A perspective of abundance is the antidote to scarcity mindset. Scarcity mindset is the feeling that we don’t have enough and our needs are not getting met. I’m talking about emotional needs, seeing as few of us lack food resources these days.
Scarcity mindset can foster envy and jealousy. When these two things spin out of control, it can lead to a host of related emotions, all black feelings – negativity with no light or hope. This leads to spinning your wheels, resentment, inaction, inactivity. It leads to defeat.
I’m concerned with winning, doing better for myself, and doing it faster for myself than others I’ve known who stay mired down in that listless “sea of sorrow” as Alice in Chains called it. The competitive attitude emerges from being hurt by these types of people. So, it’s personally important for me to flourish by fighting my own negative thinking patterns.
As discussed earlier, my mission is to balance this winning attitude with compassion (but only compassion directed towards the right people -not those who have hurt me or have the potential to hurt me in the future) and that is a very tricky balancing act, but I believe it can be done. It’s all in the thinking. Cognitive behavioral therapy on the self.
One week and one day ago, I embraced abundance Mindset. I do this naturally at times. It’s the influence of two liberal churches – Unity and Center for Spiritual Living.
I wanted to hike. I looked up local trails. I stood back for a minute and said, in awe, “holy shit. We live in a time where we can look up trails on apps or via google.”
We can get anything we need via our smart phones. Let that sink in for a moment. I can guarantee you that there was some spiritually advanced person in the year 1845 who felt that we live in a world of abundance because he or she only had to ride the carriage for 15 minutes to reach the grocery store. Plus, books existed. This person was overjoyed that with a few key social connections and the nearest library, they could obtain a wide variety of books.
Compared to this person of the past, our world is abundance on fucking steroids!
Moreover, I think that an irony exists here – since we don’t have to work for it, we are likely take it for granted if we don’t foster self awareness.
That person from 1845 still had to saddle up the horses and get the carriage ready before they got the goods. If they wanted more variety in books? They had to nurture face-to-face social connections and/or ride a lot further to get to a bigger library. Naturally, they’re going to value the treasures more.
Technology is certainly not a guarantee of increased happiness, despite it bringing resources-on-steroids, because human nature has not changed.
We have to embrace discipline within either spirituality or a clinical approach (cognitive behavioral therapy), or both, and this is how it’s always been. Put simply, the need for the humans to insert discipline into their thinking is certainly not new.
I write about this because I struggled again last night with scarcity mindset and dark emotions. I won’t give this much air-time, other than to say that it’s probably connected to my allowing myself to entertain certain thoughts. And now I embrace abundance thinking.
The Unity reverend was the first to plant this Abundance seed. She said that when you’re at the grocery store and someone bitches about an item being out of stock, respond by saying, “But isn’t it amazing that this store has so many other items available?”
In this way, we can influence other people’s thinking – if they are open to it. This will catch people off guard. They may initially get defensive, but if they are smart, they will remember and process this information later. I certainly would. I am teachable and I’m the one who might tell them to fuck off at first, but than spend some time thinking about what they said later and perhaps even write about it, had I not been exposed to such a viewpoint before.
The preacher from Center/Spiritual: He struck a similar chord of remembrance regarding something else. He said that rather than thinking in terms of law of attraction, he thinks in terms of “law of radiance”. What does this mean? If we cultivate radiance within ourselves and shine it outwards, other people on a similar path come around. He said it’s a different take on the same thing because if you think of this in terms of working/cultivating and then shining, you’re taking responsibility.
There’s someone out there right now thinking that if they just desire something hard enough, it will come their way. They will manifest it. Good luck. This spin of “radiance” highlights the need for action. The need to change your mind, however slowly. There is also an (as yet) unspoken truth in what I say here. The desire to change your mind requires work. Namely, getting out of your comfort zone. If we are dark and depressed, nothing is harder than cultivating radiance. If all we have ever known is abuse, darkness and disappointment, how uncomfortable is radiance, even if we want it?
You want that shining snow globe that you see in the shop window downtown. Are you uncomfortable when you grasp it in your hands? Does the idea of actually holding it in your hands overwhelm you, and so you choose to stay in a victim mindset instead of moving into a survivor mindset? This is something my therapist and I discussed just the other day.
I really liked this “radiance” spin and it’s something I’ll remember for a while. I’m not there right now, certainly. I’m not radiating much in the way of good vibes, but it’s a thing worth remembering for the future.
ZeroSpace 