PUH-LENTY! ๐ถ Perceptions & Manifestations of Scarcity Thinking in the Steemniverse
I like to think of Steemit as representing the possibility and promise of new paradigm dynamics - bringing closer the experience of abundance, decentralisation, freedom and other such hitherto rarely tasted goodies! In this regard, I've also been thinking about the notion of Abundance and its opposite, Scarcity - about how these energies play out in the Steemniverse and how they might be influencing the behaviour and action of Steemians in un/sub-conscious ways. This post falls within the realm of speculation, it is not judgmental and I draw much material from an internal observation of my own reactions and experiences. I'm attempting to look at something that may be quite subtle. If this speaks to you, please read on.
Let's look at a simple definition of basic concepts:
- Abundance: the situation in which there is more than enough of something. source
- Scarcity: a situation in which something is not easy to find or get. source
If abundance does indeed exist, it follows that entering into a scarcity mindset, with its overwhelming focus on lack, is a completely redundant activity - superfluous and not required. We all win, regardless! I believe in, and live by the notion of abundance. I have brought myself to consciously experience the seeming paradox whereby I haven't had basic and wanted possessions of material abundance, nor the means to procure them; yet came to realise that I actually did have everything required for my immediate needs and therefore had no reason to worry. The situation will change, my wants will be met โ it did, and they were - such have been my experiences time and again! I consider financial security to be a factor of how much one worries โ is insecure - about the subject of one's finances. From that POV, there is a strong correlation between experiencing abundance, and not worrying about finances. Do please note that by worrying, I mean excessive and circular thinking around an issue when one can do nothing more to resolve it โ especially where there is no immeditate control or influence over the situation to be had!
A discussion of abundance and the abundance mindset is to be found in @taskmaster4450's excellent post on the subject - Do You Have An Abundance Mindset???? STEEM Is Providing, Why Do You Fret?. It goes into:
- what scarcity is and what having a scarcity-mindset implies;
- what abundance is and what having an abundance-mindset implies;
- how abundance applies to the Steemniverse;
- why there is no need to worry about being left behind!
If you find yourself in states of mind where you are frustrated, envious or otherwise concerned about how to be 'successful' on steemit, I strongly reccommend that you take a look at the article for some soothing vibes that might hit home - see if this approach makes any sense to you!?
I would now like to consider the manifestation of scarcity mindset on this platform. This is an aspect that often remains hidden away in psychological recesses and learned and conditioned myths of lack. The theoretical aspect of 'scarcity' might be easy enough for one to consider, but are we able to observe it in our own actions, behaviour and thinking?
Fear is BFF with scarcity thinking โ I'll be left behind, won't get enough for my needs, can't keep up with the others, not good enough, wasting my time etc etc. One can be keenly aware of the energy with which an action (such as the impulse to post, comment or follow) is undertaken - I consciously realise I'm doing something...how does it feel?...what prompted the action?. If there is any element of fear/scarcity thinking behind it, this can be identified.
The following are some examples - to my mind - of actions born of scarcity thinking. Please consider that I emphasise the state of mind in which something is done as being the subject of this scrutiny โ the action itself may be done with the full awareness of what it is and entails. Conscious vs unconscious choices!
- Strategising one's approach to Steemit in terms of prioritising earnings โ the push for maximising earnings is the determining factor for the frequency and subject-matter of posts and comments.
- networking for profit โ looking at connections with eyes that prioritise the usefulness of the connection in terms of assisting one's earning potential.
- feeling stressed about being left behind โ those folk are doing such a slick job of it - how can I copy them? I'll never get there myself!
- observing other users employ blatant tactics that unapologetically push for maximum profit and thinking if everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't I?, and possibly following suit.
Knowledge is power! If I am doing something unconsciously I don't know why or what it is and I am thus enslaved. I don't wish to be governed by unconscious patterns of conditioning any more. I don't wish to give my power away. I'm not a slave! I want to know why I am driven to do this or that. Then I can make up my mind if I wish to or not โ no value judgement here, no good/bad/ugly stuff. Just plain ol' facts rather than speculation, conjecture or myth.
For me, the pleasure and benefits of being on Steemit come from self-expression and the release of pent-up creativity. There is also pleasure from genuine and agenda-less connection with other beings. These pleasures and benefits become diluted when I take any of the above bulleted points into consideration, trying to build a post with them and prioritising them over independent, free-flowing self-expression. I'm liable to get lost in 3rd person speculation โ looking for subjects that are likely to be popular (even at the expense of my personal interests); crowd pleasing and appeasing; doubts and lack of clarity in thought processing etc. Where there is abundance, what need to compare stashes, or to actively go about collecting? These activities become unnecessary IMO. Rewards may be lower and slower, yet they may perhaps be more valuable as they are paid in self-esteem as well as crypto! If I engage with the hungry and frustrated energies, they kick back at gross and subtle levels, moulding and shaping my perception; forming habits that enslave me and leave me feeling hollow, regardless of crypto-payout. It seems to be universally accepted on Steemit that one has to really - and like really really really - go about planning and working to be successful. And fair enough, it is generally true that a lot of energy is required to establish oneself here! But what is being planned and what worked on and what is the quality of this energy? Does success mean crypto-financial success alone??? Maybe for some, sure, no problem, but not for the many dissenting voices that I have come across, and with whom these words may resonate!
What sense do we have of our potential as creative masters? Is there a notion of how we may be exchanging our ability to express this for a handful of ill-fitting trinkets designed in some Dontgivashit factory? I'm figuring it out too guys, but it is worth considering isn't it? It's not so much about altering behaviour per se, but more of questioning the behavioural impulse to act out of fear, worry etc, and of closely observing its presence and effect. This act of noticing, of observing these patterns is at the same time, and without further effort, also the act of liberating oneself from them. The benefits are holistic and permeate elsewhere into one's life. It's definitely worth considering the payoff in terms of how one's energy gets used, and how much of the powerfully creative and individually self-expressive energy that you have at your disposal is being funnelled into fear-based thinking!
Thanks for reading.
Namaste.
Gosh I don't know where to begin here...you (and @jakeybrown) both raise some seriously important points both in your beautiful article and in his insightful comment. Loving gratitude to you both for both!! ๐โค๏ธ๐
Wholeheartedly agree with you @barge...an abundant mind set comes from both the attitude of gratitude and a surrender to the flow, an allowing, accepting and trusting state of BEing. Almost the opposite of how we as children, amd later as adults, have been trained/indoctrinated to be. I call it the me me me as opposed to the we we we! A simple enough switch in thinking which has a profound impact on us at an individual as well as potentially at a collective level.
The moment we give in to fear, envy or competitive mind sets we lose power. Power to create, power to harmonise with the multiverse, power to be cocreators both collectively and individually. And ultimately (ironically) if all things are inextricably connected aren't they both the same thing anyway?
In relation to the steemit journey it can feel a little discouraging to not receive much recognition for the work you spend hours planning, penning and writing. And many will indeed slip into the envy mindset seeing some whales post relatively paltry posts in comparison...but if people fall prey to this stalking envy monster they have forgotten that the whales have also had the hard slog too...when you witness whales reaping mega upvotes it must be remembered that we have not seen the journey that preceeded this...the efforts they have put in that are masked by the success now enjoyed.
Privileged be a follower of such illuminated insight @barge thank you โค๏ธ
Awesome post..
It's easy to see where people are and not look at where they've been. Every whale on here either invested a great deal or worked hard on the platform early on. But it's really easy for our perception of things to put us in a negative mindset, one of envy. I've fallen prey, but I always remind myself to do me and put out my own work and just keep building.
One thing I see here on steemit is a hugely undervalued spiritual community. Like there are some amazing people on here and I hope they start sharing more about their own journey's.
I think as long as we keep building and supporting eachother we are gonna kill it here.
Thanks for the kind words :)
Completely agree @jakeybrown when I put my work out on steemit I am not seeking external validation, I am however looking to ensure that whatever creatively comes forth from my inner depths is in alignment with what I want to accomplish. When I achieve that I am satisfied. And that's enough. More than enough actually.
The undervaluing of the spiritual community on steem is, for me, a fairly accurate reflection of the mentality and default setting of most societies around the world right now, And again this also plays into @barge's article here....everyone knows the price of everything (bitcoin comes to mind) and the value of nothing (Oscar Wilde if I remember that correctly). It's changing, as I said before, because just as we have come to appreciate and know the value of our inner worlds, of the value of kindness and the interconnected reality of all things...others will too. 100th monkey syndrome and all. It's on those of us who are rubbing the sleep from our eyes to help other awaken from their slumbers, with great gentleness and kindness, and show them the way.
And if a by product of that is that we kill it...lets kill it with kindness!!! ๐๐โค๏ธ
Absolutely, and with the number of people on here who are spiritually inclined, I think we can get a pretty strong movement going :) I'll brainstorm, I've got a few solid people following me and I always make sure to follow them because they are producing great content too!
Music to my ears @jakeybrown, deLIGHTful, needful, and I'd love to have a conversation about that. How can we do that?
Hop on discord, we can shoot some ideas back and forth
https://discordapp.com/
same username #8257 is the four digit code
Very kind words @lilygolightly, thank you ๐
Agreed. There is only the Oneness of inter-connection. Separation is an in-between illusion and mighty tool of learning and consciousness-expansion :D.
Sure, observed it in myself. But then I rationalise it out. If what I post aligns with my internal integrity, I can be happy with it even if nobody else sees it. I ask myself why I feel negatively about it and then realise that it's not about competition - that belongs to old paradigm thinking and the scarcity mindset. In a world of abundance - and Steemit is or could be that world - comparison is meaningless. If someone has 10 cars and I have only a bicycle, I don't need to worry or feel small as my transportational needs for the moment are taken care of, and, when the need for motorised transport arises, I am confident that I will have the means to procure it or else my need may be spotted by the owner who lends me one of the cars for the day! Either way it gets taken care of without requiring much further thought on my part! Seeing this in action in my own life certainly helps me to have belief in it, which in turn reinforces the positive cycle :D.
Namaste
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That old turkey...what goes around, comes around...is ludicrously relevant here @barge
And another oldie but goldie...we get out what we put in.
Simples innit, like???
DOing it...ah well, there's the rub. Self mastery is a work in progress for most of us and requires discipline and effort to get the old monkey mind to shut the heck up and stop telling us 'we can't' or 'we don't deserve it' or 'we're not good enough' or whatever other nonsense it spouts about!
Fact is there is ALWAYS enough. We are, each and everyone of us, more than good enough. We ALWAYS get what we need. And scarcity is a fiction created by the mind to allow us to fail, be lazy or give up!
Ha!!! Caught you little monkey mind...didn't see that one coming did it?! ๐๐๐๐
Hey Lily, just a subtle point, maybe:
I wonder about this and have done so in the past! Might this be yet another way of the ego/monkey mind "'telling us 'we can't' or 'we don't deserve it' or 'we're not good enough'".
If the NOW is all that exists, what is the notion of 'progress' but yet another way of telling us we are imperfect and incomplete etc etc? Perhaps it is this very notion that IS the force that prevents the 'DO'ing????? - because it's perceived as a perpetual and neverending work in progress (which it IS of course in its own way)...the distortion may be in conflating the notion of evolution (work in progress) with imperfection IMO.
Alan Watts once said that if we are trying to do something, then we obviously don't know how to do it, else we'd be doing it and not merely trying to! Perhaps we are simply trying too hard - after all, the trying thing of effort-making is pushed very hard on us in early years and forms a deep deep impression. Could this be yet another expression of it, I wonder!!??
Yes @barge it might very well be. I think we could indeed conflate "trying" to be better with a scarity of perfection...one does rather imply the other doesn't it?
That said a snowdrop buried beneath the soil, hemmed down by the weight of earth, further trapped by the solid crust of permafrost struggles through these obstacles to reach the light of day and bloom in the pale winter sun.
It IS already perfection, yet it still seeks the light. Maybe we could see the snowdrop's journey as an allegory for the evolution of conscious?
Sure Lily it's a very nice one too: the flower rising, opening and blooming :D
The word that checks me is 'struggle'. I think that is a question of perspective and possibly yet another 'monkey mind' thaang..... Again, for me, everything is accurate! To resist reality is to 'struggle', and to embrace it is to stop struggling.
Yep totally agreed @barge the word struggle IS a challenge to the "flow and grow" in the natural order of things we just do and will grow from the ever present now! And yet, and yet, is the effort required by the delicate snowdrop as it pushes it's little head against the soil and the frost easy? I wonders!!!?
I too wonder :D - if the notion of ascribing such concepts as easy or difficult to the snowdrop's experience of pushing through is itself a projection of some aspect of the human mind. Surely for the snowdrop, there is no value judgement and no sentimentality, it just is. Does the snowdrop doubt its own ability to push through? Does it agonise over the obstacles, or even view them as obstacles? I don't see resistance, I don't see struggle!
Aye man. You touch on a lot of things there that I consider often. I touch on it a little in today's DTube Daily video. Fear - F*** Everything and Run!
I came to live online in the social sense on The Motley Fool UK platform. I did it for the social interaction and I loved my time on those forums. The only 'payout' you could get there was 'recs', similar to Instagram likes I guess. But personally I found that that encouraged me to write higher quality content. It worked for me and I learned a lot on those boards; it was both educational and social.
Now I find myself going out to play music in front of people for money and using a mantra to help with the fear I feel before every single gig to varying degrees.
I think that on Steemit, there's a democracy at play and you can choose to try and game the system, spam, talk rubbish, do whatever you like, just as you can do in meatspace. I consider Steem as a place where I can express myself and grow through music, writing, video, technology, photography. I know I will have to find my own crowd and that's going to take time to find, so I'm going to have to spend time reading and browsing and watching. It'll come. The crypto's just a bonus.
Nice content though my friend. I'm enjoying following you and watching your thought patterns.
That's awesome man, great way to look at things
Hey @camuel ๐ ... just watched your 'fear' video - it's straight-up and flat-out honest, and I see what you mean about applying your mantra to try and settle yourself on gig day. It was a short vid and you referred a lot to the 'fear' without me really finding out what it is that you fear. I'm not enquiring any more than to ask if you know what your fear breaks down to further? What I mean is that in my experience, 'fear', like 'anger', is a complex state and can therefore be broken down into smaller elements for examination...that's my 2p.
Thanks for all your support my friend, it's really great!
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Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to keep my videos down to under 10 mins and closer to 5 if I can, simply because I know that if I see a video beyond 10 mins I generally skip it. Yup, I know. I love the idea of talking though. I didn't know whether I would, thinking that I'd probably keep longer form for written posts. Dunno. Might flip it around.
From the self analysis I've done, it seems that part of the fear comes from impostor syndrome, and by extension fear of being judged. I'm judgmental myself for reasons which I've yet to fathom, but I know it's a failing of mine I should keep working on. They say awareness is the first step, but when you've been on step 1 with that for years, it gets kinda tiresome. I'm not sure how to break those pathways. I want to feel love and compassion for my fellow man.
...and for yourself? You can feel love and compassion for yourself? If so, it's the same thing. If not, then (IMO) that's step 1...no?
I don't follow. Could you explain a little?
I know I have expressed self-loathing, but that is largely down to the fact that I seem unable to be the person I would like to be, treating people with contempt for having the audacity to try and engage with me when I'm clearly busy with more important things. That kind of thing. It's not what AA teaches, and yet...
Just the basic notion that I don't think it's possible to give to others what one does not possess oneself! Finally, when I did try for the first time in my life (aged 40+) to turn a gaze of 'love' on me, myself, the response shocked me - I recoiled! It was almost a physical thing (though in my head) and had powerful and unexpected push-back. I'm saying that if one wants to feel love and compassion for others, one has to know what it means by targeting the self with those feeling first...and of course I have no idea if you have or you have not :D
That's what I'm saying....
I get you now. I don't know about giving and taking love though. I feel like the love is there, it's just obscured, you know? I need to free myself to reveal it. So if I can uncover the love at my end, there's more likelihood that it'll come back. Something like that anyway.
@barge!
Another winner, it's so easy to fall into fear based thinking, it was a huge bad habit of mine for so long. All I valued was safety and security because of it which lead to a near passionless life for most of my years. Only recently, thanks to pscilocybin breaking me out from that illusion, have I begun to truly live.
In regards to this, almost none as a collective. We are so out of touch with ourselves and our inherent power that we are fine giving it away for slave-like jobs and products that keep taking from us.
I feel like wisdom is on the way. During some of my glimpses with psilocybin I've experienced near immediate change in myself using our creative faculties combined with faith.
Something I'm still engaged in working on understanding.
Resteemed ya
Oh this is such a lovely comment @jakeybrown...I have immediately followed you just on the strength of it!
The magic of mycelium connects us to the truth we seek, puts those who are disconnected back in touch with the reality of the intrinsic power that lies mostly latently within each soul. Yes, the system is deliberately designed to ensnare, entrap and enslave but I do feel a change is coming as more awaken to their inherent human power, as we all struggle to set ourselves free from both the internal and external dragons we must slay. And that IS a continual work in progress, for sure!
Keep the faith brother! Times...they are achanging! ๐๐๐
Indeed, sometimes I find myself down, like I can't do it, then I remind myself how much I've been given so far and I'm grateful and renewed. Subtle changes are happening :) I checked out your blog and followed ;) nice article the other day! I'll try to find time to read more of your backlog
It's interesting how the brain retains and focuses more on the negative stuff isn't it? It's almost like it's default setting!
I resonate and relate easily to what you...it's that constant inner battle where our focus become the reality through the attention we give it (in a nutshell this is what @barge speaks of in this brilliant article). But I like and admire your approach of re-minding yourself of the journey so far and re-membering the gifts given.
And thanks muchly for checking out my blog and kind comments. I am, needless to say, gonna keep the circle of love flowing and going and do the same!
Ya, its crazy how my mind immediately turns negative on me sometimes! I always come back to truth though :)
Yep!
Looking forward to more excellent conversation, sometimes another persons perspective is just what we need to break through egoic blinds
The more perspectives the better, my friend๐
How true! Fear is a restricting and costraining force and is so demanding that we actually come to value 'safety and security' - themselves sterile entities (no expansion allowed, no learning - anything new is a threat). Much fear is experienced in early years such that it becomes deeply engrained, normal even, and can be difficult and slippery to spot. Yeah, when I took shrooms for the first time - mid 20s - I was in utter awe at the reality that opened up and I remember wondering on that trip how I could possibly ever return to previous ways of thinking :) ......
I'm drawn to the idea of complete self-acceptance. This means accepting myself as perfect as I am this moment. It may be challenging, but if considered, how could it be otherwise as you will become what you will as a result of where you are here and now...no? :D
Thanks for the resteem my friend
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I'd freeze up and not be able to make a decision because I was so afraid sometimes...
When I first did it changed the course of my life completely. I lost friends, my girlfriend, and my entire way of life... I was expecting cartoons to be popping out of the woodworks and what actually happened was closer to witnessing divinity, something that couldn't be ignored. Been "pursuing" it ever since
I relate to that completely, in every regard! I couldn't express opinions - didn't know what was right, or what felt right and didn't know my own mind. I was in awe of people who were able to express themselves and I was frustrated at my own inability to do so. This applied to interactions with others. I was better able to express myself alone, to myself and in my diaries...but even there confusion proliferated. I see it as setting up the game though - early years confusion -> then living the lie of conditioned life -> questioning it and becoming aware of it -> untangling oneself and moving towards the prospect of real freedom. It may all be a big fat work in progress (and sure looks like it), but at the same time is just what it is - a number of states/steps that flow, each representing the exact place one needs to be at that time in order to learn what is required through having these experiences! That's where the creative mastery comes in - when we become more consciously aware of what is going on and begin to direct the flow of life, rather than being a passenger!
Your shroom experiences - goodness, powerful and sound like they must have brought you to the brink of the abyss!? Good on you for not ignoring them, perhaps that's what pulled you through no? Certainly Terence McKenna takes the view that the spirit of Psilocybin is here to assist in raising consciousness, and, when we take mushrooms, we have access to the distilled energy of learning gained by the sum-total of all trips that have taken place since the beginning of this relationship between (wo)man and shroom!
I think you're right, this right here has been what I've been building to, like all my mistakes and errors in living actually showed me better how to live and allowed me the opportunity of sharing my experience to get out of those dark places where I couldn't express some part of me. Wild how it all works, seems like there are similarities of this kind of thing for some people!
It's so fascinating, I felt like I was finally truly myself, like I understood things on a level that didn't work out into words. I was with friends and I was saying things like "everything just is" and feeling like I could feel whent he weather was changing, and sprinting down sketchy mountain slopes because I understood how the physics and movement would work.
It made me feel like there is no point in spending thousands of hours learning a single skill because when you raise your consciousness enough learning is unnecessary, you just understand how things work and can fully express.
Pscilocybin has been a huge guiding force for me, like it gives me a glimpse to what could be if I opened up enough, so I just try to work on it in normal everyday life. Results have been promising
Seems to me like there is Experience (at a meta level) and then there are the details of any specific experience. To have undergone an experience (especially if this experience has been consciously processed and assimilated) is to open up the possibility of understanding the experience of another at a deep (meta?) level and without necessarily needing to know (m)any details. Thus a mother - who has experienced childbirth, will have a much deeper emotional understanding than a man, of, for example, the sight of a woman experiencing discomfort during pregnancy. I think @jakeybrown, that it may be possible that we access a level of Experience that is universal, pure and without detail (the meta level) - and as such one that has been accessed by many before. Each instance of Experience is accompanied by a unique set of details that come together in the moment and make up a particular experience. The distilled learning from this particular experience then flows back up and the pool of collective Experience expands. This process makes sense to me. Everything is intricately connected. We have played the game of isolation/alienation and still are playing it; but it is an illusion however touchy-feely and real it may appear :D
I think you've just explained to my whence comes my deep love of a series of fantasy novels that I've just read for the third time - Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. The characters are pulled into The Land, a fantasy land where health sense allows one character in particular (a doctor) to experience just what you've described above. It's never really made clear whether it's a delusion, but it's a heck of a lot of pages in that land!
I've experienced this kind of thing on psychadelics and other substances, but only ever had very brief glimpses in sobriety. It's that that I'm seeking I think.
12+ years in AA have taught me a lot about myself, fear in particular, and that's a thing I deal with every day.
Same, though it's getting better for me. I've been practicing meditation and that's been really helping get back to that flow-like state where there was just no fear for me.
I almost read those books when I was younger but couldn't get into them. Might've been too young for them.
This is my view also. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have reached my current state of being at a younger age, but acknowledge that I was where and who I had to be at that time, just as I am now. That notion helps me to worry a little less about my own children. I guess I should stop trying to make them listen to Pink Floyd! (apart from Bike, which they both love!)
Cheers @camuel - fantastic that your kids both love Bike - too good man :D
That's another great blog my friend, and it looks like you now have some great friends too. i think that the best way to tell if someone has an abundance mindset here on steemit is to see if they up-vote their own blogs and posts. i think if this feature was removed, then those that wish to only take, would wither away and drift back to facebook and those of us that wish to contribute good work and pay it forward will continue to spread the love and forge new friendships. Don't forget, give Shanti a belly rub for me :)
Oh grasshopper...the old wax on wax off..to self upvote or not to self upvote???
As a relative newbie...I know not the answer...but let's remove the monetised aspect from the equation for a mo shall we?
If I value myself, and the energy I have used to write articles then surely I should upvote them, standing solidly behind the ideas or thoughts I have expressed?
But isn't it also a tad narcissistic? And heaven knows there are enough of those in power running the world already!
I sometimes see whales upvoting their own comments, (and their own posts) and then commenting on others steemians post but not upvoting them, or their comments, and replies....it seems to happen rather a lot! And in the ethos of a caring sharing community this, I admit, puzzles me greatly!
I would love to know what your opinion is @realtreebivvy? And @barge and @ jakeybrown?
Hey Lily, I'm in complete agreement with what @realtreebivvy says, especially these two powerful paras:
and
I'd add that by not using bots and not self-voting, I'm not using means to raise my profile and draw users to my blog, and can therefore feel free. If I entice someone here, then I am also raising expectations which I am sensitive to, and would feel oblidged to meet in some way. It does feels uncomfortably narcissistic. This is hassle I do not want. It pressurises me to behave and respond in ways that may not feel right - but too late, I've set the ball in motion and have to deal with the consequences. I don't wish to make life hard for myself, I want to keep it simple and I no longer wish to disrespect myself (or anyone else) at even the most subtle of levels by being fake. What others do, or what effect it may have on my earnings, is not particularly relavant (abundance mindset :). I do not need to seek external authority and I do not need to justify myself. I kinda like it this way :D
Thank you @realtreebivvy and @barge for your thoughts, advice and opinions!
I am grateful to know that there are whales out there doing great work, I have not run into many so far because I have been sticking to waters I understand...posting my blog from sincerity and truth, writing from integrity and hoping to inspire a few people along the way, as they have inspired me.
My own little mission is The Kindness Code which I began just a few short weeks ago when I joined steemit, when I realised that what the world needs is MORE and more kindness. That any evolvution of consciousness must include basic ethics, sound moral principles coupled with kindness, as default settings, if you will.
And that seemed to resonate with the ethos and community spirit here on steemit. At the end of each day as I brush my teeth I have to be able to look myself in the eyes and know that I have stood in alignment with my own truth. Being fixated on upvotes, popularity, shallowness and petty behaviour are of no interest to me whatsoever.
Perhaps I am just naturally narcissism averse....but even posting pictures of myself is something I resist in this superficial selfie world!
@barge your wisdom on the subject of abundance has stimulated a great deal of thought in me today and its blooming marvellous when someone does that for you...yes that was a little pun on the "snowdrop" debate! ๐
Ha Ha ha - i thought David Carradine was awesome in kung fu - gwass hopper :) that was a longtime ago....
i'm always open to criticism, and as soon as i press that "post" tab, then i stand behind my words 100%, until such time that someone corrects me and my truth is exposed as a point of view only.
i think if you believe in the value of your work, then others will see this in the quality of what you write and up-vote. If you don't believe in your own worth, then chances are that you will up-vote yourself to boost your self esteem. If the self up-vote was removed, then the only way a whale could generate income would be to pay it forward and contribute to the steem platform.
There are some amazing whales and Dolphins on this platform, one of which is called @fulltimegeek who has delegated his steem to 54 different accounts, over a million dollars worth to what he has called the stewardsofgondor of which i'm one, The stewards have gone on to further delegate their steem to over 100 recipients... leading by example and paying it forward. i'm still only a plankton 2 months in - but with my delegated steem, my up-vote is worth 31c - see above i could have up-voted my 396 posts for a profit and have more steem power, but i would rather lead by example and pay it forward - one vote for me would be one vote less for someone like you.
if i can find good quality blogs and posts, or really nice people wanting to do the right thing, then i will give my support and up-vote helping to make this platform a welcoming, friendly and a rewarding place to be:- belly rub for you too @lilygolightly :)
a powerful and thought provoking post
Many thanks indeed for saying so @tattoodjay
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Most welcome
Well written full of presence, it feels like you enjoyed writing it tremendously. Congratulations for expressing yourself truthfully!
Yes I did enjoy writing it, it sort of evolved from some notes and flowed into its current form. I felt lighter once it was out. Many thanks for your comment @funcrypto, it is really very encouraging to read :D
Great article and love how you put so many things in perspective. I have to say though that I can relate to some points here especially when people don't comment or don't upvote it is easy to think the worse of myself.
Hi @alvinauh .... yes, it's easy to start blaming oneself and searching for reasons to do so. But if I may add, getting upset about such things is part of the scarcity mindset - feeling that there isn't enough to go around and that I won't get my share, or will be left behind. The post tries to point out why this is not necessary, even counter-productive. I hope you feel more relaxed about the times when posts do not receive as much attention as you think they deserve.
Many thanks for your interest and kind words.
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Spot on @barge! Absolutely, spot on. This is as relevant in the steemit world as it is everywhere else. So important to have an inward-looking perspective nowadays, and you capture that theme beautifully. Couldnt't agree with you more on your "financial security" passage either. If I was as eloquent as you, I would attest those were my own words! Great post through and through!
Aw man @artibeus, I'm buzzing with the nice vibes you're sending. Thanks for acknowledging the relevance of this theme - and it's applicability to life in general....I'm always at a loss for words when people say things as nice as what you have to me - many thanks once more and I am delighted you came across this post and that it resonated with you ๐
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Pleasures all mine good buddy! Keep up the great work!
Amazing post! Scarcity leads to negative actions, whereas abundance does the opposite, it helps the society flourish, it develops creativity and technology.
So utterly true! Fear-based action is negative. Love, like abundance, just increases the more it is shared!
Thanks for reading and commenting @lymepoet ๐
Very well written! I have never thought of connecting Steemit to these concepts. But you really connected them well. I hope you found my post because of the remaining abundance mentality left in me. And I know I have to act soon and change my mindset. I'm looking forward to more lessons from you on how we can apply the abundance mindset in the Steemniverse. If everyone will think that way then all the issues like greed or abuse will be gone.
And I agree that there is so much pleasure in agenda less and genuine connections with other Steemians. It will be sad and useless if we just followed for the upvote.
Hey thanks for coming over and reading, and many thanks for your feedback :D
I found your post via some route that involved @tanishqyeverma and your cross referrals/interactions on this subject, so you must be right ๐ ๐ ๐ I've replied there again.
I'm figuring it out myself as we go along - it throws up challenges all the time, but I know that each episode passes, and the default position that I return to is neutral acceptance and no worries.
Amazing how the path went! I hope to get into a state of neutral acceptance and now worries :)