Abundance Mindset in Recovery: There's Enough to Go Around

“No matter how many people were on that beach, there would be enough sun for everyone.”

That line comes from this morning’s Courage to Change reading. The writer went to the beach to escape the heat, settled in with a lemonade, and looked out at the crowd. Then the thought came: “The same was true of God’s love and guidance.”

I love that picture. So many of us arrived in recovery running on scarcity. Not enough time, not enough money, not enough love. Somebody else’s good news felt like it took something away from us.

The reading names it plainly: “To someone who believed that there was never enough time, money, love, or anything else, this was amazing news!”

It’s amazing news for us, too!

Scarcity is a liar

Scarcity thinking says that if someone else gets the praise, the promotion, or the answered prayer, there’s less left for you. The Courage to Change writer felt that pull when another person spoke about a Higher Power “with a personal love and intensity that matched my own.” The first reaction was honest: “I felt as if his intimacy with God would leave less love for me.”

Then comes the turn: “But I think that the opposite is true. I often feel closest to God when I hear others share about how well a Higher Power has taken care of them.”

That’s how it works. Joy isn’t a pie with a fixed number of slices. When someone else gets some, there’s still plenty on the table.

Scripture puts it beautifully:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV)

New every morning. Yesterday’s supply doesn’t have to stretch to cover today. There’s a fresh batch waiting.

Wake up with what you thanked God for

Daily Ponderables carried a Thought for Today, author unknown, that stopped me in my tracks: “What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”

Read it twice. Most of us would wake up with a lot less than we actually have. Not because God is stingy. Because we forget to notice.

Today’s Your Daily Reprieve shared a 1962 Grapevine piece by Bill W., collected in The Language of the Heart. He wrote about trying “for a full inventory of my blessings,” and added, “I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits.”

A full inventory of blessings. In recovery we hear a lot about taking inventory of what needs work, and that matters. This is the other inventory, and it matters just as much. Bill goes on: “When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.”

I’ve written about this before in Count Your Blessings. A quick positive inventory changes the whole day.

Full cups spill over

Here’s the best part of abundance: it turns us outward. This morning’s Twenty-Four Hours a Day says, “I am of some use in the world. I have a purpose in life. I am worth something at last.”

When we stop clutching, our hands are free to help. Your Daily Reprieve also shared a line from Lloyd John Ogilvie: “There is no limit to the good we can do when love is our motivation.” The Dynamic Catholic reflection from Matthew Kelly’s Feminine Genius adds: “There is no single way to make a difference.” Your way counts. So does mine.

In Success-Full, Living Life with Purpose: Recovery Mode, I put it simply: “Have an attitude of gratitude.” I also shared my favorite way to do a weekly gratitude list: “I like to use the alphabetical list. A, I am grateful for my granddaughter Avery.” And in Recovery Thinking, 90-Days to Change Your Life! I wrote, “Tears in my eyes, I thanked God for another day in recovery.” Gratitude like that never gets old. There’s more about it in I’m grateful for…, one of my early posts.

Five ways to practice abundance today

Thank God before your feet hit the floor. Name three things out loud before you get out of bed. Small ones count: a warm blanket, coffee, another sober morning.
Run the alphabet. Tonight, write A to Z with one thing you’re grateful for next to each letter. Q and X are tough. Get creative!
Cheer someone else’s win. When you hear good news for somebody, celebrate it out loud. Notice how your own heart gets bigger, not smaller.
Swap “I need” for “I have.” Borrow today’s Courage to Change reminder: “I may not have everything I want, but today I have everything I need.” Write down one thing you have now that you once only wished for.
Give a little away. A phone call, a ride, ten minutes of listening. Abundance grows when it moves.

Plenty of sun

Over 40 years in human services have taught me that the people who find peace often quit counting what’s missing. They start counting what’s there. Gratitude, it’s everything, and I still believe it.

The Courage to Change page ends with a promise worth carrying around all day: “I will look for evidence of abundance and let it remind me that my Higher Power’s love is broad enough to touch all who have the courage to place themselves in its presence.”

I’m sober today, and there’s enough sun for everyone. Life is GOOOOOOOD!!!

So here’s my question for you: What’s one thing you’ll thank God for today, so you wake up with it tomorrow?

Go, Go, Go… Dan 🙂

Books quoted in this post:

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A note on anonymity: Although I write about Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, and their literature here, nothing in this post should be taken to imply my membership in any specific mutual support group, in keeping with Tradition Eleven.

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Reflection note: I wrote this from my own daily readings. Quotes belong to their original authors and sources (Courage to Change, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, via Daily Ponderables; Twenty-Four Hours a Day, October 27 / Hazelden Foundation, via Daily Ponderables and Your Daily Reprieve; Bill W., AA Grapevine, March 1962, The Language of the Heart, via Your Daily Reprieve; Lloyd John Ogilvie, via Your Daily Reprieve; Thought for Today, author unknown, via Daily Ponderables; Matthew Kelly, Feminine Genius, via the Dynamic Catholic Daily Reflection; Lamentations 3:22-23, English Standard Version; Success-Full, Living Life with Purpose: Recovery Mode; Recovery Thinking, 90-Days to Change Your Life!). I used AI to help organize it and reviewed it before posting.

Image created with AI assistance.