Abundance.

Abundance versus scarcity. This has crossed my radar a few times in the last week. It showed up in a book one of my kids was reading. I heard someone talking about it on the radio. It was mentioned in a class I was taking. I saw the word “abundance” written in large letters on a piece of artwork at the elementary school. When something like that starts popping up multiple times I believe there’s probably something to be learned.

In the book, on the radio, and in the class, abundance was described as a state of having enough for everyone. You’re not going to run out. There’s plenty to go around for all. Scarcity, on the other hand, is described as only having enough for some people. There’s not enough for everyone, so you better get yours quick or they may not be any left.

These two concepts lead to different feelings for me. With abundance, I feel peaceful, calm, cooperative, more comfortable with allowing things to unfold. With scarcity, I feel tense, anxious, competitive, more intent on trying to control things. After reflecting on this, I think I see the message the universe is trying to send…

If I were my own best friend, I would tell myself to think about things from an abundance mindset (not a scarcity mindset). There’s enough for everyone. Cooperate. Work together. Life is fuller. Possibly happier. And I may be calmer.

Do you find yourself drawn to one mindset compared to another? Do you feel a difference when you think about things in life being abundant versus scarce?

As a caveat, I have the privilege of writing this from a place where I have access to food, water, shelter, electricity, clothing, medical care, public schools for my children, and so on. I wonder if I lived somewhere without access to say, water, would my views on abundance vs. scarcity change? Or does it become even more important to have some kind of faith that there will be enough for everyone (even though the reality is resources are scarce). Interesting food for thought, I think.