Peace and Plenty

I bought Sarah Ban Breathnach’s latest book the other day and have been devouring it ever since.  I shake my head at the sad state she found herself in but at the same time I admire her resilience in bouncing back from financial ruin.  While one can hardly wish her experience on to her the message she brings is very timely considering the troubles people are experiencing around the world, especially in the United States.

I particularly like how Sarah picks up quotes from various women throughout history, especially women who wrote in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Those women lived under difficult times also and the life lessons, once absorbed, are valuable to women today.  Certainly we live in different times, our financial hardships are perhaps more varied, but in the end we can handle poverty with grace and dignity. 

As I’ve written before, I am a very Material Girl, and the thought of losing my home is so frightful to me that I can hardly stand to think about it.  Fortunately for me I am in a good financial position but this was not always the case.  I’ve had many a sleepless night wondering what was going to happen next.  Lucky for me that I am a Morning Optimist and usually I am able to look on the positive side of things once I wake up. But the darkness of night can bring a blackness to the mind that is positively daunting.  When I think of the poor people who had managed to put together money to buy a home only to discover a few years later that they were evicted because of the financial bubble burst in Wall Street, I get angry.  Personal greed in Wall Street has caused global disaster for hundreds of thousands of people.  For the life of me I cannot fathom how people can continue to have faith in a government (Democrat or Republican) that turns the other way and allows this corrupt financial system.

However that may be Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book gives hope to those who are finding themselves in a difficult situation.  As always, she advises that we look at our blessings and somehow, the rest will come.  For those in despair, this may seem completely unreasonable, but I am here to tell you that when I first read “Simple Abundance” I was not in the best financial position possible but I just took one day at a time and worked slowly and surely toward my goal.  That goal was to be mortgage free.  That meant no vacations for 15 years – yes 15 years – and I packed a lunch every single day.  I watched every penny.  Was it worth it?  You bet it was!

Today I have my health, I have an excellent job (by some miracle), and I have my house.  My cup runneth over.