By Rose Miller
I went to the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Together for a Cure fundraiser where the keynote speaker gave an eloquent speech about being a victor or victim.
Dealing with MS can be daunting on a continual basis. It can impact your ability to live your life fully. The keynote speaker wrapped up a victorious talk with, “Will life happen to you or for you? Do you see your life as a nightmare or a fairytale?” She told the crowd how MS will not defeat her.
I was reading Michael J. Fox’s new book where he writes about how he takes after his late mother, who had an impactful positive attitude. He said, “She never added up the losses. She’d always look at the gains.”
Boiled down, these two people exhibited a mindset of abundance versus a mindset of scarcity.
Stephen Covey initially coined these terms in his best-selling book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Scarcity mentality refers to people seeing life as a finite pie, so that if one person takes a big piece, that leaves less for everyone else.
Psychology studies have found that children who believe intelligence can be developed were better able to overcome academic challenges versus children who believe their intelligence is fixed in some way. A scarcity mindset can limit a child’s growth.
Studies completed by researchers on adults found that people who had more positive beliefs around aging lived 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perception of aging. Embrace those wrinkles because your mindset can prolong your life.
