tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127417751404612131.post1159256942944158234..comments2022-12-11T07:18:43.247-08:00Comments on Rebecca Elia's Blog: The Eyes of AbundanceRebecca Eliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15871037501582295045noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127417751404612131.post-80871561305789760252010-12-04T15:06:08.415-08:002010-12-04T15:06:08.415-08:00Thank you, Kathy. So glad it got you cooking with ...Thank you, Kathy. So glad it got you cooking with abundance (that's a biggie in my family!). And thank you for propelling me into completing my next post...that's been sitting on my desktop for weeks!Rebecca Eliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871037501582295045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127417751404612131.post-55148607181171008862010-12-04T13:36:06.001-08:002010-12-04T13:36:06.001-08:00A truly delicious post that made me conscious of m...A truly delicious post that made me conscious of my blindspots. Superbly so! Oh boy do I get tight and cynical sometimes. I'm cooking with abundance right now thanks to you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127417751404612131.post-58719239447873353352010-10-05T11:16:47.544-07:002010-10-05T11:16:47.544-07:00Thank you for your thoughtful response, Cara. I ag...Thank you for your thoughtful response, Cara. I agree with you.Rebecca Eliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871037501582295045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127417751404612131.post-90397453582215977152010-10-04T03:31:15.038-07:002010-10-04T03:31:15.038-07:00Thanks for making me think with yet another beauti...Thanks for making me think with yet another beautiful post, Rebecca. <br /><br />I, too, believe in focusing on abundance. I have been lucky to create and receive much of what I want in my life, and many things I didn't expect: love, health, friendship, joy, work that I love, a sense of purpose, and more. I believe it's empowering to focus on what we have rather than what we lack. I know that I can only control my actions, not outcomes, so I take joy in the actions and try to let go of the outcomes. I believe that we can't always control our circumstances, but we can control our attitudes... which can sometimes improve our circumstances. I believe that it's not important how many times we fall down, but how often we get up.<br /><br />However... I have encountered people who do face true scarcity: no home, no job, no clean water, insufficient food, ill health, no insurance. Their attitudes are not the problem. They are often people with positive attitudes who focus on what they have, and make the best of things. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people, and I think sometimes modern ideas about having a positive attitude can put pressure on them to pretend they're OK when they're not. Sometimes scarcity happens by chance: a drought, an oil spill, an epidemic. Sometimes scarcity happens because those of us with abundance don't recognize the reality that not everyone has what we have... including our ability to have a positive attitude.<br /><br />I've learned that my mental gift for seeing abundance in my life is not a mental ability everyone has. True, humans can train themselves to develop new mental attitudes. However, the vagal dorsal response is a strong one: people who have suffered severe childhood trauma, such as deprivation, neglect, or violence have nervous systems that have become conditioned to spot trouble and run for cover. Even when they have abundance, sometimes they are unable to experience it, because brain patterns set to react appropriately to old realities will not let them react appropriately to new ones.<br /><br />I think it's important to maintain the kind of outlook you talk about, but to also keep our eyes open to the fact that there are realities that exist outside our attitudes, that the universe operates in many ways that are indifferent to our attitudes. Although I choose to focus on the abundance in my life, I do not think scarcity is an illusion, and I think it's important to recognize the existence of both. If we don't recognize those people and places experiencing real scarcity, how then can we create solutions that might lead them back to abundance? Both abundance and scarcity are part of the grand dance of life, which contains darkness as well as light. <br /><br />Consider another biblical story: because Joseph knew that there would be 7 years of famine, he was able to prepare for it by storing food during the 7 years of plenty. He was not focusing on scarcity for it's own sake, but because he knew that planning for it would lead people safely to the next time of plenty. In a way, he was doing what you so beautifully describe in talking about the people of Greece: creating abundance in the face of scarcity. But first he had to acknowledge the reality of scarcity. In so doing, he saved many lives. <br /><br />Consider this, too: the people who created the latest worldwide financial crisis were definitely into abundance. They thought the party would never end. In response, perhaps I'm suggesting what the Greeks suggested in ancient days: an attitude of moderation in all things, including our attitudes toward both scarcity and abundance.<br /><br />If you have 10 minutes to kill, here's a video with another take on what I think of more generally as "positive thinking": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvoCara Lopez Leehttp://www.theyonlyeattheirhusbands.comnoreply@blogger.com