Shifting from Scarcity to Abundance

Does your fear of scarcity block your compassion, action, and healing? Sawyer Tracy of Wisdom & Money explores how transforming our fear can unlock healing for our future generations and the world. 

When I think about the transformation of the world, be it climate change, economics, housing, education systems, or our justice system, I experience a familiar feeling—the fear of scarcity. This fear may be familiar to you as well. I am humbled to confess that as effective, determined, and brilliant as I know myself to be, any action that I take when I am experiencing a state of fear is going to be a harmful one.  

At the personal level, I see my fear impacting my day-to-day interactions. The impact of my fear is exponentially harmful in places where I influence organizations amd institutions. The more I observe this pattern, the more I am brought to my knees in prayer, crying out: “Oh God, please show me how to shift out of the distress and freely offer myself in the flow of Spirit toward a better future!”  

As I have explored my personal and family story, I have learned to see the origin of this deep fear within its historical context. I know that my fear of scarcity did not begin with me. It is part of the inheritance I received from my family system, particularly my late grandmother, Penny. But I also know it did not originate with her. Scarcity is the foundation of capitalism, and she and generations before her were beleaguered in complex debt systems as part of the European colonization of the world.  

I intend to transform this fear within myself, thereby ending its transmission to future generations. My desire is to leave a legacy of abundance, by which I mean enough to regenerate more; abundance of love, security, interdependence, and trust in God and all of creation to care for us as part of the whole.   

For me, the answer is a deep, abiding community—what some might call the incarnation of the Spirit—and the Be Present Empowerment Model^Ⓡ, which I have been practicing intensely as part of the Trailblazing Institute. I have learned to notice when my distress is present, and I ask for help to return to that profound knowing that there is enough for all of us.  

Faithfulness to these two practices is the way I continue to transform my grandmother’s great suffering into abundant life for myself and future generations. These two practices transform the quality of my engagement with all the systems I am part of, enabling me to show up as my grounded, brilliant, and determined self.   

When the fear of scarcity comes my way, I know it to be false story–albeit a powerful one. With greater self-awareness and the support of others, I can act from a place truer than that intense fear. I can be sure I am acting from a place of freedom and flow, toward the healing of our world. With God’s help, may it be so.  

Reflect with Us 

Have you shifted your inherited mindset of scarcity? How do you ensure you act from a place of freedom and flow? Share your reflection with us.  

Sawyer Tracy is a practitioner of post-colonial Wisdom Christianity, and the Associate Director of Story and Strategy at Wisdom & Money, an organization that supports people of wealth to move their money in alignment with Spirit through long-term community and spiritual practice.  

We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month.