The idea that our thoughts shape our reality carries an element of truth about how our perspectives conditioned our perception.
In a previous post of my mine, I mentioned that the essence of reflection is to see the same thing differently, akin to moving from a first person point of view to a third person point of view.
Mostly, in a third point of view, we see things from a wider angle and have a certain knowing of how the parts make up the whole.
Also, there's a good level of detachment from the intensity of thoughts and emotions.
A World Of Conditioning
If my perspective is that money is a scarce resource, then I'll perceive money as something to constantly worry about, since it's limited and there is not enough to go around with fulfilling my needs.
And vice versa, If my perspective shifts from scarce to abundance, then I'll probably perceive it as something that overflows and is almost everywhere.
If we run with the idea that money is a social construct, then its more beneficial to perceive it as an abundant resource, since this will psychologically tilt the odds in our favor, so to speak, when it comes to acquiring it.
A basic example is someone with a scarcity mindset seeing a new business venture as a risky gamble they can't afford. In contrast, someone with an abundance mindset will see the same venture as an opportunity to generate wealth and contribute to society.
What I find interesting and amusing is how perspectives are created and propagated, it seems through a kind of social osmosis. We absorb the views of those around us, our family, friends, and the media we consume.
This creates a feedback loop, where widely held perspectives become self-reinforcing over time even though they may no longer be rooted in objective reality.
If everyone around you is talking about a specific investment being a risky bet, it can be hard to imagine it being a potentially lucrative opportunity.
Turning The Knob
Understanding how perspectives spread is valuable, but what if we want to break free from limiting views?
The good news is, perspectives are not set in stone. I see them more as a thick cloud that can be parted with conscious effort.
Cognitive reframing, a technique in psychology, offers a great tool for this. Basically, It's about diving into the root cause, identifying the underlying thought or belief and then viewing it from a different angle in a specific or broad sense.
Let's go back to the scarcity mindset around money and constantly worrying about running out of it.
Here's how the process of reframing could work:
Identify the limiting belief: "There's never enough money."
Question the assumption: "Is this truly based on facts, or is it just a fear?"
Seek alternative viewpoints: Here's where the work begins. We gather information from diverse sources including our own, and then compare and contrast these different viewpoints. The aim isn't necessarily to be critical about it but to look whether this new information is coherent or not with the default viewpoint that we possess. In most cases, it's usually not. Which leads to the next step.
Reframe the narrative: Based on this new found information, a new narrative emerges. In this case, the new narrative could be money is a resource that we can acquire and manage effectively.
This is a realistic view, acknowledging that money availability can fluctuate between scarcity and abundance.
But if one can acquire money during both times and manage it effectively, then the idea of scarcity or abundance becomes less about the external world and more about our ability to navigate through these fluctuations.
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