With
Age Comes "Enough"
As I continue my journey through life, I am constantly
aware of the importance of maintaining balance. Making
enough, doing enough, and feeling enough are all important.
What is this thought of 'enoughness' and why is it essential
to a life well lived?
First of all, as living beings, we are always seeking
'enough' of something in order to live more fulfilling
lives. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs
theory, basic needs must be fulfilled before one can
become self-actualized. Therefore, each person must
get enough physiological needs met such as air, water,
food, sex, shelter and sleep, before she can travel
up the pyramid to seek fulfillment of psychological
needs (love and belongingness to self-esteem).
Having satisfied those needs, one continues the journey
to ultimate fulfillment of self-actualization and begins
to experience justice, aliveness, beauty, self-sufficiency
and truth. There's more, but you get the picture. 'Enoughness'
appears as a rather important component in our lives
as we are constantly balancing the outward, seeking
the inward feeling of enough. Have you studied enough
for that test? Spent enough time with loved ones? Had
enough drama? Made enough money? Are you happy enough?
Everyone must develop his/her unique sense of enoughness.
It's not the same for everybody. Enough shoes in my
closet may not be enough shoes for Imelda Marcos. Speaking
of Imelda, we might do well to observe that 'not' is
not the prefix for 'enough'.
We can also have more than enough which can have a
wide range of negative consequences. Each one of us
has essential needs we all share; however, the degree
to which one must experience those needs in his life
varies, thank goodness. Knowing yourself and being able
to feel your feelings will reveal your unique levels
to you. This takes conscious practice.
I once had a student ask me when she would know when
she has eaten enough. I could only tell her that she
would feel when she had eaten enough, that she must
be mindful while eating. Reading, talking and/or watching
TV while eating will definitely lessen mindfulness at
mealtime. Mindfulness is a great tool when developing
your inner sense of enoughness. Trust yourself to know
your limits and your needs. Just as your body amazingly
maintains homeostasis despite all the things you do
to abuse it, so the rest of you seeks to maintain balance.
With age comes knowing how to eat just enough; work
enough and rest enough; save enough and spend enough;
learn enough and teach enough; play enough and laugh
enough; mediate enough to remember; have enough to use;
move enough to exercise; appreciate enough to feel gratitude;
change enough to know you can; and listen enough to
understand. And, of course, the big one, with age comes
knowing how to love, love enough to heal.
Contact
Raina Casarez, The La D. Dama - A Muse for All Time
Atlanta, GA
http://www.mindbodyfitness.ws
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