How To Create An Abundance Mentality

This great post for wikiHow is crucial for people who seek to step outside the box and accomplish goals that seem to be unreachable for whatever reason. The state and corporations, use propaganda and fear in order to trick the public that they are surrounded by scarcity instead of abundance.

The result leads to a false belief of limited opportunities, stifling regulations and laws that hinder creativity, inflated prices due to false perceptions, and enables monopolies of goods and services to emerge in the marketplace, just to name a few.This also keeps us dependent on the state for solutions, instead of seeking off-the-grid self-sufficient solutions from the renewable abundance of our environment.For someone practicing Agorism, this is a particularly helpful mental exercise to help manifest your intention into direct action.

From wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Much of society seems to be built on a scarcity mentality. It’s a mentality that tells people that there is a lack in life, that opportunities are few and far between. This is, of course, useful for society because if people feel that there is a lack, then you can get them to buy stuff; thus, the economy and society can continue to live and prosper by reinforcing a scarcity mentality in people.

The scarcity mentality can be quite painful for the individual and create a lot of unnecessary fear, anxiety and desperation. An abundance mentality, on the other hand, tells you that there are always new chances and opportunities. This relieves much of the pressure you may feel if you have a scarcity mentality that makes you think that you’ve only got one shot right now. Or it makes you feel like an utter failure just because you stumbled and things didn’t work out. An abundance mentality can help you improve your performance since with it, you’re creating a lot less pressure and anxieties within your own mind.

Here are a few tips to create and reinforce your own abundance mentality.

Steps

Look for the symptoms of a scarcity mentality. If you have a scarcity mentality then you will probably take things too seriously. You may think to yourself: “If I fail, the sky will fall”. It won’t, though, and you know that and need to remind yourself. But you think it will, you become overly nervous and POOF! you have invited that failure because your negativity becomes an obstacle on your path to success. If it’s a game, then you may fumble with the ball. If it’s an exam, then you may not have been able to sleep and will perform poorly on the test. If it’s a date, you may come over as too needy and nervous and not as your usual, more relaxed self. Regain your empowerment by remembering all the opportunities you have been afforded and know that it is all a flow that will always continue.

Focus on the abundance, not on the lack. What you focus on, you will see in your world. Since you can’t take in everything around you, your reticular activation system – your focus system in the mind – will bring into focus what you focus your thoughts on. This will allow you to see the abundance in your world that you may be missing right now. If you, for instance, have a lack of money, then don’t focus on your lack. Focus and think about the abundance of possibilities in the world to make money. Soon ideas and opportunities to make that happen will start to “pop up” in your world. It’s almost a bit freaky how things that hold solutions for you – perhaps books or acquaintances – that have been there in the background for quite a while just one day suddenly jump out at you.

Appreciate. One quick way to revert from the pretty normal habit of thinking about what you don’t have is simply to appreciate. Appreciate your food, life, your roof, your friends and family and so on. This can not only turn a sour mood into a more positive one within minutes, but it can also help you notice opportunities you have missed or forgotten about. And it’ll create a more open vibe within you, a vibe that makes it easier to focus on the abundance. So, make a habit of appreciating something in your life for a few minutes each day.

Get an abundance vibe from other people. Since you get a scarcity mentality from, say, advertising and media, then you can change your input to change your mentality. Cut down on watching the news. Record your favorite shows and skip the commercials. Or just cut down on your TV and media consumption, period. Replace the scarcity vibe you get from that input. How do you do that? “Hang out” with people that have an abundance mentality. Read, listen to and watch personal development material. Besides reading your favorite personal development blogs, read success stories in books and magazines. Have a positive attitude to the abundance and success of your friends, family and co-workers. Hang out with people in real life who have more of an abundance mentality and less of a scarcity mentality. Be selective with what you put into your mind. Create your own environment of abundance.

Share the wealth. One very good way to acknowledge how much you have is to share it. Do you feel like you’re not making enough money? Give some away. Not enough love? Give some away. Not enough validation, appreciation, recognition? Give it all away. It’s hard for something to feel scarce when you’re giving it away.




Create win-win situations. People with a scarcity mentality tend to see every relationship is win-lose, as in: “It’s either you or me, buddy, and I want it to be me.” People with an abundance mentality, on the other hand, try to create mutually beneficial relationships in which both parties can win.[1] Instead of winning an argument, for example, try to reach a consensus that you both can be happy with. Instead of competing, collaborate.

Remind yourself. It’s very easy to slip back into your old thought patterns. You just forget about what you should be thinking about. A useful tool to keep yourself from slipping is to use external reminders. You can, for example, use written notes posted at places you can’t avoid seeing several times each day – your workspace, fridge and mirrors – or put a bracelet on your wrist. Seeing words or quotes that remind you of your new abundance mentality can help your mind snap back into the right headspace once again.

Tips

            When the feeling of scarcity is strong, remember previous times when you had an abundance. Realize that you can recreate similar circumstances once again.

            


            A real-world example of the abundance mentality is the “copyleft” movement, which focuses on loosening the restrictions of traditional copyrights.[2] More and more people are licensing their work with GFDL, Creative Commons, or even releasing it into the public domain. For example, Leo Babauta, founder of the popular Zen Habits blog, decided to release all of his content into the public domain.[3] Many programmers share software and programs freely in the spirit of open source.[4]

            


            Learn to face the reality of living within your means. Many people have the habit of copying and envying others with greater means. Doing so can ruin your day or your life. It is therefore important to live within your resources while hoping that something better will come along your way. You will be free from stress and undue competition without any satisfaction.

            


            Look for personal products in cabinets you have forgotten about…hotel toiletries can last for several showers, old sunscreen can be used for shaving in the shower, baby oil to remove makeup..invert bottles to get the most product from them!

Warnings

            Don’t get so carried away with an abundance mentality that you become a people pleaser who lets people take advantage of your generosity. Remember to surround yourself with people who also have an abundance mentality, who give as much as they take, or else “parasites” will drain you and eventually leave you with a scarcity mentality.

            


            Be sure also to not reach a point where you find youself coasting through life with no goal or purpose for yourself. Remember to “seize the day”.

- HAROLD GRAY -SA Corresspondent

Sorry for the dead space, Y'all.

We are in the process of making huge updates. Please check back Dec 2nd for the grand launch.

- Jz

Dirty Feet

This afternoon I am headed to the Texas countryside for a much needed dose of nature and stargazing. No computers, no cell phone reception and the radio (and my shoes) will be off.

When you think about it, there is no denying that we live in an unnatural world. Ask yourself this: How many chemicals are in your hair, on your skin, under your feet and in your mouth at this moment? I’m guessing more than you realize.

To further emphasize my point, we also do our best to wash the dirt off of our feet as quickly as possible, run inside from the rain and mow our lawns because “tall” grass has somehow become “ugly” grass.  Additionally, we kill insects without a second thought and with no regard for their life. We also eat food that has been squirted from devices and containers. Perhaps you should ask yourself how far you from being connected to the planet, the stars and all of the other life around you.

If this is true for the physical world, it is also true for the spiritual world. To assume that our thoughts and beliefs are not affected directly would be silly to say the least. Think about this the next time you are asked “paper or plastic” or if you’d rather spend your time in front of a TV instead of being outside. Do you prefer bottled water?

So what’s the bottom line?

Gauging how far you live from the natural world is a great way to determine how fake you really are. 

The Complete Truth

History happens only one way but can be defined differently based on perspective. 

Basing what you believe to be truth on a single, specific perspective is the abandonment of logic. When many people, places or events are involved, many perspectives then contribute to the facts. There is no single source.

I truly believe that in order to understand what the truth really is, you first must be willing to understand that your own perspective is not the only one. 

Clear Change

I have never needed glasses but recently my brother had Lasik surgery and explained how he can now see like never before. Colors, shapes, depth and clarity were dramatically increased by one very small incision proving that change can come in small doses and have very big effects.

Sometimes, when important lifestyle changes are needed, we give up because we concentrate on the size of the wall ahead. Its size can easily be overwhelming... its height to high too climb.

The good new is, there is a simple solution to overcoming this issue.

Stop believing you must break down the entire wall to make the changes you seek. Take it brick by brick.

Don’t concentrate on anything else but removing the brick in front of you and before you know it, you will have torn down your wall. 

Small changes add up quickly, are easier to make and in some cases can alter the way you see the entire world.

Turning Point

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from friends and family about “Stranger Advice”. You see, as a career graphic artist/musician, playing the role of a talk show host isn’t what most people who know me thought I would ever do… and I admit… had you asked me three months ago about this I would have laughed hysterically.

So the big question is the question of “Why?”.

Around the beginning of 2011, I started a new job working for a large for-profit trade school as its Graphic Art Supervisor. Having spent most of the last decade wandering thru meaningless jobs, trying to be an entrepreneur and stumbling across the stages of dive bars and stadiums alike… I hadn’t been in a corporate environment in many years and wanted the financial security it offered. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I was in cubicle-hell and remembering why I swore to never again breathe the stale air or drink the leftover coffee that looms in those places. Regardless, I sat there day in and day out with more time to think than I wanted or needed… always finishing my work early and wasting the minutes until the whistle blew.  

After a few months, I started to seeing changes… in both myself and those around me. Life had quickly become negative and I found that most of my relationships were slipping away or fading. I could never seem to get a good nights’ rest and my days were no longer filled with any sort of joy outside of what my family and close friends offered. My hobbies dwindled. I stopped training jiu-jitsu. Sunny days weren’t as bright. It quickly became overwhelming.

Trying to separate the fog, I started thinking about why things were so bad. I mean… I have a beautiful wife, awesome kids, great friends/teammates and money in the bank. There simply was no explanation I could come up with that made sense so I started searching for answers to the obvious questions. Was I depressed? Going crazy? WTF?

No… I wasn’t.

In fact, I wasn’t depressed at all. I discovered it was something much worse…I realized I was feeling hopeless.  Back at square-one, I asked myself the same question… “Why?”.

A short bit O’ history: As a kid, I was raised in a strict Christian environment that led to the realization in my late-teens/early-twenties that religion was not for me. Because of the radical views and dogma I came to understand as being “the truth”, I struggled for years afterwards with the notion of eternal damnation and the fear that my separation from the church would ultimately come back to bite me in the ass when I least expected it.  I was a gone’r for sure or so I thought.

At 26, I married my love Melissa and became distracted from such things… she had very little religious conviction and the topic of “God” rarely came up, if at all, which suited me just fine. Ultimately, I determined that religion and all of it’s affiliates were total bullshit… a line of crap that we are taught to prevent us from living day in and day out with the fear of our deaths looming in the forefront of our thoughts. Besides, there isn’t a “loving god” who would run such a horrible business in my opinion. Accordingly, I did my best to forget about religion and God completely.

But I didn’t.

Back to now: Like a magnet, I found myself drawn to anything that could provide clues to the way I was feeling and what was happening to me. Hours of www searching lead me only a short distance until I stumbled across the work of Graham Hancock, Daniel Pinchbeck and a group of other activists/researcher/scholars who were teaching something very different than what I thought I was looking for.  They teach about ancient Egyptian technologies, Mayan prophecy and ultimately, the coming “age of awakening”… which I knew nothing of but found very compelling.

As my search continued I discovered even more outlets… Project Camelot & Avalon, the work of Richard Dolan, Jim Marrs, Richard Hoagland and Nassim Haramein. (Just to name a few.) The problem was… these messages all were rooted around a notion I couldn’t buy into or completely understand… unidentified flying objects, alien influence over history and metaphysics. Remember… I made the choice to not believe “anything” as a standard after denouncing religion. I wasn’t a fare-weather atheist and UFOs fit perfectly into the stew of BS that had been cooking my whole life.

At some point a message came thru loud and clear I couldn’t ignore… somewhere between the little green men and the DMT, I started to understand what was happening…  what IS happening… and it has nothing to do with anything a god, aliens or any info a researcher could provide.  It has to do with something much more material and real.

This was about ME and ONLY me. 

The answer was simple and right under my nose the whole time… my perception of the world had become skewed by the void that I felt regarding the purpose of my life, what I should be and who I should be. I had no direction… just potential. I had no success… just intention. I couldn’t think of one thing to show for the thousands of steps I’ve taken in life. I was having a mid-life crisis… or so I thought.

Still avidly researching, I continued to listen to the testimony from people with all types of beliefs and perspectives… all with an open mind. Most testimony I dismissed, but those that stuck with me all seemed to have the same repeating underlying message… an awakening of sorts was certainly to come. And it was coming very, very soon... but when?  If there is some sort of divine or mystic process that would bring it on faster I wanted it. If this “awakening” was to be so profound and enlightening I wanted to know where to buy my ticket.  I don’t have time to wait until Dec 2112! I want it now! Like a message delivered by hand from Paul Revere, that ticket came in the form of something very unexpected… a mirror.

Despite all of my research I had been missing the one key ingredient most important for REAL change … honesty. I wasn’t being honest with myself about anything. Accordingly, I was blaming everything else but myself. I was focusing on changing everything else but myself. And ultimately, I was being everything else but myself. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah... so how does my religious background, horrible career, failed friendships and UFOs relate to me doing an internet based radio show, you ask?

Well… it was thru the process of learning about these things that I became exposed to the people and information who provided me with a new direction towards obtaining the critical tools I was missing to realign myself with what is positive… to start living and feeling better. I had been staring at the library walls while the great minds of history were begging at my feet… and the books were like the faces I passed everyday. It was thru this process and their perspectives I learned how to reclaim my identity, find center and start to grow.

A few months ago, that big corporation I was working for downsized and once again I found myself scanning the employment want-ads… looking for my next venture. Back to square…. two?

No. Absolutely not. No way. Not this time.

You see… this time it’s different. I’ve gained an understanding I’ve never had. Before, I held just two boxes… one black and one white. Now I have a third box and it is BIG and grey.

Rather than just sitting here and rotting… rather than feeling bitter about my plight and allowing myself to slide right back into the same-ole patterns... I started looking for ways to spend my time with purpose and utilize my talents to their fullest potential. Having received a brand new, top of the line iMac with every program under the sun as part of my severance package, I discovered it was loaded with audio/video editing software I previously did not have access too… software I know how to use very well. Armed with this expensive, digital sword… I decided I would do a little battling and “Stranger Advice” is the result.

The greatest and truest message I have ever embraced from my research is that honestly and love breed honesty and love. To continue giving ultimately leads to continual receiving.  This is something that resonated as a common frequency amongst the lecturers I mentioned and they all seemed to be living very full lives... not just rich ones. In a moment of inspiration, I decided to take the time I have and the talents I possess and do something that could make a difference. I am convinced it is exactly what I should be doing.  

Why?

It’s because when you continue to learn, live honest, love much and practice giving rather then just taking... you begin to understand what your purpose is… what you are here to do… what all of these steps in life have added up too.

In the end, this is what we all want and need. Fortunately, we don’t need god or aliens for this. There isn’t a lecturer, conspiracy theory or a paranormal specialist that can do these things for you. For me, they are simply reminders to remain open minded because this world is filled with much that is misunderstood and unknown.  Accordingly, it is thru the continued pursuit of knowledge and new wisdom that we grow and I now understand this was my sole problem to begin with. It was the moment I put down my bag full of complaints and blame, looked at myself for who I am and not what I wanted to see, and started looking for answers that I started to blossom.

It is my hope that by hosting/producing this show I will continue to do so... and so far, it’s working out perfectly. The biggest perk and purpose is that I hope to help others. Make no mistake, I never forgot the concept of happiness. Instead, I lost the concept of saving a little for myself while being committed to passing it on to others. "Stranger Advice" is all about learning from people you don’t know...hence the name. If it provides just one listener only half the motivation it has given me for change, I’ve succeeded... and it won’t be the last time, I promise. Rest assured, I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Onward and Upward,

- Jz

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