As Diwali fills the air with festivities, joy and togetherness, we are constantly reminded of the significance behind these celebrations – to welcome Goddess Lakshmi into our well-decorated homes and bless us with wealth and abundance; a ritual that has been followed since hundreds of years in pursuit of prosperity.
This year, as we light out homes and look forward to our share of prosperity on this auspicious day, let us first take a step back and decode the true meaning of abundance.
Abundance in reality
Abundance or prosperity is often interpreted as wealth and richness. For decades at a go, we have nurtured a belief of ‘more rich, more prosperous’.
But does it actually hold true? Are your income and wealth the only parameters to measure abundance? Or does abundance encompass something bigger and much greater?
If it only meant wealth then why is Saudi Arabia, the richest country in the world, ranked one amongst the least happy countries in the world? How is Denmark, which ranks 33rd in terms of world GDP, always amongst the top 5 happiest countries in the world?
I will try to address these questions in the next section.
Abundance is a perspective
Abundance is a perspective. It is the value that we attach to something.
Rain brings abundance to those who live in a desert and misery to those in a flood struck zone. A wealthy person with a broken family values the bond shared by a poor man with his wife and children. The poor man considers the material pleasures that belong to the rich as abundance. For me abundance is family, health and happiness. For you it may be to go on an exotic vacation or spend peaceful hours amidst nature.
What we consider as abundance is nothing but how our mind plays with us. It seeks what is scarcely available and overlooks what it has. Whatever it be, true abundance is certainly much more than the zeroes on your paycheque or the gold in your locker. It comprises small intangible pleasures of life that cannot be traded; those that money cannot buy.
- True abundance is the happiness you experience when you are kind to someone
- True abundance is being enveloped in the love of your friends and family
- True abundance is sleeping every night in peace
- True abundance is being respected for who you are & not what you own
- True abundance is in realizing that you are more blessed than those around you
- True abundance is in uplifting someone
- True abundance is to have someone who cares
- True abundance is a heart filled with love & a body free of diseases
- True abundance is when you laugh loud and clear
- True abundance is so much more than what you believe it to be
Living a life of abundance
Whether you live a life of abundance or scarcity is completely on you and not on your outer circumstances.
Many celebrities such as Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale and Nelson Mandela are not celebrated because they made unusual wealth but because they made the world a better place through their efforts. In true sense, true abundance is experienced when you open up your heart for others and rise in unison. That is the source for infinite happiness and fulfillment.
Here are a few ways to spend every waking moment of your life in joy and abundance-
- Control your mind
You are as happy as you think. Same applies for abundance. Having control on your mind and wishes can instantly make you feel blessed and experience abundance. It can limit your desires to what you already possess and give you a beautiful sense of fulfillment.
- Pay gratitude for what you have
You are reading this because you have access to internet and are blessed with a good vision. Many around you might not have either of these. Being in realization of the small things that you have been gifted with can help you understand that you are already living in abundance. Now, you need not seek it but just remain conscious of it and thank the Universe for blessing you with it.
- Like attracts like
As you stop complaining about life and stay in gratitude for everything that you have, life bestows you with many more things to be grateful for. In other words, you attract more abundance by simply being conscious that you are already in abundance.
- Prioritize your needs
Since wealth forms a significant part of abundance, it is important that we also focus on deriving smart ways of spending and saving it. Few of them are to prioritize your needs and wants, remove the unnecessary list of expenses and develop a habit of parking some amount for savings every month.
This Diwali, we hope that Goddess Lakshmi not just bestows you with wealth and worldly pleasures but also blesses you with abundance in its true essence. Have a joyous and peaceful Diwali!
Happy Diwali!
