When we're poor, sufficiency appears one step away. When we're rich, sufficiency still appears one step away. No matter what we do, sufficiency remains elusive, always appearing one step ahead.
But that's an illusion. Sufficiency doesn't move, we do. If we're chasing sufficiency, then we don't understand what we need; we don't understand our 'enough'.
What really matters to you? What would it take for you to wake up every morning eager to start the day, content and happy just to be alive? To find sufficiency, you don't need to do anything. To find sufficiency, you just need to ask yourself, with all honesty, "What is enough?"
I think we need to be more honest with ourselves, and ask ourselves ‘What is enough?’ And be truthful enough to answer our own question with honesty and HONESTLY.
I think you’re right, Tame. It’s one thing to ask ourselves, “What’s enough?” and then come up with an answer and decide it’s currently out of reach, dismissing it as something we need to ask again later, when we have more.
The truth is, many of us already have our ‘enough’. We already have everything we really need and want. It’s just that we have so much extra stuff, stuff that we don’t really need (and oftentimes don’t really want either!) that our ‘enough’ is hidden, covered by all this extra stuff.
And when I say stuff, I don’t just mean physical stuff, but also emotional stuff: relationships, dreams, and goals that we perhaps thought we needed or wanted at one time, but forgot to let them go when they became detrimental to our lives.
Fantastically simple post and yet gets straight to the point on a brilliant subject. Well said Raam!
Thanks, Lisa! I like getting straight to the point. 🙂
Sufficiency for me has always been elusive. I’m comfortable where I’m at in life, and content with what I have, but consumerism tends to put me wanting more. I know I have enough, (if not more than enough,) but I’d trade that in for a few simple things any day.
It’s the job of consumerism to ensure that we never find our ‘enough’, to ensure that we’re always wanting more. That’s why I think it’s so important to reduce our possessions down to those that we genuinely need and actually use. If we let stuff slide into the background because we think we might need it some day, then we’ll never have enough — there will always be something else that we might need.
Your words just leave me holding my breath – they are not too many – but just enough. I am printing them out and saving them to read every morning and thru the day. I am so glad I found your writings.
Thank you for sharing
Thank you, Jean. I aim to live my life with “not too many, but just enough” of everything. 🙂
Raam,
This made me smile. It really puts its finger on how all our suffering comes about… It’s our fundamental sense of discontent, whether we are rich or poor. This sense of always wanting more or something else. You’ve captured this very well!
“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”
Lao Tzu
Thank you, Sandra! That Lao Tzu quote is perfect for this post! I hadn’t heard it before.
After much contemplation, I find that sufficiency only seems to move when we don’t take the time to really define what it means. When we decide we cannot determine “enough” until we get more, then we let “enough” become this undefinable thing, something that will always be out of our reach.
As Lao Tzu said, enough is enough. There isn’t this or that, but just what is.
Very true Raam. I would also add that before we even ask ourselves “what is enough” maybe we should look at what we already have and have gratitude for that. There’s a saying (not sure by who) “Happiness is not having what you want, its wanting what you have.”
Alot of what we want is to fill a void, if we are brave enough to uncover that void we may just find that we already have what we need.
Om Mani Padme Hum 🙂
Santoshi, that’s such a great way of looking at it! Whatever void we feel, we just need to uncover it and recognize that it’s really not a void at all.
Happiness is recognizing that whatever we need, no matter what it is, will come to us exactly when we need it, no sooner, no later. 🙂
These words could not have come at a better time….hmmm..:)….a gentle reminder of supreme supply, timely, perfect, a reassurance of embodiment, one needed at the perfect moment…..now.
😉