An Idyllic Moment

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? (Matthew 6:28-30)

A lack mindset is the fear of not having access to resources when we need them. 

It manifests itself in the most peculiar ways in our psyche and outer world. It takes some effort to recognize it at times.

Accumulating stuff just in case we might need them is one of the most obvious symptoms.

CLUTTER- A case of “just in case” for physical objects.

You may not necessarily be a hoarder on the “Let’s get the cameras and show the entire world how messed up this person is” level, but the idea with the lack mindset is that: 

Either you bring stuff into your life even though you don’t need them (IN), or 

you simply cannot let go of the stuff that you don’t need anymore (OUT). 

More IN and less OUT means one thing. More stuff accumulating in your space day by day. 

Here are a few examples:

Symptom	Underlying Belief
When I go to the supermarket, I see some spices that I don’t have. I don’t cook quite often at home, and when I do, I do not use these spices usually.  The thing is, there was that one time I didn’t have them and I needed them in a recipe, so I gave up the idea of cooking that altogether. So what if it happens again? I’m going to buy them just in case. (IN)	Lack of flexibility
My kettle’s lid is broken. It still works properly but it is not quite efficient to use it without a lid, so I had to buy a new one.  The thing is I don’t want to let the old one go, just in case the new one breaks down and I am left without a kettle. (OUT)	Safety and security
I saw a great deal on Amazon on the books that I was planning to read. The problem is that I already have like thirty books that wait for me to get to it.   But I can’t resist to urge to buy them, just in case they run out of stock and when I go on the site they won’t be available when I am ready to read them and will be left without this specific skill or knowledge. (IN)	Fear of missing out
I have gained quite a bit of weight in the past years, especially after COVID. I just can’t seem to lose any weight even though I tried. I have many clothes from when I was thinner, and not all of them are new or anything.  Yet, I really can’t let them go, just in case I lose weight and would like to wear them again and I don’t have them anymore. (OUT)	Fear of lack of resourcefulness

Result? Clutter.

DEEP SEATED BELIEFS

There are so many deep seated beliefs, emotions and some messed up world maps in our minds associated with the above scenarios. Here are some of them, listed above next to the examples.

• Lack of flexibility (Rigidity or even Perfectionism) – It has to be that way or it will be not acceptable. In the above scenario of recipe preparation, I’ve opted out of cooking just because of that minor ingredient.
• Fear of Missing Out – What if I miss out? Then I will have missed that particular opportunity forever, or I will be left behind, as in the book example.
• Relying on stuff for safety and security– I need them to be there when we need them to be- Life is unpredictable so I use objects to feel safe and life is more predictable.
• Fear of lack of resourcefulness-I don’t trust my ability to find another solution that I am comfortable with.

These beliefs result in what we call clutter in the above examples, but it might manifest in other ways in our life,  too. 

Imagine this example:

I have a favorite outfit, but I want it to be clean and ready when we want to go out for a special occasion, so I abstain from wearing it on regular or slightly special days just in case I might need it on a very important occasion and it is unavailable (dirty or worn out).

Recognize the same just in case pattern? It is really hard to label it as a lack mindset; in fact we might treat it as common sense or so, but the underlying idea stems from the same fear. What if I won’t have that same quality of clothes at the time? What does it mean really? A fear of misrepresentation?

Clutter is not the problem, it is one of the symptoms, a very common one in fact, in today’s consumer oriented world. The issue is much deeper. 

OVERCOME THE PROBLEM- WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM BY THE WAY?

How to overcome this just in case lack mindset and all the related symptoms? Well the solution is tied to the reason. 

What causes it? 

A lack of trust. For the world, for making the right choices. 

Or making the wrong ones but trusting that making the wrong one is the right one. 

Or everything will be taken care of even though it is the wrong one. 

Or there is no right or wrong choice and  everything is fine the way it is. It was always meant to be this way. 

We put so much pressure into ourselves, into not creating any problems, not making mistakes, basically treating our lives as glass chandeliers that are fragile, that need to be tiptoed around. It is not. 

Our lives are protected, we are protected. 

As long as we connect to our own selves, we remain calm and grounded from that centre in our bodies and make decisions in alignment with our true selves, we are protected. 

Because we are connected.

The solution is therefore : 

Trusting the world, the universe. 

Believing that everything is fine and accepting the situation as it is. Seeing that, it is how it is meant to be the way that is, seemingly imperfect. Perfect for who anyway? We don’t know what is perfect, perhaps our little mistake is creating the butterfly effect that will save another being, the fact is, we don’t know.

Knowing that we are cradled in the world, protected, cherished and will not be left without.

You can take the spiritual path saying that we are here to experience the God consciousness and we attract what we think, so it is important to send the energy of what we want to experience in the universe.

You can take the more traditional: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters. (Psalm 23:1-2)

The path may be different, the result is the same.

END WORD

To me the reason behind a lack mindset is that we do not believe the world is a safe place and we have to be vigilant at all times to protect ourselves. I will not go into details about the type of parenting it takes to create such a mindset, what is important is not why, but how to overcome it. 

No the world is not safe. But we are safe. 

As long as we believe we are safe, we create a safe world around us, because that is our energy and that is what we attract. It is the chicken and the egg situation. The more we believe it is not, then those unsafe occasions could end up on our doorstep, to teach us this same lesson, no matter what happens, you are safe.

There is no lack, if we believe that there is no lack. We just need faith, the size of a mustard seed.