Scarcity Brain: Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough

by Michael Easter

“How do you help patients who come to you with addictions or even compulsions around other habits?” “My main advice is to make a big change,” he said. “Change your circle. Go to school. Educate yourself. Get a job or change your job. Take courses to improve your skills. Learn to read and pour yourself into books. Actively go out and make friends or change your friend group. Make big changes.” Embrace short-term discomfort to find a long-term benefit.

Other research shows that infants and toddlers who are allowed to explore the world develop better and faster than those who are helicoptered and kept mostly in the same place. The explorer kids gain language and physical skills faster, build stronger immune systems, and better understand the world. They even sleep better.

walking while paying open attention to the world can enhance creativity, concentration, and understanding.

children who walked for twenty minutes improved their concentration and ability to understand complex information.

“We do this out of love.” Paused, thought, and finished. “And to love is to be vulnerable, and to be willing to be wounded.”

Occasional deprivation makes the ordinary feel extraordinary.

Gratitude often comes from scarcity,