Perfectly Enough

I recently wrote about the “tyranny of an undefined enough” but today, as the culture to which I belong practices giving thanks, I want to come at the concept of “enough” through the lens of boundaries.

Wherever you are right now, say out loud “I have enough, I do enough, I am enough.”

What did you feel as you said those words? If you are anything like me, they feel radical, strange, out-of-sync, right?! They feel counter-intuitive. Think about that for a minute—an affirmation that you have, do and are enough creates dissonance. But not because those statements are untrue (to the contrary, they are absolute truths for almost every person I know). They feel dissonant because we are surrounded by messages that tell us the opposite (you need more, must do more, must be more). Though we live in abundance, we act as though scarcity is an ultimate truth.

Certainly, the holi-daze are no exception to this rule. In fact, in my life, the holi-daze tend to pour gasoline on the fire of not-enoughness, and send me into a hyper-state of purchasing, doing, and trying to earn my way to enough. So how can boundaries help us with the “never enough monster”?

Simple—define enough.

Here are a couple of prompts to help you…

For me (and my family) _________ is enough.
My/our life is full of ________ and it is enough.
I am/we are ________ and it is enough.

Applications:
Look at your to do list. Does it reflect a belief that what you have and what you do and what you are is enough? What can you take off the list because it is motivated by a scarcity mindset?

What do you have in abundance? How can you give it away?

If you really believed that you were “perfectly enough” just exactly as you are, what kinds of activities would that motivate? What is one step that you can take today towards that belief and those activities?