scarcity mindset as a spell

If you feel like you are running constantly ten steps behind in life, making lists in an effort to catch up and get ahead of the game; if you are afraid of how you might get left in the lurch by anything or anyone, find yourself grasping or, the opposite, entitled to what you want - then likelihood is you are existing in a scarcity mindset. 

"There is a natural law of abundance which pervades the entire universe. but it will not flow through a doorway and belief of lack and limitation" Paul Zayer

Before you implode and scream out loud "but that's ME!" however, I ask you to consider the following: that most of us know this particular way of being only too well. In fact, most of us live there most of the time. (Indeed, I will argue later in this piece that we are conditioned to see the world through the lens of scarcity. So it's almost inevitable - our entire social structure supports it.)

For now though, and as a self-declared sex witch aka a woman who uses sexuality and pleasure to transmute and create a better world for herself and others, I can only ask you to begin to notice - as I do - where are you believing or going along with things that lead you in the opposite direction of being able to receive more of what you want?

In other words, what has you feeling tight, constricted, pushing against your body and its' natural leanings? What has you proper afraid, on the daily?

Because it's those exact things that will put you into a scarcity mindset and leave you high and dry. It's those inner beliefs and thoughts that will lead you right into the trap of believing there's not enough (money, love, opportunity etc) to go round.

scarcity mindset and your money

The place where a scarcity mindset shows up most often of course, is with money. 

In fact, to really understand how pernicious it is, we can contemplate the fact that most people - even the very wealthy - actually grow up around the limiting belief that there is a lack. Being told that if they are not careful (insert learned behaviours to try and escape scarcity here) then that lack will rise up to bite them sooner or later. (It is amazing that the wealthy also carry this belief, and suffer from a fear of losing what they have, but in fact most of them do.)

So why is this?

And why do some of the poorest people seem to be the least afflicted by this scarcity myth then?

Nothing takes me away from Eros and my natural feminine radiance more than scarcity.

cultural myths and scarcity mindset

Scarcity is a collective delusion. In fact, our entire monetary system is based upon it. (Perhaps this is why Jesus apparently overturned the banker tables. He was the man who could multiply fish after all, by simply giving it away. But again, more on that later.)

Any collective belief system - delusional or otherwise - I would frame as a spell. 

The constructs around the spell, the beliefs, thoughts and actions we take, are simply a result of this collective influence. The results of us "co-dreaming" something into existence.

So our banking system, for example, is based on the fear of lack.

If Jesus could take a fish and bread and multiply it on account of his generosity? Then surely the modus operandi of - "I have a resource and I will lend it to you and you will pay it back" - is the polar opposite.

And if Jesus' generosity creates an abundant flow of more resources, then it stands to reason that the banking industry cements this spell into existence. In other words, it is how we participate in an illusion. An inversion of all that is good and holy. We take ownership. We withhold. We only allow flow through with pay back. We believe that if we give anything away then we will be stuck farther down the line because we likely live in a scarce universe and the only way to counteract this is to accumulate. With interest on top.

I once was a part of a marketing seminar where the host declared to the room "we are all here to increase our net worth, right? Like that's the point."

And I cringed inside. 'Cos I am here to tell you that I am here to experience the divine in orgasms and other pleasures. And if increasing my net worth happens in the midst of all that feel good? Then great!

But as my North Star? Increasing my net worth as the meaning of life?

Pure scarcity mindset right there.

Myths of scarcity are celebrated and revered in our culture however, as demonstrated by the marketing coach above. And it's not just the bankers.

Here are some of the ways in which we collectively agree upon scarcity: 

owning

protecting

collecting and accumulating

defending

chasing

begging

the effects of scarcity vs the trauma of scarcity mindset

I read a fascinating book by a woman called Lynne Twist recently, called The soul of Money.

A wealthy woman who spends her life raising money for charitable causes, she tells a fascinating story about her encounter with an Amazonian tribe who had lived without money and had no concept of it whatsoever.

She goes on to explain how the tribe were, as a result of their innocence, tricked into signing a financial agreement around their land (and therefore the abundance of their resources.) Consequently, they decided they had better begin studying this thing called money  and so they send a tribesman to NYC to figure it out.

Can you only imagine?

There is a way of living where all humans need one another to survive. And the way they ensure their collective survival is through working in reciprocity. Never any sense of going without - because nobody owns/collects/holds onto/lends anything.  It's like Jesus and the fish - everything gets given to those who need. And everything flows as a result.

The forest rarely stops providing. And when it does? Well - have you ever fasted? 'Cos I can tell you that a few days without food can actually be an epic experience. And I really don't mean to be facetious about this. When we are intimately connected to nature in this way, it is much, much harder to believe in lack. Because everything comes back around in the end.

Not so for the NYC tribesman of course.

I love this story because it highlights how shocking it must have been for someone steeped in the abundance of the forest, to see humankind literally starving on the streets before him without access to the green stuff.

It shows the madness.

Of course we believe in scarcity.

Scarcity in our society is a real and dangerous threat to survival. In fact, I would go so far as to say that having to live around such a money based culture is traumatising in and of itself. If everything is navigated by money rather than reciprocity? The we all lose and carry the burden in the end.

where are you showing signs of a scarcity mindset?

Just for a moment, and before we get to how and where we can actively transmute this inner terror of scarcity, let's focus on how this might be playing out for you personally.

In other words, where are you actively believing in lack? Where do you tend to focus on this in your own life?

The best place to look, I find (and totally without judgement please, approval codes only here) is at where you might still be caught up in survival needs.

To gain some clarity around this - you can start by asking these questions:

1. What don't you have and what are you desperate to get?

2. What is the first thought of lack you have every day (starting to notice is key, because it's how you contribute to the spell)

3. What are you consistently complaining there is not enough of? (Time? Money? Tantric lovers with a good income?)

4. Where are you exhibiting signs of full out envy?

5. Who do you resent? And who have you not forgiven yet?

If you like, and because this blog is about money, you can ask yourself the above questions in relation to the green stuff too. Plus some more like:

1. How do you feel about money?

2. How do you treat money?

3. How do you earn money?

4. Do you have enough money?

5. How do you feel with/without money?

how do i get out of scarcity mindset?

One of the biggest tricks of scarcity is around time. It is pretty much always future based 

So for example, you are either worried about how you are going to meet yuor needs in the future based on previous survival traumas and potential experiences of not having had enough.

Or you are worried about hanging onto it all if you currently have it. Like will it last?

Either way, the illusion of scarcity is that it brings us out of touch with the present moment - which the only real place that abundance lives.

How will we receive the bounty if we are not aware of our surrounding?

To illustrate this -think about who is most lively to thrive in life - the human who trusts and settles into finding what they need to survive in any given moment of the day? Or the human who is stressing about how it's not here yet, or how it might all be about to disappear?

So time calcifies the belief of scarcity into our psyches.

There are of course, numerous ways to undo a spell like this.

1. Any practice that brings us into relationship with the present moment - for example noticing what is available. A simple practice of keeping an eye out for stray coins (or other ways in which provisions can land with ease in our world) is a great way to do this. And what you put attention on grows.

2. Gratitudes - the universe rarely responds to resentment. Everybody likes giving to the person in the room who finds glee in receiving. Practice appreciating - it's honestly a diamond double back practice.

3. Clean house - how are you leaking money? How disrespecting it? Hating it? Angry with it? Judging it (it's evil, for example?) In other words how are you polluting the flow of money with your own mind?

4. How are you hoarding it? Money likes to flow. How might you give more generously? How might you open up that channel and actually spend what you are holding onto for dear life?

how do i get out of scarcity mindset?

There are so many ways to undo scarcity mindset in your life - I feel I have barely touched the surface.

Either way - you may not live in the Amazon in a tribe of reciprocity - but likely you can begin to unfreeze your nervous system response and all the terror that may be causing you to act like life is scarce in the first place. 

And when you do?

Well, you can live the life you were born for. 

With riches or without.

Wealth can be yours.

In fact, I would say it's your birthright.

want more? Listen to this week's podcast about scarcity here

you are invited