2.31 Shannon Russell, Vanessa Stanhill, Martha Levie, and Angela Silva Discuss Abundance Pt. 1

Currents: the Big Ocean Women Podcast

“It's one of my son's birthdays today. And I was saying to my husband, I have never given him a present he actually likes. I don't know how to do that. And I felt kind of discouraged by that because I just can't figure it out.

And he is old enough now. He has his own career. He doesn't really need something from me. But I realized as I was driving other kids around today that he gives him actually his love language. And so once I put that together, I realized, oh, I can give him the things that he needs or wants in some ways. There are other ways to give. He loves hearing how awesome he is. He calls us every week. And I make time for that. And so where I could focus on the scarcity mentality of I am never enough in this one area, I then, if I switch it around and think, Oh, there's another way to have abundance with him.” -Angela

“When I was a kid my [parents] had four of us and they quickly had another child in about nine months. And two years in, my dad was getting his PhD and my mom was getting her bachelor's degree. So there really wasn't any money. And we all talk about this one Christmas where our presents were, I got a jar of pickles, two of my siblings got ketchup, and one sibling got some cereal. It was all our own. And that is one of our favorite, favorite Christmases. We always talk about that. So out of this time when I'm sure my parents felt like we have nothing to give these kids. They actually turned it into this abundant experience that has lasted. Those memories have lasted almost 40 years now.” -Angela

“That's what abundance is. It's about expanding what you believe is possible. Right. And so when you're living in a constant state of scarcity, and we all get there sometimes, I feel like that's a natural feeling you've all expressed and maybe some doubts or thoughts or concerns you've had specifically during these holidays.

And I think that's appropriate and normal. And there's nothing that makes you different from anyone else in that respect, but believing what is possible is a difference. If you're staying in that lane of I can't, I don't, I won't, I should not mentality versus shifting to what is possible, anything is possible if I believe it to be so.” -Shannon

“Many years ago, we were having kind of a rough time in our family, and I was praying a lot, so fervently, to know what our family needed, and specifically, specific children in my family needed. And I feel like I received very clear inspiration that our family should get involved in refugee work here in the United States. And so that is something that is really important in our family culture and that we've been doing over the years.” -Vanessa

“Last year we were having Christmas and I'm [had] the mindset: I'm going to completely rethink Christmas, like from the bottom up, what's really important for our family for Christmas this year. And I felt inspired that first we should do homemade Christmas. So everyone in the family was making, making gifts for everyone else in the family. I am not a crafty person. So this was like a huge goal for me to help all five of my children, 15 and under make crafts for each other, but we can do it. We can do it. And that was a really beautiful part of our Christmas.” -Vanessa

“The other idea that I felt that our family should do is we did a giving tree in years past, I've been involved in helping resettle refugees into apartments in our community. And when we, when they move into their apartment, there's so many things that they need. They need beds and pillows and blankets and pans and bowls and plates and deodorant and razors and just everything, everything. They need everything.

We got a Christmas tree and we got all these little ornaments and on every ornament, these little dollar tree ornaments, we wrote one thing that a refugee family would need to set up an apartment. A rice cooker or a rug or A vacuum, things like that.

And we put them on a tree and we took them to our neighborhood party. We were supposed to bring a snack or a crust, but instead we brought the giving tree and we set up our lousy little Walmart Christmas tree there in the neighborhood intersection and we invited people to take stuff off the tree. And we are very blessed to live in the most wonderful neighborhood full of the best people. And over the course of that day, we gave away all of our giving tree ornaments…

over the next two weeks we had a big bin on our front porch and it was like, Santa came every single day to our house because every time the kids would walk outside, there'd be something new in the bin on the porch. And so my kids were running out there checking like 400 times a day to see if something new was in the giving tree box. And then we bring it inside. And at first we started stacking it next to the door, but then the stack got so big that we couldn't fit it.

So finally we decided that we were just going to put all the refugee stuff under our Christmas tree, and our Christmas tree was completely subsumed under refugee donations, and it was the most magical Christmas we've ever had. And five days before Christmas, we got to take all of our donations... down to the warehouse where they collect refugee supplies. And when we came home, there was nothing under the Christmas tree. But it was the best Christmas ever. And pretty soon we had little tiny homemade crafts under the Christmas tree. And that was great too.

But having that perspective of all of a sudden my kids were no longer thinking about what am I getting for Christmas and all the things I want for Christmas but oh my gosh it's so exciting we're getting something else for someone for Christmas completely reframed our Christmas experience…And I just love that that is the focus of our Christmas now. The joy of giving.. So I just feel so blessed by that opportunity that we had last year.” -Vanessa

“We have listeners from all over the world who have different challenges than we do. Each of our situations are different in life. But the one thing that we all have in common is that we all need to have the hope that all things are possible if we have enough faith in [the concept of abundance.]” -Shannon

“If you can tap into that love, and if you can have the outlook of love, meaning I'm going to give good for good and good for evil in every area of my life. And that even has to do with my thinking. And so maybe I have not been as good at managing my money or whatever it is. I'm not going to say, Oh no, I'm not going to freak out and think I deserve what happens to me.This is going to be so bad. I'm going to think no. It's all going to work out as long as I'm tapping into that love. And as long as I'm willing to love others, no matter what, and to give of what I have, it's all going to manifest in every aspect of my life. One of my favorite scriptures in my book of beliefs is that God had not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” -Martha

“I can't be in Gaza and help all of the people that are suffering there, but I can be there for my child who I'm too busy for right now. I can choose to stop and be there for them. I can help. I can take hot bread to the neighbor across the street. And even though I can't help the people across the world, as long as I'm doing that, as long as all of us are doing that, abundance and love will abound no matter what. Because we choose to give love for love and love for evil. We break all the cycles of war and hate. And even the small things like depression and the feeling of not being worthy, I'm not enough, I'm ruining my children, you know, all those things that mothers feel, we break those cycles as well, all of it. It's all broken by this feeling of love and abundance. That's what I've been learning this year and hopefully will carry me through” -Martha

“We feel like there's not enough of us to go around. There's not enough. We are not enough. And I realized maybe just a few years ago, it took me a long time to learn this. But one of the miracles that we read about in the New Testament is, the fishes and the loaves, right? There's a few fish and a few loaves, and we feed, and he feeds 5, 000, and And when we were reading about that at Christmas time I realized that there was a new level to that miracle that I had not considered for myself. And that was that I could be made more through serving and loving other people, that what the gifts I had or even the lack that I had could be multiplied. And I think we see that especially when we talk about how we love other people. My ability to love other people actually gets multiplied as I love them.” -Angela

“I believe that God wants us to be happy, and He wants us to have abundant meaning and purpose in our lives. And I truly think that if we ask Him, And tell him we want to have an abundant life, he will reveal to us what we need individually. [Our] answers of what we need to see and do in our lives so that we can have joy and purpose pressed down overflowing in our lives, that he is intimately aware of us, and that he can answer our prayers and help us to find what we need.” -Vanessa

“Scarcity mentality limits our belief of joy and love, whatever success might look like whatever opportunities. It limits our ability to grow in our spiritual capacity. And sometimes it's hard to get out of that mindset. Everyone's situations are different.

And some are dealing with much more complicated issues than others in the moment. And for some reason, at this time of year, it kind of can put a microscope on it. But whether you're a mother or a caretaker, or whatever your capacity of leadership is in your community, if you're a woman, you're an influencer in some way.” -Shannon

“Having an abundance mentality doesn't mean that you'll never feel sad or that things are going to always go your way, but that you will overcome whatever it is that's standing in your way to fill that joy, to receive that inspiration from your higher power.” -Shannon

My name is Vanessa Stanfill. I’m a noisy person who likes to have fun and eat good food. I homeschool my five kids. I am an avid cyclist, reader, Asian drama watcher, and socializer. I am an enthusiastic member of the Church of Jesus a Christ of Latter-day Saints. I volunteer teaching English through ENGin Ukraine and support a local humanitarian aid organization, Lifting Hands International. I lead a homeschool group for mothers, and teach geography, geopolitics and current events classes for high school kids. I enlist my darling husband Michael into all sorts of harebrained schemes that make him roll his eyes in love and adoration. We have a great life here in Orem, Utah

Martha Levie

Martha Levie lives in Salem Utah, she co-owns and operates a sourdough bakery called Abigail’s Oven with her husband Allen. They have been married for 24 years and have 10 children and 1 grandson. Martha was homeschooled in the 80’s and 90’s by a public school teacher and my stay-at-home mom. She homeschools her children who range from 23-4 years old. She has a BA in Literature and Statesmanship from GWC.

Martha loves to climb trees and read, the first book she remembers reading on her own was Mrs Pigglewiggle and she read it at the top of her grandmother's golden rain tree. Poetry and good books make her life feel rich. She is a girl of the mountains and loves flowers. Her children are her besties, most of the time. She loves to study the theology of her LDS religion. Martha is an extrovert and expresses her opinions freely, and she is working on listening and valuing all opinions. She loves mint and chocolate, preferably together. She can’t stop reading about women's issues and The Barbie Movie is her current favorite. Feeding people nourishing food is an art that she wants to perfect. Martha loves to travel and have adventures. She has discovered that the greatest adventure is learning to love others.