#12 Scarcity Or Abundance?
~ 12 minute read time ~
I always find it interesting, and telling, that the word ‘scarcity’ shares a number of letters with the word ‘scared’. Scarcity mindset can also mean a scared mindset. Have you noticed when you feel tired, low, worried about things that you look at areas where you can save, cutdown, reduce? I do this all the time.
The side-effect of this though is that it often means I shutdown too much, I go too far with cutting back. I worry about money. I stop doing things, I go out less, I stay in. I deny myself things and experiences to try and protect the bottom line.
If there’s a plan, like a budget, then this is useful behaviour for a specific period. It becomes an issue if you start to look at life like this. The problem is, you can’t apply this ‘Moneyball’ tactic to life. You may save money or energy or whatever it is you’re trying to conserve, but you won’t be living. Truly living. You will be limiting yourself, you’ll be closing off opportunities that may be coming your way, you may miss out on some magical experiences.
I’ve often struggled to find a balance between managing my resources e.g. money, energy, time and opening up to living and sodding the consequences. I guess it goes back to my programming, the things I held to be true but actually weren’t true at all. The things that were drummed into us as kids - work hard and you’ll be successful, be safe - this teaches us to be compliant so we fit the system when we grow up. No wonder there’s so much sadness, pain and illness in the world - people are living out of alignment with who they truly are.
I lived for years and years telling myself I was this or that, to fit into my allocated slot in society but I was constantly unhappy, unhealthy and always searching for external things to salve my inner wounds. My ego created a sense of suffering and prompted me to buy stuff to cheer me up, it was only ever temporary and like any drug, I needed more each time to get the same level of release.
I’d argue that the obesity epidemic that is rife in the Western world currently, is actually a mental health and emotional issue rather than a simplistic physical issue. The actual root of the problem is people finding solace and comfort in food and drink, which then leads to unhealthy bodies. It all starts in the mind.
In a Capitalist more, more, more society the idea of less or lack is such a scary thought that we throw ourselves into attaining more - more debt, more stuff, more food, more drink, more drugs to anaesthetise us against the pain of our day-to-day unfulfilled lives. Throughout our lives, through our education we’re told that we’re not enough - marketing is aimed at our insecurities so we think we need that product then we’ll be ok. In this situation, we’ll never be ok and marketing is designed to capitalise on this sense of lack. Marketing is one big lie to take us out of ourselves, to seek solace in external things when the truth is, we are whole and have everything we need already.
When we focus on scarcity and lack, we act fearfully and do what we’re told, we’re more suggestible, we look for answers from leaders. In tribes there were always Elders or mentors, who helped guide and teach the young ones the right way through teachings of wisdom, rituals, rites of passage etc. In the current Westernised world, we seem to have lost our mentors - we put our elderly in Care Homes so we don’t have to deal with them, growing old is seen as a weakness, heaven forbid we have any grey hairs - it just doesn’t fit the beauty or value ethic of current social mores.
Businesses love people being in a scarcity mindset because we’re more compliant, we do what we’re told, we work those long hours because we’re scared of being usurped. Governments and Media also propagate the scarcity mindset, if we’re worried we’ll continue to consume, we’ll defer our own thinking and project it outwards and rely on others.
There is an antidote to all this scarcity bullshit though.
ABUNDANCE.
Instead of scarcity, lack or a state of not enoughness (yes I know, it’s not a word) what if through a feeling of gratitude and being grateful for everything we already have we can achieve a feeling of abundance? What if we could create a state in our lives where we have plenty, not just enough, but an overflowing feeling of having everything we ever need? And not just for ourselves either, for everyone around us because it spreads like a ripple in a pond.
It takes discipline, practice and repetition but it's a choice. Ask yourself which approach you prefer?
Ask yourself today, will I…
Choose fear, lack, scarcity and worry about what will be?
OR
Choose hope, plentifulness, abundance and surety about what will naturally come?
The time will pass anyway, you can’t control time but you can control your approach and your mindset. If you choose abundance over scarcity, you act differently, your energy raises, you tell the outside world what you want from it. On the flip side of the same coin, if you revert to scarcity, you act small, your energy reduces and you tell the outside world that you want less.
The Universe will give you more of what you ask for. If you choose fear and lack, guess what you’ll receive? If you choose abundance, you say yes to opportunities that you would usually say no to, and it leads you into a different pattern of habits and behaviours.
“You don’t get what you want in life. You get what you are!”
Have you ever asked yourself why you never get what you want? You can pray, meditate, work hard, try and manifest all you want but you still fall short of your goals. Then you feel hopeless, resentful, because you’ve tried and tried but you’ve come up with nothing. Then you give up because what’s the point in trying? That’s what we all do. We give up and say “this is my lot in life”.
If you haven’t put the work into improving who you are, then your state is telling the Universe a completely different story. This is why we don’t get the things we want. We’re sending mixed messages. We never sit and ask ourselves “what is it that I truly want for my life?”, our ego tells us the things we think we want - more money, a bigger a house, a better job - so we identify with those things.
In physics, everything is described in terms of energy and matter. In our lives, we can apply the same theories. Do we choose to act as ‘energy’ - our thoughts, feelings, positive intentions or do we focus on ‘matter’ - the physical realm, stuff, jobs, houses, material things? When we try too hard and force things, we become ‘matter’ trying to move ‘matter’ which is difficult. If we surrender and accept that we co-create our experience with the Universe, then we become ‘energy’ and energy can move matter much more easily.
Don’t force outcomes, don’t pursue things so much that you lose sight of the important things in life like your wellbeing, your health, your relationships and doing things that light you up. Instead, realise that you can only control things like your response to situations, the attitude you bring to everything you do and accept you cannot control many external things so don’t even try to waste your energy on them.
The ‘Known’ may sound reassuring to some but it lacks scope to grow or to manifest anything new. It’s you trying to map the past onto your future. It’s a ‘copy-and-paste’ existence, keep doing the same stuff and you’ll keep getting the same results. This is fine if growth and improvement is not a key driver in your behaviour. For me, if I’m not growing every day then I’m stagnating and I’m wasting this wild and beautiful life that was bestowed on me. To me I feel a duty to honour my purpose, whatever the frick that may be - still searching - and I must respect my ancestors by acting with positive intentions and follow the path to enlightenment.
I’ve always been driven and guided by my thirst for knowledge in all things. I’m a natural philosopher with an enquiring mind. My flame grows dull if I don’t feed the fire of curiosity. I came close to fully extinguishing it these last few years, it nearly flickered out for good but luckily it’s still there and now I’m fully committed to protecting and growing it into the biggest bonfire I can muster.
The ‘Unknown’ is where there is opportunity, the Unknown may seem scary because it requires a leap of faith but the Unknown has endless capacity for creation, manifesting and fulfilling your dreams. Use your intuition, follow your heart - there is more intelligence in your heart than in your brain. Stop relying so heavily on your mind and ego to steer your ship, the true rudder is your heart and soul. It knows. To engage with this ancient wisdom, put your hand on your heart and breathe deeply.
Ask the question that is weighing most heavily on you, and if you sit still and listen - you’ll get an answer. If it doesn’t come loud and clear, then you need to practice asking with more stillness. You really need to quiet the mind, sit and breathe deeply - hand on heart and ask.
It may not be the answer you think you want, but it’ll be the right answer - it may even be the difficult choice but you can do it. The tough choices are the ones that often lead to change and success.
You know deep down what you should do - surrender, release the stress, let go. Ask the question, your heart and the Universe will work on it for you. All you need to focus on then is being open and ready to receive.
The gifts of abundance will come, just make sure you’re ready.
Love
LP x
