Years ago, I made a common author’s complaint to a poet friend of mine. “I had a great idea for an article,” I said. “But I was in the middle of a meeting, so I couldn’t write it down, and by the time the meeting was over, I couldn’t remember what it was.”
As I spoke, I was picturing a glittering diamond in the palm of my hand and saw myself watching in horror as it slipped through my fingers.
I expected my friend to shake his head and commiserate. Instead, he said he seldom wrote ideas down and didn’t care if he forgot one. He didn’t believe in carrying a notebook everywhere to jot down thoughts before they slipped away.
“That whole notion is based on the concept of a sparse Universe,” he said. “But the Universe isn’t sparse. It is abundant.”
Those few words—spoken more than 15 years ago—changed how I thought about writing and about life.
The Universe is Constantly Creating
It isn’t hard to see how abundant the Universe is. From the uncountable stars in the vastness of space to the blossoming of millions of life forms on Earth to the trillions of cells continually sending and receiving impulses in your own brain, the material Universe is incomprehensibly productive.
If you look around at the profusion of art forms throughout the world and think of the wealth of ways to put sound, motion, color, light, texture, and words together to create beauty, you will realize so is the world of ideas.
We’ll Never Run Out of Pie
When you think of the Universe as scant or stingy, everything we work for—wealth, recognition, even love—feels like something you need to hold onto as tight as you can. It’s easy to get into the mode of thinking that there is only so much pie and, if you don’t act fast, you might not get your slice.
But the Universe isn’t a finite pie. When good fortune comes to one person, it doesn’t take away some of what should be ours. The pie isn’t just huge—it’s infinite. There will always be plenty to go around.
The Benefits of Recognizing Abundance
For writers, the benefits of recognizing the abundant Universe are many. Here are just a few:
It helps you stop competing with other writers. No writer’s success hurts another’s chances. Every bestseller only makes readers hungrier for more good writing.
As a YA fantasy author, I could sit around feeling jealous of J.K. Rowling, but why would I? Her success helped me by bringing millions of readers to fantasy writing. If even 1 % of the people who started reading fantasy because of Rowling were to be interested in my book, it would be an enormous boon to my own success.
It makes you generous. One of the top bloggers in the world, Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits, shocked the blogging world when he uncopyrighted his paid work. But when you see the Universe as abundant, you can give things away easily and with joy. Babauta, in fact, discovered that uncopyrighting made his work sell more than ever.
It opens you to possibility. Once you realize the Universe is abundant, you start to see ideas everywhere. You stop worrying about writing the “perfect” essay or poem. You are no longer dismayed when an idea evaporates before you write it down, or when a particular piece doesn’t pan out. You relax.
Seeing the Universe as full and bountiful rather than miserly and scant had a powerful effect on the quality of my writing and my life. If you haven’t already, open your eyes to the abundance all around you and see what happens.
As I spoke, I was picturing a glittering diamond in the palm of my hand and saw myself watching in horror as it slipped through my fingers.
I expected my friend to shake his head and commiserate. Instead, he said he seldom wrote ideas down and didn’t care if he forgot one. He didn’t believe in carrying a notebook everywhere to jot down thoughts before they slipped away.
“That whole notion is based on the concept of a sparse Universe,” he said. “But the Universe isn’t sparse. It is abundant.”
Those few words—spoken more than 15 years ago—changed how I thought about writing and about life.
The Universe is Constantly Creating
It isn’t hard to see how abundant the Universe is. From the uncountable stars in the vastness of space to the blossoming of millions of life forms on Earth to the trillions of cells continually sending and receiving impulses in your own brain, the material Universe is incomprehensibly productive.
If you look around at the profusion of art forms throughout the world and think of the wealth of ways to put sound, motion, color, light, texture, and words together to create beauty, you will realize so is the world of ideas.
We’ll Never Run Out of Pie
When you think of the Universe as scant or stingy, everything we work for—wealth, recognition, even love—feels like something you need to hold onto as tight as you can. It’s easy to get into the mode of thinking that there is only so much pie and, if you don’t act fast, you might not get your slice.
But the Universe isn’t a finite pie. When good fortune comes to one person, it doesn’t take away some of what should be ours. The pie isn’t just huge—it’s infinite. There will always be plenty to go around.
The Benefits of Recognizing Abundance
For writers, the benefits of recognizing the abundant Universe are many. Here are just a few:
It helps you stop competing with other writers. No writer’s success hurts another’s chances. Every bestseller only makes readers hungrier for more good writing.
As a YA fantasy author, I could sit around feeling jealous of J.K. Rowling, but why would I? Her success helped me by bringing millions of readers to fantasy writing. If even 1 % of the people who started reading fantasy because of Rowling were to be interested in my book, it would be an enormous boon to my own success.
It makes you generous. One of the top bloggers in the world, Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits, shocked the blogging world when he uncopyrighted his paid work. But when you see the Universe as abundant, you can give things away easily and with joy. Babauta, in fact, discovered that uncopyrighting made his work sell more than ever.
It opens you to possibility. Once you realize the Universe is abundant, you start to see ideas everywhere. You stop worrying about writing the “perfect” essay or poem. You are no longer dismayed when an idea evaporates before you write it down, or when a particular piece doesn’t pan out. You relax.
Seeing the Universe as full and bountiful rather than miserly and scant had a powerful effect on the quality of my writing and my life. If you haven’t already, open your eyes to the abundance all around you and see what happens.
Thanks for this wonderful post.
You’re welcome, Anne. I’m glad you liked it.
Ditto, I too loved this post!
Thanks!
So totally true, and I love how you shared this reality here. Blessings!
Blessings to you, too, Darla.
Thanks so much for this wonderful post! 🙂
Julia Melges-Brenner 🙂
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it, Julia.