How much do you *really* have?
Answering that question with your heart in a way that feels good is the essence of abundance.
I know, it’s hard to wrap my head around the concept too.
I grew up lower class with a single mom working 2 jobs. We strung popcorn for Christmas decor and still have the small star tree-topper made of cardboard, tinfoil, and a recycled twist tie. I love that tree topper more than the stupid one I bought from Pottery Barn (that fell apart after 2 years). That old tinfoil star still fills up my heart.
I think determining what we “really” have is a matter of the heart.
Again, Perspective wins.
As I grew up, my mom’s hard work paid off and so did the lessons she passed down to me along the way. I wasn’t afraid of working hard or being independent. Passed down from my grammie who was also a single mom most of her life, was this belief that daughters can do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. We have no limits! We have special gifts that only we can offer the world and we can be amazing.
But underneath all that girl power, were bills that were barely getting paid and what I thought were immaculate dinners, were really just creative bargain shopping. No matter what we were eating, the dinner table was set properly with all the right dishes and cutlery. We were proper ladies in my eyes.
Before there was a label for it, I guess I was conditioned to have a “growth mindset” which is really just the perspective you choose to see in life.
Over the years I’ve come to understand that it is also the foundation for an “abundance mindset” which has become quite a buzz word, but rightfully so. Now that so many people are really leaning into what abundance means and how important it is to our wellbeing, I am finding I have SO much to learn still – and that excites me!
Scarcity Mentality VS Abundant Mentality
This is where the skeletons come out of my closet. Like I said, I grew up lower class. As I got older I could see the behind the veil of positivity that the real world has no mercy. As I took my first jobs, I was in competition with the other employees to make sure my butt was covered before anyone else’s. My paychecks became my treasure and I was really good at saving, but only because I was afraid that if I spent it, I’d never have “enough.” I couldn’t see the big picture of how receiving and giving worked and how being an obsessive saver limited what was possible in my life.
I think how we treat money paints a really easy-to-understand picture for the scarcity vs abundant mentality… But when it comes to feeling abundant in our hearts, and our lives, it really comes down to learning how to love and accept ourselves first.
I know how hard that is.
Luckily you don’t have to figure it out alone, because I’m bringing my good friend Andrea (co-founder of All The Real Things and an amazing resource for me personally) into the New Girls Group this week to share more with you AND give us a tangible Life Practice Challenge to truly adopt that abundant mindset and know how good it feels to truly be/have/feel enough.
