As a child I was brought up with a strong “not enough” belief.
It certainly wasn’t anyone’s intention to instill this belief into me; it was just a very cemented belief that was passed down through the generations of my family as a result of the situations they were in at the time.
Like most families, over the years my family had experienced wars, rationing, and poverty. When I was born, although my family was doing OK compared to many, things were still tight: clothes and toys were always passed down from child to child, and money was always being counted as there was never enough.
So it’s no real surprise that the “not enough” belief followed me straight into adulthood and was especially prevalent around money.
In fact, my scarcity mindset was keeping me well and truly stuck in terms of my income, and I knew that if I wanted to start to change my income level, I definitely had to make the switch from scarcity to abundance.
I just didn’t know how.
Little did I know the universe has a lovely way of teaching what we really need.
It was a sunny Friday in April back in 2006 when my husband, our three children, I moved into our new home. It was a new build so the garden was empty apart from a lawn with a fence around the perimeter.
I have always loved gardening and in particular growing fruit and vegetables, so the first thing I did was plant a row of raspberry plants along one fence.
I thought, We all love raspberries so whilst I sort out what to do with the garden they can be doing their thing. And boy did they do their thing!
That summer we were inundated with raspberries. Everyday all five of us would stand in the garden eating our way along the hedge, only the next day there would be more. We picked endlessly.
We put them in the freezer. We gifted baskets of fruit to all of our family, friends, and neighbors…and still there was more.
I found myself saying. “There’s more…there’s always more,” multiple times a day, so much so that the saying became a running joke in our house. We’d even say it for other things just for fun, and without even realizing it, I started to believe it, and I began to notice that abundance all around.
Every time I was out in nature and saw flowers, leaves, or fruit on the trees—I noticed abundance.
Every time I saw a penny on the ground and went to pick it up—I noticed abundance.
Every time I was gifted a coffee by a friend—I noticed abundance.
And every time I got a new client—I noticed abundance.
It was then that I realized that abundance really was everywhere; I just hadn’t been taught to notice it.
So if you’d like to switch your mindset from scarcity to abundance, have a go at these tips:
1. Start to actively look for abundance around you
Whether it’s in nature, receiving gifts, or someone doing something nice for you, make a mental note as you go through your day of all the abundant things you see. You might also like to look back at times in your life when you felt you didn’t have enough and try to see where there was evidence of abundance.
2. Record evidence of abundance before you go to bed
Just before you go to sleep write down where you’ve experienced abundance that day and where you already have abundance in your life. Write “There’s always more,” at the end of each bullet point. This will help to cement your new belief whilst you’re sleeping.
3. Watch out for what you say
Look out for when scarcity appears in the language you use when you talk to yourself or others. For example: “There’s not enough time.” “We never have money when we need it.” “We’ll never be rich.”
When you spot it, pause for a second, take a breath, and say “No, what I meant was….” and then re-frame it to something much more abundance related such as: “We always have enough time to do everything,” or “There’s always more money.”
4. Practice gratitude
Daily gratitude is a great habit to get into, and it can also really help with your abundance mindset. Every time you experience abundance, lean into gratitude and really feel the emotion to give it a bit more “oomph.”
5. Celebrate the abundance that you don’t yet have as though you have it
This habit stops you from falling into the trap of noticing abundance and then getting frustrated as you’re not yet seeing the abundance in other areas of your life. You can do this by journaling about all the things you want to attract as though you’ve already received them.
An abundance mindset can be cultivated in your life by giving yourself permission to notice abundance and practicing that on a regular basis. Give it a try.
