My uncle DM’d me recently: “Did 6 Suryanamaskarams just now. Thanks for motivating me.”
For someone in his early-seventies and who moves very little, this is a big deal.
He had gotten inspired by a 1-min time-lapse video of Janaki and me practicing Yoga.
The good news? Sharing the 1-min video had helped my uncle.
The great news? Receiving that DM from him was transformative for me.
Because when I got that DM, I felt “abundant”.
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A few years ago, I did an interview with my Yoga teacher, Vikas.
We have the following affirmation at the beginning of his classes:
“Every time I inhale, I’m magnetizing holistic abundance into my life. Every time I exhale, I’m actualizing and maximizing my potential.”
Curious about the affirmation, I asked him during the interview: “What’s the difference between Abundance and Greed?”
His short, but profound answer: “Abundance is about giving. Greed is about taking.”
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Pick up any of the “Law of Attraction” books such as Think and Grow Rich, The Secret, The Power of Positive Thinking etc.
The common theme is that we attract what we “feel” all day long.
If we feel grateful and rich for everything that we already have, we’ll attract more richness into our lives.
If we keep feeling unhappy and poor, we’ll attract more scarcity.
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The outside world responds to us based on how we interact with it.
If our words and actions are based on positivity and faith, the world responds the same way. If we choose to send out signals of negativity and fear instead, we’ll get exactly that in return.
But before we can learn to speak and behave positively, we need to first strongly, deeply feel positive within. It is our feelings that manifest in our words and actions.
So, the most useful question here is this: How do we constantly keep generating strong, deep positive feelings?
Here’s the “hack” that’s working for me: When I give with no expectation of anything in return, I feel fantastic. And when I keep giving, I keep feeling fantastic.
That’s it. Simple.
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What to give and to whom?
Money to charities?
Our precious time to our loved ones?
Our energy for helping out at a local community?
Teaching someone something?
Sure. All of those are great ways to give. As long as you keep doing it frequently. And as long as there’s no expectation of anything in return.
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It’s tricky though…avoiding that expectation. We’re human after all. And after a while of incessant giving, we tend to start wanting something in return. At least a ‘thank you’.
Is there a foolproof way to avoid that expectation of reciprocation?
I think so: Try giving inspiration.
You can keep inspiring people forever, without ever feeling the need to be recognized or thanked.
Because..embedded within your goal to inspire, is your deep desire to see other people grow.
Your happiness is derived by seeing positive changes in other people. You tend to forget about yourself when your focus is others’ growth.
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Try it out. Here’s some ideas. What are you good at?
- Singing? Record a song and share it on social media for people to enjoy. Put your heart and soul into it, so that the listener is deeply inspired by listening to your music.
- Dancing? Capture some of your moves and share it openly. Let it inspire others to also learn and practice, so that so that they can move like you.
- Writing code? Contribute to an open source project. Let others freely download your code and get inspired to write better code by learning from you.
- Writing? Start a blog. Share interesting or inspiring stories.
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Still not convinced? Let me try again.
Is there anything you do regularly that could be inspiring for others?
- Watering your plants?
- Cooking delicious meals for your family?
- Exercising regularly?
- Taking time off with family?
- Working super hard on a project?
- Getting up early?
- Reading?
You get the point.
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Whatever interesting, creative, growth-oriented, regular thing you’re doing in your life, try talking about it openly.
Sharing it as a Whatsapp status update. As an Insta story. Or an FB post.
Keep sharing consistently.
You’ll inevitably hear back from someone like my uncle, telling you how you helped them grow.
When that happens, you’ll feel a deep sense of joy. You’ll also feel abundant.
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As I mentioned earlier, you attract whatever you think about with deep emotion and feeling.
When you feel abundant, you’re sowing the seeds to attract more abundance into your life.
You’ll notice yourself being more positive, being less afraid, more energetic, more patient and most importantly, more happy.
If you stick to being this way long enough, the universe will reward you handsomely.
With health, money, love, bliss and spiritual connections.
Try it out and let me know how it goes 🙂