The conversation is so commonplace that we don’t notice.
Person 1: “How are you doing?”
Person 2: “Oh, you know, busy.”
Person 1: “I am too.”
So, what is driving this busyness?
Most of us blame forces outside of ourselves. Work. School. Chores. Events. Sports. Kid’s Activities.
While these play a role, they are not the whole story.
For many, anxiety is the driving force behind their busyness.
Anxiety is a multi-faceted nemesis that is not easily defeated. One of its core features is the scarcity mindset.
At Leadercast: The One Thing, we interviewed Father Richard Rohr. (Richard’s one thing was a leader’s need to be humble.)
In his writing, Father Richard continually emphasizes the opposite of a scarcity mindset: an abundance mindset.
In a blog this week, Richard quoted Rachel Harding describing her mom’s vision of the world:*
“There is no scarcity. There is no shortage. No lack of love, of compassion, of joy in the world. There is enough. There is more than enough.
Only fear and greed make us think otherwise. No one need starve. There is enough land and enough food. No one need die of thirst. There is enough water. No one need live without mercy. There is no end to grace. And we are all instruments of grace. The more we give it, the more we share it, the more we use it, the more God makes. There is no scarcity of love. There is plenty. And always more.”
There is enough. There is plenty.
Anxiety decreases when we have this mindset.
So, the next time you feel like busyness is running (ruining) your life.
Pause and repeat these phrases:
“There is enough.
There is enough time.
There is enough love.
There is enough money.
There is enough for everyone, including me.
I may not know HOW, but there is enough.”
If you want to argue with this premise, I get it. I have argued against it most of my life. It has kept me busy and anxious. It has NOT made me a better leader, friend, or family member. So, I’m going to be humble and seek a new way.
A way that says, “There is enough.”
Thanks for being a leader worth following,
Brian Rutherford
Director of Content & Product Strategy
