Abundance is our birthright.

Aug 31

I had a lot on my mind this morning, mostly reflecting on the word “need” and what that means to people. To our culture. To society. To our world.

I was thinking about white supremacy and colonization, and how having needs was really rooted in being self sufficient. It's okay to have needs, as long as you provide those needs for yourself. When you need something from another person, or the government, or a system you are vulnerable and it's “stupid” to be vulnerable. That's why you got to think about yourself and for yourself. Everyone out for themselves. Because giving away MY resources, that I earned and created for myself, means that I will become vulnerable and less able to survive.

I believe that thought process is wrong. Obviously when you are in a position where you are barely keeping the lights on, I recommend that you focus on putting your own mask on first before you put a mask on your neighbor (this feels different now with the pandemic, phew!).

But this is not what I am talking about.

What I am talking about is hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, preaching that we are only responsible for ourselves, by ourselves.

We need each other.

Now, more than ever.

Whenever I have a curiosity about human behavior, I relate it to Mother Nature. How does our Mother Earth take care?

I invite you to watch this little nerdy gem of a video about how majestic fungi is and it's symbiotic relationship with trees and other forms of plant life. I read in the comments that they dubbed this relationship "the giving tree effect" and it felt fitting.

We all have needs and one of those needs is each other. Plants need oxygen. Plants need air. Plants need water. And, plants need the sun. They also need each other, like the fungi and the trees.

If nature does this and we are one with nature, why do we preach self sufficiency so much?

I am a part of a wealth redistribution circle, and in our group we have been discussing a lot about money and how in this society, it has to be “earned." Why? Why do you have to earn and prove that you are worthy of money to take care of your basic needs?

Here's the thing: we can totally afford to take care of one another.

For example, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the United States.

But Americans spend more than $35 billion a year on gym memberships.

And, the U.S. government spent around $718 billion on its military in 2019!

We have the money. But, it's how it's allocated.

We get angry and condemn billionaires. We condemn the government. We look to them to solve our problems. And sure, they are a part of the problem.

But what we miss is that WE can be the solution to so much lack, so much scarcity.

The power is really in us. There are 325 million people in America—in 160 million households, as viewed by the Internal Revenue Service.

That means 1.6 million households fall into the 1 percent category.

There are more of us than the 1%.

The 1%'s got to do their part to, absolutely.

However, we have to start believing in ourselves to make the changes we want to see. As a collective.

So, I ask you: If you have your mask on already (I hope you're still with me with this metaphor), are you using the rest of your wealth to create glimmers of change? How are you redistributing your wealth?

Money can be healing. If we allow one another to provide for one another, to need one another, to give and receive from one another…

the world would be very different today.

I want to start looking at abundance on a collective level.

A friend of mine says, abundance is your birthright.

I also believe, abundance is OUR birthright, too.