I’ve heard the word ABUNDANCE used frequently for years now.

For many, ABUNDANCE is a nice way to admit you want to be wealthy. It’s about the state of your bank account and the anticipation that material wealth will expand, maybe transform, how you feel about life.

For some, It’s a fancy way to say LOTS. It’s all about quantity.

In a simple way, ABUNDANCE implies having more than what you need.

It’s a loaded term, for sure. It’s also subjective and experiential. What different people might think of as being more than enough is not the same. But I think most people would agree on this:

Abundance has to be felt or experienced to be understood.

I experienced ABUNDANCE as I have never have before when I spent a day at Iguazu Falls.

I probably wouldn’t have known the place existed except that Iguacu was the name of a favorite album put out by the German jazz ensemble Passport when I went to college.

I kept the image from the album cover in the back of my mind for years, not actually considering the Falls as a bucket list destination so much as a magical place that existed in music. Once I decided to go to Argentina, however, I could not imagine not adding an excursion there to my itinerary.

The Falls are located where the Iguazu River tumbles over the edge of the Parana Plateau. Brazil and Paraguay also touch the river but the majority of the falls are in Argentina.

There are over 250 falls in the area; some, like Devil’s Throat, are very wide and others are narrow and tucked away. Stumbling across one of the smaller cascades and spending time alone there feels like having you own private paradise.

While at the national park, I was compelled to do everything a tourist could do. I took the train and laughed at the antics of the coutis, the jungle cousin to the raccoon. I paid extra for the Gran Adventura, a ride through the jungle on a large and open jeep and short speed boat ride so that I could see some of the falls up close (and get a healthy soaking).

Each fall was more beautiful than the next. Each had its own personality and each one seemed to change as I stood watching, sometimes snapping photographs, sometimes just smiling, open-mouthed, in awe.

Watching the flow of the river, how the water had to move around rocks and small islands, witnessing the possibilities in course and the inevitability of falling, gave me a special appreciation for living in the present.

The falls were constantly changing. Being surrounded by lush green vegetation only made being there more amazing. I loved listening to the rush of water, the feeling of the mist on my skin, the moist and earthy smell of being in the jungle.

I felt very ALIVE and that the world I inhabited was ABUNDANT.

The flow of beauty was never-ending and I had everything I needed.

Abundance seems so hard to define, but you know it when you feel it.

I am so grateful that I spent a day at Iguazu Falls, that I wandered along the metal bridge close enough to feel the spray, that I moved at my own pace, that I stepped out of my little fears – that I allowed myself to get wet!

Abundance seems to be like love or confidence. Once you experience it, you know what you want to return to.

Knowing, in the body, that ABUNDANCE can be YOURS, that it’s not just a concept, that it’s not just for others, is no small thing.

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