Of Scarcity and Abundance

In watching the movie documentary of “The Secret”, I came across a powerful quotation from Albert Einstein. He said: “In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.” I would like to make my own version of this quote and it goes like this: “In the midst of scarcity lies abundance.”

It has been a little over 5 months since the saga of my bumhood began. Since I left the corporate world in February this year, my finances have dwindled, my material resources have been stretched along with my sanity. I have been submerged into a deep well of scarcity. Merriam Webster defines scarcity as being “deficient in quantity and number compared with the demand” or simply put, “not plentiful or abundant”.

What are telltale signs of material scarcity? Allow me to enumerate…

You know you are scarce when...

• You think twice in attending weekend gimmicks with barkadas because an enjoyable, relaxing evening of chat and entertainment requires shelling out not less than P500.
• You'd rather not be invited to wedding receptions and baby showers of your peers in order to save on the gift money.
• You wince whenever you pay for a full tank gas. If gas prices were not increasing by the week, you would rather just spend a few hundreds to allow you to reach your next destination.
• You sweat profusely in front of the ATM machine and have a stupefied look on your face whenever you make cash withdrawals to pay for your phone bills and other basic necessities. Why? The numbers just keep on decreasing.
• You begin tracking your daily expenses upto the last cent.
• Whenever people compliment you for having lost weight, you tell them that you went on a diet (which is just a half truth). In reality, you ate less in order to spend less.
• You choose to walk 15 minutes to the nearest LRT station, take the jeep, bus, or FX, instead of enjoying the comforts of driving an air-conditioned car.
• You'd rather order plain ice water for your drinks instead of a smoothie, shake, or fruit juice that you use to order when you still had a steady stream of income. You prefer to order simpler meals like fresh lumpia over a full coursed steak meal.
• You haggle for a discount with your suki dentist after he patches up a hole in your molar and request to defer treatments of other minor dental defects till next time because this time you have to pay for your own bill whereas before, you can readily charge it to your company HMO card.
• You think twice about adding another book to your existing collection at home. You make a vow to finish reading at least 90% of the books before getting a new title.
• You think twice before enrolling in any more self-help or educational seminars on topics you're genuinely interested on but would probably not serve any immediate purpose in terms of putting money into to your pocket.
• You have the gall to seek medical advise from your doctor friend for minor bodily discomforts in order to save on the professional fee. Of course, you promised to treat her to a nice meal next time when able.
• You have deferred your dreams of travelling to a new place internationally at least once a year and domestically at least twice every year, until such time that the sun is shining more brightly at your finances.
• You have developed the habit of asking people if they have a secondary Sun cell no. so that you can make the most of unlimited Sun-to-Sun texting.
• You become creative in composing cryptic text messages to minimize the no. of SMS transactions.
• You have revived your membership at a local video shop for VCD and DVD movie rentals so that you get to watch more for less.
• You begin to graciously accept meals or merienda treats from your friends whereas before you would prefer dutch treat or even offer to foot the bill.
• You have transformed into a home buddy because you get to eat all three meals at home for free.

Note: Replace "You" with "I", "your" with "my", "yours" with "mine".

WHAT I LEARNED FROM BEING SCARCE

• FRUGALITY & FINANCIAL PRUDENCE
I became more aware of my lifestyle expenses and learned how to say no to certain social functions that do not have any real value to me except for mindless entertainment. I have learned to become a smart spender.

• HEALTH BENEFITS
By commuting, I get to walk more and hence, exercise for free.
By choosing to drink plain water and eating healthier lower-cost food, I am doing my digestive system, liver, and kidneys a big favor.

• NEGOTIATION
I learned to negotiate for lower costs instead of paying for whatever is the initial quoted price.

• CREATIVITY & RESOURCEFULNESS
I learned to fully utilize my existing resources and put them into good use instead of acquiring more that I do not really need at the moment.

• DELAY GRATIFICATION
I have learned to focus on the essentials and delay gratification in my pleasure travels.

• APPRECIATION OF SIMPLE BLESSINGS
I have learned to appreciate being treated for a meal because it means I can set aside the money saved for a future meal. I also learned not to take for granted the home-cooked

SHIFTING TO ABUNDANCE THINKING

“What you think and what you feel and what actually manifests is ALWAYS a match - no exception.” From The Secret

I would like to share techniques of how to shift to abundance thinking.

a. Develop a spirit of gratitude – It is said that “Whatever we think about and thank about, we bring about.”

Engage in a friendly verbal competition with a supportive friend. Outdo each other with short exchanges of things you are grateful of, no matter how simple they may be. It goes something like this “I am thankful that even if I’m jobless, I can still treat myself to my favorite dessert of halo-halo at Chowking.” “I am thankful that despite my not being able to shop for new clothes, I still have an ample supply of decent clothes to wear from my previous shopping sprees.”

If you have an inclination towards writing, you could come up with a GRATITUDE JOURNAL. Everyday, spend 15 to 30 minutes in writing about the small things that you appreciate in life. You’ll begin to appreciate more the things you do have, instead of the things you don’t. Best of all, it virtually costs nothing. You just need a pen and a notebook. This can even lift you out of depression.

b. Visualize

Create a VISION BOARD or TREASURE MAP. Put pictures of what you want to attract and every day look at it and get into the feeling state of already having acquired these wants.
Changing a pattern of thinking requires repetition and emotional involvement. The act of cutting out pictures of things that you’d like to have from a magazine and pasting them to an illustration board or cartolina requires emotional involvement. Looking at the finished product every day entails repetition. The simple activity of creating a vision board helps shift your thought pattern, allowing you to attract that things that you want.

Truly, in the midst of scarcity lies abundance. When you have less, you learn to appreciate more. You learn to more practical and you learn to work within your resources and use what you have. I would like to challenge everyone to always be in gratitude because it is in being grateful that we attract abundance.