In 2010, I was dead broke. My job as a medical recruiter was coming to an end due to a belt-tightening healthcare field, and I had just started a thrift store as a pop-up store in a strip mall a poor desert town in San Bernardino, CA. I had 4 months to double my income, or I wouldn't be able to afford my rent when they doubled it.
In my thrift store, I accepted donations. We mostly received clothing and household goods, but one day a dusty old cardboard box came in with a pile of old books from the 80's. I used to scan them in Amazon first to see if there was ever anything valuable, but there never was. Most were fiction from Stephen King, Danielle Steele, or books from the Left Behind series (which I read following my marathon Mission:Earth reading). In the old, dusty box, though, I found a green and white book with a foil sun on the cover. It was called "Secret of Unlimited Prosperity," by Catherine Ponder.
"What manner of pseudo-spiritual claptrap is this?" as I flicked through the pages. Certain section titles popped out at me: You Always have Something to Give;Fear can Keep Away our Good; Give, then Expect to Receive.
I took the book home and, sitting in the bath, read the entire body in one reading through wrinkled fingers and soggy toes. I changed that day.
Ponder's book explains basic metaphysical laws of the universe which can help bring abundance into one's life. That abundance can take the form of money, but oftentimes it can also be an increase in relationships, emotional well-being, or influence. Many of these concepts have circulated in books such as "The Secret," but I liked "Secret of Unlimited Prosperity" because of it's elegance. It's short, to the point, and a book that you don't have to try implementing. Once you read it, you begin to live it.
The secret to unlimited prosperity is driven by the law of receiving, which not only says that you always have something to give, but that you also should always expect to receive. Often more than what you have given. In fact, we should expect to receive, as this give-and-take is built into the universe in such a way that you needn't worry about the lack of supply, for you or others. What we are not talking about here is greed, which is love of money. Rather, it is more like the wheel of karma, where one good deed attracts other good deeds without limit.
This is the second law, the law of attraction. Attraction begins with thoughts. A clear example of this is when someone appears to be organized on the outside, but inside is a mess. The idea here is that their sponsoring thoughts are negative, which can lead to bad health, or even bad luck. Ever wonder how some people always have some catastrophe happen, such as falling down stairs? Negative thoughts can contribute to a cycle of bad luck: as Ponder says, your thoughts make your whole world. In the end, like attracts like.
Finally, the third law is the law of acceptance: mental acceptance of our own competencies and abilities, of our our own truths and our own good, is an important step in laying the foundation for receiving abundance. Acceptance means taking the lessons needed from the past and letting the rest go... self-pity and self-sabotage will do no good for you now or ever.
After reading this book, I realized that I was the one holding me back. Throughout my life, I was always taking. There's a difference between taking and receiving. Taking is making others give to you what you want. Receiving is giving to others what you expect you will receive. The first step is the hardest part, one that I never really liked to do. That was to give.
I didn't have money, so what could I give? In my thrift store, there were many books that sat on the shelves for months and years. My original strategy was to each donated item, a new owner. But this strategy did not work in the book department.
So I wrapped up ten boxes of books and dollied them down to the local library, where the Friends of the Library were happy to receive my donation. They were so happy. Ten boxes of books!
Almost immediately, sales went up in the thrift store. It was uncanny how it started to happen the very next day. I never thought that the books would bring more sales in clothing and other goods, but I was ready to accept that. I also received tons more donations, which was a blessing as well.
I doubled-down on the giving, and gave away over 500 pieces of clothing to almost 100 families on Thanksgiving Day in cold, dry weather. It was amazing to see people shove clothes into grocery store bags (limit of two bags per person). A woman pulled up in a beaten mini-van with 5 kids and asked if she could take more than 2 bags, and I told her she could take whatever she could fit in her van. But I realized that giving was really the most fun part in the laws of abundance.
I realized that I wasn't giving enough, so I started to donate my time along with potential thrift store sales. The Friends of the Library were happy to schedule me in a few hours a month to help them in the book store and repair DVD's. Then one day, they suggested that I look at one of their positions as a Librarian. The job description read like my experience and resume, with one small difference. I would need a Master of Library and Information Science.
I applied for financial aid that same day, then applied to San Jose State University and was accepted into an MLIS program within 3 weeks. For the nest 3 years, I worked on all manner of research projects using my local library as a test bed.
I finally graduated with my Masters, and said goodbye to all the wonderful people at the library who helped me those 3 years.
I let go of the thrift store when my father passed away, as I was graduating and would need to begin searching for a position as a librarian across California. Today, I am an academic librarian at a prestigious university in northern California. I sometimes pinch myself. Did I win the lottery? No. I didn't. And what amazes me is how a simple gift of books led to so much abundance in my life, from income and education, to career and social life. And now I was helping a new generation of health care workers in a much broader way in health sciences.
1) Give to receive. Expect to receive. (The Law of Receiving)
2) Like attracts like. (The Law of Attraction)
3) Accept that we are good enough. Let go of the past. (The Law of Acceptance)
I believe that these laws can help you and I achieve our goals, and brings us abundance even on a social site like Steemit. If you apply these laws, and never give up creating and curating content, you, too, will receive abundance. That's just how it goes.
Thank you Catherine!
