Good morning! It is Monday, 1/22/2024. Let’s be grateful for our abundance!

Today’s Inspirational Quote

Lao Tzu’s proposition counters our modern fixation on material gain and calls us to re-examine the nature of abundance. When he speaks of "no lacking," he points to a state of mind rather than our material possessions. Even those with immense wealth can feel an acute sense of lack, fretting over losing their fortunes or grasping for more still. When we dwell on lack, we strengthen its hold over us. But when we shift to gratitude for health, loving relationships, our gifts and talents, and the beauty around us, lack loses its grip.

When all our energy is spent chasing external validation through wealth, possessions, fame, and status symbols, we lose touch with an innate inner plenitude. No amount of accumulating can fill this hole. Nelson Mandela often recited William Henley’s poem during his seemingly endless internment, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Deprived of physical freedom for 27 years due to his anti-apartheid activism, Mandela nonetheless nurtured an unshakable inner freedom and certainty of absolute justice. This realization allowed him to leave prison without bitterness and lead an extraordinary political transition.

Likewise, Mother Teresa spent her life serving the poorest of the poor in the slums of India. She touched the "untouchables" considered unworthy of basic human dignity and transformed them through the power of love. Though materially lacking, the richness of her spirit created ripples still felt today. Mother Teresa affirmed, "Joy is prayer - joy is strength - joy is love - joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls." Her inner joy arose from connection to universal abundance, not external security.

Both figures demonstrate Lao Tzu's counsel to stop chasing after the illusion that "more" will fill our sense of lack. When we relax into appreciating life's basic gifts, fear and grasping fall away. From this space of enough-ness, where the wholeness exists inside, not outside ourselves, we can freely receive and give. The world then enters us as we enter the world - in beneficent flow rather than selfish extraction. Here, as Lao Tzu said, everything becomes ours, not through ownership but grace.

The next time you feel an internal scarcity, anxiety or hole needing filled, recall Mandela reciting serenely in prison or Mother Teresa's overflowing bounty amidst poverty. Know that somewhere deep inside yourself lies that same eternal spring - and know that inner wealth is yours.

Today’s Positive Affirmation

Today’s Blissful News

• The Collins family in Texas donated a conservation easement on their 531-acre land, ensuring that the property will be preserved and remain largely untouched for future generations. This act of selflessness is part of a growing trend in Texas, where landowners are donating easements to help preserve natural spaces. (More)

• Two communities came together to search for a missing dog. (More)

• A grandmother fulfills her dream of becoming a published author with the help of her grandson. (More)

• Harvard study found that non-human apes, such as chimpanzees and bonobos, can recognize family members and friends they haven't seen in decades. (More)

Today’s Bliss Booster

According to World Bank, 387 million people lived without basic drinking water service in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020. Let’s be grateful that we have easy access to drinking water. (More)