When you imagine having everything you need and want in this world, what images come to mind? And how do you imagine you will achieve these goals? Do you believe you will need to make many sacrifices to reach your desired level of happiness, or is there some windfall you are waiting for that will allow you to achieve your wishes finally?
Learning to think abundantly can help you attract whatever it is in your life that you believe will lead to your happiness and success in this world. And when you shift your mindset toward one of abundance, you will finally see all that you already have and all the ways the world allows and encourages you to be happy in it.
This guide explores what it means to think abundantly, the signs to look for to tell you if you are thinking abundantly or not, and ways to cultivate more abundant thinking for yourself. When you learn to shift your mindset away from scarcity and toward abundance, you will be able to realize whatever goals you set for yourself.
What is an Abundance Mindset?
Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about whether we have enough. Are you happy enough? Do you have enough money? Is there enough love out there for you?
And when you think a lot about whether there is enough of something in your life, you also tend to consider the “what ifs” and the “if onlys.” If you only had the right job, partner, body, etc., then you would be happy, at last.
This type of mindset keeps you feeling as though you are stuck in your life, that you will never have enough of whatever it is you need, and that you are not worthy enough to have those things you need.
This type of thinking, known as scarcity thinking, determines your actions and behaviors, and it can actually be harming your chances of ever having all that you want in your life.
Scarcity thinking works on the premise that only a finite number of people can have success or achieve happiness. You become threatened or jealous when others achieve their goals. You react angrily with you see how abundant some people’s lives are, as you believe this means you will never have those same things.
Scarcity thinking implies that there is a limited amount of happiness, money, love, and accomplishment in this world, which is why we react so negatively to others’ success.
But there is another way to think about the world. Instead of assuming that not everyone can have what they need and want, what if we assumed that there is enough of everything in the world, and you already have much of what you need to achieve happiness? This is known as abundant thinking.
An abundant mindset allows you first to focus on what you already have, and it guides you to see the world of possibilities rather than limits. It assumes that you can have whatever you want or need, there is plenty for everyone, and you can find all that you want in this world.
When you learn to think more abundantly, you become more resilient to life’s obstacles, because you realize that there is still success ahead of you. You become more creative when it comes to solving problems because you see that you are just one solution away from having what you want.
Abundant thinking can change the way you behave by changing your mind about the world, and it can help you reach your goals and realize all of your dreams.
Understanding Prosperity
When it comes to attracting abundance, you have to figure out what it is that will make your life more prosperous and thus bring you greater happiness. Prosperity is a relative measure of your own satisfaction and happiness, and so it is based on your needs, ideas, and definitions for what it is you want in your life.
What do you require to feel well and truly fulfilled in your life? That is your measure for prosperity.
Some people are interested in abundant thinking because they wish to attract more wealth in their lives. They want to have more financial success, freedom, or security because they believe this will allow them to live the life they want. This is one reason to choose abundant thinking.
Others are interested in generating an abundance of love and affection by improving their relationships with others. They long for a stronger connection and the love of other people, so their definition of prosperity focuses on the quantity and quality of the relationships they have in their lives.
Prosperity can also encompass spiritual needs. If you are looking for a stronger connection to your religious or spiritual faith and community, then your abundant thinking can bring you happiness by focusing on your spiritual growth and prosperity.
Finding your prosperity and defining what it is that will bring you true happiness and joy in your life is something only you can determine. And when you learn to think abundantly, you can attract whatever it is you are looking for in your life that will bring you fulfillment and success, however you define these things.
The Tenets of Thinking Abundantly
Learning to think abundantly requires several different thought processes that will help you to see opportunity and reveal the ways your life is already full but can also become fuller. These include gratitude and seeing the possibilities.
When it comes to happiness, psychologists have long known that learning to be happy has nothing to do with what you “get” and everything to do with who you are deep down. Happiness is a state of being, not a measure of your resources.
When people achieve greater wealth or finally have the time or other resources they desire, they are momentarily happier, but their happiness levels pretty quickly return to where they were before the goal was reached. In other words, happiness is something that is already inside of you, and it can’t be “filled” by anything else in the world.
Learning to assume that you are already enough, have enough, and can accomplish enough will allow you to be grateful for what you already have in your life, which can enable you to feel happier than you ever have.
When you have realized that your life is full and that you are grateful for what you have, you feel happier and healthier. Practicing gratitude is, therefore, an essential tenet of abundant thinking.
Another vital part of abundant thinking is recognizing your own agency, or power to control and change your life, and you must believe in the possibilities that life has to offer. You must think that there is a path that will teach you to be happy, and you must go out and explore many paths to determine where your happiness lies.
If happiness does not come from getting “more,” it can come from revealing ways for you to explore and enjoy the world and the things that are already a part of your life. It can come from the inspiration of loved ones, nature, opportunities to be creative, or within yourself. But, you must be open to the possibilities that life has and continually presents you with.
The Six Steps to Learning to Think Abundantly
Learning to think abundantly requires shifts in your thinking and the way you view the world. By following these six simple steps and practicing regularly, you can learn to develop an abundant mindset and attract into your life whatever it is that will bring you prosperity and happiness.
1 – View the World as Abundant
Changing how you see things changes the things you see. When you start to see the world as a place of abundance, success, and happiness, you will begin to see the possibilities that exist in it for you. The opportunities for abundance already exist; you just must be willing and capable of understanding them to take advantage.
Being receptive to the world’s opportunities will allow you to see possibilities for prosperity when they arise, which can lead to more chances for you to reach your dreams.
2 – Believe that You are Worthy
While you can change your mindset about abundance, it will not help if you still have a mindset that believes you are unworthy of success or reaching happiness. You must understand that you are worthy of prosperity if you hope to attract abundance. Learning to love yourself is crucial to attaining whatever it is you want in life.
3 – Don’t Allow Others to Bring Negativity
Others may try to dissuade your efforts to attract abundance, mostly because they themselves think using scarcity mindsets. They will try to discourage you and bring negativity to your attempts at changing how you see the world.
Do not listen to them; you know what is right for you and your needs. Do not allow others to bring you down with negative thoughts and refuse to do anything that compromises your desire to attract abundance and bring prosperity to your life.
4 – Embrace Change
Learning to think abundantly means you recognize that your life and world must change if you want to enjoy prosperity. Change is part of life and learning to embrace and accept that will help you realize more positive outcomes that can lead to the abundant life you want.
Those with a scarcity mindset fear change, as it represents the unknown, which they see as negative. An abundance mindset recognizes that change means growth and new possibilities.
5 – Become More Proactive
When you have an abundant mindset, you learn to stop waiting for things to happen to you and instead go out and make those things happen for yourself. This type of proactive thinking helps you shed your scarcity thinking and instead embrace the possibilities that the world has to offer.
6 – Reflect on Your Emotions
Monitoring your progress throughout can help you develop a more abundant way of thinking. Pay attention to your intense emotions, like feeling passionate or blissful, and when these feelings occur. When you feel inspired, take note. When you notice fear or anger, take note, too.
These emotions are clues to the types of thinking that will hold you back as well as set you free and paying attention to them will help you make new and better choices.
Strategies for Attracting Abundance into Your Life
Practice Daily Gratitude
Always start by giving thanks for what is in your life. Learning to be grateful for what you have helps you to see just how prosperous you already are. And when you see your life as full of gifts and blessings, you will see other chances that come your way to grow these.
When you focus on what you do not have in your life, you will never enough. So, focus instead on what you have already, which can help you feel less fear and attract more abundance. Try keeping a gratitude journal to record your feelings of gratefulness each day.
Be Mindful of Your Thoughts
Learning to be more mindful of how you are thinking about scarcity and abundance can help you to change your mindset, as well. Learning to listen to your thoughts helps you become conscious of how they are playing a role in your attitude regarding abundance versus scarcity.
When you notice that you are feeling frustrated with your lack of prosperity or are feeling fearful about what you lack in your life, examine your thinking to determine the root of these ideas. Think about what you need to do to shift your mindset toward abundance more.
Bring Abundance to Others
When you recognize that there is enough happiness, opportunity, and prosperity for everyone, then you will see this realized in your own life.
By giving to others, you recognize that there is enough to go around, which can bring you even more prosperity for you. Giving to others will bring you back more for your life, so do not be afraid to give others what they need.
Stop Trying to Control Everything
Abundance is not going to come to you when you are trying to control everything in your life. Learning to let go and stop controlling everything in your life can allow you to see opportunities and possibilities that you could not acknowledge when you were focusing on what you needed to do next.
Allowing the world to take the reins for a time can free you from your controlling efforts and will enable you to experience more of what the world has to offer.
Visualize Your Dreams
When you want to embrace abundance, you must be clear about what it is you are trying to manifest. Consider your dream and visualize your life. What if you had everything you need to be prosperous? What would your life be like?
Do not allow negative thoughts to creep in but instead create a vivid image of what it means for your life to be truly full. This visualization can help you stay focused and motivated to change your mindset and to attract the kind of abundance you want in your life.
Act as Though You Have Abundance Already
“Fake it until you make it” is a popular adage these days, and it holds true for developing an abundant mindset, as well. Changing your actions can lead to improving your thinking over time. Act as if you have what you want in your life.
Act as if you have achieved your goals. Act as if you have landed the opportunity you seek. Acting on these dreams can help you feel prosperous and help you change the way you view the world and the possibilities it holds.
Improve Your Skills
If you want to realize a goal or feel more abundant in your life, you can start by gaining control over your own ability to achieve your dreams. Gaining mastery experiences helps improve your self-efficacy or your beliefs that you can change your life.
Mastery experiences allow you to feel as though you have the knowledge and skills to get yourself where you want to be. Taking small actions to improve your skills will help you feel that your goals are achievable and that you have control over your destiny.
Focus on Growth
A growth mindset means you believe that your abilities and skills come from hard work, and you can continue to grow throughout your life. When you are able to learn, you become more resilient to changes and obstacles, which is essential for reaching your accomplishments.
Becoming curious about the world and open to new experiences can present you with new opportunities to bring abundance into your life.
Adopt a Beginner’s Mindset
When you want to attract abundance, you need to value growth and learning, which is best accomplished when you assume that you do not know everything you need to know.
Thinking like a beginner can keep you open and enthusiastic about renewal and learning. Decide to try something new or engage in a long-lost pastime to help you think like a beginner again.
Appreciate the Everyday Things
Learning to be grateful for the abundance in your life is something you can practice every day in small ways. Appreciate and savor little moments, time with friends, special events with loved ones, and even the taste of food or the smell of flowers.
Rejoice in the blessings that make each day unique and special, and you will soon see all the prosperity you already have within your life. Make a habit of appreciating the small but important things in your life every day.
Learn about Abundant Thinking from Others
You get a lot of practice with scarcity thinking by paying attention to media and advertising. Why not learn to think more abundantly from others, too? Focus on the people in your life who have abundant mindsets and spend more time with them. Find a mentor who already excels at thinking this way and make plans with them regularly.
Surrounding yourself with those who have a positive attitude toward prosperity and success will help you learn to think this way, too. Create an environment that encourages abundant thinking, and you will soon realize the results.
Watch Out for Narrow Thinking
When you contract your awareness and focus too intently on one specific thing, you can limit your possibilities. When your focus is too narrow, you lose the ability to see opportunities that are right in front of you. Loosen your attention to create expanded awareness, which can help you grow your abundance mindset.
Look for What is Going Right
When things are not going as you had hoped in life, it is natural and event evolutionary to consider what is going wrong. You naturally find what is wrong or needs to be improved, but when you shift your focus, you can change your mindset.
Instead of looking for perceived problems or what is going wrong, look instead for what is going right. Using this as your starting point can help you look for ways to bolster support in your life and create more abundance.
Use Momentum to Build Your Potential
An abundance mindset says we already have the capability to realize our goals and achieve prosperity. But, to do that, you must start with action. By doing something, you start your own momentum of success, which builds upon itself.
By carrying out something positive, you encourage more positive actions and outcomes in your life. But you must start moving forward; you must take action to start the forward momentum.
Analyze Loss for Opportunity
Crises and turning points in your life can be viewed negatively, but they can also be times of immense potential. When life hands you significant obstacles, abundant thinking will help you to see the possibilities that can come from these struggles.
By using major setbacks as opportunities for change, you can make drastic alterations to your life that open you up to even more significant potential. Do not see these experiences as struggles; instead, consider how you can use a crisis as a chance to start again or adopt a new way of thinking that could bring you true happiness.
Use Your Words
Your reality is shaped by the language you use and what you say to others and yourself. If your language is one of scarcity, you will think that way; if your words evoke abundance, you will instead think about prosperity.
Notice the words you use and the way you discuss your beliefs and experiences with yourself and others. If you hear that you are talking more about what is missing in your life or what you can’t have or do, flip the script. Stop talking that way and instead use words that illustrate your new abundance mentality.
Get Organized
Attracting abundance starts with knowing what you have in your life that is meaningful for you. Get yourself organized so that you can take inventory of the positive nature of your world.
Declutter the things, people, and obligations that are preventing you from feeling prosperous, which can allow you to focus instead on your gifts and blessings.
Share Your Passions with Others
When you have an abundance mindset, you focus on all the world has to offer, and that includes what you can offer to other people. Sharing your purpose and passions with others allows you to foster their belief in abundance, to supply value to their lives, and to bring more abundance into yours, as well.
By sharing your love, appreciation, and validation with the world, it becomes hard to feel like these things are scarce in your world, as well.
Commit to Your Dreams
Focusing on your dreams opens your eyes to possibilities and expands your worldview. When you are committed to realizing your goals, you will start to see possibilities and opportunities in new places.
You will shift your thoughts about your identity toward one that believes that you are creating your future rather than simply waiting for something to happen to you.
When you commit to your desires, you see how your life can change, and you become more aware of your ability to manifest those changes.
See the Infinite Possibilities
When you start to think abundantly, you will see the many possibilities that the world presents to you regularly. Do not be afraid to embrace these, to explore and try new things. Explore the opportunities that exist within you, as well.
When you focus on yourself and what you can do and become, you will soon realize that your life is already abundantly rich and full.
Don’t Slip Back into Scarcity Thinking
When you are working to shift your mindset, it can become easy to slip back into old patterns of thinking about scarcity. To avoid this, set up some reminders for yourself that will keep you on track toward your new mindset. Put sticky notes around your home or office to remind you of your mindset work.
Set reminders in your calendar to practice some of your new skills that are part of thinking abundantly. Making physical reminders for your personal growth is essential to keeping you on track and focused toward attracting the abundance you want into your life.
Final Thoughts
Attracting abundance can mean different things to different people. Whether you are looking for financial prosperity, loving relationships, career success, or lasting health, learning to think positively about your prosperity can help you achieve whatever it is that makes you happy.
By thinking abundantly, you attract the circumstances and conditions to your life that can help you achieve your dreams, and you learn to appreciate all that you already have, as well. Learning to think abundantly is a matter of shifting your gaze and practicing new skills regularly.