By Nikki Ternay
One of the biggest mindset shifts I have had is learning the difference between abundant thinking and scarcity thinking.
The definition of abundance is “an extremely plentiful or overly sufficient quantity or supply.”
A person who believes in an abundant mindset will focus on the limitless opportunities available to them. (Gratitude also ties into the abundant mindset.)
On the opposite end, a person with a scarcity mindset believes there will never be enough.
Thanksgiving is all about abundance
Thanksgiving is a celebration of being thankful for the abundance of food on the table.
When you are looking at the Thanksgiving food spread out in front of you, what are you thinking about?
Is it that you must try every single item on the table?
If you are in a Dieter’s Mentality (a.k.a. scarcity mindset), one of the thoughts you might have is that you need to eat as much food as possible because you will not experience Thanksgiving food again for another 365 days.
Now, add into the mix a big family (like in my house growing up); if you didn’t eat your food super fast and go for seconds, you didn’t get any.
The fear of not getting another helping of Memaw’s killer pecan pie could be something you are thinking about without even realizing it!
If you are anything like I used to be, my primitive brain would start freaking out, thinking I was going to miss out on my favorite dessert, so I should eat as much as I can — even if I feel sick to my stomach — because this dessert won’t be available to me for what I imagine (in my brain) is a very, very long time.
If you haven’t heard me talk about how we operate from two parts of our brains, go check out my top-ranking podcast “Weight Loss for Women Over 40,” but here are the cliff notes:
We operate from these two brains.
We have our primitive brain and our sophisticated brain.
We operate on these two brains.
Our primitive brain (our subconscious) wants to keep us safe and indulge in as much instant gratification as possible. If it doesn’t get what it wants, the primitive brain will have a HUGE hissy fit (much like a toddler that wants their way). This is where emotional eating and self-verbal abuse typically start.
This is also the time when you sabotage or give up on your weight loss goals.
The other part of our cognitive thinking is our sophisticated brain (prefrontal cortex). This is where all our dreams hang out. This side of our brain is our cheerleader, our #1 supporter. This is where our Wonder Woman version — the one we’d like to become — lives. The sophisticated brain will help us make plans, think of our future, and help us believe we are badasses and can do anything.
Unfortunately, the primitive brain is typically super loud and tends to easily drown out our sophisticated brain. (Think of the saying, “the squeaky wheel gets the oil,” and our primitive brain squeaks VERY LOUDLY.)
Abundant thoughts come from our sophisticated brain.
Scarcity thoughts come from our primitive brain.
Makes sense, right? The primitive brain wants to keep us safe, so it teaches us to fear not having enough food, feeling scarce, or not having enough instant gratification. It thinks in extreme terms of survival and death.
The sophisticated brain wants us to achieve amazing things, to lose weight, and to live in the body we dream about. Why not? She thinks you are totally awesome and can do anything. Anything is abundantly possible in her mind.
Heading into Thanksgiving
What I am about to suggest you can start doing today, but in particular, do this on Thanksgiving Day: Notice your thoughts about the Thanksgiving food in front of you.
Are you thinking in scarcity or in abundance?
Abundant thoughts don’t have you going back for seconds (unless you are still hungry).
Nor do they have you eating until you are stuffed.
Even if Thanksgiving is like your ULTIMATE highlight — like your FAVORITE holiday evaa’ — you know it will be back around next year. And even if, for some weird reason, it does disappear, you can get a turkey any time you want. You can get or make any of the desserts out on the Thanksgiving table. You could make Thanksgiving dinner EVERY DAY for the next nine years if you wanted to!
So, head into Thanksgiving with an abundant mindset and see what decisions you make from that place of plenty.
Want more abundance during Thanksgiving? Go check out these free resources at:
