This morning I had a moment when I realized that despite some challenging circumstances “nothing that truly matters is lacking.”**  It was like an infusion of hydration when I was parched with thirst, or an IV of nutrients when my body was functioning on just enough nourishment to keep me alive, but no more.  It was an experience of abundance.

 

Have you ever had a moment like that?  When you realized that your perception of what was lacking in your life was more fiction than truth?  When you felt the deep sense of calm in the metaphorical midst of the storm, or the famine, when you knew that everything that matters is already here? That you are not alone?  That there is no real lack in this moment?

 

I don’t mean AT ALL that we are supposed to pretend that we don’t feel pain or disappointment or loss. 

 

And I CERTAINLY don’t think it’s our job to tell suffering people that they should just “focus on the bright side.”  Empathy is usually a better path in those moments.  Empathy and companionship.

 

But I do know that living with a deep sense of “enoughness” is way better than living with the conviction that the world is mostly about lack, about not having enough, about needing to be perfect to get enough, or needing to fight for, or manipulate other people to get it.  And we can easily make a case for either version of life in pretty much any moment – whether the “enough” we’re looking for is enough money, or enough time or enough love, whatever.  

Read More