Day 82: Refocusing, from Lack to Abundance

Let's travel back in time a bit or rather the beginning of time as Christians know it. There he was Adam with his wife Eve in the Garden of Eden. God commanded "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:16–17, NIV). The serpent came along and said to Eve "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" Now I know you've probably heard this story a lot but let's get some bit of perspective here.

God gave Adam and Eve everything just except for one. But when the serpent came along he made it seem like they were not given a lot. He shifted their focus from abundance to lack. The more that they had all of a sudden was now less than that one thing that they did not have. I really want you to think about this in your life. Many times we are so focused on the little less that we do not have and not at all paying attention to the bunch that we already have.

The Obsession with What's Missing 

It's almost comical, innit? The way we can have 999 brilliant things going for us, yet we'll lie awake at 3 AM obsessing over the one thing we lack.

There's this study from Harvard  that suggests our brains are literally wired to focus on absence rather than presence. The researchers call it "the scarcity mindset" when we perceive we don't have enough of something, our brains become obsessed with it, leaving less cognitive bandwidth for everything else.

Historical Masters of Missing the Point (Not Just Us Modern Idiots)

The Israelites, God's chosen people, recipients of divine rescue from Egyptian slavery spent approximately eight minutes celebrating their freedom before complaining about the menu options in the wilderness.

Numbers 11:5-6 records their whinging: "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost, also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" (NIV)

Let's recap their situation:

• Miraculously freed from generations of slavery ✓
• Guided by a literal pillar of fire and cloud ✓
• Fed daily with bread from heaven ✓
• But no garlic bread, so basically hell on earth ✓

If that's not a masterclass in focusing on lack rather than abundance, I don't know what is.

The Hedonic Treadmill 

There's this psychological concept called the hedonic treadmill a term coined by Brickman and Campbell in 1971, which sounds like a forgotten folk duo but is actually a pair of researchers. The concept suggests that humans quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events.

In simpler terms: we get what we want, enjoy it for about five minutes, then start wanting the next thing.

You finally get that promotion, two weeks later, you're obsessing over the corner office.

You buy your dream home, a month passes, and you're contemplating knocking through walls for an "open concept living space" (whatever that means).

You find a loving partner who somehow tolerates your collection of Star Wars figurinessoon enough, you're wondering if someone even more tolerating might be out there.

It's exhausting, frankly. And completely at odds with what Paul writes in Philippians 4:11-12: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (NIV)

Paul, mate, share that secret more explicitly next time, would you?

The Practical Bit 

So how do we actually make this shift from fixating on lack to recognising abundance? A few thoughts:

1. The Gratitude Thing Actually Works
   I know, I know it's been done to death on Instagram by influencers with perfect teeth and questionable ethics. But there's something to it. Start small. Three things daily. They don't have to be profound. "My coffee was the perfect temperature" counts.
2. Adopt the "For Now" Mindset
   When you catch yourself saying "I don't have enough money" or "I don't have the right qualifications," add "for now" to the end. It acknowledges the current reality while leaving room for change.
3. Play the "At Least" Game
   When something goes wrong, follow it with "at least..." For example: "My presentation was a disaster, but at least I got the chance to present in front of those great people, everyone was there to listen to what I had to say."
4. Ask Better Questions
   Rather than "Why don't I have X?", try "What do I already have that could help me get X?" or better yet, "Do I actually need X, or am I just caught up in wanting it?"
5. Schedule Regular "Enough" Time
   Set aside five minutes daily to list all the ways in which you already have enough. Enough food, enough air, enough opportunities, enough love, enough socks without holes (Yoh! I've got plenty of those).

The Paradoxical End

Here's the kicker about switching from lack to abundance focus: when you start appreciating what you have, you often end up with more. Not because of some mystical law of attraction nonsense, but because gratitude leads to contentment, contentment leads to clarity, and clarity helps you make better decisions.

As Jesus said in Matthew 25:29, "For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them." (NIV)

Contextually, he wasn't talking about material possessions, but rather about using what you've been given talents, resources, opportunities, networks etc. When you recognise and utilise what you already have instead of fixating on what you lack, you create space for growth.

So maybe next time the serpent tries to shift your focus from the entire garden to the one tree you can't touch, you might just reply, "Nice try, mate. I've got plenty to be getting on with."

And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go appreciate my rapidly dying laptop battery—the very one forcing me to actually finish this post instead of falling down another YouTube rabbit hole about how artisanal cheese is made.

Because in an odd way, even limitations can be abundance in disguise.

...That was profound, wasn't it? I should put that on a mug or something.

Actually, no. We have enough mugs with platitudes already.

That is true abundance.