Car radio station tuning
Lately, there is much is going on in world that could cause a person to feel concerned and anxious.
These worries or anxieties can foster a greater sense of scarcity. When you look at your life through a filter that is scarcity-oriented, it can fuel more negative thoughts or cognitions about what you are lacking.
As a psychotherapist, I believe that there are many reasons why a person might have more of an inclination toward a scarcity mindset. This could involve early childhood developmental traumas, inherited patterns and beliefs as well as societal influences. For more on scarcity mindsets, please read this article.
Instead of staying in the present moment, we spend a lot of time thinking about events that happened in our past.
We relive these memories repeatedly.
Alternately, we spend chunks of time worrying about what might happen in the future or wishing for a better tomorrow with the belief that this future will be our ticket to happiness.
The worry and the wishing tend to perpetuate the feelings of scarcity instead of abundance.
When your thoughts and your heart are constricted by worry, your energy centres can easily become blocked, and you inhibit your ability to attract healthy experiences and people in your life. You build a mental barrier that repeals abundance.
Basic tips for creating an abundance mindset:
- Even when you worry about something – ask yourself how likely it is that this worry will become a reality. Also consider the worst thing that could happen and who you need to reach out for help. (Please consider a mental health professional).This approach is a step in the cognitive reframing process. Please read my blog post on cognitive reframing.
- Look around and make a list or inventory of what you have including the people or person who support(s) you most. Keep the list handy. Suggestions for where to keep your list readily readable are on your phone, taped to your bathroom mirror or on your fridge door.
- Reflect on three things you’re grateful for each day. Research shows that building a gratitude practice is one of the most powerful to experience joy and abundance.
- Gentle nudge: please watch this 10-minute TED Talk by photographer Louis Schwarzberg called Gratitude.
Tune In
Changing your perspective from scarcity to abundance is akin to tuning into your favourite radio station.
When you’re feeling worried about something, trying to tune into the abundance station may feel undoable.
The hardest part is believing that this mindset shift from scarcity to abundance is worth your effort and attention. What have you got to lose by trying this approach?
Once you change your perspective, everything else becomes easier, lighter, and better.
I think Wayne Dyer said it best:
“Abundance is not something we acquire; it is something we tune into.”
Try tuning into a state of abundance and you’ll experience greater contentment in the present moment and be more aware of all the blessings in your life.
