The Great Fullness of Life

This month, we take a detour from my usual work-related, monthly write-up. Instead, I'm using this space to briefly share some personal insights on a topic that is near and dear to my heart.

The following article touches only the tip of the iceberg, yet it contains enough information to give you an understanding of what I want to share with you. Many of you will understand what I have to say; some may not.

Gratitude, Great Fullness, and Thanks Giving

At a recent International Coach Federation conference, author and activist Lynne Twist discussed societal attitudes towards money. She touched on how our personal beliefs around scarcity, sustainability, and sufficiency offer insight into our own lives.

At one point, Lynne was asked to describe the difference between gratitude and gratefulness. She explained that gratitude has two branches. The first is gratefulness – and gratefulness is the act of fully experiencing the great fullness of life. As a person fills-up on life's great fullness, he or she begins to overflow into the second branch – that of thanks giving. In thanks giving, we are grateful that there are others with whom we can share our bounty, our abundance, our joy, our peace . . . our GREAT fullness of life.

As Lynne continued to speak, I could feel a lump in my throat. I could feel tears of joy wanting to spring forward. She was eloquently putting into spoken words a concept I had, behind the scenes, been passionately working on over the past several years.**

You see, too many busy working adults who, by all accounts, appear prosperous and happy are actually dealing with internal emptiness and confusion. Underneath their successful images are souls yearning for more satisfaction in life.

If you're wondering what I'm talking about, hang in there while I attempt to explain a "life of purpose and direction" through the Abundance Gap.

Closing the Abundance Gap

If I might describe you, I'd venture to guess that you're gainfully employed or have your own business. Over the past 20 years (or more) you've increased your financial prosperity and you have abundance in life's materialistic pleasures. For instance, you probably have an apartment or home, a car or two, television(s), computer, furniture, clothing, plenty of food to eat, savings account, and money going towards retirement. I would even venture to guess you have enough income to take vacations from your work life. Succinctly put, your prosperity has increased over the past 20 years.

Now, let's take a look at how satisfied you are with what your life has become. I won't attempt to describe you in this area. Instead, let me toss out some questions and see if any of them hit home.

• Do you feel empty inside?
  
• Is something missing?
  
• Are you searching for meaning to your life?
  
• Did you sell out for financial security?
  
• Do you want happiness, but can't seem to find it?
  
• Are you experiencing recurrent thoughts in any of these areas: Resentment, jealousy, fear, revenge, confusion, ‘that's just the way it is', worry, anxiety, blame, struggle, hopelessness, hurt, separateness, scarcity, never enough?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, or any similar thoughts, then you may be experiencing what many working adults are facing. While your financial and materialist Prosperity has increased over the years, your personal Life Satisfaction has not kept pace. This gap between Prosperity and Life Satisfaction is illustrated below as the Abundance Gap.

Prosperity helped to create your image and lifestyle. Through Prosperity, you are living, as a popular 1970’s television sitcom described, the "good life." While the good life is nice, over the years you may have experienced an increased sense that something is missing.

For some people, that missing something is their connection to God. For others, it’s a connection to their inner wisdom – their soul. Still others are missing a spiritual connection ("spiritual" has different meanings to different people). Possibly you’re feeling trapped in your current situation; or, life has become a rat race for you; or, life is routine and boring; or, life’s difficulties have hardened you and the "hits" keep on coming. Whatever your situation, your Abundance Gap may have become too large to tolerate any longer.

When you choose to close the gap between Prosperity and Life Satisfaction, you embark on a highly personal, emotional, and rewarding journey – a journey that draws you toward living a meaningful and rewarding life each day.

You begin to live your life with purpose and direction. Truth, compassion, trust, joy, peace, happiness, acceptance, forgiveness, wholeness, connection, sufficiency, integration, courage, freedom, possibilities, fun – these, and so much more, become a way of life for you.

With my heart in the place of wanting more in life for you, let’s return to Lynne’s concept of experiencing the GREAT fullness of life.

Living In Life’s Great Fullness

The adrenaline-filled excitement of skydiving, tears of joy when witnessing new life, pride as you’re handed the keys to your new home, peaceful calm while watching the sun rise over the mountain tops – these are all moments of great fullness. On a Great Fullness scale of 1 – 10, you might rate these all around 9 or 10. These moments are fulfilling in a grand way. They’re easily recognizable as moments you want to remember and cherish.

But, how about your everyday life – would you say it’s full of moments to add to your Great Fullness of life? Absolutely! In fact, your everyday life is where you truly experience the fullness of your life. Every day is full of privileges. Every day is full of miracles.

Think about it. If you were to grab a pencil and paper and started jotting down all the privileges and miracles today has brought you, you would fill pages. If you have a child, you can easily fill a page or two. If you have a roof over your head at night, another page filled. If you have a job . . . if you have plenty of food, that you think of dieting . . . if you are a cancer survivor . . . if you have your eyesight to help you get about during the day . . . and the privileges and miracles go on and on.

So I ask you, this cool winter day in December, to choose to live your life to GREAT fullness. You can start by simply noticing the privileges and miracles that come your way throughout the day. I suggest you keep a daily gratitude journal. You’ll be pleasantly pleased to find when you focus on privileges and miracles, more of the same show up for you.

As you continue to experience life’s great fullness, allow yourself to fill up with the riches. Fill to overflowing. And, allow yourself to be moved in your own special way to share your abundance with the world around you.

Blessings to you,
Karen

** Coming in 2007, a 15-week program to help you discover the hidden meaning to your life and start living with purpose and direction.