Living from a Place of Plenty

We live in a world of paradox. Perhaps we always have – but the contrasts have never before been on display as they are now...

Scroll down any newsfeed, or click through the news channels and you’ll find breathtaking beauty alongside terrible brutality, exemplary courage followed by torrents of cowardice, excellence then glaring incompetence, and lavish excess beside dire lack.

Given this barrage of polar opposites, there are two common ways we tend to then see the world around us:

As a place of plenty, or as a place of lack.

Depending on which view we take, our thoughts, actions and indeed our entire lives will begin to be affected by it. From time to time, I’ve found it helpful to pull back from just ‘doing’ and reflect on my fundamental worldview and appreciate just how much it determines my actions… perhaps you’d like to do the same?

Do you have an abundance or scarcity mind-set?

To ascertain this, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you generally tend to think about opportunities and resources as finite and limited?
• In any given day, are you more aware of what you lack rather than what you currently have?
• Do you tend to see life and situations that arise as half-full or half-empty?
• Do you feel tempted to put yourself or others close to you at risk in order to get ahead?

If you answered yes to any of these questions – here’s the bad news: you’re suffering from a scarcity mind-set. And although this might sound counter-intuitive, this way of seeing the world is not helping you – it’s hindering you.

What’s so wrong with the scarcity mind-set?

Leading studies and experts agree: a scarcity mind-set leads to poorer mental health, less self-control and less alignment between our actions and our stated values. What’s more, if we believe that there is not really enough (opportunities, love, money, power) to go around, we limit our brain’s ability to optimally function and creatively problem solve. Over time, this has been shown to even lower our IQ!

In some circles, this kind of thinking is labelled ‘a poverty mentality’. Someone with this mindset is not necessarily poor in pocket, but deep inside. Material wealth is no insuarnce against this mentality – rich or poor, it afflicts us equally and is best diagnosed when we lunge to horde whatever we hold dear— betraying our deep-held conviction or fear that there won’t really be enough to go around.

Now for the good news: your mind-set is as malleable as your muscles. Having a scarcity mind-set needn’t be a life sentence.  Moving toward a healthier mind-set of abundance is possible.

It begins with first recognising and owning our current mind-set, and desiring to move away from it.

Practically, we may then need to dealing with any deep-seated trauma or memories of lack that have left their scars and lies of scarcity on our very psyches.

It will also entail learning how to spot the silver linings more.

And learning how to practice gratitude, grace and generosity every step of the way, as we slowly, falteringly, find our way back to living from a place of plenty.

God Speed!