Scar City, Mind Set: LP

“An Object in stasis is much harder to get going.” – Simon Sinek

Often, we find that how we are interacting with the rest of world operates within the confined spaces of etiquettes established but not fully explained or understood. Through social constructs, many ideologies spill out of people as facts when really what they’ve become is self-policing, advocates for a status quo, repeating common phrases because they feel it helps them relate. In actual reality, these sorts of statements are often used to wedge and divide more so than bring others together for a common purpose. 

In regards to our personal aspirations, far too many times throughout our lives, especially during the educational process or while being given “friendly advice”, we are instructed that things are impossible. We begin to mirror these concerns as reality and shy away from accomplishing our dreams. Suddenly, we’re only focusing our thoughts on how many negatives there are, and this energy becomes so heavy that we lose any momentum we’ve worked to achieve. The world around us closes in, we become claustrophobic, and our since of self worth becomes completely distorted. We’re no longer willing to take risks, reach out to others, and our mind is too preoccupied to be a creative force. Call the nurse, buckle into your couch we’re going for a ride to nowhere! Welcome to Scarcity Mindset.

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When life is punching you in the face, it’s difficult to stay positive. Especially if you’re looking towards other people you consider successful and idolizing their incredibly defining moment as what success looks like. This is a depicted version of reality of this person’s life though, with the agenda of grandiosity. The truth is that no one has created anything great without a journey starting from somewhere, and no one lives without trials or tribulation for the entirety of their lives. When we envision other peoples success in our minds eye, we often see them only in their moment of elation. Popping the champagne, checking out their “crib”, or visualizing their selfie taken with ten models blowing diamond bubbles, high-fiving one percenters floating on a sky-yacht somewhere in the clouds of Venus. With all of their success, the struggle they faced to get there-which is usually well documented-is rarely ever disclosed or highlighted.

The essential step to perpetual positivity is to cultivate awareness over what influences you. Identify these areas, and change them immediately. We are constantly inundated with advertisements, ideology, and flash-sexy click bate that waste our time and want to impress on us what’s hip, acceptable, right or wrong. But when we dive a little deeper, we should ask ourselves what’s necessary, resonant, inclusive, and resourceful. Doing this will build your thoughts, actions, and relationships on a foundation of truth, honesty, and strength. This will build your confidence to impenetrable levels, so much so that when life is a screaming lunatic telling you to throw yourself off a building, you can look at it with confident calmness and create an attitude that says there are no impossible problems, only solutions to challenging situations. I have proven time and time again to myself that it’s not only possible but probable to accomplish my goals, no matter how ambitious they are.

I continuously use the word “cultivate” because positivity is a learned and practiced skill. Many of the people I grew up with, some of my family members included, are what I endearingly call “mumble-mutterers”. They sit on their couch mumbling to themselves about how the world has treated them poorly, and now they’re wasting away doing nothing about it, because they tell themselves and anyone else that will listen that they simply “can’t.” No matter what you tell them they are locked into their belief of “I can’t” when really what they are actually saying is “I don’t care if I can, I won’t.” Sitting with these people, I would hear this over and over again, yet I would be feeling an overwhelming urge to go out and do. I began to discover that I had the same tools they have, but with one major difference: their in-adaptability toward obstacles became overwhelming, and this feeling of being overwhelmed became their day–to–day reality. The slightest resistance and their desired story crumbles. They fortified this belief with their “can’t-do–anything–to–improve-my-life” attitude and complain about how impossible their life pursuits are. And with this sort of recycled life philosophy, they’re right. However, with a little effort and a tweak in how they internally speak to themselves, they could change it all.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi

Entrainment is a word defined as the synchronization of organisms to an external rhythm. 

Learning how to flow with life, to improv on a whim, and being ready to say “yes” when opportunities arise is the key to creating a happy, successful existence. In order to do this, we need to find a way to be less attached to things that distract us or hinder our ability to act. When we’re too focused on our past mistakes or things outside of the path we’ve chosen, it builds up in our stress levels, creating psychological grooves and patterns that we make into incredibly addictive, unhealthy habits. These habits ironically encourage more and more stress, and we become a pressure cooker ready to explode. All we see is negativity and the target for our scorn. There’s no space here for creativity; this negativity consumes us, destroys our zest for life, and effects our relationships with others. We become blinded by fear, and obsessively victimized.

Sometimes it’s just about letting things go. When the thought, habit, or thing no longer serves us to pursue our dreams, it’s toxic, and we should take steps to remove it from our lives. This can be difficult, because we get wrapped up in sentimental cycles or feel we need something that drains us more than sparks us. Sometimes, it’s also about knowing how to buckle down for the long hall on a project and having healthy outlets to relieve our stress. 

Good examples of stress relieving outlets are going for walks, exercise, study something related to your project, create something, write something, teach, join discussion forums, Meditation, Yoga, read a book, or find someone who may need some help and offer your assistance.

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, Let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”

-Bruce Lee 

There are exponential benefits to having a positive mindset. You’ll see more and more doors open for sure, and your life will lead you to places you never imagined, but you will also notice that you have more energy, creativity, appreciation for life; your general disposition feels lighter, you will attract positive people into your life.

Researchers are continuously finding incredible results from studies into positive thinking! Some of the results are directly related to how the body is effected by stress. By lowering our stress, scientists find that we have increased life spans, greater energy, less depression and physical impairments, illnesses, and over all, we deal with stressful situations in a calm, mindful manor.

If you seem stuck in your life or overwhelmed, it’s ok. We’ve all been there. But just to give up on yourself will never improve your situation. Don’t wait for some magical once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find you. (Even if it does it’ll find you mopping and you probably won’t recognize it for what it is.) Go boldly in the directions of your dreams, find the flow, and know that you’re on a epic journey of self-mastery!

“Do it! Just do it! Yesterday you said tomorrow, so just do it! Make your dreams come true! Just do it! Some people dream of success while your going to wake up and work hard at it! Nothing is impossible! You should get to the point where anyone else would quit and you’re not going to stop there. No, What are you waiting for? Do it! Just do it! Yes you can! Just do it! If you’re tired of starting over, stop giving up.”

– Shia LaBeouf

Steps to Overcoming Scarcity Mindset