We need more clothes. We need a bigger house. We need another certificate. We need a husband. We need a website. We need more customers. We need marketing gimmicks. We need. We need. We need. We need.
Why do we want more?
Why do we truly believe we need more?
We could blame our parents and the programming they brought us up with. Mine were born around the depression of 1929. They both were raised with very painful thoughts about money, safety and self-worth. Then came the war and they experienced more emotional and financial hardship.
No wonder they (as many others around the world) wanted to compensate for their children. This generation was concentrated in the "linear rule": more is always better. This is,
- Study more, you'll get a job for life
- Work hard, you'll be rich
- Be a good girl/boy, you'll get a wonderful spouse
- Obey the rules, you'll be granted success
- Have more and you'll be happy
So we grew up in the 70's and 80's boom. Hard working parents provided to us all kind of wonders they didn't have. One of the effects that I experienced at that time was serious overweight. I literally incorporated in my body their fear of not-enoughness.
We are living in a brand new era. Now there are no jobs for life. Now the dogmas of the past are being questioned.
- Why so many highly educated professionals are unemployed?
- Why so many hard working professionals are fired?
- Why so many good girls/boys are lonely (with or without spouse)?
- Why rule breakers are the successful people?
- Why so many physical and emotional illnesses among rich people?
Simple! The linear rule doesn't work! We don't need more. We don't need to do more. We don't need to have more. We need to find the space of content with what we have, with who we are, with what we do. We'll become truly rich when we accept that what we have is precisely perfect: ENOUGH.
What's enough? Taking a look in the dictionary, we have,
adjective
1. adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire: enough water; noise enough to wake the dead.
pronoun
2. an adequate quantity or number; sufficiency.
adverb
3. in a quantity or degree that answers a purpose or satisfies a need or desire; sufficiently.
4. fully or quite: ready enough.
interjection
5. (used to express impatience or exasperation): Enough! I heard you the first time.
Enough is a measure of balance. When we recognize that we are adequate and what we have is sufficient, our sense of self worth jumps to its right measure. At that moment we remember our Divine nature, our perfection. At that moment, action is irrelevant, we can just be, we can enjoy being. So, how can we be in this blessed state of sufficiency?
Step 1. Appreciation
Feeling appreciation is the first step to embody sufficiency ("enoughness"). Look around. Yes, now! Right now! Look around. Look at all the wonderful things you have: your eyes, your hands, the sunshine, the rain... Write it down. Make a list of all your wonderful wonders. I like to include here the "trivial" things: the heating system, my pajamas, the sun, my coffee mug, my bike... I like to include the profound ones: the love of my life, my children, my parents, my work, my customers...
Nothing is off limits! Write, write, write! Do this exercise everyday, several times a day, until it becomes second nature, until "not enoughness" becomes a true exception. Make it a habit.
Step 2. Gratitude
Feeling the sense of sufficiency in all areas of your life is going to fill up your heart with gratitude. You'll find so many reasons why to be grateful. You'll find so many people you'll need to say thank you. Of your long list of people you need to be grateful to, pick one. Design a beautiful way to show your appreciation. It can be as simple as picking up the phone. It can be as "complicated" as creating a customized gift for him/her.
Make it a habit. Every week say thank you to one different person, each time in a way that will allow that person to understand how valuable he/she is. Do it consistently. Make it a habit.
Step 3. Play
Play is fun, is light, is joy. Play is a wonderful door to sufficiency. When we play, we embody having enough. When we play, there is no need of fear based action. When we're in this magic moment, what we'll de will not be permeated with neither guilt, fear or "this is the only possible way".
Play for the sake of playing. Play for the sake of a good laugh. Make play your entire life. Write a blog post as playing. Try that new SEO technique as play. Call that potential customer as play. When we let go of our attachment to the outcome, we´re playing, we´re in the world of enough.
Play, play, play. Laugh, laugh, laugh. Make it a habit.
Recognizing that we are/do/have enough, is remembering who we are. It is remembering our Divine nature. You are bliss. Remember! That is true wealth. That is Divine wealth.
enough, minimalism, wealth
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