Candy Paull

The Heart of Abundance offers excerpts from several of my books in a free e-book format.

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 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 and 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!

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

The Art of Abundance was first published in 1998 and eventually sold over 80,000 copies. 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 Publishers. 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, 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 and in other venues. Please continue to check back at candypaull.com to see what other books and formats I will be releasing.
The Heart of Abundance includes excerpts from:

The Art of Abundance
A Simple Guide to Discovering Life’s Treasures
© 1998, 2006 Candy Paull
Originally published 1998 Honor Books
Second edition published 2006 Stewart, Tabori & Chang

The Art of Encouragement
A Simple Guide to Living Life from the Heart
©2003, 2006 Candy Paull
Originally published 2003 Stewart House Publishers
Second edition published 2006 Stewart, Tabori & Chang

The Art of Simplicity
A Simple Guide to Focusing on the Essentials of the Heart
© 2006 Candy Paull
Originally published 2006 Stewart, Tabori & Chang

Inner Abundance
Affirmations for Confidence, Creativity, and Higher Consciousness
Smashwords text-only edition
Copyright ©2009 Candy Paull

The first three books in the Artful Living series were published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang in March 2006: The Art of Abundance, The Art of Encouragement, and The Art of Simplicity, all in hardcover only. They will be available in e-book format and print-on-demand editions soon.

There are three more yet-to-be-written books in the series: The Art of Creativity, The Art of Celebration, and The Art of Enchantment.

Keep checking back for more information on these and other projects.