Scarcity & Abundance Scale

Last week a wise friend reminded me that the very definition of our lives is to be in mystery, yet only during certain times are we aware of it.

A blessing coming out of having more flexibility in my life is that I've been given the chance to study the differences among people faced with the utter truth of life's mysteriousness, whether by choice, "accident," or "directioned" stumble. Clearly, my observation is as much of a self-study as anything else.

For reasons beyond me, these times seem harder than most. Almost everyone that I know is dealing with something heavy. I notice that difficulty, challenge, and hardship are collapsing all around us, mostly in the form of grief that hardens over transitional wounds. More tiresome, some of us are holding many tests at the same time, which feels overwhelming at best, and soul-breaking at worst. We rage at divine cruelty, disengage from reality, or find other ways to cope.  

But I'm seeing, time and time again, that those who tend to respond with resiliency maintain equanimity, while those who tend to respond with rigidity simply don't. These patterns are beyond being negative or positive-we can be "positive people" who aren't holding life's challenges healthily or be "negative people" who are entering life's mysteries with tremendous grounded-ness. I think that it's more complex than that.

I'm beginning to observe the stuff that equanimity is made off--the presence to appreciate both of scarcity and abundance in our lives. As we allow ourselves to feel of both sides of the scale, so to speak, the easier it is to accept where we are, and navigate where we're going. We hold what we hold, what we hold, what we hold.

This doesn't mean to me, however, that we have equal amounts of both scarcity and abundance or that we choose to notice the plentiful and ignore the absence. Instead, it means that we recognize that scarcity and abundance scales exist by nature (yin and yang qualities) in which we see less scarcity where there is more abundance, and more scarcity where there is more abundance--as it is. Beyond that though, those who tend toward resilience, because they hold a deep sense of equanimity, are able to see the infinite scales that exist before them--not the few that represent the aspects of our lives on which we choose to focus or over which we obsess. In a sense being more present opens us up to the scales that populate the detailed and miraculous mechanics of our existence.  

I want to be one of those people who tend toward resiliency, so I am choosing to smile at abundance, to nod at scarcity, understand the purpose of both as necessary and complementary elements, and most significantly, visit all of the scales in my life. This way I'm smiling more often (as I see abundance), gain extra clarity (as I see scarcity), lean into impermanence (as I recognize that shapes will readily shift), feel spaciousness (tending to the many scales that exist for me in this dimension and others, and being fully present for each visit).

Please remind me how I'm doing when we speak next!