Abundance Thinking for Change

I’ve just read a great blog post called Abundance Thinking for Change by Curtis Ogden on the Interaction Institute for Social Change site. I’ve quoted part of it below, which resonates with some of our thinking behind CoLab Dudley Borough, and I’d recommend reading more of the post. (I particularly like the concern flagged up about when abundance thinking is used without “demonstrated understanding of existing structural inequities in society.”)

How one approaches a situation matters. Coming with more of a “scarcity mindset” (there is not enough, there is not enough to go around, not trusting others, being protective of one’s resources, etc.) to the endeavor of collaboratively making change will lend itself to certain approaches. Coming with a sense of gratitude for what one (or “we”) already has, a willingness to share and eagerness to learn what others have to offer, is likely to yield different approaches and options. Of course, scarcity can be very real, and there are moments to be careful and protective. The strategic question, I suppose, is whether that is a default approachand reaction and whether being intentionally grounded in abundance, gratitude and generosity might actually yield more of what we are looking for. There is interesting research in the field of positive psychology that shows how gratitude and being more open in one’s approach can create more opportunities.

Curtis also asks these great questions:

• Where would you put your change effort/community on the scale of scarcity to abundance thinking?
• How is scarcity and abundance thinking distributed amongst different stakeholders?
• Why is this so and how does it matter?

Let us know your thoughts — add a comment here, tweet @colabdudley, or if you love Facebook like our page over there and join the conversation.