Instead, I have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger. Stephen Covey
“Why does she always get picked?” This thought ran my life for a number of years. I was envious because I wanted to be chosen, so I trash-talked about her to anyone who would listen. “Well, you know those rich people aren’t really happy” also ran my life for many years. It helped me feel spiritually superior, while I felt inferior in terms of my abundance and wealth. I also realized that when good things happened for me, I was reluctant to share them because all my friends responded in the way I used to respond, with envy or negative talk.
Then I began to live “we are all one in God” so that the way I treat another is the way I treat myself. First I began to give myself what I thought others should be giving me. Then I began to see that people are people—and there are happy rich people as well as poor people, and unhappy poor people as well as rich ones.
I discovered a whole new way to grow my abundance experience—to truly and really celebrate every time someone received good—whether a promotion, money, an unexpected windfall, or just generally more abundance. Genuinely celebrating others’ good actually raised my own ability to accept that this good is possible. Then I realized that if it could happen for another, surely it could happen for me.
Spiritual Contemplation: How do I respond when someone else receives a great good? What needs to shift for me to learn to genuinely celebrate others’ good?
Affirmation: I celebrate the good that others in my life are receiving! I genuinely enjoy the good that is showing up in everyone’s life!