When we operate with a feeling of scarcity, we worry that we will not have enough. This could mean worrying that we will have enough essentials, such as food, or enough nonessentials, such as the ability to buy a fancy new computer. When we have a feeling of scarcity, no amount is ever enough; we feel as though we always need more. If we have a feeling of scarcity, we may not want to help others regarding matters of money, time, or other forms of neighborly assistance.

Contrasted with a feeling of scarcity is a feeling of abundance. With a feeling of abundance, we believe that we have enough and that in times of difficulty, we can get by, and even in hard times, we still do what we can to help others. As Gandhi famously said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.”

In education, abundance can involve abundance of knowledge, skills, study resources (such as electronic devices or people from whom to seek help), and even the facilities available in schools. When students feel abundance, they are, for example, more willing to share what they know with groupmates and teach skills to others. Feeling abundance contradicts the view that “Life is a zero-sum game,” i.e., there are a finite amount of resources, and when others have more, that means that we have less. Instead, “The more we give, the more we receive” is the motto of abundance. In other words, when we help others, we “grow the pie” so that everyone’s piece becomes larger.