“The Abundance Mentality . . . flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity” (Stephen R. Covey).
DEPENDING ON WHAT MENTALITY WE ADOPT, WE’LL FIND THAT LIFE EITHER EXPANDS OR CONTRACTS. Seeing life through the lens of abundance, we find that life is, in fact, abundant. It offers us one exciting opportunity after another. But if we look at things through the lens of scarcity, we become defensive and competitive. If there’s not enough of the good stuff in life to go around, then we must guard the territory that we’ve staked out and keep our eye on those who might be plotting to take away from us what is ours. Under those conditions, life becomes a miserable business indeed. So think for a moment what a difference it would make to think “abundantly.”
Possessions. An abundant attitude toward material goods would mean that we’re not selfish or competitive. It would also mean that we’re deeply grateful for the goods that we’ve been blessed with.
People. Here, an abundant attitude would help us rise above suspicion and jealousy. It would mean eagerly helping others to become all they can be, with no fear that their success will hurt us.
Possibilities. Abundant thinking sees possibilities where others only see problems. It resists cynicism and keeps hope alive, always willing to work toward an increase in opportunity for one and all.
If life doesn’t “seem” or “feel” abundant to us, the problem is most likely inside us rather than outside. It’s probably not our circumstances that are scarce but our attitude. As far as the outside world is concerned, there’s a great deal of abundance to be enjoyed even in the midst of seemingly scarce circumstances. The happiest folks in the world are not always those who enjoy a wealth of external abundance, but those who’ve decided to live with the attitude of abundance. They’ve figured out that whatever shortage of some things there may be in the world, there is no scarcity of any of the better things. If those are the things we want, there is plenty for everybody and then some!
“Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance” (Jean Antoine Petit-Senn).
Gary Henry — WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
