By GSCA Member, Jackie Simmons
The Abundance Equation looks like any other math problem.
There’s a total on the left side of the equal sign, represented by a medium-sized solid circle — “plate”.
On the right side of the equal sign are four medium circles/plates that are also solid and it’s obvious that the equation doesn’t balance.
Abundance = B1 + B2 + B3 + B4
The Abundance Plate is the same size as each of the 4 B Plates. How could this be in balance? If this equation was balanced, the Abundance Plate would look more like a Platter! It would have 4x the area it currently has. But, when I looked around my life at all of the things that add up to abundance, my bank account, my health, my relationships, my satisfaction with my life, I wasn’t living a life of “Platter-Sized Abundance.”
So, what was the problem? What was up with the other side of the equation.
The first B Plate represents the Body and the Body Plate looks solid, until we overlay our lifestyle. The truth regarding lifestyle-impact on our bodies, leaves this “plate” looking like swiss cheese. The size of the holes is determined by how far we are away from perfect physical health. The holes are caused when we take actions that are out of alignment with what our bodies need to be solidly healthy*.
To get to the true size of my Body Plate, I pondered which aspects of my lifestyle are causing holes in my health. I came up with the following understanding:
Whatever percentage of our eating time that we’re distracted or stressed creates holes in the body plate.
Whatever percentage of the food we eat that is away from being what truly nourishes and fuels our body, creates more holes in the body plate.
Whatever percentage what we weigh is away from our healthy* weight, creates even more holes in the body plate.
Whatever percentage the amount of sleep we get, is away from our healthy* amount of sleep, creates another set of holes in the body plate.
Whatever percentage our level of movement is away from our healthy* level of movement, you guessed it, it creates an additional set of holes in the body plate.
The truth, whatever percentage of my time I was spending distracted by my body due to pain, indigestion, or being tired, represented the total of “holes” in by Body Plate
So, the true size of my Body Plate was more like a saucer. And my Abundance Plate showed it.
Taking the same approach to each of the other “B” aspects of the equation gives an overview of what was truly in the way of experiencing life as “Abundant.”
The second B-plate represents the Brain and the Brain Plate is solid, until we overlay our habits of thinking. The truth regarding thinking-habits-impact on our brains, leaves this “plate” looking like swiss cheese as well. The size of these holes is determined by how far we are away from spending the majority of our time generating original, creative thoughts. The holes in our brain plate are caused when we take in information from the same few sources, over and over, again.
To get to the true size of my Brain Plate, I pondered which sources of input had become repetitive. I came up with the following understanding:
Whatever percentage of our information gathering time that we’re distracted or stressed creates holes in the brain plate.
Whatever percentage of the information we consume that is from the same perspective, website, or authors creates more holes in our brain plate.
Whatever percentage that we say is the same as what we were saying a year ago, creates even more holes in the brain plate.
Whatever percentage the amount of sleep we get, is away from our healthy* amount of sleep, creates another set of holes in the brain plate.
Whatever percentage our level of movement is away from our healthy* level of movement, you guessed it, it creates an additional set of holes in the brain plate.
The truth: whatever percentage of my time is spent distracted due to pain, indigestion, or being tired, contributes to the total of my “holes” in this plate as well.
So, the true size of my Brain Plate was also more like a saucer. And my Abundance Plate showed it.
The third and fourth B-plates represent our Beliefs and Bounce. These plates also look solid, until we overlay our level of happiness. The truth regarding happiness as an indicator of the solidness of our beliefs as limitless, and our ability to emotionally self-regulate and “bounce-back”, leaves these “plates” looking like swiss cheese as well. The size of these holes is determined by how far we are away from spending the majority of our time feeling happiness, gratitude, and joy, AND how quickly what we believe allows us to recover from disappointments. The holes in both of these plates are caused when we make decisions about ourselves, other people, and the world that are based in fear.
To get to the true size of my Belief Plate, I pondered what I truly believe about the world we live in. I came up with the following understanding:
Whatever percentage of our time that we’re distracted or stressed doesn’t create holes, but it does represent the holes in our belief and bounce plates.
Whatever percentage of the time we spend comparing ourselves to others creates holes in our belief plate.
Whatever percentage what we say is geared towards sharing and attempting to enroll other people in a “what’s wrong” conversation creates even more holes in the belief plate.
And . . . whatever percentage the amount of sleep we get, is away from our healthy* amount of sleep, represents another set of holes in the belief plate.
. . . whatever percentage our level of movement is away from our healthy* level of movement, you guessed it, it represents an additional set of holes in the belief plate.
The truth: whatever percentage of my time is spent complaining or worried about anything creates more holes in the belief plate and the holes contribute to our distractions, even if we think we’re distracted due to pain, indigestion, or being tired.
So, the true size of my Belief Plate was also more like a doll-sized saucer. And my Abundance Plate showed it.
The fourth B-plate represents our Bounce – the level of emotional resilience we have, our ability to “bounce-back” and the Bounce Plate looks solid, until we take an honest look at how much time we spend feeling down after an unexpected, unpleasant event.
The simplest way to improve your “Bounce” is to spend time alone focusing on the joyful moments of your life and allowing those memories to reset your focus back to what’s so good in your life that you want more of it.
That’s it and the really good news is that all four of the “B-Plates” can be repaired. The holes can be filled in on the body & brain plates by simply increasing our awareness and our willingness to examine our habits of health and thinking and shift those inputs.
The holes can be repaired on the belief plate too, however getting to the roots of my beliefs is a journey that took over 30 years and became much faster as I found guides and mentors.
The fourth plate, your “bounce”, is the one that gives you the clearest indication of your progress on the path to abundance, and the best news is that holes in the Bounce plate are the simplest to fix!
All you have to do is repair the other 3 plates!
You may have noticed that I didn’t include finances in the Abundance Equation.
What I’ve learned, on my 30+ year journey to create and live a life of abundance is that my business and financial abundance will never outpace my personal development and my personal development will only increase if I pay attention to and address the habits that create holes and allow my abundance to leak through.
Here’s to your abundant life and for a fun journey on the power of ‘Bounce” join us at the June meeting where you’ll hear how hosting an online summit can provide multiple “bounce-back” opportunities!
Jackie Simmons – Author, Speaker, and GSCA member
*(Healthy doesn’t mean what’s on the charts, healthy means whatever’s healthy for you – when you’re being honest with yourself)
