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.
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