Choosing Abundance

I've decided to start a new series here on For The Love of Food based on the personal development work I have been doing in Danielle LaPorte's The Desire Map. I mentioned The Desire Map a few months back at the end of the year as I was working through some changes around the direction of my business and life in general.

As a result of that post, I have received numerous emails from readers talking about how The Desire Map changed their perspective and helped them to shift focus in their life. I hope to use this series as a way to share things that I am working through at the moment while also connecting us as a community for those of you who are also working through your Desire Maps.

In case you are unfamiliar with The Desire Map, here's what you need to know: The idea behind The Desire Map is that most of us plan our lives around achieving certain goals. After we spend years working to reach those goals, we often find ourselves feeling empty when we finally get what we thought we desired.

Instead, The Desire Map helps you to discover your core desired feelings and use these feelings to gude what you want to do, have, and experience in your life. The idea is that when you set out to achieve a certain goal, it's not actually the goal you want, it's the feeling behind the goal, so, traditional goal setting is actually backwards.  Instead of focusing on the goal, we need to focus on the feeling we want that is behind the goal. This may sound simple, but this stuff goes deep.

One of my core desired feelings for 2013 is ABUNDANCE. Last year I began to realize how I mostly focused on what is lacking in my life -- it's "the glass is half-empty" mentality. This perspective often made me feel competitive, tense, and anxious because I constantly felt the sense of scarcity that surrounded me.

Is this how I wanted to feel in my life?  No, absolutely not.

As a result of my perspective shift from scarcity to breathing in abundance, I began to feel differently and see things in a new light.

Focusing on abundance doesn't mean being greedy or wasteful. Abundance is about finding the fullness within. 

This shift had a huge impact on my life in general, but especially in my finances. Instead of feeling frustrated by my ever-increasing food budget, I began to feel immense gratitude for the hard-working farmers I love and trust who grow my food every week. Instead of feeling stressed that I couldn't afford to help pay for my partner's tuition expenses, I began to feel proud of her for being independent enough to get loans when she needed to. Instead of feeling like I didn't make enough to donate to my local animal shelter, I began to look for ways that I could give back to animals in need (something I am extremely committed to).

Choosing abundance isn't necessarily about having more: more time, more money, more stuff... For me, abundance is about enjoying what I have and using it to make a meaningful impact on my life and the lives of others.

I don't need to make more money - I need to spend my money wisely so that I can make more of an impact with the money I have.

I don't need to have more time - I need to use the time I have in a way that benefits my life and wellbeing.

I don't need to have more stuff - I need to fill my life with  people and experiences that are meaningful to me. 

(If you feel so inclined to purchase The Desire Map from Danielle LaPorte, please know that using my link enables me to donate 100% of any money I receive from that purchase to the Seattle Animal Shelter. Thank you for helping me to fulfill my commitment to choosing abundance and helping animals in need.) 

Sometimes a shift in perspective yields big changes. 

Choosing abundance has also enabled me to be grateful for the small things.

Instead of feeling burnt out by the busyness of daily life, I am able to be fully present when I sit down to enjoy a meal or a hot cup of tea.

Instead of feeling like there is too much to do and too little time, I am able to focus on what is most important and worthy of my time and attention.

This often means shifting priorities, choosing to do less, and devoting my energy to projects that make me feel how I want to feel.


Where do you feel a sense of scarcity in your life? Where are some places that you can choose abundance? Please leave me a comment below and let me know!