knowabundance.com

Happy Monday!

How are you handling the grim economic news?

Fundraising can be a challenge in the best of times but now, with the focus of our attention on how bad the economy is and our anxiety about a continued downward spiral, the task of asking people to share what they have is even more daunting.

How can we live abundantly when we are faced daily with the reality of scarcity?

What is the best way to approach donor (and our own) fears about the economy?

We can take wisdom from a saying that has been part of the English language lexicon for at least 463 years, a phrase that reminds us we “can’t see the forest for the trees.” (Attributed to John Heywood, 1546.)

Seeing only the trees around us is natural of course because that is what is immediate, that is reality, as we know it. We have a vague understanding of “our” trees as part of a larger whole but we don’t have the vantage point to see the forest.

Even though we can’t see the forest, we know there is one because trees surround us.

Abundance and scarcity are like the forest and the trees. The reality of scarcity is relative to our vantage point in the trees and abundance is the forest we are in.

The latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, has a perfect example of the relative nature of scarcity.

In one scene, set in a Bolivian town, the camera focuses on a communal waterspout that is ever…so… slowly… trickling a few drops of water before stopping completely. The desperate crowds of people standing in line with their empty water buckets panic as they realize there is no more water. Frenzied shouting and fighting erupts on the street.

Meanwhile, in another scene, we see a subterranean cave full of water that has secretly been dammed by the villain of the movie. The dammed water gives the villain leverage to manipulate the Bolivian government and make large sums of money through control of the water supply for the entire country.

There is water, but the Bolivians on the street with their empty buckets are living the reality of no water.

We see this same relative scarcity all around us. If our bucket isn’t empty we fear that it will be. We hold tight to our buckets and watch as the waterspout drips…What is damming the water?

It would be easy to make people with fuller buckets than ours into the villains. But as soon as we start to point fingers we see them pointing back at ourselves. The game of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ can be played in so many different ways and who defines the rules?

Is the suffering of a family losing a home because of a bad mortgage deal, or someone laid off from a job, more or less than a child starving to death, or a family sick with cholera and no access to medicine? Even the poorest of countries has its have and have-nots, its affluent and destitute.

As fundraisers we constantly traverse the ever-shifting ground of the have/have not paradigm. Remembering that we “can’t see the forest for the trees” is a tool to help navigate the slippery road and recognize the scarcity mindset that we all share.

Who is not searching for something they think they need? Who is not protecting what they have?

Our inability to see the forest for the trees is damming the water. Abundance is around us and inside us. To see the forest, cultivate awareness of your inner abundance; know that everything you need you already have.

There are solutions to the challenges we face as a global community. Scarcity is a relative reality and not absolute. Reality is the forest and the trees.

Can we see both? Can we live with the knowledge of the forest while we care for the trees?

Substitute, “There is not enough.” with “There is enough for everyone.”

“Though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.”

John Muir (1838 – 1914)

Happy Monday!

What transforms a dream into reality?

Do you think Martin Luther King Jr. believed his dream would come true? Do you think Barack Obama believed he would be president of the United States of America?

Some dreams seem impossible.

Like peace in the Middle East or an end to poverty, no more violence against women and girls or industry that helps instead of harms the planet. We are full of dreams.

Martin Luther King Jr. told us, “I have a dream today.”

Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Not someday. Today. I have a dream today.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama not only believed their dreams were possible. They knew their dreams were possible. Someday, for them was today.

What are your dreams? What dreams are you raising money for? Are you waiting for someday for them to come true?

Stop waiting. To transform a dream into reality, simply realize that what you dream already exists.

How can you live equality when you don’t see equality in the world around you? Look to yourself. You know you are equal. You know you are as fully human as every other person. You are living equality.

How can you know peace when war and conflict seem unending? Look to yourself. There is peace inside you. Find it. Know it. You are living peace.

When will there be justice? Look to yourself. You know compassion for the tortured, for the imprisoned, for the raped. You are living justice.

How can we heal the planet? Look to yourself. You have learned the impact of our way of life on Earth; you are changing habits and creating new ways of existing. You are living restoration.

When will poverty end? Look to yourself. You know it is only fate that differentiates you from another. You know the same breath of life moves through you and every living being. You know there is enough for everyone. Don’t hold on to what you have. You are living abundance.

How can we forgive when there is so much to forgive? Look to yourself. Let go of past hurts. Don’t just wipe the slate clean, get rid of the slate. You are living forgiveness.

When will we see change? Look to yourself. You know today is not the same as it was yesterday. You are living change.

When will your dreams come true? Look to yourself. Your dream is alive inside you. You are living your dream.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama lived the reality of their dreams long before they saw them reflected in the world around them. They worked to create in the world the reality they knew inside themselves. What they dreamed was possible because they were living the dream already.

Make your someday, today. Live the reality of your dream now.

Substitute, “Nothing ever changes.” with “I have a dream today.”

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Monday!

The news about the economy is bad, donors are decreasing their giving because of fears about financial security and you are worried about meeting your fundraising goals for the year.

Wouldn’t thinking positive in the face of these realities mean burying your head in the sand?

Sometimes what we think is true is not true.

The idiom “bury your head in the sand” came from a belief that ostriches burry their heads in the sand when threatened by danger. Ostriches don’t bury their heads in the sand.

Sometimes what we think is true is not true.

But the news about the economy is bad, donors are concerned about financial security, you do worry. This is true. But is this all that is true?

Is your organization helping someone in need? Are your programs having an impact in the community? Does your work educate, inspire and connect people? Isn’t this also true?

What is it in us that does not allow the positive to co-exist with the negative, the good news with the bad news. The glass can only be half full or half empty – never just a glass with water in it.

We take a simple childhood story of a girl who played a “glad game” no matter what happened and make her into something we don’t want to be. We define finding something to be glad about in every situation as being “naively optimistic.” Positive thinking is sugar coating reality. We don’t want to be Pollyanna.

So instead we hold on to part of the truth as the whole truth. We tell ourselves that we are not focusing on the negative. We are facing reality. Even though we know that there is black, white, shades of grey and colors too. Even though we know that sometimes, what we think is true is not true.

Alongside this don’t-want-to-be Pollyanna habit, at the other end of the spectrum we have a desire to believe in The Secret and the Law of Attraction. Isn’t it also true that what we think about creates our reality?

There are hundreds of books, articles, websites and blogs which debate all sides of positive and negative thinking, optimistic or pessimistic outlooks and the what is truth and what is reality questions. We might have to wait awhile for a definitive answer…so in the meantime, you can run some tests for yourself. Look at the list of words below and notice how you respond to them.

abundance    lack
scarcity     plenty
generous     greedy
shortage     surplus

How does each word make you feel? Are there certain thoughts that you unconsciously attach to each word? Does your energy go up or down depending on which word you focus on? What happens to your breathing? Does it expand or constrict?

You can test this with your own words and thoughts. And then observe how your thinking affects your interactions with people and how your emotions shape your response to situations.

I know the news is bad and that not everything in your life either at work or home or in the world is perfect. Positive thinking is not about sugar coating reality but about allowing yourself to see that what you think or feel is not the whole truth.

Positive thinking helps create options that don’t appear available when you are focused on how bad things are and trying to predict and prepare for what other horrible things might happen in the future.

Positive thinking is not a magic wand to erase all of your worries or an end to all of your problems. Positive thinking is a tool you can use to shift your thought patterns, expand your perspective, lighten your mood, calm your anxious heart rate and relax your breathing.

Why think positive? You’ll feel better (which is not a bad thing) and have more ability to deal with challenges as they arise, including news about the economy, donor fears about financial security and your worry about meeting budget.

Why not play the Pollyanna game just for fun this week and see what happens?

Let me know how it goes.

p.s. And don’t use positive thinking as a way to feel bad about yourself or to judge others. That’s so not the point.

Substitute “How am I going to live?” with “I am alive!”

“I was playing the game—but that’s one of the times I just did it without thinking, I reckon. You see, you do, lots of times; you get so used to it—looking for something to be glad about, you know. And most generally there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”

Pollyanna (by Eleanor H. Porter – Chapter 7)

Welcome to Know Abundance!

A new positive thinking blog for fundraisers – and anyone else looking to supplant scarcity mentality with abundant living.

Delivered fresh every Monday – just when you need a dose of positivity to get your fundraising act in gear.

Know Abundance is living and working from the awareness that there is nothing you need that you don’t already have.

This blog is for you if:

• you worry about how to raise money to support your organization
• you stress about how to get everything done
• you wonder how to manage donor (and your own) fears about economy

Posted every Monday, Know Abundance is:

• fundraising from plenty and gratitude
• positive thinking to help you navigate your work week
• perspective to widen your outlook beyond daily headlines

Know Abundance is a shared journey. I, like you, am learning to live and work in new ways. To shed the thought patterns and beliefs that keep us trapped in a never-ending scramble for time, money, resources, and market share. To embrace the mantra, “Everything I need I already have.”

I know how hard you are working to bring into reality your vision of a better world. Know Abundance is for you. The weekly posts offer tools to see your worry, stress and fears in a different light, to know abundance even in the midst of scarcity.

Coming up in January:

Jan. 12 – Why think positive?

Jan. 19 – Live Your Dreams Today

Jan. 26 – Scarcity as Reality is Relative

I welcome your comments, questions and participation as we learn together.

Substitute “What I don’t have.” with “What I do have.”

“Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way.”

Pema Chödrön (from The Wisdom of No Escape, p.6)