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candypaull.com
Category:
Inspirational
Type: Non-Fiction
Copyright: March 2010, Nov 2013
Price: FREE! (eBook)
A Simple Guide to Appreciating and Enjoying Life
This inspirational guide reminds you that life can be good, no matter what challenges you may be facing right now.
The Heart of Abundance is a free “best of” collection from Candy Paull’s books. Discover more abundance, encouragement, and simplicity in your life.
Words of encouragement for men and women and inspirational quotes to help readers find peace and serenity. Messages of hope and words of inspiration for daily living.
Be present, see the divine at work in all circumstances, and experience ordinary life as sacred. Learn to practice the art of abundance as a form of spiritual awareness based in gratitude. Quotes, meditations, prayers, and instant inspiration.The Heart of Abundance offers selections from books by Candy Paull, includingThe Art of Abundance, The Translucent Heart, The Art of Simplicity, and Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress.
Words of Encouragement | Words of Inspiration | Words of Gratitude
Excerpt
Introduction to the Second Edition November 2013
The Heart of Abundance was first published as an e-book in March 2010. It was at the beginning of the e-book revolution, and at the time it felt like I was committing career suicide, because self-publishing would virtually guarantee that no agent or publisher would be interested in my work again. Now times have changed as the self-publishing revolution has taken hold, and the entire book industry is being reinvented.
Over 200,000 people have downloaded The Heart of Abundance, and now it’s time for a new edition. I have taken reviews to heart, and followed many of the suggestions offered. I have also been writing new material and wanted to introduce my readers to new books that have been written and published since the initial release of the first edition in 2010.
In some ways, The Heart of Abundance is becoming a ongoing love letter to my readers. I am so honored that you have taken the time to download and read my book. It touches me deeply to know that you have found encouragement and comfort in what I share. Your reviews and encouragement inspire me to grow as a writer—and as a person. To know that one of my readers has been helped gives my heart great joy. It is my prayer that you will find something to brighten your day in this volume.
I have updated the formatting as well. E-books are becoming more sophisticated, and this new edition not only offers additional material, but improved interior formatting for ease of navigation. I plan to continue to offer The Heart of Abundance as my free gift to you, and to publish new editions and upgrade formatting as the technology evolves.
It blesses me to know you are blessed. Your abundance is my abundance.
Candy Paull
Introduction to the First Edition March 2010
The Art of Abundance was originally published in 1998 and eventually sold over 80,000 copies through my first publisher. As the fortunes of my career and the publishing industry waxed and waned, I went on to write other books and to work with many publishers. Eventually the three Artful Living books were published in 2006 with Stewart, Tabori & Chang. They created amazingly beautiful packages, but the upheavals in 2009 proved too much and the books went out of print. Thanks to a fabulous agent who negotiated a great deal, my rights were returned to me. Now I have the opportunity to publish them on Smashwords.com, where I published my first e-book, Inner Abundance, on September 11, 2009. I was determined to have that date mean more than an act of destruction, so I made it a day of creative revolution. Now the revolution—or should I say, the evolution—continues.
I have been greatly influenced in my understanding of the Internet infrastructure and its burgeoning possibilities thanks to visionaries like Seth Godin, Chris Guillebeau, Christine Kane, and Pam Slim, among others. Their insistence on the gift economy and making information freely available has convinced me that it is time to share some of the best from my books, especially key concepts from The Art of Abundance, the book that started it all. The Heart of Abundance offers excerpts from several of my books in a free e-book format. It’s a good introduction to the other books and products I will be offering for sale on Smashwords.com, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and in other venues. Please continue to check back at candypaull.com to see what other books and formats I will be releasing.
We live in transformational times. When the road to transformation gets bumpy and we feel lost and disoriented, it is even more important to ground ourselves in the firm realities of daily life. Mindful living, slowing down to notice and savor the blessings and beauty of the ordinary, and soothing our spirits with thoughtful and loving actions can help us through times of doubt, despair, and loss. Practicing the art of abundance is a form of spiritual awareness based in gratitude.
Everyone has something to be grateful for, no matter how dire the situation might seem to be. The little “Abundance is…” observations can be a springboard to inspire you to discover the abundance, encouragement, and simplicity in your life. By being present in the moment, seeing God at work no matter what the circumstance, and experiencing ordinary life as sacred, you can begin to heal yourself so that you might reach out and heal the world.
May The Heart of Abundance bless every person who reads or shares it with others. May it find its home in hearts around the globe, freely and gently, from my heart to your heart.
Your abundance is my abundance.
Celebrate the abundance!
Candy Paull
I feel an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness.
Charles Dickens
Abundance Prayer
When I am afraid, I ask myself:
How can I give more to life?
When I am tangled in past regrets
or frightening stories of the future,
I bring myself into the present moment
And know that I am safe.
When I am tempted to complain
I choose praise and gratitude.
I take a deep breath.
I look around and see
How rich I am in the things that count.
I look within and see my unlimited potential
I realize that every moment is filled with blessings
and every day I am alive
is a gift to be grateful for.
I remember that God is my Source
and abundance is reflected
in the faces of the people I love
and in the faces of those
I have yet to learn to love.
Eternally, this abundance says:
Every family is my family.
Every success is my success.
Every bride is my beauty
and every bridegroom my Beloved.
Every child is my new beginning
and every elder is my life ripe with experience.
Every dawn is my new day.
Every sunset is my world turning.
Every season is good
and offers its bounty to me.
Every moment is mine to embrace
for it is the Eternal Now
forever expressing in, through, and for me.
I live in the Forever Here
that is alive in all.
Translucent grace shines in us,
awake and aware of the beauty we are
as we become all we were meant to be.
And so it is.
For it is in giving we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
Luke 6:37-38 (RSV)
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.
Benjamin Disraeli
We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.
Ben Sweetland
Nothing is really ours until we share it.
C. S. Lewis
Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
1 Peter 4:8 The Message
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.
Mother Teresa
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
John Lubbock
In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful, and the beautiful things that God makes are his gifts to all alike.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places.
Henry Beston
Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulty.
Helen Keller
An unshared life is not living. He who shares does not lessen, but greatens, his life.
Stephen S. Wise
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