We want to know: where does abundance show up in your life?

We hear constantly about scarcity: the apparent lack of everything from money and time to food. It’s an attention-grabbing narrative, and one that has us locked in a collective game of musical chairs (or so it feels), according to US writer and activist Charles Eisenstein.

“When you lose a round, you aren’t merely out of the game,” he writes. “You also lose your home and must choose between food and medicine for your children. The very survival of you and your loved ones is at stake.”

Eisenstein describes the ensuing “mad rush” to sit down when the music stops, “an elbowing, shoving free-for-all in which the chairs go to the strong, fast, and lucky … Everyone is so focused on winning a higher proportion of chairs for themselves and their group that they don’t question the rules of the game and whether those might be changed.”

Sound familiar?

If that paints a picture of the worst of human nature, then a narrative of abundance helps to points to the very best. For US writer and activist Rebecca Solnit for example, rejecting the deception of “austerity” that fossil fuels impose upon us will be key to spurring climate action.

“Much of the reluctance to do what climate change requires comes from the assumption that it means trading abundance for austerity, and trading all our stuff and conveniences for less stuff, less convenience,” posits Solnit in a piece for the Washington Post. “What if austerity is how we live now,” she asks, “and the abundance could be what is to come?”

Figuring out what we really want to receive in abundance, is key. Do we genuinely want more adventure films, or are we actually craving genuine adventure? Do we need more sources of entertainment or a pure sense of play? More clothes, or a stronger connection to the ones we own? Ever more accessible pornography, or real intimacy? The constant attempt to meet our deep emotional and spiritual needs with these substitutes is good news for economic growth, but bad news for the earth – and for us.

So, we wondered how abundance shows up in your life. In the plethora of vegetables you grow on your allotment perhaps? Or in the deep well of friendship or romantic love, in the form of intimacy and connection? Is it in the opportunities you’ve had in life, or the patience and kindness that others have showed you?

Perhaps you see abundance in the progress society has made, despite the enduring challenges: in the eradication of disease, the huge drop in infant and maternal mortality, in the spread of literacy?

Or maybe you’ve actively nurtured an abundance mindset: to see the world as full of possibility rather than lack or limitation, to nurture gratitude, or to stop participating in ‘scarcity-based status games’ – chasing money or perceived achievements.

“Giving is a practice of abundance,” suggests Ingrid Fetell Lee, designer and the founder of The Aesthetics of Joy blog. “It tells your mind: ‘I have enough to spare that I can give this to someone else.’

So, has donating to charity, giving generous tips, or even baking or cooking for a neighbour helped you to tap into a feeling of abundance?

Could, or does, technology bring about abundance? Are our capabilities as a race finally catching up with our ambitions?

For a future article, we’d love you tell us about the richness, the personal fulfilment, the beauty, in your life. What makes it full, varied, joyful and – ultimately – worth living?

We won’t be able to publish all answers, but we will read them. Please fill in the form below to take part.

Main image: iStock