Underground Icicles, mml 2009

The abundance of this earth is something I’m mentally aware of; but I’m mentally aware of a lot of things.  For instance, I know eating too much chocolate may result in more padding around the hips than one might like.  This mental awareness, however, seems to be inconsequential when I am not able zip up my pants and for the life of me can’t figure out why.

I experienced a very similar sense of amazement this past weekend while walking on my friends’ tree farm looking for a Christmas tree.

I love National Geographic.  I adore the Discovery Channel. I tell you this only to prepare you for the fact that I may have seen literally hundreds of shows about this amazing earth we live on.  Which is to say I have been many, many times awed by the richness and intelligence of this planet.  And yet, much like the phenomenon of pants that can’t be zipped, I was totally unprepared for the wonder of underground icicles.

Six of us humans went out in search of the Larsen Christmas tree on the Brown’s tree farm in North Plains, Oregon.  Walking into the woods, we began down a trail and quickly noticed the top layer of soil had been lifted and was being loudly flattened under the weight of our feet.  I bent down in curiosity and found that little icicles had formed beneath the ground, pushing the top layer of soil up and creating a marvelous little winter wonderland hidden from view.

Underground Icicles Closeup, mml 2009

I have never seen anything like it.  None of us there had.

While I am often amazed at the beauty and richness of this world, this particular little discovery brought me to my knees.  How utterly complex and divine this planet is. What a tremendous capacity it has for creating worlds within worlds.  And doing so with such precision, grace and splendor.

Whenever we feel poor or uncertain of what lies ahead, we would do well to look under our feet or over our heads.  The richness of the world reveals itself, freely, in so many brilliant and shimmering ways. All we need do is open our eyes to it.

Box of Apples

Yesterday was an abundant day. Walking to the bank to deposit a check (abundance!) I saw this box full of packaged, sliced apples sitting in front of the church (abundance!) at 12th and Morrison in downtown Portland.

The box, I’m certain, was meant for one of the many homeless and hungry people who live on those downtown streets.  Even so, I felt abundant just being witness to this open gift sitting, waiting for someone to claim it. It reminded me of a similar gift, about this time last year, of a wool coat hanging on a parking meter with the tag still attached.

Feeling wealth in the air after seeing this plethora of food and depositing my check, I walked back to the office with a little more lift in my step.  And lo and behold, found two pennies on the street (abundance!).

Yes, a pretty fine day, indeed.

Portland drinking fountain

Right outside my office building is one of the 130 public drinking fountains in Portland, Oregon.

Clean drinking water is more precious than gold, and here it flows freely.  When 1.1 billion people (1/6th the total population) in the world don’t have access to safe drinking water, I feel very fortunate to have such a vital resource available in abundance.

Learn more about the drinking fountains here.

Waste not, want not. Learn about how conservation efforts help these fountains use water wisely here.

30 cents and a smile - photo by Michele M. Larsen

So, just as I was noticing that seeing abundance every day is more challenging to me than seeing joy every day, I hit paydirt.  Literally.

My friend Kristin and I were walking from my office to get bagels as a Friday morning treat. A couple blocks from our destination I saw what looked like a sea of pennies on the ground. Ecstatic at this bounty I jumped and screeched and oozed excitement. There were 22 pennies. Amazing.

On the walk back from the bagel shop I saw another bunch of pennies – 8 of them – just laying on the sidewalk. More oozing and screeching.

For blocks we talked about how fantastic this was. Normally you might find one penny on the ground. But here I found two sets of MULTIPLE pennies in one outing. Almost unbelievable! I mean, what are the chances???

This called for photo documentation. What you see here is all 30 pennies I found in the shape of a smiley face; which can only allude to the joy and excitement I felt in finding such a bounty.

But wait!  There’s more! Upon getting back to the office there was a bagel in my chair! My friend and co-worker, Denise, had been to the bagel shop just before us and picked one up for me.

“Abundance abounds!” I exclaimed, arms raised in the air as if to catch more of it.

Seeing as this was such a lucky, abundant day I, of course, bought a few lottery tickets.

This morning I checked the paper and I’m not a lottery winner — today. And that’s not really the point. The point is for a good hour Friday morning I FELT very abundant. And that, my dear friends, is a very, very good feeling.

Find a penny, pick it up

There has been some discussion about doing away with the penny. It’s just not worth enough to justify it’s existence, some say. These people, whomever “they” are, obviously don’t know the joy of finding a penny on the street.

I love to find pennies on the street.  As soon as I see one I quickly pick it up and almost uncontrollably out of my mouth comes “find a penny, pick it up, the rest of the day you’ll have good luck!”

Finding any kind of money, even pennies, gives me a momentary feeling of wealth and abundance.  That’s a feeling I’d like to create a lot more of in my life; which is why I’ve started this blog.

Beginning here and now I will look for, acknowledge and celebrate the abundance in my life every day.  Penny by penny.

If what we focus on expands, it won’t take too long for all those pennies to turn into dollars. Care to follow this blog for a year and find out?  Better yet, join me.

Next time you find a penny, pick it up.