Why We Don't Have Enough

Have you ever wondered why you can pay your rent or mortgage, pay the utilities, buy groceries and gas for the coming work week, but there isn’t anything left over? Do you ask yourself why you don’t have more? Why life is a struggle? Why you just barely get by?

You Are Not Alone

We all struggle with these same questions; everything that is common to your dilemma is also common to mine for we are all connected and we share similar emotional struggles. We all have a desire to care for our families and provide the best we can. We desire to have more than enough or be more than we currently are. We are all discouraged when we feel it is not enough.

How Do We Get More?

There have been many books written in the last 20 years on spiritual laws and how to apply them to our lives. Here are just a few examples of their teachings:

·         We have been told to affirm statements of wealth and prosperity so that we can receive it.

·         We have been told to act as if we already have it (and that one will get you into trouble and maybe even bankruptcy if you spend what you don’t have – yet -- because you are acting like you do).

·         We have been told that all we have to do is believe and so we set about believing for a week, or month, or forever but things remain exactly the same …

Does this sound familiar?

We have been told these things and nothing changes because we don’t have a key ingredient. What we have not been told, and the purpose of this hub is to tell you, is that we must be happy where we are before we can change our location.

Yes, that is what I said – you have to be happy where you are before you can change your location whether that location is physical, spiritual or emotional. Otherwise you simply take the unhappiness with you to the new location. You might as well save all the expense of relocating because you can be unhappy where you are as easily as you can be at the new location.

The answer is actually very simple:You have to be happy and grateful for what you have, right here and now,

before you can every be happy with more.

An Example

I have struggled with weight problems my entire teenage and adult life. Even when I was a size 8 or 10 I thought I was fat. So I went up and down on the scale from 140 pounds to 175 pounds because I was never satisfied with what I had and, let’s face it, I had a very poor self-image. I kept clothes in my closet that ranged from size 6 to size 14, always bouncing around somewhere in-between. I continued to gripe and complain, complain and gripe about my weight woes. The struggle continued and then one day I woke up to find that I was wearing a size 2X where a year earlier I had been at what I thought was my largest size, a 14. I had never been that big – ever – not even pregnant! In fact, I looked pregnant and I could not tie my shoes. I was breathless when I walked and couldn’t even exert myself enough to walk around the block to get some exercise.

In hindsight and being a bit philosophical, I realized that the Universe was showing me what BIG really was. I had complained for so many years about being a size 14 (which is actually the average size woman in America) that I didn’t have a clue how it felt to be extra large. I vowed that if I ever saw a size 14 again, I would be glad of it. And I began a slow and painful journey to get the weight off. My first goal was to lose 20 pounds of the 60 I had gained when the spiraling had actually begun. And I did. I was ecstatic! I was so happy when I got to a size 18 I jumped for joy!! No joke. Then I lost another 20 pounds and by then I was a size 16. Again, another 20 pounds came off and I was a size 12. Wow, now I was smaller than I had been when the attack had hit me.

Then I hit a plateau. I stayed at 175 pounds for 3 months and I complained and griped – until one day it hit me that I had never even thanked the Universe for the 60 pounds I had lost. I had never stopped to give gratitude that I could walk easily again without being off balance. That I didn’t get breathless from simple things like climbing stairs or walking to the mailbox. I had been acting ungrateful and surly, muttering to myself and getting aggravated that I couldn’t seem to lose any more.

If you could see the before and after pictures you would know that the transformation is truly astounding. I don’t even look like the same person. I shared the pictures with my sister who had not seen me during that time and even she simply could not believe it was me.  She admitted that she would never have recognized me and at first she thought I was pulling her leg, that it could possibly be me! 

What Did I Learn?

I finally came to the realization that I am sharing with you today – If you want more, first you have to be grateful for what you have.

The most important attitude any of us can learn is – Gratitude.

Be thankful for each step of the way.

Be thankful for every dollar or dime you have.

Be thankful for the roof over your head, even if it is leaking.

Be thankful for the job you have, even if you desire a different job with better pay.

Be thankful for the car you drive.

Be thankful for the members of your family, even if they get on your last nerve.

Be thankful for the family and friends who stand by you.

Be thankful for every inch or pound you lose… yes, that too.

Be thankful for everything!                                                

Because, people, I am not kidding you – what you bless, blesses you and what you curse, curses you. It is one of the most important spiritual laws.