scheme of things, is whether we are co-operating with the universal flow of intelligence, energy and evolution by being open to give and receive – because that’s what makes the world well and whole.

Having deeply pondered this, I would say that failure to open ourselves to receive is a dis-ease of our western culture and a prime contributor to addictions of all kinds, ill health, failed relationships, general unhappiness and unsustainable life patterns.  I have just lost my dearest friend to lung cancer and have been contemplating his life and his death. I will share what I have written about him soon but for now, his dying has been a gift to me in many ways and I pass on these thoughts to you as a gift of his dying.

As individuals and as a culture we desperately need to make the shift from “me” to “we”. We need to dismantle our defended self-sufficiency, self-protection, self- interest and self-limitation and become open channels through which love, intelligence and creativity can flow and be shared.

It’s not easy to make these kind of shifts. It takes intention and commitment and courage. But we can do it.

If, like me, you are what I call, “a new culture maker” – someone whose every breath is dedicated to co-creating a whole new world based on unconditional love, peace and honouring the interconnectedness of all life – then, like me, you know that the new world begins inside ourselves. We won’t have a sustainable, life honouring world until we decide to be sustainable and life-honouring in our every action and interaction.

The wonderful thing is that when we really pay attention and receive all the love and abundance life is constantly offering us, this benefits and prospers all the relationships of which we are a part.

Real change – the kind that lifts us into a whole new level of satisfaction, connection and contribution, often lies in very simple things. And there could be few things in life more simple than receiving. Think about it, right now, this very moment, you are receiving life-giving breath, it happens naturally, you don’t even need to think about it. Just pause a moment and notice how you receive the breath; follow the breath all the way in and all the way out, enjoying the sense of gliding with and on the breath and the calm that immediately comes when you stop and notice and enjoy.

It’s as simple as that: pay attention, be present with your experience, enjoy, be grateful, let go.  It’s simple but not always so easy to turn around lifelong habits of limitation.

Here are some everyday indicators that you may not be as open to receive as you could be:

A friend pays you a compliment and you brush her/him off.

“ You’re looking great today,”

“ Really? I was just thinking how lousy I feel.”

 

You love to do little acts of service for others but when someone tries to help you out you feel very uncomfortable.

 

You like to talk but you’re not so good at listening. You’re driven to hold centre stage and keep others entertained but you rarely ask questions to draw others out.

 

A friend asks you out for dinner and wants to pay for your meal but you insist on going 50/50.

 

You always have a “to-do” list half a mile long and rarely take time to smell the roses and soak up the rays of the sun.

 

You are super-independent and get edgy when anyone gets too close – whether in your work or your personal life.

 

Your bank balance hovers just above zero and you pride yourself on being able to live on next to nothing.  Or, your bank balance is huge yet you always feel you don’t have enough and you’re frightened of losing what you have.

 

And here are some of the consequences I’ve noticed in myself and others:

You work very hard but you never seem to get the rewards you long for.

 

Your life is a continual quest for love but your relationships usually  disappoint you after a while.

 

You’re a natural giver but you often end of feeling resentful, unappreciated or “shorted”.

 

You often come away from visits with friends and family feeling drained, unappreciated or lonely.

 

You have lots of little habits to take the edge off your inner emptiness – a glass of wine, a cigarette, chocolate.

 

You have been given many wonderful opportunities throughout your life but you just seem to keep messing up and you can’t see your patterns nor  how to break out of them.

 

And, if you have had a lifetime of not being able to receive the nourishment you need, your system may be seriously depleted and fatigued.

 

In the course of my New Year musings I decided I’m ready to weed out all those little prickly thorns and unconscious habits that are keeping me from fully receiving and giving love and abundance. I created this affirmation for myself:

 

I am in daily, moment to moment conversation with universal intelligence. I pay attention to my experience and fully receive everything I am given, allowing abundant love to flow through me to nourish and comfort me. As I receive, bless, let go and give back, abundant love multiplies.

 

As soon as I’d formulated my words I felt a deep rush of gratitude which told me that I’ve hit the spot. My intention this year is to practice always living from this place of love and abundance. I know this isn’t always easy because life throws us curve balls as well as bouquets and being open to receive includes seeing everything as a gift. It’s not easy because in this age of information and computer technology, there is so much flowing in every day, how can I possibly respond to it all?

 

This is the practice many spiritual teachers have called, loving what arises.  And it is the most honourable and growthful challenge we can take on.

 

I love to have an inquiry and this is my new inquiry. I plan to share my explorations and my progress in my blog over the coming weeks. In sending this to you, I am offering you the opportunity to join me in the adventure or at least to look over my shoulder. And I’m also using this public declaration to strengthen my intention.

The transformation of the world begins here – in my heart and in yours.

Happy New Year!

January 2nd 2016