May 2, 2020
How are you living today?
As we continue to navigate the pandemic, we may feel a wave of emotions, as if life is like one large rollercoaster, with no breaks. For myself, I know that I feel overall protected yet some days I can be weighed down with uncertainty, anxiety and caution. Other moments I can feel an impending need to hold onto things. One morning while working from home, I had a sudden craving for fry bakes, a Caribbean dish of deep-fried dough. Immediately I headed to the kitchen, prepped the ingredients, and began kneading the dough with my latex gloves (I prefer not to get my hands dirty). Realizing I had to let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes before frying, I asked myself: should I get back to work or wait it out? I knew it would be more productive if I took my gloves off and returned to work, yet I held back. Why? Because I knew that if I took off my gloves, I’d have to toss them and use a fresh pair to prepare the dough for frying. Now, this might sound ridiculous to you, but to me it pointed to a deeper problem: my deep-rooted belief of scarcity. At my core I was struggling with the idea of lack or scarcity. Deep down I believed: there isn’t enough to go around, so I must hold on to whatever I have to avoid being at a disadvantage. This belief stemmed from my childhood and the way I was raised. It affects multiple aspects of my life, from deciding on which direction to take my business, to what to spend my money on. Today, the subject was whether or not I should be more productive or risk losing gloves that I need to manage the spread of the Coronavirus. However, I also knew that I had multiple boxes tucked away in my closet. I was a little sad that something as small as a pair of gloves could show me that I was still operating from a scarcity mindset.
Have you ever felt this way? Are there any situations that you can recall that demonstrate you are operating from a scarcity mindset?
If you have acknowledged the presence of this belief in your lives, what steps will you take to prevent yourself from accepting that there is never enough to go around so you should hold on to everything you have?
- Recall your childhood. Earlier I mentioned that it stemmed from the way I was raised. Hearing and seeing the ways in which my family members reacted to money and food sent me the message that I must use sparingly. Fast forward decades later, everything became seen through the lens of scarcity. Recall the mental environment you were brought up in to understand where your scarcity mindset stems from.
- Shift your focus. What do you have right now? Is there anything you can express gratitude for? Review your life and the opportunities you have been afforded. Shifting your focus to what you have instead of what you do not have allows the Creator to continue blessing you with more.
- Affirm your future blessings. I have thought about the negative situations I have been in. Each time I thought I was about to drown, I was handed a means of rescuing myself. If you trust in yourself and your abilities and that of the Creator, then you cannot lack anything because you already have all that you need right now. Affirm that whatever you need is on its way to you and will present itself when ready.
This is how I choose to live moving forward. It is a work in progress as is overcoming any negative thought pattern, but settling for a life without abundance is not an option at this point.
So, how are you living? Are you living with the limiting mindset of scarcity or lack? If yes, decide today how you will live life in abundance, and accept that you already have everything you need right now.
