“Be ready when opportunity comes. Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet.” -Roy D. Chapin Jr.

“Be careful what you wish for…”
It’s funny… When I began writing about Abundance a few months ago,  Parts 1, 2 and 3 flowed out pretty smoothly. Part 4 has been an intense struggle because I am still in the middle of learning its lessons. I posted a preview in the hopes that I would soon post the full version in a matter of days. But, it has been a couple of months now.

We teach what we most desperately need to learn…

Since I began writing about Abundance, I have had waves of abundance pour into my life… no, not financially… I am not rolling in millions of dollars (not yet! ) but there has been a wealth of opportunities and favor.  Being a full-time stay-at-home mom, who is also building a physician coaching and facilitation practice, while pursuing my creative interests with writing, I had not anticipated any of this. So I have been unable to stick to my twice-weekly blogging schedule because I have been busy. But “busy” is a loaded term nowadays, used as a status symbol by some to validate a semblance of productivity… I digress…

Needless to say,  Abundance appears to be a value I really need  to learn about. Maybe it is due to my ascetic tendencies from spending some of my formative years in the third world, growing up in boarding school and not really caring about anything other than books. Or maybe it is from being a giver and healer, giving to others sometimes to my detriment, and not expecting anything in return.

Whatever the reason, I am grateful that the wilderness season I have been in for the past 7 years is drawing to a close. I can feel it. I am not out of it yet, but I can see the promised land.

And before the promised land, before the harvest,  before the bounty, one has to prepare for abundance.  Fallow, Pruning & Weeding, Trellising are essential for a bountiful harvest.  Without these in place, you risk harming your crops, wasting your fruit and diminishing your harvest size. Catch my drift?

 

Fallow

Earlier this year, I could feel I was on the verge of abundance. I wasn’t sure what form it would take but I wanted to prepare for it. I had had an intense 2014…  a lot of  sowing… Seeds of ideas thrown far and wide, some planted intentionally, others spontaneously… All with an attitude of service and a commitment to align with my ideals.

And since, I felt I was on the edge of something, I also sensed a calling to rest, fallow, listen, gain clarity  about next steps… I had to let go of the fear of missing out especially since everyone else appeared to hit the ground, running in 2015! But I honored the call. I even wrote a haiku about it in my post on  Cultivating Light – It’s Fallow time!

And right at the end of my fallow time, I got accepted into a coveted and acclaimed world-class business and personal development program called the Good Life Project Immersion  by Jonathan Fields.  Jonathan Fields is someone  I have admired for a long time and found his work during one of my Oprah interview binges on youtube two years ago. Jonathan Fields has had such a strong, positive and pervasive impact on my life, I can barely remember my life before stumbling unto his work. I posted twice  last year on the pivotal effect his camp GLP had on me.

I am halfway through this intense 7 month immersion program and it has already changed my life.   I will post on that later.

 

Pruning & Weeding

One of my least favorite topics Jesus talked about was the idea of Pruning. Ugh, I cringe, every time I read about it. He talks about pruning the vine’s branches to make it more fruitful. Here’s the thing. The vine is cut whether it is fruitful or not. When the branch is not fruitful, it is cut off and thrown away. When it is fruitful, it is pruned to make it produce even more fruit. I always say “Pruned if you do, pruned if you don’t. Either way, you get cut!” Sounds a little silly but bear with me.

The truth is, if you want to be fruitful, you have to be willing to prune… get rid of the habits, the relationships that keep you from being productive or fruitful. What habits no longer serve you? What relationships drain you? Start a new exercise regimen? Stop eating out?

Or maybe you are already productive… What tweaks can you make to improve your fruitfulness? Increase your meditation time? Exercise a little longer? Eat more greens? Hire a sitter for Date night?  Focus more on the things that are working for you and cut out the activities that are not.

My Daily Haiku writing has been one of the most rewarding and unexpected gifts of my life. I had started a quest to write a haiku a day for 100 days right after I attended World Domination Summit.  But I found myself getting swallowed up by my quest to write a haiku a day for 100 days… I reached my goal late last year but have been unable to stop writing. So I extended my goal to 365 days. Then something surprising happened.  On my birthday, April 24th, my haiku quest was featured on The Art of Non-Conformity Site by Chris Guillebeau , the creator of World Domination Summit. I have also been a long time follower and admirer of his work.

I have recently added the hashtag #InspirationRx to my haikus to reflect my ongoing work to inspire wholehearted physicians to live their ideals, thrive in medicine and change the world. I have been interviewing and coaching physicians using positive psychology coaching and daring way facilitation to prevent and reverse compassion fatigue, disillusionment and burnout in physicians and other clinicians. I have been working hard to build my practice.

In the middle of this sudden onslaught of abundance, the Baltimore Riots happened about 7 minutes down the street from my house. I will save the commentary for another time. But my good friend Danny LaBrecque, a gifted child educator, art illustrator and host of the children’s show Danny Joe’s tree house and I made a video on emotionally coaching children through tragic events using Dramatic play. It was my first time on video and we will be doing more.

This has not only meant pruning but also weeding. Removing huge time suckers from my life. I now schedule most of my calls. I limit social media. TV only happens when I am on the elliptical machine. This might sound drastic to some but I have found the need to eliminate the activities that strangle my work and drain my already limited time.

I have also been traveling a lot lately.

Yes, I am learning to make time for what I really want. It is a very challenging lesson to learn. But I am determined to learn it.

 

Trellissing

I learned a cool fact about tomatoes the other day. The vines need to be placed on support structures called trellisses. These infrastructures keep the vines from getting destroyed by their own weight especially when they produce fruit. And this structural support also helps them produce even more fruit.

Oh, I live for metaphors!

I am learning that as I get busier, I need to delegate. I am not very good at delegating. I have always been a do-it-aloner – remnants of a latch-key childhood.

However, if I do not delegate, I will collapse under my own weight. If I create structural support such as hiring team members for my work, or hiring a house keeper once a month, I will become more fruitful in all arenas.  I will need solid footing as I move to a new city. I will need emotional support from friends as I make radical shifts in my life.

What about You?

Abundance: Fallow, Pruning & Trellissing for Your Harvest

1. In what ways have you been surprised by abundance?

2. What infrastructures do you have in  place for your inevitable harvest? Where do you need trellisses?

3. In what ways do you need pruning and weeding?  Can you think of habits or relationships that drain or harm you?

4. In what ways do you need to Fallow? Have you been so busy you’ve neglected your own needs?

5. Who is on your emotional support team?

6. What are your grateful for?

7. In what ways do you need to embrace and prepare for the season you are in?

 

So, this is a brief (!) summary of the few things I have been up to. I am at the halfway point in 2015. I am optimistic though uncertainties surround me.  I hope the daily haikus have kept you inspired during the absence of my longer posts. I will do all I can to get back on my Monday-Thursday Schedule. See You next time!

 

Yvonne Whitelaw  writes for Yvonnewhitelaw.com where she blogs about her quest to grow into her ideals in her “Live Your Ideals Project”. By sharing her Daily Haikus (#InspirationRx) and lessons along the way (Mondays and Thursdays), she hopes to serve and inspire a tribe of wholehearted idealists like you, to “live your ideals, thrive in your calling and change the world.”