12 Tips to Cultivate an Abundance Mindset
Have you seen all the buzz recently on social media around the topic of abundance and scarcity mindsets?
It’s a hot topic right now, as altering our perspective has gained traction in recent years as the main way to help us grow and have fulfilling lives.
Definitions are not that difficult to get your head around, but what does take effort is being honest enough with yourself to work out which mindset you are predominantly living in!
The abundant mindset is one characterised by an open-minded, adventurous approach to our existence. When living in abundance, we are grateful for what we currently have: our striving for more comes from ambition, not from our present state not being enough for us. Financially, we assume ourselves to afford everything that we need, and are confident that more money will be forthcoming. In abundance, whilst we must work and provide effort to grow, we have an assumption that we are worthy and deserving of growth in all areas of our lives. We will always have enough: it is life’s banquet table.
Scarcity mindsets, on the other hand, are far less pleasant to be in, and we spend our lives constantly thinking that we don’t have enough. We are convinced that we are somehow not good enough to grow our business, expand our career, or earn enough money for that new car. The more convinced of this we become, the more resentful we get of our present situation, and the further we fall into the scarcity mindset. We presume that we will never have enough, often blaming others (e.g. the government’s welfare assistance, your workplace’s lack of a wage rise, and so on) for what we see as our misfortune.
Even from the briefest of definitions, I think we can all agree that the relative calm of the abundance mindset seems preferable to the bleakness of living with scarcity on the brain. At this point, it seems worth clarifying that we probably all drift between scarcity and abundance mindsets, dependent on the topic at hand — perhaps you have a scarcity mindset around money, but an abundant one about giving and receiving love.
I don’t want a neutral mindset. I don’t want to simply reduce my scarcity mindset. I want to nurture and grow in abundance, and this is what the tips in this blog will help you to do, too! Remember, though, that not everything has to change all at once — growing an abundance mindset is about time and patience!
“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.”
Dr Wayne Dyer
Here are the top tips I use daily to try and promote an abundant mindset in myself…
What do you have already? — In the past, I got hung up on all the things I didn’t have (i.e. a classic symptom of the scarcity mindset). By being grateful for the things I do have, I’ve now taught myself a level of gratitude that is in alignment with living in abundance. Perhaps you might think about starting a gratitude journal to list your thanks every day, or perhaps an affirmation that reminds you of how lucky you already are.
Be careful what you wish for — It’s easy to feel frustrated about certain things that we don’t have, but the faster we attain all of these things, the more that a convention named hedonic adaptation will set in. This means that the more things we get that we believe will contribute to our lives, the less they do — we gradually speed up the extent to which we adapt to having something new in our lives, until the new things don’t matter at all. Isn’t it better to not have everything at once, and enjoy the sense of delayed gratification? Remember how you felt as a child on Christmas Day — pretty glad to have presents that take you by surprise — and think about how you can use that in your own life.
Abundance is compatible with goals — Just because we are grateful for what we have now, it does not mean that we must settle: it is perfectly okay to be ambitious, to want more, to desire progress. We often have enough — for example, we would never go out to a restaurant, if we only expressed gratitude for the food in our refrigerator, rather than striving to try more exotic, better prepared food at a fancy eatery. Carol Dweck writes about the ‘growth mindset’, where we are open-minded for the future and for things to happen to us: this isn’t about not being grateful for the present, it’s about being excited and open to progress.
Time is as good a donation as money — One of the things that seems to be common in abundant people is that they are willing to give up whatever they can for the benefit of others. Everyone immediately assumes that a donation has to be one of money, but it doesn’t — it could be that you spend time helping a charity, or offer your particular skillset to someone for no payment, or even simply offering up love, support and emotional connection to someone in need. We all have many things that we can give away to benefit others: we just need to be more creative, if we’re not in a position to donate financially.
The scarcity mindset isn’t all bad?! — That’s a pretty controversial statement right there! There appears to be a strong correlation between a scarcity mindset and creative ability — the more abundant people became (both in mindset, and in terms of actual wealth), the more their IQ rose, and the more their creative innovation dropped. We are the lucky ones, since we know that this research exists, and can now make the effort to be more actively creative and foster innovation, despite being of an abundant mindset. Just because we can afford the sandwich bags for our kids with cartoon characters on them, it doesn’t mean we can’t reuse the bag from the bread to store their sandwiches instead!
Spirituality is not a swear word — I am not talking about religion here, unless that is your source of hope and faith, but genuine spirituality and connection with yourself. By getting to fully know ourselves, through some kind of spiritual practice (meditation, yoga, reiki are just a few examples), we see that we have a future ahead of us. We can engage with our future, and begin to let the knowledge we have of the future seep into our current thinking, thus making us more hopeful and abundant. A scarcity mindset is very ‘tunnel-visioned’: if you’re able to develop a sense of the future, a reassurance that great things are to come, it is easier to be open-minded and live in abundance.
Celebrate others — If we can recognise the successes of others, getting excited for them, and raising them up with our joy for them, we can also create a surge of positive emotion for ourselves. In abundancy, there is no limit to how many people get to share the success cake, there’s more than enough to go around, so no need for the envy and jealousy that are rooted in scarcity.
The glass isn’t just half-full, it’s overflowing — Optimism is really important when it comes to cultivating a more abundant mindset, since there is a need for us to be able to be open-minded and assume that everything will turn out as it should. The more positive we can become about our current situation, the more we open ourselves up to gaining more of what we are grateful for. If we are stuck focussing on scarcity, we will never get out of that mindset.
Don’t be afraid to dream — Sometimes, we can feel lost in terms of where we want to be right now, no matter how positive our mindset is. We need to allow ourselves to dream about the things that we can achieve, the things that are open to us to explore, and the idea that we can go anywhere we wish to. This is a symptom of abundancy: we see a life without limits.
Get a new dictionary — It’s time to change up the negative language, removing the hackneyed phrases about things not being enough from your vocabulary. It can be hard to notice this at first, but the more you pay attention to your words (i.e. the things your subconscious is constantly picking up on), the more you’ll be able to see where you can shift your thinking patterns. What loving things could you say to yourself and others? How can you talk to yourself when you make a mistake, instead of getting angry?
Start seeing in graytone — Life is rarely ‘black and white’, so why are our thought processes? If we learn to be neutral about the situations that feel challenging or uncomfortable, we will be able to grow from them. Starting to see challenges as learning experiences will help us grow; blaming and getting angry with the situation does nothing, merely pandering to a scarcity mindset.
Consistency is your friend — Think about a houseplant: we water it regularly, and we give it food to nurture it. That plant thrives, it grows abundantly — lots of lush green leaves, beautiful flowers. Think of another houseplant: we pop it in the corner, water it when we remember, and never offer it plant food. That plant may survive, but it has a scarcity of withered leaves and no flowers. If we are consistent in practising abundant thinking, we stand far more chance of developing the full abundant mindset that we desire.
In conclusion, we are able to change our mindset from one of scarcity to one of abundance, but it does take time and effort. We are far more likely to thrive and enjoy life if we’re able to adopt an abundant mindset, and so it becomes really worthwhile to work on ourselves using the tips above.
