Most people make decision from either a place of scarcity (fear based thinking) or abundance (trust based thinking). It is very important to know when scarcity thinking plays a part in your decision making as it may be sabotaging you from moving forward either in your life or your business.

Scarcity Thinking | Scarcity Mindset

In scarcity thinking, people may fear they do not have enough time, money, love, trust to do what they want, so they do not act. It is thinking based on fear; and produces a feeling of anxiety, worry, stress, constriction and tightness in the chest. You can recognise thoughts that are scarcity based by the way you feel … we have all felt that feeling at some time!

Limiting Beliefs and Thoughts

Limiting beliefs and thoughts are what form scarcity thinking. How often do you think?

• I’m so stupid
• I’m useless at ….
• Why does it always happen to me?
• It’s easy for you
• I’m so unlucky
• I’ll never be able to do that
• People can’t be trusted
• I was never any good at….

All your power, energy and potential restrained by a belief you cannot escape.

Example: Playing Golf

• Limiting belief – “I never win”
• I don’t practise much “What’s the point”
• I imagine losing “They’ll play better than me”
• “I lose motivation”
• “I play half heartedly”
• I focus on my bad shots – “I always do that”
• “I play worse”
• “I lose”

To move forward in your life, business and relationships, you need to be aware of when you are using a scarcity mindset, how this is affecting you and act to shift your mindset to that of a trust based, abundant mindset.

Abundant Thinking | Abundant Mindset

“To look upon the appearance of poverty will produce corresponding forms in your own mind. Instead you must hold to the truth that there is no poverty. There is only abundance.”
— Wallace D. Wattles

“Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty.” — Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich

What is Abundant Thinking

An Abundance Mentality basically means being of the mindset that there is plenty out there for everyone. There are many benefits to having a mentality that is secure and confident that there is plenty for all, and which focuses on a “Win/Win” situation when making choices, decisions and interacting with others.

Further, in Abundant Thinking people believe that even if they do not at the moment have all they need to accomplish something, it will present itself where and when they need it. This type of thinking requires the ability to have trust in whatever it is that you need and to know you will receive it when you need it. Most people are not wired to think this way, even naturally positive people, and it is particularly hard for people who are pessimists by nature.

The Law of Abundance

The Law of Abundance is an abiding principle within universal laws. It is the simple fact that there is an unlimited Source of everything we need or could ever want. This great abundance is already ours, infinitely available to all of us all the time.

Yet most people are breaking this law daily! As they buy into the belief of scarcity, lack and fear. Let’s face it. Living in scarcity, lack, and financial bondage is no way to live. Consequently, it is pertinent to tap into the energy which governs abundance.

So, where do we begin? We begin with our thoughts. Our thoughts are seeds … seeds we must cultivate in order to produce what we truly want in our lives. To do that we must shift our mindset by changing our thought patterns, beliefs and attitudes. This is not easy, but it can be done!

Abundance Motivation

A key part of abundant thinking is abundance motivation, sometimes called appreciative-assertive thinking. That is, a willingness to share your abundance (be it knowledge, resources, time, etc) with others.

In scarcity thinking expectations powerfully skew your thinking to the negative (lack, fear, etc). In abundance thinking you do not nurture expectations, being grateful for what you have. The world does not owe you a living. It doesn’t owe you anything. But neither will it deny you anything if you honestly believe its abundance is just waiting for you. What we have to remember is that abundant thinking does not guarantee anything. If we start believing that abundant thinking will definitely bring us wealth and riches, or anything else that we strive for, we have arrived back at expectations again. All you have to do is accept the good things in your life, be grateful for them, and know that if you do want more there is an abundance out there waiting to be tapped, and it is your positive attitude that will far more readily allow you to tap into it.

How to be an Abundant Thinker

Want to live in abundance? Want to learn to practice the Law of Abundance? Then, the first principle in learning to operate according to the Law of Abundance is, “Energy follows thoughts.” This is referred to as the principle of Expectations. The truth is irrefutable. We don’t always get what we want. We don’t always get what we need, but we always get what we expect. For example, if you are a money hoarder, then you are thinking “I expect to run out of money one day.” Accordingly, energy follows this thought and you run out of money one day.

Thus to shift your mindset to that of an abundant mindset, we start with our awareness of ourselves, our thoughts, our thought patterns, beliefs and attitudes. Next we need to train our thoughts to follow different patterns from scarcity patterns.

And to do this we need to change:

• what we think
• what we say (linguistics)
• our environment
• the images we see
• our actions

When we change our language, our thoughts will also change. Our positive thoughts will then feed back into our language creating a perpetual circle and abundance.

To change your environment … think of putting things in your environment which you find attractive. Place things around you representing abundance to you. They do not have to be expensive, just something you value.

Another way to think of this from the human interaction perspective is to create an environment where both parties to an interaction seek a mutual benefit in the human interaction which realises in a win/win for both. This is beneficial to all as it strengthens the relationships between parties, gives a freedom from fear, facilitates more integrity and maturity, provides immunity to criticism, and gives us the ability to experience a unique freedom of mind and heart.

To change the images you see … use visualisations of the life you want to live; visualise abundance through meditation and your thoughts will change.

To change your actions … act like a successful person who believes he has enough of what he wants and needs. Act like the richest man or woman on the planet (note, your riches do not need to be money, they can be spiritual, emotional, or money) and eventually the energy around you will change. You will see abundance manifesting in your life.

Enabling Beliefs

So what are some enabling beliefs we could cultivate:

• I’m clever
• I’m good at …
• I achieve my goals
• It is easy to do for me
• I’m so lucky / happy
• I can do that
• People are so reliable, trustworthy
• I’m getting better at … every day

Copyright: bugphai / 123RF Stock Photo

Affirmations

• Affirmations are short, positive declarations or self-instructions.
• Repeated often they will change limiting beliefs into enabling beliefs.
• You will need to write them down and repeat them to yourself out loud several times a day for 21 days.
• By the end of the three weeks the behaviour will be natural.

The following suggestions can also be used to change your mindset:

• Ask yourself a different set of questions.   Asking yourself how you can make the most of the situation or how can you thrive instead of survive is a very different set of questions than asking yourself “why me?” or “what’s the use in trying?”
• Adopt a different set of assumptions. For example, rather than assume there’s not enough, assume there’s more than enough and you just need to find it. Keep in mind that you should always test your assumptions, but adopting a different set of assumptions can help you reach different conclusions you might not otherwise explore.
• Adopt a different set of metaphors. For example, rather than life as a tragedy, you could see life as a drama with comedy interspersed.
• Wear a different hat. Similar to a metaphor, you can change your mindset by changing your metaphorical “hat.”

Next week we will be looking at The Nature of Change and How Mindset Affects Change in “Mindset: Part 3 – How Mindset Affects Change”.