Attracting Abundance at Every Turn

Today was our “off” day from the conference, and we had originally planned to go out on a Hunter Valley wine tour but we didn’t book our seats early enough. You snooze, you lose.

See what happens when I don’t take my own advice? We didn’t take action. We called 2 nights beforehand, and there were 14 seats remaining. We called the next night, and they were sold out.

Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.

But that’s OK – once I found out they were sold out, I knew something better was in store for us.

Today we picked up Andy’s tux for the black tie event (well, we attempted to pick it up, BUT it wasn’t a perfect fit, so they are dropping off a replacement tux at our apartment tomorrow). I needed to pick up some “fashion tape” (that clear sticky stuff the Hollywood folks use to keep their dresses in place…my gown for the black tie gala tomorrow night has a plunging neckline, and I choose to be comfortably concealed!)

I knew the sales gal from the tuxedo hire place would surely know where I can buy some of that stuff, and when I asked her, she gave me a pack out of her own purse.

She said she had bought a pack just recently, and it turned out she didn’t need it at all. Naturally, I offered to pay her and she absolutely refused – told me it only cost two dollars or so, and said it was a gift.

Later, when I examined the package, to see how these fangled things work, I was surprised to see a $19.95 price printed on the box.

I felt very blessed! Apart from the obvious savings, that gal probably saved me a round trip cab fare, plus the hassle of having to go to a store to track the stuff down to buy it. So I was quite grateful.

Today I also found myself wondering about something. Last night, when we were hanging out with Deepesh, he pointed something out, and I had never noticed it until he said it. “What’s with all the gum on the pavement?” he asked. “Huh?” I thought.

But sure enough, I looked down and there it was, everywhere I looked – the polka dotted streets and sidewalks of Sydney, peppered with dried gum blotches.

Because he had brought it to my attention, I now noticed it everywhere we walked last night.

I also found myself noticing it today, too. In fact, I was wondering how I had missed it before – after all, I had been walking the streets of Sydney for two weeks, and it never jumped out at me, until it was brought to my attention.

It made me wonder what else I was missing.

What else is right under my nose (or my feet) that I’m completely oblivious to, every single day?

Hmmm. Now that’s one worth pondering.

I also started to realize that if there was an abundance of gum in this city (which there obviously must be – both IN people’s mouths, and UNDER our feet), what ELSE is there an abundance of, that we’re not readily noticing?

So today I thought a lot about abundance.

Since we didn’t have any planned events, we spent the day with the girls and gave Penny the day off, so she went shopping. We hung out for a bit, and then took the girls to the Sydney Aquarium, which was quite nice.

We were expecting to pay about $70 AUS for Andy and I and the girls to get into the aquarium, but the ticket man suggested we buy a family pass – one that was NOT advertised on the sign. This would admit 2 adults and 1 child (Sydney got in free, she’s only 7 months now) for just $55. Hey, can’t beat that!

At the aquarium, we got to see an abundance of fish, sharks, and other sea creatures. Plus, we started talking with a gentleman who worked there as a aquarist, and we were telling him about how we used to volunteer at the aquarium in New Orleans. He then proceeded to walk us over to the nearest exhibit, and he took all sorts of animals out of the exhibit and let us touch them and take pictures – Sally got to “pet” numerous sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, blue sea stars, coral, and more. It was quite a treat.

Then we purchased an abundance of items in the gift shop. :-)

We met up with Penny for dinner, and then we walked back to the apartment and helped Penny put the girls to bed. Andy and I started to head back to the Intercontinental, and I was soooooooooo thirsty, so we hit a grocery to get some waters and a soda.

Next we were standing at the corner, attempting to flag down a taxi when the woman next to me asked if we’d like to have free theater tickets for tonight.

Well, to be honest, we were a bit tired, and looking forward to heading straight to bed. But she said it was a great show, and the theater was just a block away.

What the heck? Why not. We took the tickets, thanked her and turned around to head toward the theater.

It was then that we looked at the tickets – these were for “Company” (by Stephen Sondheim, one of my favorite playwrights) at the Sydney Theatre Royal. I had not seen this show before, but Andy recognized it straight away.

We got there at the tail end of intermission, and quickly found our seats.

What a treat! These were $55 tickets, just handed to us gratis, and the show was top-notch. The performers did an excellent job with American accents (well, there was one Sheila who occasionally botched a southern accent, but the rest were spot-on, I couldn’t even tell they were Aussies from the way they talked).

Again, I felt most grateful that we had manifested free theatre tickets, and enjoyed a wonderful performance.

Hmmm, I wonder what we’ll attract tomorrow? Lynne McTaggart is our speaker.

Here’s your QoD:
Do you take the time to recognize abundance everywhere you go? Or do you dismiss things easily? It would have been quite simple for us to refuse the theater tickets, but something was telling me to accept them, and I’m so glad we did. If you say “no thanks” when the Universe offers you small gifts, do you honestly think it’s going to keep sending progressively larger gifts your way?

Just go for it!