If we aren't careful, it's all too easy to get caught up in a mindset of "never enough." Author and speaker Lynne Twist says it perfectly:
For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is "I didn't get enough sleep." The next one is "I don't have enough time." Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don't have enough of... Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we're already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something.
It's as if a scarcity mindset has been wired into our society, into our minds, into our lives. I don't know about you, but I sure can relate: "Look at everything I don't have!" I find myself repeating day after day like a broken record.
I'm single, so I don't have enough love. I'm starting a new business, so I don't have enough money. I struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, so I don't have enough health. There's never enough time. I can never be good enough or pretty enough or live up to the standards that I "should" be living up to. Never enough, never enough, never enough!
And yet if there's one thing that this apparent lack has taught me over and over again throughout the past year, it is simply this: Whether I recognize it or not, "enough" is already right here, in this very moment.
I don't have to make more money or achieve more or get more of what I think I need in order to experience "enough." I don't have to go looking to external sources of validation or approval in order to find it, and I certainly don't have to go looking for it in the future.
I'll never find it in any of these places because -- get this, guys -- I already have it.
If only I can look closely enough, I come to realize the fullness of this moment exactly as it is: The love in my dog's tail-wag as he greets me at the door. That $5 bill in my pocket. The carpet beneath my toes. The softness of my sheets. The warming, flickering fireplace and the soup simmering on the stove.
Oh, the richness of this moment -- it's as if "enough" is spilling over every which way! Love. Money. Warmth and health and wealth. I already have it all!
It is in these moments that my heart swells with gratitude for what is here now: for the smallest sights, sounds, tastes and touches that bring flashes of joy into my being, as if I'd somehow never noticed how ridiculously awesome life has always been...
Always.
Why hadn't I noticed these things before? How is it that I've gotten so caught up in what isn't that I've failed to recognize what already is so full and rich and beautiful?
Life, I realize when I'm thinking most clearly, is so dang good. Even when I'm not yet with the man of my dreams, and even when my salary isn't what I wish it was, and even when things aren't quite going exactly my way, I can still look around and say, "Wow. I already have more than enough." As cliche as it may sound, it's the small moments that fill me with joy, not the grand achievements, and it's the journey that's fulfilling, not the destination -- or as Abraham -- Hicks would say, "Do you like the journey on the way to where you're going?"
So, do you? Do you like the journey on the way to where you're going?
Are you lamenting over the fact that you aren't there yet, or are you celebrating the fact that you're already on your way, one small step at a time?
Are you crying over the "not enough" that you don't have yet, or are you appreciating the enough-ness that is already here in this moment -- even if it's not yet what you want or hope it to be?
Because appreciating the inherent "enough-ness" of this very moment? Without fail, it breeds more of the very same.
The more we notice and appreciate the love that's already in our lives, the more love shows up.
The more time we take to nurture and appreciate our own health, the healthier we become.
The more we pay attention to the money we already have and that is already circulating all around us, the more we become open to new sources of wealth.
What we desire comes about not through a grasping for more or from a place of lack; rather, it comes from a place of love and appreciation for what already is. It comes from a place of "enough," from a place of fullness.
You cannot reach enough from not enough. There will always be more and more and more to attain. -- Amber Rae
So as the holidays fall upon us and we find ourselves thinking that we don't have enough time, money, love or whatever it may be, let us declare otherwise: Let us remember to fully live from a place of "enough," even long after Thanksgiving has passed.
Let us remember that the point of Christmas is not to fill our lives with more stuff (nor is it to throw the best holiday party or to be the most perfect version of ourselves), but to more fully appreciate the love and joy and goodwill that already exist within us and within those we love.
And in the new year, let us resolve not to grasp desperately for what we think we lack, as if we don't already have enough of what it is we seek. Instead, let us come from a cup that is already filled to the brim, fully recognizing the power of "enough."
If you're in, I invite you to join me for the 2014 "Year of Enough" Challenge, a month-long event aimed at helping you kick your new year off from a place of sufficiency and worth in a world of "never enough." Register for free!
This post was originally published at TheUnlost.com. Click here to join in on the 2014 Year of Enough Kickoff Challenge: 23 interviews. 23 challenges. All free.