Through my eyes

As we move into that last stretch before this year ends, and we can all hopefully take that breather and reflect on life, the universe and everything, we are all a little bit edgy.

As our political platform crumbles and our economical structures are eroded by greedy decision makers, we have become embroiled in the daily grind of keeping it together. Now more then ever before we are all struggling to stay positive about the future of our country, our jobs and our life in general.

We can feel the frustrations radiating from people and places we visit, people are struggling to make ends meet and this in turn impacts negatively at everything we do.

A new report shows how the 'scarcity mind-set' affects those living in poverty - they focus on the short term, internalise negative images and have feelings of failure. Oxford University and the Joseph Rowntree Foundationhave released a study that goes some way to silencing those who would argue poverty is simply a moral failing.

When facing poverty, the researchers found, individuals enter a "scarcity mind-set". When focused on short-term survival, your decision-making ability is scrambled and your attention span narrowed.

When you're constantly poor and struggling to make ends meet, the scarcity effect permeates their every decision. Any talk about food poverty invariably becomes a criticism of anyone who doesn't plan meals days in advance, buying ingredients in bulk and cooking from scratch.

Perhaps more detrimental in the long term are the findings on how people feel about themselves when they are in poverty. People are less confident in their ability to succeed, which leads to reduced professional and educational achievement, and the onset of depression and anxiety.

The study also reports a "negative self-stereotyping" effect, where people in long-term poverty adopt the media stereotypes of people on benefits or facing unemployment as being "low in warmth and low in competence". Believing themselves to be fundamentally flawed, any achievement is tempered by a lack of confidence and subconscious self-loathing.

Lets face it, no one wants to be poor, we all want to be good providers for our families and our communities, but in this tragic financial uncertainty we just cannot predict what our future holds.

From personal experience, I know we had to adapt and adjust our lifestyle to keep going. Sink or swim. You have no choice but to adapt. Everything happens for a reason.

You have to train your unconscious mind to accept the change. This means temporary pain for lasting benefit. Everything in this life is perception, so the best advice is to see how the change will serve you rather than hurt you.

As you go about your daily life, know that we are all in this together, so help out where you can and know that help is available for those in need.