Abundance
What is abundance to you?
And more specifically, what is an abundant life?
When I was growing up, no one ever asked me these questions. The main question was "what do you want to be when you grow up?" And then as a teenager, the question was: "What do you want to do for a living?" And of course, "are you going to college?"
I never had clear answers for any of these questions. Abundance was not even on the radar. I was motivated by fear. Fear of not getting a job. Fear of getting a job and hating it.
The formula was go to school, pick a college, pick a trade, and go to work. That's success brother. When are you going to get married and start a family? Have you thought about that?
The one thing that saved me through this time was my imagination, creativity, and curiosity. But I wonder how I would have answered the question: "what would an abundant life look like to you?" I’m sure I would have paused, then asked "What do you mean?"
I don’t know exactly where this is going, but let’s have some fun exploring. Let's step through the looking glass to the land of abundance. This is going to be exciting!
What is Abundance?
Definitions are always a good place to start. Stephen Covey, coined the phrase "abundance mentality" in his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People."
Covey doesn't give a concise definition but he describes some of the conditions for an abundance mentality (today the word "mindset" seems to be more popular).
The belief that there is plenty out there for everybody.
A deep inner sense of personal worth and security.
Generous in giving and sharing of credit or recognition.
Covey also describes the conditions and symptoms of not having an abundance mentality. He calls it a scarcity mentality.
What is Scarcity?
Steven Covey explained abundance by first describing scarcity mentality. It is helpful to know the symptoms in order to appreciate the cure.
We learn scarcity thinking, like everything else, from our experiences in life. We are trained to compete with one another in school. We are graded constantly. Scarcity thinking is that there is not enough for everybody so you must compete for your slice of the pie, or get an empty dish. The smart, beautiful, charismatic people get all the pie. To feel good about myself, I have to please others. These are just a few examples.
There are plenty of adults that carry the scars of life because they didn't have the a healthy belief system; something all humans need from childhood. These scars are stored as emotional memories. An abundance mindset is just one of the ways to dismantle and replace the beliefs we adopted.
There's More to Abundance
There is more to abundance than the mindset of "there is plenty out there for everyone." There are multiple ways to understand and experience abundance, everyone is unique. But as breathing applies to us all, so does abundance. Maybe abundance is like air, it's all around us. But if we don't breathe it, we don't experience it. If we don’t breathe abundance, it becomes something we strain for, like gasping for air.
I believe that in our spirit we want to say yes to abundance. We intuitively know we carry too many burdens. It's usually in the storms of life that we finally become open to help. It's no coincidence that there are metaphors associated with the power of water to refresh us and wash away the pain we have accumulated in life. Abundance has healing power as well as a sustaining power. It is a source of refreshment, an oasis for the soul.
So, what is abundance? How do we tap into abundance? How do we maintain abundance?
I look forward to exploring these questions more deeply in the next few weeks.
To your success!
What is your dream?
My dream is to write small but powerful books that simplify success, and plant them like seeds.
FOUNDER
My first book is "FOUNDER - How to Build a Foundation for your Dreams." You can read it FREE at www.jamesonsuccess.com/books.
BUILDER
My second book is "BUILDER - The five pillars of following your dream and building something that matters." You can read it FREE at www.jamesonsuccess.com/books.
If you know any dreamers who could greatly benefit from this article, feel free to forward this email to them. I believe success is learned and good ideas are seeds that need to be sown.