Overcoming the Illusion of Scarcity
On the way home from football practice, my ravenous teenage son asked me what’s for dinner. I replied that I didn’t know, but we'd figure it out. As soon as we got home, he looked in the fridge and the pantry and cried that we had nothing to eat. "That’s not what I see," I replied, encouraging him to take a hot shower while I got busy. Not long after, we sat down to a colorful, nutritious, and delicious Thai-inspired dinner, cobbled together with what I had found in our kitchen and herb garden. My son raved as he devoured it all and asked for seconds.
Despite his tired and hungry state, my son had been trapped in a mindset of scarcity, unable to focus on anything but his perceived lack of food. Fortunately, I had been practicing an abundance mindset. Believing that there was more than enough, I could search for evidence of what we already had and express gratitude for the ingredients I found. I could envision possibilities and combine them to create something new, something even more satisfying that we would all relish.
A scarcity mindset often leads us to fixate on what we lack, whether it's time, money, love, or something else entirely. It traps us in negative thought patterns, preventing us from seeing alternatives. The good news is that this scarcity mindset is just a story, and we can choose to change the narrative. We can tell a different story, one of an abundance mindset, where there's plenty for everyone.
The holiday season can evoke fear in even the most agile thinkers. We may worry:
I won’t have enough time.
I won’t have enough money.
I won’t have enough energy.
I won’t have the right attire, the right invitations, or the right company.
I'll feel lonely.
I'll be overwhelmed.
I'll be unhealthy.
I'll have to deal with inclement weather, travel disruptions, or family conflicts.
It will be tough, tedious, joyless, and draining.
When we shift from a scarcity mindset, fueled by fear, to an abundance mindset, characterized by tranquility, we suddenly find that even more of what we desire materializes. It's as if we've unlocked additional reserves of time, money, and energy that we could have never foreseen:
I have more than enough time.
I have more than enough money.
I have more than enough energy.
What if we focused on what we have right now, at this very moment? What if we surrounded ourselves with positive people? What if we practiced gratitude and created win-win solutions? What if we granted ourselves the freedom to explore other possibilities?
Our Turbo Thinking© brains thrive on novelty and are captivated by the allure of new and shiny things. Yet, we can also rejuvenate what's right in front of us. We can take stock of what we already possess, rediscover, and recreate. We can combine and connect. We can revive and refresh.
What if you believed that you already possessed what you desire, even if you couldn't see it yet? When my son and I returned from practice, there wasn't a piping-hot, delicious meal set on the dinner table... yet. But it was already there, in the kitchen, waiting to be prepared. It was awaiting the right mindset, a touch of motivation, and a dash of culinary magic to manifest before our eyes, ready to be savored with gusto and gratitude.