How To Develop An Abundance Mindset In 2026

Abundance Motivation | The Best Principles for Discipline, Habits, and Personal Growth

Welcome To Queen Makeda Official! This is #MyStory from scarcity to life of abundance and identity; and how I overcame self doubt to no longer be a nameless person to a person with a name, identity, a purpose and a compelling future!

For most of my life, I believed poverty was about money.

I believed it was about lack of opportunity, lack of resources, lack of access, lack of support. I believed it was caused by where I came from, the family I was born into, the system that failed me, the trauma I endured, and the doors that never opened when I knocked.

All of those things were real.
All of them mattered.
But none of them were the root.

The number one habit that kept me poor was not financial at all.
It was mental.
It was spiritual.
It was a way of thinking I had learned in order to survive—and never questioned once survival was no longer the goal.

That habit was survival thinking.

Survival thinking is not laziness. It is not stupidity. It is not a moral failure. It is a learned response to instability, abandonment, fear, and uncertainty. It is what you adopt when life teaches you that tomorrow is not guaranteed, safety is conditional, and rest is a luxury you cannot afford.

Survival thinking kept me alive.
But it also kept me small.

Poverty Is a Mindset Before It Is a Condition

Let me be clear: poverty is real.
Oppression is real.
Structural injustice is real.
Trauma is real.

But poverty becomes permanent when it settles into the mind.

A poverty mindset does not simply mean “having little.” It means thinking from lack, even when provision is present. It means making decisions based on fear rather than faith, urgency rather than wisdom, reaction rather than vision.

When you live in survival mode long enough, you begin to normalize instability. You make peace with dysfunction. You learn to operate from crisis to crisis. You stop planning because planning feels unsafe. You stop dreaming because disappointment feels inevitable.

You don’t say, “I’m thinking small.”
You say, “I’m being realistic.”

But realism without vision is just another form of captivity.

The Habit of Thinking Short-Term

Survival thinking trains you to focus only on what is immediately in front of you.

What do I need today?
How do I get through this week?
How do I avoid disaster?
How do I manage the next emergency?

This way of thinking makes long-term planning feel irresponsible. It makes rest feel dangerous. It makes faith feel risky. It teaches you to grab what you can when you can, because tomorrow might take it away.

I lived like this for years.

Even when I was pursuing education.
Even when I was “doing the right things.”
Even when I was faithful, prayerful, and hardworking.

Outwardly, I looked productive. Inwardly, I was still operating from fear.

Survival thinking does not disappear simply because your circumstances improve. It must be confronted and replaced.

Why Survival Thinking Feels Responsible (But Isn’t)

One of the most deceptive things about survival thinking is that it feels responsible.

It says:

• “Don’t expect too much.”

• “Don’t trust too deeply.”

• “Don’t plan too far ahead.”

• “Don’t rest—you’ll fall behind.”

• “Don’t dream—you’ll be disappointed.”

It disguises itself as wisdom.

But wisdom that is rooted in fear is not wisdom at all.

True wisdom is forward-looking.
True wisdom is grounded in truth.
True wisdom leaves room for God.

Survival thinking leaves no room for God because it assumes that you must be the one to hold everything together. It teaches self-reliance without surrender. Effort without trust. Hustle without rest.

That is not freedom.
That is bondage with better language.

Renewing the Mind Is Not a Metaphor

Scripture tells us plainly: “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

That is not poetic language.
That is a command.

Transformation does not begin with money.
It begins with thinking.

Until your mind changes, your habits will not change.
Until your habits change, your outcomes will not change.
Until your outcomes change, your future will look like your past—just in a different decade.

Renewing the mind means interrogating the thoughts you’ve never questioned. It means asking:

• Why do I believe this is all I can have?

• Why do I assume loss before gain?

• Why do I rush instead of plan?

• Why do I fear rest?

• Why do I expect collapse instead of stability?

These questions are uncomfortable. They expose wounds. They surface grief. They force you to confront what shaped you.

But healing begins with honesty.

When God Confronted My Thinking

My transformation did not come from one sermon, one book, or one breakthrough moment. It came through a process—a slow, intentional dismantling of thought patterns that no longer aligned with truth.

God did not simply comfort me.
He corrected me.

He challenged the narratives I had accepted as fact. He confronted the agreements I had made with fear. He revealed how often I was reacting instead of discerning, striving instead of trusting, enduring instead of reigning.

I had to accept that I was no longer a child trying to survive. I was a woman called to steward wisdom, vision, and authority.

Survival thinking had become disobedience—not because it was immoral, but because it was outdated.

Poverty Thinking Is Often Trauma Thinking

Many people who struggle financially are not irresponsible—they are traumatized.

Trauma teaches the nervous system to stay alert. It trains the mind to expect danger. It convinces the body that safety is temporary.

That is why rest feels unsafe.
That is why peace feels unfamiliar.
That is why abundance feels suspicious.

Healing poverty thinking requires healing trauma.

You cannot simply “budget” your way out of fear.
You cannot “hustle” your way into peace.
You cannot discipline your way into trust.

You must heal.

Identity Determines Economy

Here is a truth many people avoid: your identity determines how you relate to money, opportunity, time, and vision.

If you see yourself as disposable, you will accept disposable wages.
If you see yourself as replaceable, you will tolerate instability.
If you see yourself as unworthy, you will undercharge, over give, and overextend.

When I reclaimed my identity, my relationship to provision changed.

Not overnight.
But fundamentally.

I stopped making decisions out of panic.
I stopped chasing what drained me.
I stopped confusing movement with progress.

I began to think like someone who expected continuity, not collapse.

Breaking the Habit

The habit that kept me poor did not break itself.

I had to:

• Slow down

• Sit with discomfort

• Say no to urgency

• Plan for the future

• Believe God could sustain me

• Accept that rest was not laziness

• Allow peace to feel normal

Breaking survival thinking felt terrifying at first. It felt like stepping into open space without armor.

But what I discovered was this: survival thinking was never protecting me. It was imprisoning me.

Why I Share This

I am not sharing this story to shame anyone. I am sharing it to tell the truth.

Many people are not poor because they are incapable.
They are poor because they were trained to think from lack.

Healing begins when you name the habit.

This video and this reflection exist to invite you into that naming.

A Life Worth Living Requires a Renewed Mind

A compelling future is not built on fear management.
It is built on clarity.

It is built on a renewed mind.
A healed identity.
A faith that trusts God beyond survival.

You are not called merely to endure life.
You are called to live it.

If this reflection resonates with you, I invite you to stay. Read. Reflect. Heal. Renew.

The habit can be broken.
The cycle can end.
The future can be different.

Closing Invitation

If this message speaks to you, I encourage you to watch the accompanying video and continue the conversation. Share your reflections. Name the habits you are releasing. Begin the work of renewal.

Identity matters—because how you think determines how you live.

In Love and Peace,

Queen Makeda

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