Your thoughts create your reality. You get what you focus on. That which you focus on is what you attract towards yourself. You see in any situation what you expect to see. You should focus on ‘what you want’ and not on ‘what you do not want’. The cardinal rule is I get exactly what I focus on. So, choose to focus on ‘Personal Abundance’.
It was a Friday evening, and five men, all in their late thirties, had decided on a reunion at Gandhi Beach in Chennai. They had graduated together in the early eighties and had been very close to each other during their times in college. All of them had aspired to do their Engineering, but ended up (ended down!!!) in an Arts College. In fact, it was this sense of defeat that had brought the five of them together. They had similar tales to share on the very first day of college and had thus struck a chord with each other. Three of them were brilliant at academics; another, though average in academics had an outstanding personality and the fifth, Avyakta, had come to college because there was a college to come to. Neither the Professors nor his own classmates had ever thought that Avyakta would complete his graduation. The five of them were meeting again after eighteen years.
Time brings all of us to a stage in life when our own past seems like someone else’s life. Eighteen years in the life of a progressing individual is like eternity. So much had changed from the reckless boys they were to the responsible men they had become; from being a matter of concern to their parents to now being concerned about the future of their children; indeed, so much had changed.
All four of them, except Avyakta, had pursued their master’s; two of them had, in fact, completed double postgraduate degrees. Of course, right from their college days, every time the five of them were referred to, the phrase ‘except Avyakta’, was a common refrain. Two of them were software professionals and had settled in the USA; one had joined the public sector and the other, a private enterprise. All of them, except Avyakta, had well-paid jobs and owned an apartment. By social standards, for a middle-class family, they were all well settled.
Though four of them had anticipated reaching such a stage in their lives, they were surprised by the inconceivable growth of Avyakta. Avyakta had founded three organisations, and all of them were flourishing. He was living a swanky lifestyle.
The four of them were stunned by Avyakta’s growth because they were convinced that Avyakta’s IQ was below average. How often we give up on people because of this number-tag on human intelligence! They were convinced that he had no special talent, no special capabilities; there was nothing special at all about him. They had forgotten a very special quality that Avyakta always possessed; perhaps eighteen years had caused a memory lapse in them. When all of them were learning typewriting and shorthand during college days, Avyakta had refused to learn those skills saying, “One day I will have a secretary who will possess these skills.” When all of them appeared for the Bank Services exams, Avyakta had refused to even buy the application form saying, “I do not belong to the other side of the counter. I can’t see myself there. One day, bankers will come to me.” When all of them encouraged him to go in for his postgraduate degree, at least through correspondence, he stated with aplomb, “I will not be a postgraduate, but I will have many postgraduates working for me one day.”
Yet, Avyakta, like his name, was very unique. He was very different from the herd. Even as a schoolboy, Avyakta used to tell his friends, “Being born in a middle-class family is a consequence, but to ensure one does not die in a middle-class family is a matter of choice.” While his friends in the colony used to wonder which cricket team to join, Avyakta used to ponder on how to start a cricket team so that it could be run on his terms. He used to tell his parents, “If someone has to lead, then it might as well be me.”
Avyakta’s secret, real talent and magic wand was that he refused to accept anything but the best from life, even at the level of thought. Like Disraeli puts it, “Life is too short to be little,” Avyakta believed that a life of abundance was his birthright. In a world that never believes anything unless it sees it, Avyakta’s rationale was, “What you believe in, you will see.” He believed in a future filled with abundance and that became his reality. His friends believed in a future of adequacy and that became their reality. Avyakta, who could not get the better of his friends in most aspects, scored over them in the all-important aspect of life – his ability to think BIG. Rain fills the size of your vessel. Whether your life will be filled with scarcity, abundance or adequacy depends on the size of your thinking.
As if they had all been waiting for the clock at the beach to strike six times, they all arrived about the same time. Amid laughter and high-fives and hugs, the five of them had some true and some exaggerated stories to share. After about three hours, Avyakta said that he had to leave, as his wife and children would be waiting for him. After passing a few sarcastic comments about Avyakta in specific, and marriage in general, the four of them said they would stay back for some more time and asked Avyakta to leave, if he choose to. Avyakta signed off by giving each one of them a parting hug.
After Avyakta left, the four friends noticed that he had left behind his personal organiser. Though one of them opted to catch up with Avyakta and hand it over to him, the other three were consumed with inquisitiveness to know what information it held. Majority prevailed and they converged like a litter of newborn puppies craving for the warmth of each other’s body. A set of eight eyes peered into the personal organiser. They had scanned through the diary section, then the section on birthdays and anniversaries and then the section on contact addresses and phone numbers… and then… an add- on section, which Avyakta in his own handwriting had titled, ‘The keys to my personal abundance’. This section of the personal organiser was full of snippets of wisdom. Neither of the four were sure whether this wisdom had been collected from other great men or whether they were experiential realisations born out of the life that had unfolded for Avyakta! Oh, the source hardly mattered. They were secrets of Avyakta’s abundance and that was important for all of them.
On the very first page they found this bold inscription in red ink, “I know ‘THERE IS A WAY’.”
Page after page was filled with words of wisdom that were worth a lifetime of search and research. After every page, they looked at each other, smiling sometimes but mostly nodding their heads in agreement. Soon the playful expressions had vanished from their faces and a sense of learning had engulfed them. They read,
1. When I believe that ‘I can do it’ and really believe in it, then the ‘how to do it’ automatically unfolds. Believing something can be done sets the mind in motion to find a way to do it.
2. My thoughts create my reality. I get what I focus on. That which I focus on is what I attract towards myself. You see in any situation what you expect to see. If there is something I hate, it is because I am focusing on it. If there is love, it is because I am focusing on it. If someone is driving me nuts, it is because I am focusing on him. I should focus on ‘what I am FOR’ and not on ‘what I am AGAINST’. The cardinal rule is I get exactly what I focus on. Every book, every philosopher and every great thinker of the world has eventually led me to exactly the same conclusion. So I have chosen to focus on ‘My personal abundance’.
3. Abundance is just manifested energy. If I can take care of my energy levels, my abundance will be taken care of. Nothing will be mine unless I am convinced that it belongs to me. I deserve abundance. I am not going to go in search of abundance but I will make abundance flow into my life. I deserve most and more…
4. People are basically a product of their psychological environment. We are conditioned by the thinking of those around us. ‘Scarcity’ thinkers are leading us to think of scarcity rather than abundance. People who say ‘it cannot be done’ are generally unsuccessful people; they are strictly average or at best mediocre in terms of accomplishment. It is a notable fact that people with mediocre accomplishments are quick to explain why they haven’t, why they don’t, why they can’t and why they aren’t. Rather than mingling with these people who suffer from ‘tradition paralysis’, I will rub shoulders with people who are ‘abundant minded’. I will use every brick of negativity that is thrown at me only as another stepping-stone to build my castle. After all, I am on this planet to build my castle, not my grave.
5. On my road to abundance I may face challenges, failures and setbacks. Yet, I will never feel defeated. If I were driving down a road and came upon a ‘road closed’ sign, would I sit in my car until the work gets completed on the road or would I return home? Neither! The ‘road closed’ sign simply means that I cannot go where I want to go on this particular road. My path may change… my destination never will.
6. I will respect everyone. I will learn from everyone. I will observe everyone. I will study everyone’s life. However, in the materialistic realm, I will worship no man. I believe that I can go beyond and will surpass everyone. I will consciously shun the attitude of being the second best. I am not here to be a second-hand human being. In all that I do, the space for No.1 already has my name engraved on it. I just need to go for it and discover it.
7. No matter how little I have, I am rich if I am grateful. No matter how much I have, I am poor if I am not grateful. I will not only be grateful for what I have, but will also always give a portion of what I have to the world around me. I will consistently experience myself as a giver. It is through giving that I will create this neuro-association in my mind that I have more than enough and my mind will convert it into reality. Gratitude and giving are ways of creating abundance.
The four of them were spellbound as they closed the personal organiser, glanced at each other and looked up. To their shock, they saw Avyakta standing about five feet away, his hands folded across his chest, sporting a broad smile. Stuttering and stammering, they said, “Sorry! We just thought…” Avyakta interrupted and said, “I have no secrets in my life… certainly not with my friends. Like my personal organiser, I am also an open book. If you guys need it, keep those pages with you. I don’t need those pages anymore… those dictums are etched into every cell of my system.” Saying so, he removed the pages from his organiser and handed them over to his friends.
Then he added, “A day comes when the caterpillar decides not to remain a caterpillar anymore. So it goes into a cocoon to develop wings, and becomes a butterfly. One day, the caterpillar in me just decided to turn into a butterfly. I gave up ‘scarcity thinking’ and embraced the ‘abundance mentality’. Everything else followed. I had answers to ‘Why I need abundance’, and as a reward life unfolded the ‘How’. I am saying this to you since I know the four of you so personally. Eighteen years ago, when all of us were just caterpillars, the four of you were much better than me. It’s just that none of you ever decided to turn into a butterfly. Even if you decide now, starting today, every day of your life will unfold miracles of abundance. Wishing you guys most and more…”
As Avyakta began to walk, he shouted, “Any dream is achievable! There are no limits…” Though it was well beyond 10.00 p.m., it seemed as though the sun never sets when people like Avyakta are around.
I will respect everyone. I will learn from everyone. I will observe everyone. I will study everyone’s life. However, in the materialistic realm, I will worship no man. I believe that I can go beyond and will surpass everyone. I will consciously shun the attitude of being the second best. I am not here to be a second-hand human being. In all that I do, the space for No.1 already has my name engraved on it. I just need to go for it and discover it. Nothing will be mine unless I am convinced that it belongs to me. I deserve abundance. I am not going to go in search of abundance but I will make abundance flow into my life.