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Abundance Mindset:

I have talked about perception filters before and how they can shape my life and the way that I live. One of those filters keeps being a struggle for me to change, but it is one that when I am able to have it in place enhances my life by leaps and bounds. That filter is seeing the world with an abundance mindset. This means that I see the challenges in my life with the outlook of having everything I need to overcome them. In the past, and due to my past, I have always seen life with a scarcity mindset. I didn’t think I had the time, or the money, or the ability to overcome the challenge that was facing me. This lead to a perpetual state of denying myself those things that would make me happy because I didn’t have the resources to spend on those things. Changing that outlook changes things in a fundamental way.

The change is something that I am able to do from time to time in my life and it has nothing to do with suddenly finding extra hours in the day or making more money than I was last week. It is a filter that I put in place and it does several very important things in my brain. The first change I find is that I am less stressed. Instead of denying myself joys that enhance my life, I indulge in those joys. Sometime I would indulge in them even with a scarcity mindset, but I would always felt guilty about the time or money I spent to indulge. The number of video games I felt guilty playing because I spent money on them is staggering really.  The second change is in how I see the challenge in front of me. With a scarcity mindset, the challenge would be insurmountable and I would force myself to walk away. I would tell myself that I was saving time or saving money, but in reality I was backing down from a challenge. Changing into an abundance mindset has changed that outlook completely.

So what does the abundance mindset do for me? First of all, I find that when I indulge in something, I can truly be present and joyful in what I am doing. I no longer feel that guilt because I am stepping outside the time or money I have. It also changes those challenges to my time or money into something that is there to overcome rather than something to run away from. The belief that I have the time or money to achieve what I want makes the process of finding that time and money into something that I have faith I can achieve instead of a hard block on my progress. This means that I face those challenges and grow at the same time. This is a wonderful aspect to the journey that I have undertaken.

I am also finding interesting ways to look at aspects of my life that keep me happy and healthy mentally. For example, my wife and I are creating a budget. In the past when we did such a thing it has been a reinforcing factor in my scarcity mindset, a solid example of not having enough money for the things that I actually wanted. This time is different with the abundance mindset in place. I am seeing this budget as a method to help direct myself at the things that I want. It becomes a tool to overcome those challenges and thus is actually a reinforcing factor to that abundance mindset. The new direction and focus the budget will give me is a wonderful boon to this change that I am working on creating in my life.

How can an abundance mindset work for you? What aspects of your life are you focusing on a scarcity mindset and how will those change when you change your perception filter?