In our work with sufficiency and enough-ness at Seven Stones, I have seen many colleagues, clients, friends and organizations get stuck inside scarcity. They seem to deny, or not notice, that scarcity exists for them or they are so stuck in scarcity thinking that it becomes too difficult to create a lasting context of sufficiency, a lasting knowing of what is enough.

I am reminded of the allegory about two fish friends swimming in the ocean. A third fish swims by, greets the friends and says, “Nice water today,” swimming past. After a few moments one fish turns to his friend and says, “Water? What water?”

Scarcity is the invisible context in which we all swim.

The Weapons of Scarcity came to me as a part of a dream in 2007. When
I woke up I wondered, “What are the weapons that scarcity would choose to fight with if ‘it’ could somehow declare war?”

These are the words that came up:

Discord                                    Alienation
Failure                                     Resistance
Fear                                          Immediate/short term
Self loathing                           Doubt
Hoarding                                 Impatience
Hostility                                   Jealousy
Uncertainty                             Competition (Win/Lose)
Comparison                            Distraction
What isn’t                                Silence
Either/ OR                              Shame

We find that whenever we feel stuck, trapped, or experience suffering, simply naming the Weapon and moving toward and through the scarcity allows for sufficiency to arise. We have a company practice not to step over any scarcity in the space. We do this in our staff meetings and sometimes we send each other to the scarcity workbook I created called Unstuck: Make the Shift.

When working with each Weapon, consider defining it for yourself (i.e. what it means to you and for your life or organization). You may want to consider your journey with that particular Weapon, and simply free write about. As a move to process the weapon, what questions would you ask it? What does it say, what does it need, who’s involved?

This month we are exploring scarcity – continuing the journey of waking up to “the water” we are swimming in. Tell us your stories.

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