I had an experience today on my morning walk. I must be honest: I have this fear of loose dogs. I know Principle is not bound by precedent, but my fear is based on some past reality. I lost my cat to a loose dog. My friend was bitten by a loose dog. Anyway, I love dogs, but I am uncomfortable with loose ones.

So, that being the case, this morning I set out to do my daily walk at Kealia Beach. Usually, I walk the cement bike path, but today I decided to walk the beach instead. I wanted to put my feet in the sand and dip my toes in the ocean.

As I walked, I saw a dog down a ways, at the far end of the beach in the direction I was walking. I immediately turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. I was about to turn again so I could continue my usual walk from one end of the beach to the other. Again, there was the dog, now a little closer than last time. It was playing with its owner, but I still felt uneasy.

I turned once again and walked as far as I could in the opposite direction. As I continued back and forth, I felt my path narrowing. The dog was getting closer and closer, and I was feeling more and more uncomfortable.

So, I decided to change my path completely. I moved back onto the bike path and away from the dog. I finished having a glorious walk, but I couldn’t help thinking about the metaphor presenting itself to me in this very ordinary, real-life experience.

How many times do we feel limited by a situation but refuse to simply change our path? We are living in one particular way—a job that is less than we’d like, a relationship that holds us back, a way of thinking that keeps us small—and we feel the reins getting tighter and tighter. Yet we refuse to look at other options. We stay stuck when perhaps what is being asked of us is simply to change our path.

This talk is called “Say Yes to Abundance.” Abundance can seem to keep itself from us because of limiting beliefs we refuse to change. We think we do not deserve it. We think abundance is meant for others. And I’m not just talking about money. I’m talking about an abundance of magnificent experiences. Great health. Friends who nourish us and whom we can nourish. Time to create. Time to play. Time to love. Time to experience the beauty of being alive.

How much abundance do we deny ourselves simply because we believe there is only one path Sometimes all these denials and limitations can begin to change by choosing another path—maybe getting up on the other mental side of the bed each morning instead of repeating the patterns of yesterday.

Just this week, I did that. I decided to stop thinking about a certain experience and situations that limited me and kept me stuck in a loop of thought. Instead, every time those limiting thoughts came up, I turned them around. I wasn’t in denial. I simply realized that the thought pattern itself was limiting me—limiting my creativity, limiting my relationship with my husband, limiting my joy. Eventually, I knew it could even affect my health if I continued down that path of thought.

It might sound impossible to change a thought pattern. It may be difficult, but it is not impossible. And the more we turn those thoughts around, the easier it gets.

Recently, on the labyrinth, I picked the card “Pivot.” I love that word. Dancers do it all the time.  I’m a dancer in life, and all that word tells me is: Turn in a different direction when you don’t like the way your life is unfolding.

Today, I made a physical turn. But I’m really talking about a mental turn. I can pivot when I know my thoughts are no longer serving me.

Ernest Holmes said, “We can change the trend of causation any time we decide to do so.” Nothing is static. The Universe is fluid—and so are we.

This brings me to another gift I received this week. It was the reminder of an Italian phrase I love: La Bella Figura. Literally, it means something like “the beautiful figure” or “the beautiful impression.” In Italian culture, it has to do with presenting oneself and one’s life with care, dignity, grace, and beauty.

But I like to take it even further spiritually. What if La Bella Figura means making a beautiful life?

I love the way Italians take time to create beauty. If you’ve ever been to Italy, you see it everywhere. Even a walkway isn’t just a walkway. A store isn’t just a store; it can be laid out with elegance. A dinner table can be beautiful in its simplicity. Italian women can be dressed beautifully at almost any time of day. These may appear to be outside conditions, but perhaps they can also reflect an inner consciousness: Life is beautiful. Life is inherently beautiful. Why not express it that way?

There is so much abundance in that thought. Even what seems ordinary—a place setting, a simple bouquet of flowers on a side table, the way we prepare a meal, the way we greet another person—can become an outer expression of an inner self dedicated to beauty.

And then I wonder: What would La Bella Figura look like on the inside? What if I brought that same care and beauty to the way I think about myself? There is a Power within each of us that is magnificent. We say it every Sunday at our Center: “You are magnificent!”

Some people tell me they have a hard time saying that about themselves. Perhaps that is another place to pivot. Take another path in thought. Instead of rehearsing everything you believe is wrong with you, turn toward your Divinity. Instead of repeating an old story about who you have been, become curious about who you are becoming.

What could be more magnificent than a Divine Being—an individualized expression of Pure Love?

La Bella Figura. We make life beautiful not simply by decorating the world around us, but by recognizing the beauty already within us and allowing it to become visible.

And perhaps that is what it means to Say Yes to Abundance. When the path narrows, pivot. When an old thought limits you, pivot. When you find yourself believing there is only one way your life can unfold, remember: The path may be limited. Life is not.

There is always more Life. There is always more possibility. There is always more beauty.And there may be another path waiting for you to say Yes.

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Love and Aloha,

Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Co-Founding Spiritual Director CSL Kaua’i