I'll take some abundance thinking with my fish and chips, please

On Friday, I performed a rather mundane, usual task for me: picking up food for my family at a little burger dive. My mother, who lives with us, usually just gets a cheeseburger. This time, however, she decided she wanted the fish and chips. As I was waiting in my car in line, I looked at the big menu. $7.50? $7.50! $7.50! The cheeseburger is just $3.00. What is she thinking? (Well, she doesn't know.) We have 5 people to feed. And on and on and on. I really don't want to reactivate my first thoughts (I can feel it happening!), so I will stop there. I just wanted to give you an idea of what those thoughts were and how they felt.

Then I noticed how I felt as I was sitting there fuming about my mother's huge extravagance. Not good. Tight. Constricted. And, as I searched for new thoughts, a little relieved. What were the new thoughts? First, "She doesn't know this costs double." Second, "This is silly. We can certainly afford this." Third, "Why shouldn't she have what she wants?" And better and better.

I've been working on the abundance thing for a while. I sometimes get tripped up because I'm also the family bean counter. So, to a certain extent, I have to watch the dollars. (It got kinda bad when no one was watching 'em fly around.) But I don't have to watch 'em feelin' like that. And really, I imagine there is a future for us with feelings so abundant and in tune that the money can fly around and it will all work out beautifully. (See, just got myself to an even better feeling thought!) I think the watching of the dollars helped me feel abundant for a while. By this I mean, planning a budget and tracking every little thing in financial software. Because I had a plan, I KNEW it would work out. It made me feel better. And then I got to feeling constricted about the plan. So, I had to back off on it a little. It's a work in progress.

The point is, whatever your issue, it's an ongoing process. Being conscious of your feelings in the small moments can really helpful in identifying where you're at, and making a change for the better.

Fish and chips for everyone! (Hey, is this getting biblical?)