Anyone
who read my last newsletter knows that we had rain on Kauai this winter.
There was no way for me to know, as I wrote that, just how much rain we
would get during our five-week stay. The astonishing answer is somewhere
between 40 and 50 inches, about what Boston can expect in a full year.
Seven people lost their lives when a dam burst, releasing millions of
gallons of water from an old mountain reservoir and cutting a three-mile
gash to the sea. This followed a night of unrelenting downpour, when we
received seven inches of rain. At intervals during the five weeks we were
unable to drive more than a few miles due to mudslides that closed roads
and the threat of other reservoirs crashing through old earthen dams. Many
days we waded in water that was anywhere from ankle- to knee-deep, just
to get to our car.
Oddly enough, I will remember that trip as one of the best vacations of
my life. I should explain that my husband and I have owned our beach
house condominium in “paradise” for seventeen years. It is our
place to replenish body and soul. Warm breezes, swaying palms, outrageous
purple flowers, crashing surf, and most of all mysterious green mountains
have a way of soothing a soul ravaged by the demands of work and winter.
Every time we go to Kauai I ask for spiritual replenishment. Remember
the old adage to be careful what you ask for? I got my answer in spades,
and I learned so much that I thought I would share it with you.
Loosen Your Grip and Go For a Ride
After one night of continuous downpour, early in the trip, I awoke
to feelings of panic. There seemed no end to the rain, and I just didn’t
know how I would cope with being cooped up when this was our big chance
to hike in the mountains and play golf and spend lazy days on the beach.
We could barely go outside! Lying there in the pre-dawn darkness,
I made a decision to ask for help. After all, that’s what I teach – turn
to God for help when you need it. Don’t waste time trying to cope
on your own.
My answer came almost immediately. My idea of a vacation and reality were
far apart. I could roll with reality (dance with what was showing up) or
I could fight it. I could flee by hoping a plane to the mainland or I could
stay and see what would happen. A call to a friend at home assured us that
even though it was wet on Kauai, it was also green and warm – a quick
reminder to be grateful for what we had. I decided to loosen my grip
on my idea of a vacation as one loosens the grip on a steering wheel, and
see where this “ride” was going to take me. I’ve learned
from experience that when we let go of attachments, the journey starts to
get interesting. We find ourselves in places far more wonderful than we
could have imagined.
I became very curious, and I asked this question: What am I supposed to
be learning here? That curiosity created the space for calm and peacefulness – fertile
ground for growth. As a person who loves to participate in whatever activity
is available, I began to experience relief. What a surprise! The absence
of choices afforded the opportunity to relax – truly relax by simply
living in the present moment.
Soon I began to experience color and sound and smell as never before: A
tissue-paper pink hibiscus blossom at breakfast, multi-layers of mist in
the green mountains, the smell of rain falling on steamy pavement, backlit
aquamarine waves in an after rain sunset… I began to experience
something else - utter contentment.
Contentment is Internal and Independent of Circumstances
And then it became apparent what I was to learn – that contentment
is the true measure of success and that we reach contentment by creating
the environment in which it can flourish. We create our own reality, and
we become content from within instead of waiting for circumstances to change
so we can be content. We spend so much energy working at success and working
at attaining the things we think will bring us contentment, that we risk
running right past it and never experiencing it at all.
One
of the ingredients for contentment, I observed, is the habit of savoring.
We take so much for granted, and we are so busy rushing that we seldom truly
savor. So I started viewing my surroundings as though I were going to write
about them, in order to link them to time and place. Using that method
I punctuated the sight or smell or sound, rather than letting it drift away,
and soon there was an abundance of things I wanted to punctuate. I realized
that contentment sprang from gratitude and that, in turn, produced an attitude
of abundance. Since I was working on developing new modules for my Attract
What Is Good Workshops, I decided to put some structure into these observations
by developing a worksheet to help my students live with abundance and contentment.
The Abundance Worksheet
Gratitude 
Abundance Contentment
My Abundance Worksheet is divided into three parts.
- First thing in the morning write down at least three things for which
you are truly grateful, and try to vary those things as much as possible.
- During the day accumulate sensual delights, things that you see, hear,
taste and feel that are especially beautiful or noteworthy.
- Late in the day, on the same sheet of paper where you wrote the things
for which you are grateful, list what went right for you that day. This
can be anything from a good conversation, to a meeting that went well,
to a romp with your dog; the possibilities are endless. Finally, write
down all those delicious things you observed and savored through your senses.
What you will find is that keeping this worksheet will focus you on gratitude
and abundance and living in the present. You’ll be amazed at what
does go well for you each day. You’ll be looking for things to add
to your list of sensual delights. You’ll be thinking of things that
you want to add to your gratitude list. In short you’ll make the shift
from focusing on external circumstances that you can’t control to
building contentment from within.
I challenge each of you to use this method for two weeks. You’ll
be amazed at how your focus will change from what is wrong to what is right.
You’ll be making the shift from scarcity to abundance and gratitude,
and most of all you’ll be laying the groundwork for experiencing true
contentment. Now that’s attractive!
If you would like an email copy of my Abundance Worksheet, or if you would
like me to forward one to a friend, just email jcollins@joancollinscoach.com and
put "template" in the subject line.
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