Abundance, Grace, and the Gifts of Spring

For those of us that live in the northern hemisphere, spring is a time of year where there are reminders everywhere about the true abundance of our lives.

Of course, we always live in an abundant world surrounded by an abundant universe, but because of hedonistic adaptation, most of the time our brain either doesn’t notice it or diminishes it down to nothing.

In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing a few things that have caught my attention recently that have surprised me, humbled me, and reminded me how much abundance and grace fills our lives and is extended to each of us by God.

Transcript 

Welcome to the 100% Awesome Podcast with April Price. You might not know it, but every result in your life is 100% because of the thoughts you think. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome.

Hello podcast universe, welcome to episode 256 of the 100% Awesome Podcast. I'm April Price, I am your host. I want to welcome you to the podcast today and thank you for being here. I am so excited to be here. I'm excited about so much in my life right now. I love the spring. This is one of my very favorite times of year. It is absolutely gorgeous where I live right now. Right now I've been writing my podcast outlines outside of my back patio in the sunshine, and if I could, I would record them there as well.

It is just like so beautiful out there, the weather is perfect. Orange blossoms are in full bloom right now and the scent in my backyard is really, really amazing. Even at midday, like when the blooms are first starting, like it's really good in the morning and really good at night. But right now, like it's full on orange blossom season and I wish you could be here. I wish, in fact, it would be so fun if we could have lunch together out on my back patio. So for today, let's just pretend that's where we are.

We're just having a chat, you and I, out on my back patio. And anyway, welcome. I have a whole bunch of things to talk to you about today. As I was sitting out there, I was like making a list. And so this is going to be a little bit of a different kind of episode. I've just had like a lot of different things on my mind. And like I said, I was out there, I was like, oh, I want to tell them about this and this and this. And I was kind of just making a list, and I don't know if they're all gonna fit together, really. I don't know if they all belong in the same podcast episode, and I don't know if they're all going to come together in, like, a cohesive way.

But I decided it didn't matter. I decided today that we are just like letting everything grow and everything blossom, and everybody have its moment right in the sun. So that's what we're doing today. And I just decided that we just go through my list, my list of thoughts and kind of a list of experiences that I've had recently, things that have been on my mind lately. And hopefully in that process, as we make our way through that list, you will get something that you need today. So first thing on the list is that I want to invite each of you to coaching.

Coaching is just so different than the podcast. I know that you've been here, you've been listening a long time, and like, actually, I hope that you've gotten a lot of really good stuff here. But I want you to know that coaching is different. Just this week, I was able to meet with a new client who's listening to the podcast for a long time, and she's like, you know, I try to sort these things out in my head, like, like following the principles that you teach on the podcast. She's like, it's just so hard. She's like, but it feels so different being coached, right? And I just think it's a remarkable experience, and it might just be having a chance to hear your own thoughts out loud, right? Just the chance to say them out loud rather than trying to, like, sort them in your head or or tease them apart and understand them, make sense of them in your head.

Like maybe it's just the fact that you get to like, do it out loud. That makes the difference. But I want to invite all of you to a call to try coaching and to see how different it is and to see how useful it can be. And maybe you're not going to be ready to, you know, start coaching full time. But even just that one call will be really useful. And then you will know in the future where you can go when you're ready for help. So my client that just started, we had our first call together back in 2020.

I went back and looked it up and you know, she just decided that now was the time. And because she'd already had an experience coaching with me, she knew exactly where to go to get the help that she needed. And so, I just want to invite all of you to a call, just to see the difference that coaching can make in your life. And you can sign up for that free coaching session at my website, Aprilpricecoaching.com okay, next thing on the list is I really want to talk about the spring equinox. And so like if you signed up to get my weekly emails, you probably already know that I have been thinking a lot about this topic and my brain kind of gets obsessed about these things.

It captures my imagination. I kind of like just put it in there and think about it in all different kinds of ways. And for whatever reason, this spring, as we approached and past the equinox, I was just, like, fascinated and amazed by the workings of our planet and our solar system and the greater universe even beyond that. And so, as you know, the Equinox is just that time of year where both the northern and southern hemispheres of the Earth are receiving equal amounts of sunlight.

So as the Earth is orbiting the sun, it's tilting right slightly, tilting every day either toward or away from the sun, depending on which. Year that you are in. And so here in the Northern hemisphere, where I live, ever since the winter solstice happened in December, we've been slowly tilting towards the sun and receiving more and more sunlight every single day until we are straight up and down. We are getting equal amounts of dark and light, and we are smack dab in the centre between the winter and the summer solstice. And so, if you're listening in the southern hemisphere, hello. But it's the opposite for you, right? Right now it's starting to get a little bit darker and darker every single day as you tilt back, you know, away from the sun and you're about to go into the darker, colder parts of the air, right? And you're like, okay, April, who cares, right? Like who really cares? But as I've thought about the solstice and just like the magical way at which, like, we get all the things that we need, it's really brought to our mind.

Two things. And the first one that I want to just point out to you is like how everything is always changing, ever so slightly, ever so subtly. Nothing stays the same. You know, last year, I know the winter was really hard for a lot of people here in the Northern hemisphere. My girls, for example, live in Utah and they were just like, it is never going to be spring. It is never going to stop snowing, it is never going to warm up, right. But the earth is always moving just a little bit closer to the sun. And so, that's impossible, right? Eventually it will end. Eventually we will be at the zenith and be the closest that we can be towards the sun, and it's going to be warm. And so I just think that's so powerful to remember when it's dark and when it's cold, and I mean metaphorically in our lives, that everything is always changing, sometimes so slowly and so infinitesimally, that it's hard to notice it. But when it is dark in your life, just remember that it is changing.

Things are changing. You know, eventually we're going to tilt back towards the sun. And this time of year just reminds me that even when I wasn't looking or noticing, things were changing, even when I wasn't paying attention, something was changing in my life. And it is the same for you. And even when you aren't looking, even when you aren't noticing, even when it just feels like it's been, you know, this cold, dark season forever, things are changing. And also just think it's powerful to recognize that the Earth is not in a hurry about it. It doesn't worry that, like, I might never warm up, right? It just knows. Like everything happens in the right order at the right time. You will get there. It will be different, right? Things are always changing. And if we can release our expectations on when and just hold the hope that of course, things always change, it can be really useful to us, you know, when it's dark and cold in our lives, okay. The other thing that this time of year like, really reminds me about is, of course, the abundance that we all enjoy.

And I want you again to think about the Equinox and that tilting of the Earth, right? Like the Earth is slowly tilting on its axis towards the sun and then away from the sun. And this, like, perfect rhythm, right? It's so predictable. There's going to be the solstice, then there's going to be an equinox, and there's going to be the other solstice, and that's going to repeat. Then there's going to be an equinox and a solstice, and then an equinox and another solstice. Right. And it's just like there's a constant tilting that's going on back and forward, back and forward. And at the very same time that that is happening, the Earth is also rotating around its axis in a steady 24 hour spin, so that we have daylight and nighttime, right? Every day, morning, noon, night, morning, noon and night.

The earth is also rotating on its axis, so we can have these periods of sunlight and dark and all that is happening, while simultaneously we are also orbiting around the sun right year after year after year. I want you to think about all of that movement. Right. We're tilting, we're spinning, we're orbiting like there is a lot going on, right? And while that is all happening, our sun is also orbiting around the center of the Milky Way.

And the Milky Way itself is then also moving with this immense gravitational field with with other galaxies. And like, it's kind of astounding, right? Like you can get a little bit dizzy thinking about it, like really the level of complexity and the amount of math and science that makes it all work. And we don't run into anybody. There's no big collisions. Nobody's getting seasick on this. Like tilting, orbiting, rotating, you know, land mass. And that it all works together is so amazing to me. It is so staggering. And I just think, like, it's so powerful to recognize that this perfect order, this perfect balance, this perfect symmetry, all of this rotating and tilting and orbiting, all of this. Is happening without you doing anything.

Without you doing anything. You are not making any of that happen. All of it just happens, right? It just exists. It's just in perfect order. It's just happening without you lifting a finger and without you even thinking about it most of the time. Like, yeah, I know, I've been like fascinated about it this year for whatever reason, but it's like it always happens. It's always been happening. It's been happening for as long as I've been living. Whether or not I've noticed it, whether or not I've, I've paid attention to it. And I just like what I'm trying to offer you and show you and, you know, point out to you is just how abundant this universe really is. It's so abundant that we, for the most part, don't even notice it happening. And I think there's just two powerful things to take away from that. First, like the other day, I was like going on a walk.

And I was thinking about this, the tilting and the rotating and the orbiting and everything that was happening and how like I wasn't doing anything to make sure that I was okay. And I was like, you know, maybe I could just relax. Maybe I don't control anything. And maybe I don't need to write like it's still working. I haven't ever noticed it, and it's just worked. It's just been taken care of. And maybe all the things that I worry about and stress about and, you know, get anxious and upset about.

Maybe I could just relax and recognize that everything's happening in the perfect order, in the perfect rhythm and the perfect symmetry for me, and that maybe I could just let go and just lean into the abundance that is around me that God provides for me. And that maybe I could relax and stop thinking that I need to make it all happen. And maybe everything is going to be okay. Maybe everything is going according to plan.

And I think that's just a really beautiful, abundant thought to think. And that brings me to the next thing on my list. Is just the awareness that for the most part, your brain is not going to notice that abundance. For the most part, your brain is just going to get up in the morning and not care about the tilting and the rotating, the orbiting and the miracle that that is, it's just going to think about like what? What problems do I face today? What are the obstacles? What are the dangers? What are the threats like what is wrong with me today? What is wrong with my life today? Right? Your brain probably doesn't notice and could care less about the abundance because none of that is going to affect your survival.
And so recently, also just like as I've had this like experience, just noticing how much abundance there is, I've also had this experience of watching how my brain just wants to discount and ignore the abundance. So this is the next thing on my list. And I don't know really why I'm sharing this with you, except that like, it's fascinating to me, but it might only be fascinating to me. This is my fear. But here we go. So recently, like, as you know, I've been doing all this training for these future, like athletic events that I've signed up for.

And like at the last couple of weeks, my headphones have not been working. I know it's a super big tragedy, but but like, I'll get there and like one of them works. I have these AirPods, right? And one of them will work and one of them won't have charged. And then the next day, one the other one charged, but the other one somehow has no batteries. And it's just really aggravating. And sometimes I get there and they won't connect at all, and nothing's working and they're at 0%, even though they've been plugged in for two days. And I've just been like so frustrated with this experience. You know, the other day I came home and I was like, I just had to run five miles with my old headphones. And when I say my old headphones, you know, they're like the wired kind. They like you plug them into your phone, and then there's a wire that goes from your phone to your ears. And notice how, like this is, like now, such a burden and such a frustration that I have to use these wired headphones in order to hear the music as I run. Right. And I just had this moment of like, just kind of amusement looking at my brain and how my brain has just, like, assumed that I should be able to run and listen to music wirelessly.

Like, this is what they call hedonistic adaptation that our brain, once it gets to this easier place, then it like adapts and then it starts to expect that easier place. There was a time in my life when just having headphones themselves was like, miraculous. I actually remember I remember getting a Walkman for Christmas when I was 15, and I could listen to my own music within my own ears and like, what a miracle this was, right? And of course, this was like on a tape. And I was limited to the to the songs on that tape. But over time, my brain hedonistic Lee adapted to expect more and more as the norm, and to expect more and more as the standard right, and no longer saw the abundance of being able to hear music in my ears. And now it wants to be able to hear it wirelessly, and it wants to be able to hear an endless supply from a seemingly infinite music library. And the only reason I bring any of this up is just to have you recognize that, like, brains aren't good at noticing the wonder.

They aren't noticing the abundance, they're just they've hedonistic, adapted to wherever you were. And then any step back from that is a real aggravation. Right? And I notice my brain even does this. Like even not just with like the conveniences of my life, but even in my own progress. It starts to discount and no longer find wonder even in the things I do. So. So, for example, a couple of weeks ago, there was like a really big jump or what felt like a really big jump to me in my training plan. I had to like the week before, I had done 12 miles on a Saturday, and then the next Saturday the training plan wanted me to run 15 and I was like 12 to 15.

That's like three extra miles, right? I was like, oh my gosh, I'm never going to be able to do it. And it felt like so hard. Anyway. The experience of running the 15 was actually really good. And so then this week I had to run 16, and in my brain I was like, this is going to be no problem because I did 15. This is just one more, right? My brain like did not think this was a big jump, right? It was just like it had already adapted to like 15 is my new normal and now this is just a little bit more. However, for whatever reason, this last Saturday that 16 miles was so hard, like every mile felt like a grind and I felt like I had to fight for every single step and every single minute, every half mile, every mile. And I was so down on myself by the time I got done right. And now this distance of 15 miles was no longer amazing. Like now. It was like just not good enough. And my brain told me that not only was the 15 miles not very good, but it was also a fluke. And notice how it just kind of adapted to like, no longer finding wonder and awe and appreciation and abundance in the 15 miles. But now it's just like with that is still not good enough.

And in fact, it was so hard this week that that one probably doesn't even count. And I just think it's so interesting, right, that it's so hard to stay ahead of our brains expectations. Right. And like with the headphones or with the running, like my brain is just like two steps ahead of right already saying like, okay, well this thing that used to be amazing is now just an expectation. And that brings me to this next idea that I wanted to share with you. This just kind of just been on my mind and rattling around in there. And that's the idea that our brains love to round down to zero. What I mean by that is that our brains round down the value of our efforts. They diminish the value of our efforts. They round down to zero when it comes to your accomplishments and to the things that you're doing in your life. And they're like, well, that's the minimum. That's the expectation. You're barely meaning that, right? And our brains just love to diminish what we've done and tell us that none of it matters.

And the other day I was talking to my daughter and, you know, her brain was rounding down to zero. And she's like, I'm just failing at everything. And I was like, well, can you be more specific and tell me, like, give me a list? What are all the things that you're failing at? And she's like, well, this thing could be better, right? And this thing could be better. And like, she really had to hunt, right? But because there were a couple of things that her brain was like, yeah, you're doing bad at that. Her brain rounded everything she was doing down to zero, told her that nothing she was doing was any good.

Nothing she did was positive. Nothing she did mattered. Nothing she did was worth noticing or being proud of. And I just think your brain is not good at noticing the abundance around you in the world. And it's not good at noticing the wonder and abundance that is within you and all that you are doing and all that you are accomplishing. And so I just want you to be aware of that. I want you to like, be on to your brain and not let it round down to zero. Not let it tell you that you have to do it perfectly, and you have to do it well for it to count and not let it diminish the things that you are doing.

Literally on Saturday I ran 16 miles and it was hard, but I finished it right? And but because it was hard, my brain was like, you might as well give up now. It wanted to round down to zero and be like, we shouldn't even be running at all. We shouldn't be running this marathon. There's no way we can do ten more because that 16 was hard. So it took the accomplishment of doing the 16 and sticking with it and doing that hard thing, and it rounded it down to zero and said, you have no business doing any of it all, okay. And this is what brains do.

So, it's not that you're not good enough, and it's not that the things you do don't matter. It's your brain has just rounded them down to zero, right? It's taken your expectation and made that the minimum and then round it down from there. Don't let your brain do that okay? Okay. That brings me to the last thing on my list. And that is that this is a Holy Week for many of you. For many of us, starting with last Sunday, Palm Sunday, and then tomorrow will be Good Friday. And of course, culminating in Easter Sunday. And I know that because it's a Holy Week, many of you have spent the week remembering the sacrifice of our Savior. And I have two. My my thoughts have been with him on that final week and the sacrifice that was made for me and that was made for you. And I know that many of your thoughts have been on him as well, on his life, on his death, on his resurrection, and thinking about what it means to you, what it means for you.

And I just wanted to share a couple of my own thoughts about this Holy Week and the abundance that Christ offers each of us. So my husband and I teach primary at church. I might have told you that before, but we teach the children in our congregation that are seven turning eight, and it's a really, really fun group. And, uh, last week we were reading a scripture together that said, in part, he, meaning Jesus Christ, doth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world, for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life, that he may draw all men unto him. And so, we read that scripture together, and I asked them, what does it mean that he layeth down his life? Those aren't words that you know, that they're super familiar with. And so we talked about like, what does it mean to lay down your life to put something down? What does it mean to lay down, you know, a toy or a book? What does it mean that he lays down his life? And since we had that discussion, I have had so many thoughts about that question and that phrase and that answer.

What does it mean to lay down your life? And to me it means that he laid his life down by living. Right. He lived his life for us. He gave it all to us. He made the choices that he made for us. Everything he did while he was here on the earth, the service he gave, the teaching that he did, the healing that he did, the invitations that he gave to all of us, like all of that was in service to us. He gave every moment of that life to us, and he laid it in front of us for us from the very beginning of his life, right? He lived his life for us. And it also to me, means that he lived that life as long as he needed to in order to pay the price for us. And there were so many times, especially in that last week. When it would have been so easy to give up that life, to not keep living, to not keep enduring, to not keep experiencing the suffering and the shame and the humiliation and the agony like there were so many times where he could have stopped all of that, but he kept living anyway.

He kept choosing to be alive until the end of this sacrifice was made, and until that debt was paid. And like he resolves and worked hard to keep fighting, to stay living long enough to pay that sacrifice. And of course, it also means that he gave up that life. When it was time so that we could live again. So, he both lived for us, as I said. And lived long enough to pay the sacrifice for us, and then consented to die and lay that life down. Lay his life aside for us. And I want you to think about why. Why? Why do any of that? Why live the life? Why keep living it when it was so agonizing? Why set it aside when it was time? And the scripture says, because he loveth the world. Because he loveth you. Because he loveth me. He loveth the world. And because he loves you. He wanted to give you a chance to come to earth and practice. So you could come here and try and make as many attempts as you need to, with no eternal consequences, like no horrifying risk, no possibility of making irreversible, catastrophic, unrepairable mistakes.

Right? Like we needed a chance to practice. And that's why he did it. And the abundance of that gift, the abundance of his life, both lived for us and given up for us. Is so humbling and overwhelming, and the reason that I worship him, and what I really want to say today is that as a human, I think it is so easy to reject that abundance, to reject that grace, and to disqualify yourself from it, to deny yourself from partaking of it, of that abundance, because you don't feel good enough yet. And just like our brain notices what we don't have and what we're lacking in the face of all the abundance of this earth. The same is true of ourselves. All our brain notices is what we aren't, what we are lacking in the face of all the abundance of Christ. And it just wants to focus on all the ways that we aren't good enough yet. It wants to focus on what we don't deserve and what isn't fair about us receiving grace and forgiveness when we're still a mess and we're still making mistakes. And when that happens, like when your brain is just noticing what you aren't, in those moments when you think that you are supposed to be good in order to partake of that abundance, then what happens is you stop yourself from receiving it.

But when you know instead that the abundance exists because you are loved. And you were never supposed to be good at it, then that abundance can become available to you. I think our expectation that we need to be good first. It just gets in our way. Like I've noticed it in my life in just like regular ways. Like the things that I don't expect to be good at running or surfing or playing the organ. Like when I have very low expectations about my skill level.

Like it is so much more enjoyable to participate in those activities. But as soon as I'm doing something that I think I should be good at, like my spiritual life or my relationships, and like I'm supposed to be better or different in some way, like that is not fun. That is like an experience that is just full of shame. And I think these expectations that we have about ourselves and our capacity for following Christ or loving others, like when we think we're supposed to be good at that, when we think we're supposed to be better than we are, then we cause ourselves pain and we tend to hide from God, and we cut ourselves off from his abundance.

And I think too many of us think that obedience and perfection and performance come first. Like, I thought that for way too long. Like we think we got to be good first and then we can be loathed. And we want to prove that we are good before we allow ourselves to feel loved, to feel of that abundance. And what I want to offer you is how different it would feel to allow yourself to be loved first. I'm all for change and becoming and getting better at the skill of love, getting better at being a disciple of Christ.

Like those are all desires that I have. I'm all for that. But love first. Love yourself first. Let him love you first. Change will come later. Change is inevitable as the spring. If we move towards the sun. And by that I mean like the warmth and grace of Jesus Christ. If we tilt towards that and move towards that love. Change is inevitably going to follow. We don't have to control that.

We don't have to make sure it will happen. We just need to move towards the abundance of his love first. I'm sure you've all seen the what would Jesus do bracelets, right? It says Wwjd on them. I recently saw a bracelet, and I heard this little YouTube video from this guy that made them. And on one side it says Wwjd? What would Jesus do? And on the other side it says H w lf he would love first. And the guy that made them, he was just talking about how so many times we're putting all of these qualifications and all of these conditions between us and the love of God and between us and his abundance.

And I love this reminder. What would Jesus do? He would love first. And I just want to offer you that thought. What if you let yourself feel that love first? What if, instead of listening to all the things that your brain says is wrong with you, all the things that you lack, all the ways that you don't measure up? What if you let all of that go and just decided to receive his love first? Change will come. But first love.

Your brain's gone. Round down to zero. What you deserve and what you're worth. And what you're capable of. But I think the real math of the universe, the real math of God is abundance. It's infinite love. It's the opposite of zero. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I hope you have a very happy Holy Week rejoicing and celebrating the abundance of God's love for you. I love you for listening and I'll see you next week.

Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today. If you're serious about changing your life, you first have to change your mind. And the best way to do that is through coaching. I work with my clients one on one to help them change their thoughts and their feelings about themselves, their lives, and their challenges so that they can live a life they love. If you'd like to work with me one on one, you can learn more and schedule a free call to try coaching for yourself at Aprilpricecoaching.com