I had a battle with scarcity mentality this year. Not because I don’t have enough. Because we absolutely do. I did really well this year as a farmer/gardener/ food preservation technician ( I made that last title up).
We have three main fears when it comes to scarcity: food, time and money.
Scarcity mentality is the sinking, stresssful, almost panicky feeling that we don’t have enough. And because of that feeling we can’t relax enough to enjoy what we have, or see opportunity for sharing and giving around us. We hold so tight to whatever we are are scared of not having enough of, and we repeat the mantra: “I don’t have enough”. We do this subconsciously, in actions and actually out loud sometimes. Not having enough money/time/food is one thing but constantly living in fear you don’t? It can drive poor decisions stemming from that desperation leading to even more dire circumstances.
I first experienced this in healthcare with time. Let me tell you, not having enough time is just a symptom of the problem there, but that’s another story for another day.
Anywho, I was doing up farm baskets and I was having to remind myself as I put all our wonderfully grown food into the baskets, “I have enough”. I had to fight fear of scarcity coming over me.
It was a good thing to recognize because once you know you are doing it, you can start to talk yourself down off the ledge. “We have more than we need .” “I made/grew/raised extra specifically to share.” “People are really going to love having homegrown food under their trees.”
I almost let myself be hauled under by the doom and gloom in the mainstream world and almost missed an opportunity to see how I could help get good food to more people.
Whew, that was a close one.
Love Jenn xx
