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Just the FAQs
How dare we say that scarcity is just a story?
What the heck is somatics, anyway?
What difference does it make if one person breaks out of the Trance when the rest of the world is caught up in it?
Why define Abundance as living in the world with ease?
Why bother to identify the Trance of Scarcity?
Why is pleasure important in breaking free from the Trance?
How long does it take before something is embodied?
What is the Cycle of Abundance?
Aligning vs Forcing©Obadinah
One of the phases of the Cycle of Abundance
as excerpted from the book
How dare we say that scarcity is just a story?
When faced with the staggering statistic that 852 million people around the world are chronically hungry and 3 billion people (almost half the world's population) live in poverty, it may seem absurd and even disrespectful to say that scarcity is just a story. Are there people who are suffering in the world? Absolutely. But a large part of the reason why we as a human community can continue to let that happen is because we are caught inside the story that there is not enough to go around. *
It is because the Trance is such a powerful and unquestioned story, that it must be exposed if we have any hope of changing the misery that it perpetuates. The Trance keeps us fearful, and when humans are afraid we revert to survival strategy. In this anxious state, we don’t even consider solutions and opportunities that could come from creativity and collaboration.
On the most personal level, if we think we’re unworthy or not enough (you fill in the blank: smart enough, young/old enough, lovable enough, talented enough), it doesn’t even occur to us to move toward what is most fulfilling in life. We stop short of that, and get stuck trying to figure out how to settle for a “pretty good life” in the tight confines prescribed by the Trance.
Both personally and globally, the Trance of Scarcity is broadcast over the world’s loud speakers so persistently that we don’t even hear it anymore. We just operate inside of it, never venturing out to survey the vast array of possibilities. Whenever a story or conclusion (like the Trance of Scarcity) is treated as irrefutable Truth, there’s trouble.
Before we can solve any problem, we must first get a good look at what’s causing it. Once Albert Einstein was presented with the following scenario: If you had one hour to solve a difficult problem, how would you use the time? He answered, “I’d spend the first 55 minutes defining the problem.” Seeing how the Trance of Scarcity defines our lives and our children’s future, we become wise to it. And the wiser we are to the wiles of the Trance, the sooner we will create a new and useful story – one that brings a brighter future for all.
*The estimated total budget to meet human needs (providing shelter, clean water, refugee relief, population stabilization, and eliminating starvation and malnutrition, nuclear weapons, landmines, and illiteracy and preventing soil erosion) is $105 billion vs actual global military spending of $900 billion. Proposed budget developed by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the World Policy Forum, and the World Game Institute.
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What the heck is somatics, anyway?
The Greek word soma means the living body in its wholeness—mind, body, spirit as one. The principles of Somatics recognize that the self is indistinguishable from the body, that it’s inseparable from our lived experience. We are literally shaped and formed by our perceptions as we embody them. That’s why somatic practices are so effective; they re-train the nervous system at the elemental level of being by attending to the self as a whole. In this way, real change can take root and become our lasting experience.
In our culture, talking about the body can be tricky because we link the body to appearance, fitness, and health, relegating it to the status of an object to be managed. The body is often considered an inert mass activated by something else: the mind or the spirit. Somatics holds the notion of the body very differently: as an intelligent, awake and powerful part of an organic unity. To arrive at this understanding, we must mend the mind/body schism that disconnects us from ourselves and keeps us trapped in our heads, trying to win the battle of “mind over matter.”
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What difference does it make if one person breaks out of the Trance when the rest of the world is caught up in it?
It wouldn’t make any difference if the actions of one person had no connection to the whole, but it just ain’t so. Our basic wiring as humans makes connection and belonging a given. Think about it. There is nothing you do or have that doesn’t involve someone else. And you can’t do anything that doesn’t have an impact that goes beyond yourself.
We are all part of the collective consciousness; we rub off on each other like a mohair sweater on corduroy. How did you learn what you know, especially when you were young? Often you learned from watching and listening to others. We are permeable, whether we like it or not. If we’re around people who are friendly and positive, we learn to see the world as they do. If we’re surrounded by folks who are disgruntled and resigned, the world starts looking pretty drab. Gossip is as powerful as it is because we absorb it!
When even one person breaks out of captivity and claims a new life, the collective is impacted. The more people become free and the faster we do it, the wider the door becomes for those who follow. In times like these, when people are suffering from the dire effects of the Trance, every time we claim freedom and abundance for ourselves, we loosen its long-perpetuated grip.
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Why define Abundance as living in the world with ease?
Being at ease in the world is a choice. As long as we make abundance conditional on something outside us, we’re at the mercy of circumstances, and those circumstances often just don’t cooperate or line up the way we’d like them to. Abundance is all about choice and freedom: choosing what we will believe, what we give our attention and intention to, and how we will live.
Living in the world with ease is as close as our breath, our relaxation of tension and contraction. It’s about engaging life from a place of peacefulness and open-heartedness. Life will do what it does. We get to choose how we will BE in the midst of it. Two people can experience the very same situation and have very different experiences. What’s different is the lens they look through and the action they take in response to life.
While abundance is historically defined as the amount of accrued wealth, status, or good fortune one has, real abundance comes from a way of being that aligns with flow and ease. The signature of people who live from abundance is their capacity to allow any situation or event to become a blessing. It’s all in how you see it.
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Why bother to identify the Trance of Scarcity?
You can’t change what you can’t see. And once you’re onto the workings of the Trance, you can see it everywhere and avoid falling prey to it. Organizations and teams that bring this sensibility to their operations successfully cut waste, increase productivity, and sponsor rewarding and creative work environments. Individuals who readily see the Trance become sleuths for signs of the Trance in their own lives and in the lives of those around them.
As long as we let the Trance perpetuate as Truth, there’s nothing we can do but try to live as best we can as its captives. But once we see the Trance, we can keep poking holes in it until it’s nothing but rags fluttering without effect. Sovereignty over our own lives is the reward.
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Why is pleasure important in breaking free from the Trance?
Pleasure is a powerful way to wake up to abundance. The Trance of Scarcity keeps us asleep, tightened up, closed down. Pleasure is the pure antidote. As soon as we open up to the pleasure of this present moment, we shift our state to allow for fresh, new possibilities. Our only task is to allow more life to move through the system.
When we’re stressed or pushed or uncomfortable, we often head toward anything that promises relief. But here’s the problem: relief takes us in the opposite direction of pleasure. Instead of more aliveness, we move to becoming more numb. We move away from ourselves. Pleasure, on the other hand, moves us in the opposite direction toward more aliveness, more connection, and greater access to who we are.
The more alive we feel, the more responsibility we have. This is only fitting because we have more power when we’re fully alive. Instead of being the disembodied self that drifts away from life and goes numb, our embodied self’s aliveness grants us greater discernment. As we become more self-aware and self-directed, our life force dramatically increases. When we’re fully awake, our life force is more powerful than any trance.
So pleasure is a way of waking up!
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How long does it take before something is embodied?
We know something is embodied when it is automatic in us – especially under pressure. Until then, it’s not reliable and therefore not embodied. Embodiment is the result of what we practice. Sadly, most of us have been practicing various forms of contraction for years.
Here’s the thing – we’re always practicing something. It may be that we’ve been far too diligent in our practice of worrying and feeling burdened, or staying cautious and distant, or putting all our attention on getting the approval of others.
Or we can practice other ways of being: having a straightforward conversation about what matters to us, fully enjoying the moment we’re in, or expressing our appreciation and gratitude. Each practice produces a different experience of life. Our lives are the result of our practices. Whatever you want to embody, practice that with intention and regularity. When do you know something is embodied? As a New Guinea proverb says, “It’s only a rumor until it’s in the muscle.”
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What is the Cycle of Abundance?
We often think of abundance as a river, flowing, yes, but only moving in one direction.  Abundance is much smarter than that. It knows how to replenish and sustain itself, flowing in a circular pattern the same way the breath moves: first the inhale and then the exhale.
ALIGNING is moving with the flow, awake and available to inspiration and opportunity. We merge with the workings of an intelligent universe and release the burden of being the solitary enforcer.
ATTRACTING is energy that is focused yet not forced. Rather than insisting things happen, we direct our expectation and attention on what we want and draw it to us. The more whole-hearted and peaceful we are, the more irresistible we are.
RECEIVING means being available and accessible to what is being offered. It is the depth of the inhale, spacious, open, relaxed. If we are numb or unavailable, we never know real satisfaction. It makes room for aliveness.
GRATITUDE is generative energy that acknowledges our connectedness. It deepens pleasure and expands us to accept more and more good things into our lives. The absence of gratitude leaves us dry, aloof, and perpetually disenchanted with life.
GENEROSITY is the natural result of being full, like a bathtub spilling over. People who are generous share freely because they know they can’t be diminished; there is sense of freedom and resilience. Keeping everything for ourselves leaves us lonely and defensive.
GIVING is pure pleasure when done with an open and full heart. Never an obligation, giving is the exhale that makes room for the next inhale. Since there is no fear of letting go, we stay current and fluid in our lives.
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