From Scarcity to Abundance

Have you ever noticed that humanity seems to be heading towards a cliff? We debate and scientifically test which way is the best way, taking the extra precautionary steps to ensure which way is best, all while heading towards the edge of the cliff. Eventually we are going to have to act, and change the course we are on. Our problem is that we cannot seem to move unless we have all the factors taken into consideration. This is a result of a mindset that has been ingrained into our thinking minds for hundreds of years.

 

Our modern society adopts a scarcity mindset – meaning we think our resources are inherently scarce and that they will eventually run out. This mindset affects our behaviours, choices and the way we think and feel. 

 

Scarcity mindset can also be described as being so focused on the lack of something, that you can’t seem to do the task at hand.

 

A great example of this would be climate change conventions – there is much worry about the changing climate and how it could destroy the world, while in the meantime there is little significant action to face the real problems of the world.

 

This is a result of a viewpoint that the world is inherently scarce and that things are limited in time, or quantity, and there is nothing you can do about it. This mindset has plagued our species for eons.

 

Now, approaching problems from a scarcity standpoint is natural, and not inherently bad. It is necessary to be sure about the health and safety of a product before it is sold in stores, and one may need to look at things from a view of scarcity or lack thereof to understand what could go wrong. However, problems occur when we think in scarcity for too long and for too many things. This way we become hindered by our own precaution. Balance is key. 

 

So what exactly is a scarcity mindset and how is it so detrimental?

 

The scarcity mindset tends to be linear, short term, and based on fear and greed. Fear that resources will run out. Fear that the world is unsafe. Feeling that human beings are separate from nature. Feelings of self worth/status coming from material possessions. Feeling that you cannot change the world for the better, or there is no hope in trying. Scarcity mindset will have you living and acting out of fear. 

 

Living in fear is a disempowering mindset to have – both mentally and physically.

 

The global industrial growth culture adopts the scarcity mindset way of thinking while paradoxically using resources as if they were infinite. This is madness and change is inevitable whether or not we change our behavior. 

 

Let’s take Nestlé for example: They extract millions of gallons of water from an Indigenous Reserve in Canada at merely a fraction of the cost while marking it up immensely to sell for a profit, even after the locals told Nestlé they do not consent. This happens while the residents on the Reserve do not even have clean drinking water which was promised by the Canadian Government. Absolutely unacceptable.

 

So, how exactly does the scarcity mindset send us on a downward spiral?

 

Culturally adopting the scarcity mindset has led us towards unhealthy lifestyles leading to all sorts of problems like the toxic chemical soup we find ourselves in, a collapsing economic system, a school system setting us up for failure, a failing medical system and so on. Wherever we have a scarcity mindset ingrained in us – we have problems that need solutions.

 

When people operate on a scarcity level they will tend to hoard, or hold onto things out of fear. This causes problems for everyone involved because everything in nature is designed to ebb and flow, live and die, buy and sell, and by hoarding things like our time, energy, or resources we create stagnant energy. 

 

Stagnant energy clogs the entire system, not allowing things to flow naturally. Think of the human vascular system. When there are clogs/clots there is a possibility for life threatening problems. 

 

This stagnant energy caused by a scarcity/hoarding mindset affects all of our systems in place today. Flow is essential.

 

Society as a living organism.

 

The majority of systems in our society work similarly to the human body. We have feedback systems that allow us to reach a state of homeostasis or balance. Everything is connected in one way or another and if one thing is out of balance then the whole system suffers, and needs recalibration. 

 

Our education system is clogged up for many reasons – primarily because we have a problem of poor educators regurgitating poor education, and thus creating poor educators – completing the cycle of bad education. 

 

Our medical system has arguably one of the worst spirals of erosion in our society: a person has a disease – their symptoms are treated with a drug that causes side effects – they develop other diseases (side effects) – they get more drugs to treat the new disease leading to more side effects. The healthcare system is a victim to its own success.

 

Similarly, our economy creates dependency by giving out aid, which creates more dependency. Teach them how to fish, instead of fishing for them.

 

The common factor is stagnation – these systems all suffer because there is one part of the system that is lacking creating a clog, which in turn creates a downward spiral of erosion that gets worse over time until the root problem is dealt with.

 

If you’re not getting better you’re getting worse, there is no neutral – same is true for systems in society.

 

The good part is we have the chance to choose if we want to change our circumstances before our circumstances change before us. We have the ultimate power. 

 

What can we do?

 

The common response to these problems just presented is “there aren’t enough resources to make it better”, or it’s “business as usual”. This is the scarcity mindset at play. Just because things are normalized, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are right. Spraying DDT on kids, pregnant women smoking cigarettes, and asbestos were all normalized, and we know now those things are not healthy for us. Things are getting worse and worse as each day goes by… That’s if we don’t change things around. We ultimately have the power to change and reverse the damages done over the years. Think of the brave souls who decided to change the paradigm from a harsh reality into a beautiful one, as hormones regulating our society towards homeostasis. With healthy hormones we have a healthy body, same is true for healthy individuals – enough healthy individuals and we’ll have a healthy society. 

 

Health is wealth

 

The healthier you are, the more change making ability you have. Think of it: you have more vital energy and mental clarity throughout the day, which allows you to work through the various problems in this world from an empowered stance. From here you can focus harder and smarter, ultimately coming up with more well thought out solutions, and implement those solutions in more effective and efficient ways. 

 

Back to viewing humans as hormones in a bigger organism: If the hormones (humans) are functioning optimally then we have a smoothly running organism (society). Healthy hormones means homeostasis can be reached faster, and kept for longer. So in the grand scheme of things if the humans that are responsible for the change are healthy as can be, then the whole system will be more stable and it won’t fluctuate as much. 

 

So how do we fix the mess we are in?

 

Abundance thinking is where true wealth for all lies.

 

Abundance thinking is rooted in trust. Feeling enough and sufficient. Being co-operative and sharing. Abundance thinking isn’t wishful thinking. It requires finding the root cause of the issue at hand and treating it, thus preventing the problem from arising again. This can be hard. It requires responsibility and accountability. Someone has to step up to be the good teacher to create good education for the students to breed more good teachers. Someone has to speak out about the insanity of our medical system and provide practical solutions to create an upward spiral of health. Someone has to teach the poor to be able to take care of themselves. There is an abundance of solutions for every problem we have, we just need to look at the cup as half full instead of half empty all the time. 

 

All of our problems require a point of intervention and transformation. It’s similar to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly, or the transition from a seed to a sprout – there are phases of darkness and pressure, and what is born from that is truly beautiful, and it can happen in a relatively short period of time. 

 

How can we intervene and transform? 

 

A whirlpool best describes our situation – right now we have a whirlpool going in one direction (downward spiral), and it’s getting faster as we speak. We must envision what we want (spiral of abundance) and pick a good spot to intervene and stop the flow of the whirlpool, then redirect it to make it spin the other way. It’s not going to be easy and you better hold on tight because it takes a whole lot to shift the momentum that was created over decades and even centuries. In order to turn one spiral into another we need to engage at a “sweet spot” or an interjection point.

 

Being healthy is a critical ingredient for hitting the “sweet spot” and turning the tides. 

 

Changing the world isn’t easy – you’re going to need all the help you can get, and especially when everywhere you look there are toxic chemicals and subtle amounts of radiation slowly draining you and your vital energy. Add on top the constant craze in our mainstream culture – it can seem daunting to change the paradigm.

 

There are many ways to achieve health in our ‘sick’ society. It starts on a personal level – we call this zone 0 in permaculture – our own body and consciousness. Start with detoxifying on all levels first. There are many tools for detoxification, and fasting is a great place to start. To fast basically means to abstain. Abstaining from toxic food is a good place to start, then abstain from toxic products, even from toxic people, and especially toxic thoughts and habits. A great tool for this is breathwork. In yoga this is called Pranayama, and there are many ways to go about breathwork. The breath is the gateway to the soul, and good health. It dispels massive amounts of toxins which is great for detoxifying. Here’s a deep breathing practise for you to try. Detoxifying can be a bit daunting with all of the toxins in our modern environment, and it must be taken step by step, so you don’t overwhelm yourself. It’s about the process, and not the destination. 

 

Once we have detoxified our body, minds and souls from toxins in all forms there is a need to rejuvenate. Whole healthy foods, relationships, habits, and more are great places to rebuild our new, healthy self. Again implementing little changes one by one will lead to big results. Try eating superfoods, waking up early, grounding yourself, eating organic, meditation, exercise, positive growth mindset etc.. You’ll be feeling great in no time if you aren’t already. 

 

There’s no rigid process to follow, just cater to the needs of your body. You know yourself best. No doctor, practitioner, guru, healer, or anyone can heal you. Others may help you find your inner ability to heal, but it is you who is doing the healing. 

 

One essential part that hasn’t been discussed yet is growing our own food. Gardening/farming serves so many purposes. It is a form of therapy, a way to get healthy food, a way to connect with the land, ourselves, and others. It is arguably the best way to heal ourselves, and the earth. This key factor is the lynchpin for a beautiful new world. Human societies live and die with the soil. Let’s start taking care of our soils before it’s too late.

 

Again, this change from scarcity to abundance isn’t going to be easy, and it is on the individual to ultimately change their reality into a better one. An individual can help change the world. It can be called many different things: the butterfly effect, the 100th monkey effect, the ripple effect etc. Basically one healthy, optimized individual can be the one that changes the world. Heal yourself to heal the world.

 

Being healthy is liberation from a society that caters to sickness, disease, and toxic behaviour. 

 

Imagine – everybody is fully rejuvenated and balanced to the point where it is much easier to work through problems without hoarding, blaming or complaining. We can see our problems more clearly for what they are – without being manipulated by the agendas of various greedy corporations and individuals. We can get things done more effectively and efficiently because we have real energy (not the fake energy you get from coffee and other stimulants). We can rid ourselves from disease without the need for pharmaceutical drugs. We can teach our children the right way, instead of the way the multi-billionaire companies want to teach. These are ideal steps towards creating abundance, and we have the right tools at our doorstep to help us along the way. 

 

Nature will always have our back in times like these. Food grows from the Earth – for free. All the Earth asks is that we take care of it, and right now, as a collective, we are doing a poor job. It shows in our food, which is less mineralized than ever, and surprisingly it has correlated with the time in history where disease, and sickness runs rampant. Minerals are necessary for a healthy life. Since our soils are devoid of minerals (yes, even if you’re eating organic you’re probably getting 10-20% of the minerals you need on a daily basis) we need to get our minerals elsewhere. Supplements are key in this pinnacle point in history. Irish moss is an absolute mineral powerhouse – it has the highest mineral count in the natural world. As with any product – sourcing is key. There are few companies who take it in their personal best interest to get top quality, and ethical supplements and Choq is one of them. Mother Earth always has our back. 

 

Don’t be mistaken – taking supplements alone will not create a better world, but it can give us the energy to create the necessary intervention, which paired with other life enhancing practises will ultimately lead to change and a better world.

 

Where do we go from here? 

 

Once people are able to understand the various problems and the severity of them, there will be a great initiative that pushes humanity toward a healthier future. A future filled with freedom and non-violation (except in genuine self defence), and ultimately abundance! There’s a lot to be done so let’s do it little by little, one step at a time. 

 

At the end of the day we need resilience to build resilience, whether it be our medical system, education system, financial system etc, there needs to be a better alternative. The quote by R. Buckminster Fuller describes this excellently: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

 

As modern life accelerates faster and faster or you could say the spiral of erosion we find ourselves in, spins with more and more momentum. This is why the world needs more healthy people to step up and make change. 

 

There has never been a better time to change the world.

 

Are you ready to step up, take charge of your health and change the world?