We all want happiness and prosperity in our lives. Every Deepawali we wish each other a prosperous new year as well. We usually think prosperity is accumulation of wealth, riches and resources and if we work hard we can achieve prosperity. That is correct thought but leaves an important element to achieve sustainable prosperity.
We need to approach prosperity with an entire shift in our paradigm in the way we understand it.
Scarcity mindset: When ego dominates in a selfish way, it creates a scarcity mindset in the individual. Scarcity mindset is inversely proportional to self-esteem as well as is an opposite to abundance. When we don’t feel confident about our abilities, we tend to be dominated with the thoughts of survival issues leading to lack of trust on self and others as well as greed to accumulate. When we are not able to accumulate we feel less, scarce and our ego feels hurt. This happens even when we don’t really need that thing that makes us feel scarce except that we were operating from the vantage point of ego afterall.
Feelings, emotions, traits and habits like anger, anxiety and related stress, greed, jealousy, wanting to dominate and/or defeat others, selfishness, irritation, fighting with others, cheating, stealing, over-thinking among many other become second nature to the individual which has its obvious consequences.
Abundance and Prosperity mindset: When one operates from the feeling of abundance emanating from high self-worth, one feels complete and is confident of dealing with any unfavourable situation or person. The behaviour of such an individual is dominated by love, care compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, team work, support, sharing and helping, philanthropy, generosity and related attributes.
Prosperity is a natural by-product of an abundance mindset. When one operates life from the feeling of ‘I have enough’, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to work towards achieving more, it means he has enough for today and tomorrow he can have even more. Real prosperity means having sustainable growth instead of a greed for the accumulation of wealth. Sustainability occurs only when one is at peace of mind and not led by a scarcity mindset of unending desires.
Ma Lakshmi and Ma Saraswati: What is the difference between needs and wants – God knows more about what you need than what you may want for yourself ! Our shastras say, when Saraswati is happy, she brings her sister Lakshmi with her. We know Ma Lakshmi is chanchal but when she comes with Ma Saraswati, she stays. That is what is sustainability and prosperity !!! As Indians we need a paradigm shift in our cultural mindset on prosperity. We need to give equal focus to Ma Saraswati (wisdom, knowledge and and ethical mindset) in our Diwali poojan rituals as we give to Ma Lakshmi. Only then we have the right to request Ma Lakshmi to stay with us for long – and that is what is called prosperity !!
Our Vantage Point: So, having understood abundance and scarcity, where do you think you operate from in your life? More importantly, as a parent, spouse, friend, boss/ leader, professional, expert, colleague, employee and sub-ordinate, what is your vantage point of looking at the dynamics of life as it presents itself to you every moment?
Abundance mindset is not only the abundance on the outside. Abundance is a mindset that stems out from feeling good about self. It is about being fearless about the outcome and knowing that things will work out well in the end. It is about high and naturally sustaining self-esteem. Having an abundance mindset leads to avoidance of conflict because there is no feeling of scarcity and insecurity that leads to conflict.
Children from young age need to be trained on raising their self-esteem and think abundant. Children coming from various backgrounds may be exposed to different conditioning which calls for an even higher need for the parents and education system to take the lead and help children to come out of scarcity driven emotional and mental exposure and train them to think better and progressive so as to create a responsible and emotionally intelligent adult and therefore a beautiful human society.
So it boils down to the fact that one cannot lecture about positive habits to a scarcity dominated individual and expect a related change in behaviour. Hence a large responsibility and onus of progression towards a higher state of emotional intelligence as a society lies together in the hands of parents and the education system.
Remember, abundance mindset is natural to us….
true prosperity is when one doesn’t need anything to feel complete or happy.
Wish you a very happy Diwali and a prosperous and abundant life !!!
0 Comments