I’m always amazed when I stroll the aisles of one of those warehouse superstores. Whether it’s a Costco, a B.J.’s Wholesale Club, a Sam’s Club, or a MegaGiant SillyMart, I tend to wander around with my neck straining toward the high ceiling. Where else can you find three neatly stacked pallets each brimming with Family Size boxes of Chex cereal? What’s that? You need 40 pounds of Vlassic pickles for $10? Better get your butt over to the superstore.
Sometimes I pop into a superstore even when I just need a few items. There’s something comforting in knowing that as a consumption-driven American, I can make a shopping list that includes a High- Definition television, snow tires, Whoppers malted milk balls, and an AT&T Go Phone and only have to make one stop. (Take that, Iceland!)
Last week, I stepped through the superstore’s glass doors in search of my bounty. (No, not the paper towels. I’m a Brawny man, thank you, and I buy mine in the 200-roll pack.) My mission on this fateful day: crackers. Any schlub can go to your run-of-the-mill grocery store and pick up a box of Wheat Thins. Not me. I need to get my crackers in a box as big as a microwave if I’m going to feel like I’m getting real value. Never mind the fact that half the box will be stale in 3 days. I’ve got paper and plastic and I’m not afraid to use them.
I slowly made my way over to the cracker zip code. A mountain of crackers towered in front of me. From left to right and floor to ceiling, boxes of crackers were packed in tightly. Each one seemed to call out, “Eat me.” All of these crackers – millions of crackers – and I just needed one little box.
That’s the funny thing about abundance – it’s all a matter of perspective. When I had no crackers, I felt only the longing for sesame-covered low-carbohydrate snack wafers. But how many crackers did I need compared to the limitless supply the SillyMart had to offer?
What is it that you feel you need that life does not have to offer? Is it money? How much money would you have if you could? Likely just a fraction of the wealth that awaits you. Do you want love? Is love available only “while supplies last” and “for a limited time only”? Do you feel that you need more peace than the world has to give? Do you feel a yearning for a 50- pound bag of Skittles? ($4.99 with coupon. Score!)
Many times we live our lives with a scarcity mentality. I don’t have enough money, so there must not be enough money in the world. I don’t feel love, so love must be in short supply. Scarcity leads to hoarding and a “zero-sum” game where someone must lose if someone must win. If she’s going to be my friend, she can’t be her friend, too. Is friendship suddenly a discontinued product line like those creepy Cabbage Patch Kids?
I should point out that there’s no shortage of personal philosophies out there. (Talk about abundance.) Mine is no more or less valuable than the others, but personally I believe that we construct our realities. For reasons far too complicated to explain in a column about crackers, I feel that our interpretation of our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and external environment creates our reality. By extension, this means that purposefully selecting our thoughts and managing our behaviors can influence and construct that reality. (Don’t believe me? Eat a 5- pound box of Triscuits and tell me if your reality isn’t altered in some way.)
If you’ve ever felt dejected by the chasm you feel separating you from your objective, I suggest embracing a mindset of abundance. Close your eyes and visualize your goal. Imagine yourself awash in a river of the stuff. Picture yourself surrounded by happiness, love, wealth, health, saltines – whatever you seek.
Now comes the hard part. You need to use that mental picture of abundance to shape your emotions and your actions. Don’t take the scarcity route by feeling the pain of not having achieved your goal. Not even when you’ve had a crappy day. Instead, place your faith in the abundance that naturally exists within the world.
With a personal mindset that eschews abundance and embraces abundance, the goal appears and becomes that much more attainable. That little change can make a superstore-sized difference.