Sharing the Joy of Nature's Abundance - Bidding Farewell to my Scarcity Mindset
When you look for opportunities with an open heart they present themselves. Thanks to @senorcoconut for prompting me to think about how my #dreamscometrue.
Last week I was talking about challenging myself to share more on steemit. In general I am looking for opportunities to build new habits of sharing, within steemit and also in the world.
I am doing this because I no longer want to live in fear or in scarcity.
I have seen and experienced the abundance that nature provides. On one hand I want to share that abundance with everyone, but on the other hand I still have reactions of scarcity that are deeply ingrained in my emotional and psychological habits.
As my ethics shift I find myself aligning with the abundance mindset more. To keep up with my changing ethics I must take action and practice abundance in my life. It is a journey and there is a lot of work to be done, but I think if I do it right it will feel like play and not work :)
This is a small step toward practicing abundance, one of many small successes I have made lately to break out of my scarcity mindset and habits.
I live on the same property with an acupuncturist who told me about a friend she was treating that had a bad dry cough. I thought back to the Elecampane tincture I had made last year after gaining a lucky harvest of 2 mature Elecampane plants from a farm I had visited for a few weeks. I tinctured half of the roots and dried the other half and ended up with a decent amount of both.
So I offered to share my tincture if my friend felt it would help in her treatment. Sure enough they tested it out with good results and she said her friend would like to try it. They included it as part of her treatment.
I immediately went to pour two bottles one for her and one for her husband to have on hand so that they would be able to use as much as needed. She asked what I wanted to be compensated and I said nothing!
It felt so great to share. And why not? Medicine that I made from roots that I consider a gift from a friend and from nature.
A plant that grows abundantly once established. When I harvested the Elecampane roots I replanted the crown back in the same place so that it could continue growing the next year. That Elecampane plant would keep giving and so why shouldn't I share that joy and gift with others?
It seems obvious to me and I jumped on the opportunity to offer to share this special medicine with my friend's friend.
But I wouldn't have always acted on the opportunity to share.
Not too long ago I know I could have easily reacted out of a habit of scarcity, driven by fear of loss or need and my emotions would have asked me to hold on to as much of that medicine as I could.
"Because I put all the effort into it. I paid for the alcohol that tinctured it. It is special to me. It is mine."
I may not have literally thought those thoughts or explored them, but I would have felt them in a split instant and then acted on their behalf.
It is small steps like sharing some Elecampane tincture and being on the lookout for opportunities to share that I can reform my habits and retrain myself into an abundance mindset.
I chose to put extra emphasis to practice sharing with food and medicine because it goes in hand with my ethics. Because friends and perfect strangers have shared their food with me that is so abundantly growing on their land. That is giving me deeper gratitude for the food that is on my plate tonight. Because nature shares food and medicine with me abundantly.
I want to share the joy that I receive in experiencing the abundance phenomenon!
It is so strange to be writing this post. There is part of me would like to feel shame for not adopting this mindset and philosophy more wholly earlier in my life. But I remind myself that I am always growing and that I can focus instead on the joy in the discovery of abundance and the journey of sharing.
The greatest gift was the act of sharing and expecting nothing in return. But a few days later when I found out that the medicine helped eliminate the cough, when nothing else did - I felt happy and proud.
Thank you for reading :)
p.s. if you are not familiar with Elecampane - its a must have for any garden! It's vivaciously beautiful much like a sunflower, it offers amazing lung support, especially antiviral lung support, and many other benefits. It grows easily, reseeds like crazy and is a perennial!
Here are some good links to learn more about Elecampane from @amymya!
First off, I can totally resonate with your situation. Moving more into abundance everyday, yet stil feel tinges of scarcity and lack. You’re already in the abundance mindset, the rest is practice. A touching post indeed.
Secondly, I have a particular affinity with elecampagne, looking forward to see how our resident does this year. Thank your for your authenticity.
Well said @mountainjewel :) All we need is more practice. It's hard at first and then gets easier over time. It's definitely a path I was glad to discover.. a lot of work leading up to now and more to come, but it is very worth it. Good luck to you and your Elecampagne plant!
Thank you for sharing your story and inspiring others to share their gifts.
You're welcome and thanks for your nice comment!
This was such a feel-good read! I can relate to those knee jerk reactions as well but I definitely feel better when I share. Plus, the abundance mindset builds community and social collateral too.
I haven't heard of Elecampane before. My plant knowledge is lacking and an area I would like to grow (pun not intended, but still appreciated). What zone does it fall into?
-Aimee
I agree about the community and social collateral. I am learning more and more about those aspects as well every day. It's exciting to discover a new world out there outside of the mainstream culture :)
Good question about Elecampane zones. I just looked it up at PFAF and its zone 4-8
http://www.pfaf.org/USER/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Inula+helenium
I'm afraid I probably still err on the side of scarcity. If I have plenty I'll happily share the excess, but I look after us first. This is probably because it tends to be one sided with us living in the suburbs. However, with me persistently sharing they are starting to reciprocate. I think it's a way of life that that's mostly been forgotten, so they're slowly feeling their way back.
Our Indian neighbours (who've sadly left now) were different though.
Hmm I see what you mean. Being more ingrained in homesteading and permaculture communities over the last 2 years has really helped me get out of my comfort zones and explore new ways of living. I am the same in that I look after myself first and then when I feel secure it is easier to share. But the border of that comfort zone is changing slowly. That's so amazing that you are changing your neighbors viewpoints and habits! Nice going @minismallholdings!
thank you for your honesty in this post, it is really good to share with others but like you said, it does not come naturally to some as this is not necessary the way we were all brought up to think, to be so community minded. Hearing you talk about that and then how you have changed your ways is inspiring thank you for that.
Thank you :) Changing my ways is a work in progress... its certainly not overnight, but with a little work it is already bringing me great joy and appreciation, which is good inspiration to continue.
Lead with your heart and listen to her...she will never lead you astray...I may have to look for Elecampane for the garden. Thanks! upvoted!
Great post, thanks for sharing your thoughts on a... touchy subject! I'd like to add that people are generally very willing to share what they have in abundance. The main problem is most people have next to nothing in abundance!
Our neighbors let us collect three buckets of quince from their yard a few years ago just because they cannot use all. However when getting milk from them it's inappropriate to just get it without payment, as that's their livelihood. Although they offer it all the time.
So what we're trying to do is create a community of people, where each and every one will have an abundance of anything, so the collective sharing would amount to a much bigger yield for all.
Good point about livelihood and abundance that is less valued. There are tons of apple trees here in washington that go un picked, un cared for and yet still produce massive abundance. It boggles my mind!
What a great effort that you are undertaking with your community. Are you working out some bardering systems or platforms? Have you been facing much resistance or are people adopting the idea? I am interested to hear more.
The effort is really great as we're trying to inspire a small group of people to settle in the same village, nearby. That requires several family to change lifestyle simultaneously and you know different people are just ready at different times. The whole thing is at it's inception phase... The properties are bought, some building has commenced, but it'll be a few years down the road before the project unfolds. Still even at this early phase there are tangible results - plants and seeds exchange, shared purchasing of some power tools and machinery, shared labor, etc...
Wow this is exciting! How did you find this group of people and are you all on the same land or buying land as neighbors? I hope that you post sometimes and share how things are going with this project!
I wrote some of the backstory in the other post you commented on and yes, there will be a continuation posts, as we're doing forward with the project grant or no grant, it's just a matter of time!
@Sagescrub, this was an amazing post! Having the guts to give something away without expecting anything in return is definitely a great achievement.
Congratulations on chasing that need and actually recognizing that this is something you long for. It's relatively easy to find material abundance (it can be at times) but sharing that abundance is a whole different animal!!!
Thank you for these words, they make me re-calculate some principals that may have been forgotten about. I like to share and give but there are times I don't want to...(times with abundance).
Thank your the tips on Elecampane. I think you and I had a conversation about possible asthma relief with mullein, my little one had a long bad caugh and the doctors said it could possibly be asthma...it was just a caugh that lasted a long time!
And finally, a great big thank you for the mention and tagging your post #DreamsComeTrue!
Cheers
Your words are too kind @senorcoconut. You're right.. it did take guts and it still takes guts for me to recognize the desire in myself and make the effort to change my habits. Its helping me have a new love for myself and others.
So glad the info on Elecampane and mullein can help you and your son! Is the cough better now? I sure hope so.
Thank you again for the idea of #DreamsComeTrue! I am keeping it in the back of my mind for future post topics :)
Love hearing your recount of being connected with the abundance and giving this planet has to offer. It's just a hard fast truth that if we keep mother nature as our teacher and provider and share her wealth unselfishly as she does then we are taken care of.
Mother nature is unselfish with her wealth! Good point... I have so much to learn from her :)
Well it's clear you are on the path of letting her guide you in your life. I love connecting with others that value the purity of this planet and all that it offers us complicated beings.
Yes we are so complicated!! I'm glad to have her as a guide that I can follow when I am paying attention :) Thanks for your comments and recognition @mle777!
This was a beautiful read. Too often we tend to think that money is the only yield. I love that you've adopted an abundance mindset that celebrates, respects and honours mother nature from who we get a variety of yields that mean a lot more than slips of paper. Farmacy > Pharmacy and it is so inspiring to see that you can heal yourself from the abundance nature provides. Thanks for sharing, this was very motivational for me.
Thank you @soulturtle! Those darn slips of paper are so hard to get away from! We need all the encouragement and support we can get from each other. I appreciate your words and respect.