Awakening Abundance

As I am preparing for the second meditation class I am teaching (check out my website at www.dreamcatching.net for more information), I am struck by how much connection there is between abundance and self-care.

This week we are focusing on the root chakra—the first energy center in the body, which is located at the root of the spine. According to principles of energy medicine, this chakra rules issues associated with safety, security and money.

Our basic needs as humans are linked to our root, our connection to the earth. How well we fill our own core human needs—eating well, sleeping and having enough money to put a roof over our heads, and feed and clothe ourselves is linked to how abundant we feel.

I find myself coming back again and again to how necessary self-care is. As a new mother, I have heard time and time again the old oxygen mask analogy. We first care for ourselves so we have energy to give. Life gives us so many examples of this.

New parents know how hard it is to help a new little human fall asleep when they themselves are sleep deprived. When it comes to relationships, most of us have learned, one way or another, that if we don’t have enough energy to care for ourselves, we usually aren't giving to others from a clear, loving place either.

I believe abundance comes when we have found a way of living—-be it through our life’s work, or simply in the way we live, day-in-and-day out--that fills us up as well as others.

When we are willing to dip into the well of abundance that is all around us—-be in by accepting the smile of a stranger, appreciating the beauty of nature or remembering how glorious it is to be alive and able to breathe—-we become not a user of energy but a magnifier of it. The more committed we are to filling up with life force in a way that is aligned with what our inner spirit wants for us, the more chance we give that life force to grow.