Word of the Day: Abundance
This month my mom and I restarted Deepak Chopra’s 21 Days of Abundance meditation series. I say restarted because we have participated in this series in the past and enjoyed it enough to do again. The series includes 21 meditations with daily mantras, guiding affirmations, and journal prompts all centered around the theme of abundance.
Abundance is used often in spiritual communities and wellness conversations, especially in relation to material needs. To shine light on the true meaning of abundance, let’s explore it’s etymology.
abundance (noun) :
a very large quantity of something
affluence; wealth
plentifulness of the good things in life; prosperity
Abundance comes from the Old French word abondance which comes from the Latin word abundantia meaning “fullness, plenty.” These words stem from the Latin words abundans which means “overflowing, full” and abundare meaning “to overflow.” A related word in English is abound.
Abundance contains the prefix ab- meaning “off, away from” and the root unda meaning “wave” or undare meaning “to rise in a wave.” Together they form abundare — literally to rise off of / away from a wave, defined as to overflow.
Typically we witness this word used in relation to money or monetary wealth. However, it is not limited to only financial meaning. Abundance means a large quantity. We might have an abundant harvest after a healthy garden season, an abundance of natural resources, or an abundance of love.
Abundance also isn’t limited to positivity. We might experience an abundance of stress during challenging times for example.
You have probably also heard the phrase “an abundance of caution” which means to take extra precaution to avoid potential risks, warranted or not.
In most uses related to meditation or manifestation, abundance might mean something like “having everything you need and then some.”
The relation between money and abundance exists for multiple reasons. First, let’s remember that one of our words for money is currency. As we explored in a previous post, currency is rooted in flow. It means circulation and was applied to money because of the way money circulates or flows between people during exchange. Looking to the root of abundance, abundare, we see the true meaning is “to overflow.” In financial abundance, there is an overflow of currency.
Remembering that abundance means a large quantity, it can be helpful to invite conscious intention when working with the concept of abundance in meditation. In these practices we invite abundance, but what do we wish to invite an abundance of?
Here is where intentional thought and embodiment are useful tools. Do I wish to invite financial prosperity, an abundance of loving friendship, overflowing health, or perhaps all of the above?
The imagery that abundance evokes for me is one of a fountain. In scarcity the fountain may have dried up, leaving only the stone structure without water. In abundance, the fountain overflows.
May the fountain of your life flow with abundant health, prosperity, joy, friendship, love, and all that you need.
