Abundance Mentality Vs. Poverty Mentality

Abundance Mentality Vs. Poverty Mentality

Know The Difference Series.

Part-1.

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I am starting a new series of articles from today. This will be titled—Know The Difference Series. In this series of articles, I’ll discuss key topics and I’ll try to paint a comparative picture of them. This is the first article of this series. And it’s about Mentality. Interested? Let’s dive in. 

Mentality

First of all, let’s be clear about the concept of mentality. What is mentality? 

The textbook definition may be different. I am giving my own understanding here. So, please take it with a grain of salt. In simple words, mentality is the general attitude we have in life—which includes the way we think, feel, act and behave in this world in a particular manner. There are some words which are interchangeable and synonymous—attitude, mindset, outlook etc. 

Many factors constitute our mentality—our beliefs, knowledge, past experiences, social and cultural upbringing, education and so on. And our mentality can change upon gaining new perspectives. You definitely have heard of ‘typical mentality’. I don’t think I have to explain it. People who have a high degree of openness to all experiences have flexible mentality, as opposed to those who have rigid mentality. So, there are different kinds of mentality. 

I’m concerned with a special type today—abundance mentality and its antithesis poverty mentality. 

Abundance Mentality Vs. Poverty Mentality

You know, there are people who may have only the basic arrangements for living, but don’t complain about their life or whine about their difficulties. They live happily with whatever they have. On the other hand, there are people who, no matter how much comfort and convenience they might have, still complain about their life and always look for more comfort and convenience. Seeking these things are not bad, but if inspired by greed, then it’s a harmful tendency. 

In these two groups of people, the first group may be said to have what is called as abundance attitude. That is, they exhibit the attitude that whatever they have is ‘enough’ and they are happy. The second group of people show the attitude of lack, that is, they exhibit the attitude that there are so many things lacking in their lives, and because of that they are not happy. They exhibit poverty attitude. 

Poverty is not only a lack of wealth or sustenance, it can also take the form of an attitude wherein we only focus on what we don’t have and account those things for our unhappiness, rather than focusing on what we actually have, which may fairly outweigh the former. 

So, these two types of mentality germinate from our choice as to where we want to focus—on the bright, positive side of our life, or the dark, negative side. And as you know, whatever we focus on, expands! So, if we focus only on our problems and difficulties, slowly our whole attitude will be problematic. We will only see problems everywhere, even if there is none. But, if we choose to focus on our advantages and blessings, we may actually have more of it by the virtue of Law of Attraction, which, unfortunately, works in both ways. (Caution: Law of Attraction must be understood deeply.)

Seeing only the ‘have not’s’ gives birth to poverty attitude, whereas by focusing on the ‘have’s’, we acknowledge the bright side of life, and this gives birth to the abundance attitude. I hope the distinction is clear now. 

Last Words

So, what mentality is good for us? It’s not a question of good and bad. But it’s about understanding the simple ‘funda’ of life that whatever we choose to cultivate in our life, that only grows! Now, decide for yourself—what do you want to cultivate—positivity or negativity? 

I hope you’ll choose wisely. 

Jai Shri Hari. 🙏

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[P.S: The definitions and classifications are my own. Please refer to the academic definitions and classifications if you want to be more academically correct. These are my own views. So, don’t take them as definitive answers. They are only meant to convey an idea.] 

Thank you.

Image Credit: shutterstock & edited by Me.