I realize that when something keeps popping into my awareness, over and over,
it’s a likely lesson in disguise. This usually happens the third time I notice
something within a relatively short period of time.
The most recent
lesson that’s had a neon like quality is that of being satisfied. It was
initially prompted by my teacher Judith Hanson Lasater at the recent Yoga
Journal Conference in San Diego. I had the honor of assisting her and during
one of the session, an insistent student was asking Judith if she had tried a
particular product. Enthusiastically, the student said “if you endorse it, put
it on your web site, you could probably get a sponsorship deal out of it”.
Judith, paused for a moment and gently replied, “but I don’t want a sponsorship
deal. I’m happy with what I’ve got. What I have is enough”.
The second
sign of this being a lesson has been in reading the book, The Soul of Money
by Lynn Twist. This fascinating take on our relationship to the energy of
money prompts the question of when do you know you have enough?
The
pervasiveness throughout our culture of striving is so familiar, that we often
don’t stop to say “I can throttle down a bit, because what I have is
sufficient”. Instead, we drive ourselves to the next level of getting, being
and doing…whatever that means. For me, it’s constantly studying, working on
growing my business and figuring out a way to maintain optimal health as I age.
To me, these are worthy ways in which to focus my energy, but at what point will
I know that it’s enough?
I suppose by simply pausing to ask the question
“is what I have enough”, keeps the overdrive from automatically kicking in. If
I can take a moment to shift my paradigm of thought to what would it be like to
let go of the striving, then I offer myself a different opportunity. The chance
to feel satisfied with being enough, having enough and doing enough. And isn’t
it sometimes that shadowed feeling of unworthiness that propels us to shoot for
more?
Ahhhh….now I’m getting to the realization that my satisfaction
isn’t so much about having or being more than I am, but being OK with what I am
in this moment.
Simply I am enough.
