“I try to be grateful for the abundance of the blessings that I have, for the journey that I’m on and to relish each day as a gift.” James McGreevey.

An abundant mindset is when you believe that there are enough resources for us all. When you think about life in this way, it takes on another meaning and has a different look and feel to it.

In life we have a choice about where we put our attention. We can focus on our weaknesses, our limitations, lack of opportunities and what’s missing in our life. We can have a lack of appreciation for our material possessions and what we’ve earned. This can be combined with not fully appreciating the people in our life and what they bring to us.

In contrast we can choose to focus our time and mind in an abundant way and appreciate all that we have including our possessions and the contributions people make to enrich our life.

We can have gratitude for our natural strengths and talents, the opportunities and all the experiences that we have and have had previously. In this state we will view any challenges we’ve encountered as a lesson or insight instead of a chance to see ourselves as a victim.

The mindset we choose to adopt will have an impact on our body and energy. When we think abundantly, we feel more optimistic and this helps us to feel lighter and more energised. As a result, we’re more likely to attract positive circumstances as our self-talk will be more empowering and drive positive behaviours which help to create great results.

Conversely, a scarcity mindset will have a negative impact on our mood and energy levels. Our bodies will feel heavy; our self-talk will be negative and create dis-empowering behaviours and poor results. This kind of mindset can be a self-fulfilling prophecy and create more results that reinforce a feeling of lack.

Thinking in an abundant way contributes to a feeling of security. It helps us to feel confident and have high self-worth levels. As a result, we feel secure when interacting with others. We form positive relationships, where we look to be collaborative rather than overly competitive and create “win/win” scenarios.

In contrast when we have feelings of lack, we may have difficulty sharing credit or recognising the contribution of others. The scarcity mentality is limiting and may mean that too much time and energy is wasted on conflict, negative thinking and repressing creativity. On the other hand, the abundant mentality is fearless; it’s free and immune to criticism.

In order to feel abundant, we need to get better at noticing and recognising what’s available to us in terms of opportunities, resources and choices. We aren’t wired to notice things or be particularly observant.

This was shown to be the case in a 1999 Harvard University study where they showed people a video of people passing a basketball around. Participants were asked to count the number of times the ball was passed, which sounds like a simple enough task.

After watching the video, the participants were asked if they had noticed anything unusual. More than half of them didn’t have a clue what the researchers were talking about. They had missed the fact that a person dressed as a gorilla had walked onto the court beat its chest and walked off.

This research shows that the mind sees what we tell it to see. In the experiment the brain was tasked with counting the number of passes not spotting a gorilla!

It doesn’t make us stupid if we fail to notice things, it just depends on what our brain has been primed to see.  If we focus on scarcity, we will find evidence to support this. If we want to notice abundance, we will find it.

In life, we get what we look for! What we choose to focus on grows.

This week, why not take a few moments to reflect and consider which mindset you adopt the majority of the time. Do you spend sufficient time thinking in an abundant way and noticing opportunity and things to appreciate?

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk