The POWER to be HAPPY 😎

In this article, we will focus on how to shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset through gratitude, creativity, community and intentional living and learn how to create more abundance in your life.

Abundance isn’t just something you attract. It’s something you help create. We live in a world overflowing with abundance. All you have to do is look around. Every tree produces thousands of leaves. A single sunflower can contain hundreds of seeds. An apple contains seeds capable of producing entire trees, which can eventually produce thousands more apples. Oceans stretch farther than our eyes can see. Ideas multiply when they are shared. Love doesn’t become smaller when we give it away.

Nature itself seems to whisper the same message over and over: Life was designed to create.

And yet, somehow, many of us have been conditioned to live as though there will never be enough. We are constantly being manipulated and bombarded with messages of fear and scarcity. There is a constant worry in today’s society that there is not enough…

Not enough money. Not enough opportunity. Not enough time. Not enough food. Not enough success. Not enough customers. Not enough love. Not enough for everyone.

Fear tells us to grab what we can before someone else gets it. Abundance asks a completely different question: What if there is more possibility here than I can currently see?

Scarcity is More than a Bank Balance

Scarcity is not simply having less money or fewer resources. Real hardship exists, and “positive thinking” should never be used to dismiss someone’s circumstances. But scarcity can also become a mindset.

When we repeatedly consume messages telling us that everything is falling apart, resources are disappearing, everyone is competing against us, and the future should terrify us, our world begins to shrink.

And maybe most importantly, we begin making decisions from fear instead of possibility. Fear says, What if there isn’t enough? Abundance says, What can we create with what we have?

Those two questions can produce completely different lives.

Gratitude is Where Abundance Begins

One of the simplest ways to interrupt scarcity thinking is gratitude. Not because gratitude magically erases our problems, because it doesn’t. Gratitude just changes what our minds are trained to notice.

“When you focus on what you have, what you have begins to feel like more. – Lissette Rozenblat

When we constantly focus on what is missing, we can overlook what is already surrounding us: food in the refrigerator, clean water, someone who loves us, a body that carried us through another day, knowledge available at our fingertips, a text from a loved one, another sunrise, another conversation, another opportunity to begin again.

Gratitude doesn’t mean you stop wanting more. It means you stop overlooking the abundance you already have  There is enormous power in that distinction. You can be grateful for now and excited for what comes next.

Someone Else’s Success Does Not Take Away Yours

One of the most destructive ideas scarcity teaches us is that another person’s success somehow reduces our chances of succeeding. But someone else’s business succeeding doesn’t prevent you from building yours. Someone else’s beauty doesn’t diminish yours. Someone else’s relationship doesn’t steal your opportunity for love. Someone else’s creativity doesn’t use up the world’s supply of ideas. Someone else’s light does not make yours darker.

In fact, sometimes another person’s success simply proves that something is possible.+

Instead of asking, Why them? Try asking: What can their success teach me about what might also be possible for me?

That one shift changes envy into curiosity and competition into inspiration.

Abundance is Also Community

I think we sometimes make abundance far too individualistic. It becomes my dream, my money, my manifestation, my success. But some of humanity’s greatest abundance has always come from cooperation.

• Neighbors helping neighbors.
• Farmers feeding communities.
• Small businesses supporting families.
• Friends sharing opportunities.
• Someone teaching another person a skill.
• People exchanging knowledge.
• Families caring for children and elders.
• Communities coming together after disasters.

This is abundance too.

So, whenever possible:

• Buy something from the local farmer.
• Support the small restaurant.
• Recommend your friend’s business.
• Share someone’s work.
• Teach someone what you know.
• Check on your neighbor.
• Grow something.
• Trade skills.
• Give away what you no longer need.
• Introduce two people who might be able to help one another.
• Spend some of your money within your own community.

Abundance doesn’t only mean having more. Sometimes abundance means circulating more of what we already have.

Our Minds Are More Powerful Together

There is another fascinating part of this conversation: collective belief. We don’t need to make exaggerated scientific claims about thoughts magically controlling physical reality to recognize something extraordinary about human consciousness. Ideas change reality because ideas change human behavior.

Every movement, invention, organization, business, community and cultural transformation began somewhere inside the human imagination.

Someone imagined something that didn’t exist yet. Then other people believed in it, they talked about it, they organized around it, and they built it. What began as thought eventually became behavior and behavior changed the physical world. That is incredibly powerful.

Now imagine millions of people constantly focusing on fear, division, hatred and helplessness. What kinds of decisions might that collective mindset produce? Now imagine more people focusing on creativity, compassion, cooperation, solutions and possibility.  What might that produce?

Our individual thoughts matter because they influence our choices. And collectively, our choices become culture. When we grow as individuals and become better as human beings, we affect the collect in a more positive way.

The Universe is Creative and So Are You

Whether you think about this spiritually, philosophically or simply through the lens of nature, one truth is difficult to ignore:

• Creation is happening everywhere.
• Stars form.
• Plants grow.
• Cells regenerate.
• Ideas evolve.
• People invent.
• Artists create.
• Entrepreneurs solve problems.
• Communities rebuild.

Human beings have always had an extraordinary ability to turn what exists first only in the imagination into something real. Every song, book, business, home, garden, technology, movement, and new way of living began as an idea in someone’s mind before it ever existed in the physical world.  Someone had to imagine the possibility first, believe in it enough to pursue it, and then take the actions necessary to bring it to life. You are part of that same creative process. The ideas, dreams, solutions, and possibilities within you have the potential to become something tangible when you give them your attention, intention, effort, and courage.  

Your circumstances may limit some of your choices today, but they do not necessarily define every possibility available tomorrow. Sometimes the next chapter begins with a surprisingly small question: What can I create from here?

Abundance is Not Just Something You Attract

This may be the most important part. Don’t only wait for abundance. Become a source of it; learn to create opportunities everywhere you can. 

Here are some things you can do:

• Encourage people.
• Share information.
• Grow food.
• Build businesses.
• Make art.
• Teach children.
• Support someone’s dream.
• Pay someone fairly.
• Give compliments freely.
• Help someone make a connection.
• Create something useful.
• Spend intentionally.
• Love generously.

The more abundance we create for others, the more abundance we begin to see in our own lives. When we give, share, support, create, connect and help one another, we stop seeing the world only through the lens of what is missing and begin noticing how much possibility already surrounds us.

Maybe abundance isn’t something we simply wait for the Universe to give us. Maybe we’re meant to help create it with our choices, our actions, our ideas, our generosity and the way we show up for one another.

Imagine What We Could Create

This is one of the most important things to really ask when we are analyzing the topic of abundance and daily life. What if we stopped viewing each other as primarily competitors?

What if communities became more interested in cooperation than comparison? That would change everything.

What if we taught children not only how to make money, but how to create value?

What if we supported local growers, makers, entrepreneurs, artists and small businesses?

What if instead of constantly asking, What am I going to lose? we occasionally asked: What could we build together?

There is enough creativity. There is enough knowledge. There is enough human ingenuity. There is enough compassion. There are enough ideas waiting to be discovered.

And when something truly is scarce, human beings possess an extraordinary ability to innovate, cooperate and create more.

So today, begin with gratitude. Look around and acknowledge what is already good. Then look forward.

• Dream.
• Create.
• Share.
• Support someone.
• Plant something, literally or metaphorically.

And remember: Abundance isn’t believing that everything will magically appear. Abundance is believing that there is always something we can appreciate, something we can contribute, something we can create, and some possibility we haven’t discovered yet.

Maybe the question isn’t whether the Universe has enough for us. Maybe the better question is: What could happen if enough of us stopped living from fear and started creating from possibility?

Abundance isn’t sitting around waiting for your dream life to manifest. It’s recognizing the resources you have now and using them to build toward what you want next. It is using that mindset and the tools you have and aim to make the world a better happier, more peaceful place. That is where abundance begins.

Don’t just wait for abundance to find you. Become someone who creates it. 💛