Staring Down a Squirrel Part II

Last Tuesday I delivered a speech called, “Staring Down a Squirrel: How to Remain Positive and Productive During an Economic Downturn.” What God gave me to say was spectacular, inspiring, and awesome all around. Even though I didn’t have a microphone as promised and my Mac was not on speaking terms with the Powerpoint projector (don’t ask), I was able to deliver the talk with ease and grace. I felt inspired and from the feedback I received from the group, they felt inspired as well.

That Saturday, the day after payday, I no longer felt inspired because I started worrying about money. As I wrote out checks for bills, I started to recognize that the total amount of bills would certainly be greater than the total amount of money I’d received. I felt myself taking those shallow, worried breaths that fear inspires. Funny, how the Universe works. It seems as though as soon as I started worrying about money, the Universe started calling upon me to produce more abundance.

First, a friend called to ask me when I would be making the deposit for my bridesmaid dress. She is getting married this summer and is in full wedding planner mode. We had tried on the dresses a week prior and I didn’t have the cash to make a down payment at the time. The dresses could not be ordered until everyone turned in their deposit and I was holding up the process. Time to write that check.

Next, I got an email from my best friend. She sent me her itinerary for a trip I’d committed to in April for a former classmates’ wedding. I haven’t seen my best friend in four years. She lives in the Midwest, so we don’t see each other as often as I’d like. We talk on the phone several times per week, however, so I’m often more in touch with her than I am with friends who live here in LA. With the trip a little over a month away, it is time for me to start looking for airfare. I had cancelled a trip planned in January, so I thought I’d pay the one hundred and fifty dollar change fee and use that ticket. Unfortunately, since the wedding we are attending is Easter weekend, there were no more frequent flyer award tickets left. Instead of paying one hundred and fifty dollars, I ended up paying nearly three hundred dollars. Not in my budget, but I had committed.

Finally, I had the opportunity to attend a Prince concert that was a fundraiser. I could watch Prince perform every day and never get tired of seeing him. Was the one hundred and fifty dollar price of admission in my budget? Not. But hey, the fundraiser was for kids!

As I progressed through the weekend, more and more demands seemed to be made of me to circulate my resources. It became somewhat stressful. Then I started to remember that speech I gave last Tuesday. I started to actually listen to my own advice. I remembered the saying, “we teach what we most need to learn.” What did I teach my audience?

I told them that we stay positive and productive during an economic downturn by 1) dwelling in gratitude, 2) sharing and cooperating with others, and 3) thinking creatively.

Today, I started focusing on gratitude. I am grateful that when I went to drop off the payment for that bridesmaid’s gown, the woman in the shop next door gave me an envelope for free to put my check in because the bridal shop is closed on Mondays. I am grateful that I found a spa near my home that will accept the SpaFinder gift card I received for filling out a health survey in January. The gift card will cover both the fee for the service and the tip. I am grateful that I was able to go to the doctor today because I am so blessed to have health insurance through my part time job. Finally, I am grateful for the email that I received today with testimonials about abundance. How good it is to know that the Universe, God, sends me messages about abundance and circulation in so many different ways.


Next, I started thinking of how I can share. A spiritual principle I hear often is that we should give away that which we think we don’t have enough of. So if I don’t think I have enough resources, I should circulate more resources. Resources can include my time, my talents, and my treasure. Another principle I often hear is that if we want to prosper, we should prosper others. I thought of my brother, by another mother, Emmanuel. He has a new project he is working on and he sent me an email about it. What if I help his business to grow? I forwarded his flyer to several people I know that might be interested in the service he is providing. I have offered my home as a meeting place for some of his healing sessions so that he doesn’t have to pay for a workshop space.

Last, I started thinking more creatively. Where can money come from besides a job? Is there anything I can do to create more abundance in life? Instead of figuring it out mentally, knowing that I can’t solve a problem from the same mind or same level that created it, I took it into meditation. I was able to download the next steps that I should take to generate more opportunities for myself.

There is power in utilizing the spiritual tools we have at hand to remain positive, productive, and creative during what some of us are experiencing as a challenging time. Maybe instead of an economic downturn, we should be calling it a spiritual up-shift because this time is calling us to turn within so that we will never be without.