The Gift of Feathers

By Jenese July 2010

We live immersed in an ocean of infinite abundance, yet so often, we walk through the world completely blind to it. It is an easy trap to fall into. When life takes an unexpected turn, our vision narrows. We fixate on the shadows, on what is missing, trapped in an exhausting cycle of wanting and perceived lack. We focus so intensely on the dark that we fail to see the light refracting all around us.

I know this because I lived it.

For decades, I had known that Spirit worked in my life. My soul-self had long expressed a desire to be more fully present, though I didn't truly understand how long that integration would take, or what it would require of me.

The turning point arrived in 2010. Through a series of seemingly catastrophic events, my ability to manifest suddenly went completely askew. Almost overnight, I went from financial stability to owing thousands of dollars, having little left for food.  I found myself unemployed, caring for my aging mother, struggling financially, and wondering how I was going to move forward.

During this challenging period, I was given the gift of a respite cottage at the beautiful Nelson Lakes for ten days. there, amidst the stillness of nature and in the midst of overwhelming uncertainty I began to unwind. However, what happened at the end of those ten days would become one of the most profound experiences of my life and forever change my understanding of life, manifestation and abundance.

For those 10 days,  I lived alone with nature. I immersed myself in A Course in Miracles and listened deeply to the teachings of Abraham/Hicks, I desperately needed a rebirth.

Abraham suggest an exercise, try to manifest something you have little to no resistance to—like a feather. I thought, “Ah, easy.” I intentionally meditated, putting out the request to the universe for a feather, after all there’s nothing but birds down here and I was walking tracks daily how hard could it be.

But the end of those ten days came and nothing had appeared. Nothing. Feeling centred and rested, but carrying a tinge of sadness and self-doubt, I walked down to the wharf to say good bye, there, I found the tiniest, most microscopic feather imaginable, but really it was nothing.

I picked it up, It didn't make me feel good. Instead of seeing a manifestation, I saw lack. I questioned my own abilities, let out a sigh, and began the drive home.

Along the way, the journey took a surreal turn. The morning mist coupled with the morning sun illuminated rows of gorse bushes in the paddocks. For a kilometre, the landscape was transformed into an ethereal wonderland—spider webs, glistening in the early morning suns rays. It was a breath taking spectacle of nature’s artistry, it was stunning.

I wanted to stop and take a photo but an intense internal argument erupted in my mind. “Stop and take a photo!” one voice urged. “No, keep driving,” another snapped. It was an odd, persistent friction. Finally, I approached a one-way bridge and noticed a small pull-off area on the other side, I pulled over and parked.

I got out, walked around the back of the car, and took photos of those spider webs, they weren't the ones i want to take, i'd pass that point.(see photos above) It was only when I walked back around the front of the car to the driver's side door, that my world completely shifted.

There, scattered across the ground in front of my open car door was about to step, were hundreds of feathers.

There was no body, no bones, no decay. Just a breathtaking, impossible number of feathers. (see Photo)

My instant reaction was laughter. I laughed so hard and for so long that tears streamed down my face. In an instant, the relevance of it hit me, and I got it. The universe hadn't ignored my request; it had exploded it. I had been so busy measuring my worth by a single, tiny feather—looking through the narrow lens of lack—that I almost missed a literal mountain of them waiting by my door, literally.

I drove home in a state of pure, euphoric grace, giving thanks to the vibrant world around me. every where i looked no matter what I looked at I saw abundance.  My eyes had been shocked wide open. Nelson Lakes had delivered the spiritual rebirth I so sorely needed. I realised then that without the seemingly negative events that preceded this trip, I would never have been standing on that roadside. The darkness had been the necessary backdrop for the light to shine through.

Suddenly, I wore "new eyes." Everywhere I looked, the illusion of lack vanished, replaced entirely by an undeniable, cascading abundance. I saw an abundance of trees, an abundance of leaves on those trees, an abundance of cars, of people—even an abundance of rubbish on the side of the road. It didn't matter what the form was; it was all an expression of infinite, overflowing abundance. It surrounded me.

The next morning, I walked to the Nelson Market, completely buzzing with this realisation. I was seeing an abundance of motels, of people of shops of stuff in the shops, of cars, everywhere, everything was starkly abundant in its presence. I was blissing out. I excitedly told a friend about this overwhelming abundance we are constantly swimming in.

He looked around, shrugged, and said, "It’s just all stuff."

In that moment, I understood how deeply asleep we can be. Most people cannot see life's abundance because they are looking for a specific, conditioned idea of wealth. They are looking for "stuff" to fill a void, rather than recognising the miracle of how much abundance really does surrounded them if they truely could see it.

People often complain that they have nothing to be grateful for, or that abundance avoids them. But abundance isn't a future state to achieve; it is a current reality to recognise. If you have running water, a roof, a toilet, or even a single roll of toilet paper, you are have abundance. You have to start there. You have to train your eyes to see the wealth in the ordinary everyday things that surround us.

This euphoric clarity sustained me for months. And as I rested in that deep state of appreciation, the external world naturally began to mirror my internal shift.

Up until that point, I had never done my intuitive energy readings in Nelson, despite having done them since the early 90's in Auckland's Vulcan Lane and the markets. I simply asked a few friends to spread the word.  Slowly, a steady stream of clients began to find me. Thus, the gift of feathers showed me that abundance was everywhere, and something inside me shifted enough for me to find a way to generate an income stream. I was becoming abundant.

I come across it all the time now—people wanting more financial freedom or a change in circumstances, yet focusing so intently on lack and spending all their energy on what they don't have. It might sound like a cliché, but the feathers proved to me that changing your frequency and truly seeing abundance is what creates that pivot.

It wasn't an overnight miracle; I stumbled quite a few times and fell back into old habits of lack when things didn't appear right away. But I kept practicing it until it became a habit of gratitude. One of my affirmations was - Abundance comes to me from everywhere and I am deeply grateful.  I said this over and over in my head so much it turned into a mantra and I noticed when a stray thought interupted it. 

The gift of feathers taught me that when we stop giving energy to what we think we lack, and instead open our eyes to the infinite abundance that is everywhere around us, when we stop judging it, the universe responds in kind.

By shifting my frequency from wanting to being surrounded by abundance, I unlocked the flow. My inner abundance became my outer reality, and my life began to slowly flourish.

Today, when I say to people, begin to see abundance, it’s not just a saying, it’s a lived experience that I personally know can shift one's reality over time.