A Secret To Abundance: Give, And Ye Shall Receive

Image by Hamed Saber on Flickr

Holding On = Low Abundance
 Let's start this off by establishing that I have been, by nature, a low-grade hoarder. High-grade hoarder, to me, would be like having mummified cats under ancient boxes of stuff inside your house. Medium-grade would be no mummified cats or hazmat-level foul odor, but a deep resistance/hostility to decluttering. I consider myself low-grade because while I do accumulate "stuff" (often needlessly), I also regularly declutter with a vengeance.

I find that in my periods of accumulation and hoarding, I experience a lot of "stuck" energy. I feel at those periods of my life like I'm in a rut, and nothing is moving. Also, while I do have so much stuff surrounding me, I also feel a great "lack" -- a lack spiritually, and often a lack monetarily. The lack of money happens whether I'm spending money on my "stuff" or receiving them for free. Hoarding = low heavy energy surrounding me and my "stuff" in one big LUMP.

Too Much "Stuff" = Low Energy (Image by KOMUnews on Flickr)

Giving Away = High Abundance
When I declutter and get rid of non-essentials, that completely gets turned around -- especially if the stuff I'm getting rid of goes to people who want/need it, or goes to some sort of recycling program. Giving to charity rather than selling works better as well, as it helps jump-start one's karmic energy. Here's an example:

We were not directly hit by the recent Hurricane Sandy, but some neighborhoods around us -- and in other boroughs -- were impacted badly. When me and my hubby saw notices to donate supplies to various shelters and collection sites, we jumped into action.

The notices asked for laundered clothes, and as luck would have it we had stacks of fresh, folded laundry. But we also turned around wardrobe inside-out. We didn't just give things we didn't want -- "free" t-shirts with logos on them, old blankets, etc. -- but pretty much everything in our closets but the Essentials. We wiped our closets out of clothing old and new. All that was left were a few shirts, pants, and dresses we particularly liked.

I'll be honest with you, the "hoarder" voice in the back of my head was like: "Is this really wise? What if something happens and we can't afford new clothes? Are we going to go naked?" <---seriously, this sentiment fleetingly swept through my mind, making my hand tremble as I placed a bunch of neatly-folded shirts, as uniform as a stack of record albums, in our donate bag.

Then we did the same with the other requested relief items. Our home noticeably less crammed with "stuff" in closets and pantries, we made several trips to different donation sites.

Image by kbeus21 on Flickr

The Checks That Came Out Of "Nowhere"
In the couple of weeks that followed, we received several checks for money that were completely unexpected, including a huge tax refund. At the time, we were struggling a little bit, so this money seemingly out of "nowhere" came at exactly the right time!

I firmly believe that the energy we released, and positive karma we generated, by giving to these charities came back to us in the form of the unexpected money. The bigger risks we took by giving -- not being on the best financial footing and donating items that were new and "desirable" (rather than just "junk") -- the bigger the reward that came back to us.

WE GET BACK WHAT WE GIVE!

That sounds pretty calculated, doesn't it, like some sort of mathematical formula. Not very selfless at all. But at the heart of the way the Universe works, this principle applies: you get what you give. Period.

Image by gezelle on Flickr

Don't "Expect" -- The Universe Knows What It's Doing!
But the trick is -- the moment you get caught-up in expecting to "get" after giving -- it throws the entire thing off! You have to give selflessly. The "expectation" cannot be there, hovering over your good deed. True, you should have an understanding of how the Universe works -- and the Law of Reciprocity (one way or another) is valid. But again, consciously and calculatingly expecting to "get" after giving is like praying to God for your Lotto numbers to come up. Simply put -- it's tacky!

The Universe hates tacky.

But just keep this maxim close to your heart, when you're feeling stuck energy and seem to have more shoes or frog figurines or novelty baking pans or cats than you could possibly need:

WE GET BACK WHAT WE GIVE!