Having enough?

This blog is not so much about the work or learning I have been doing here. More so about a book that I have read while being here; A life of being, having and doing enough by Wayne Miller (I would recommend everyone go out and buy this book).  We all spend our lives being busy; busy with work, busy with our lives, when is enough really enough? This is a question I have spent some time here asking myself, re-evaluating my life. When I have done enough for today? When can I be happy that I feel I can stop for the day and relax? When we spend our lives being so busy planning for the future, thinking way into a distant day, how will we know when enough is enough for today? The book argues that by looking so far ahead, we miss the pleasures of today. Maybe take a minute to think, have you done enough for today? Did you spend some time reflecting on all the good things that happened today? It isn’t easy and I imagine, for me, it will only get more difficult when I get home and back to my busy lifestyle. But I will try to take 5 minutes to reflect, did I do enough?

Sometimes we spend so much time giving, giving to friends, family and work, that we will eventually burn out and be of no use to anyone. We need to take time for ourselves. This is something we are often socialised not to do. To always be prepared to go that extra mile in our lives, to stretch to achieve the deadline before it is due, to always be ready to be a shoulder to cry on, but what use are we to anyone when we don’t look after ourselves? Is it bad to say to a friend, “I need some time for me now, I will be there tomorrow” this way we are looking after our own spirits so that we can give more fully to others. How many of us get ill every time we take a holiday from our busy lives? How many of us feel like we get to the point where we “just can’t take it anymore”? I know I have felt these and it is not good for our health or our spirits. When our spirits get tired and worn out our health will deteriorate and when we are sick, we are no use to anyone.  

We are taught to constantly trying to better ourselves, to improve, to develop but when will WE be enough just the way we are?  We are daily bombarded with messages about how we can improve this aspect of our lives, how we can make our bodies look better, how we can make ourselves look younger with this product. When will we ever feel like we are enough for the world just the way we are when all we are told on a regular basis is how much we need to improve? I am not saying that personal growth is a bad thing, I don’t believe that for a second, but should it be more of a natural process which happens as we live our lives? Can we live in a way where we are enough for the world? Where we can be happy with what we have instead of always wanting more? Do we ever feel that we can be enough for those that are in our lives? I don’t know the answers to these for me personally but it is definitely something that I will reflect on and ask myself. Ask myself when I try to make the next right decision for me.

This book definitely makes you think but it is a book I would highly recommend to anyone that is willing to read it! There is a lot more I could say about the book and about my thoughts about it but that would ruin it for everyone that does now have an interest in reading it. Go on, try it!