Enough!

Here I am again with this concept that I often struggle with. How do we know if we have enough or even if we are enough? I have struggled with the idea of ‘enough’ in both the having and being sense.

• Our portion size servings of food have gotten so huge, that we eat far beyond our body’s capacity to know we’ve had enough.
• We procure things we don’t need until our houses are full.
• Bank accounts define whether or not we have enough

How do we know if we’ve had enough?

I too struggle with this concept. It was best defined metaphorically this past weekend. I watched my dog try to bite the fire in the fire place. Of course, it’s a gas fire, and the glass door prevents him from actually biting it. But the fact that he keeps trying sums up my personal struggle. The way I pursue more is like trying to bite fire, and I keep getting burned. Or, more appropriately, burned out.

This past week, I read a great book on Chinese Medicine. Alex Wu’s “A User’s Manual for the Human Body.” Here’s a great review of the book: https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-wellbeing/treatments/complementary-therapies/what-is-qi-in-traditional-chinese-medicine

His premise is that we should nurture our body’s natural ability to rejuvenate and heal. The book explained the concept that our bodies were built to heal. When we don’t heal, it is usually because we have exhausted our supply of Qi in some area. And we don’t have enough in storage. It’s like being overdrawn in a bank account. There was a quiz you could take to self-assess where you were in the stages of healing. The five stages are:
1. The Healthy Level
2. Semi-healthy Level
3. Sub-healthy Level
4. Energy Depletion Level
5. Complete Exhaustion Level

After I took the quiz, I easily saw that I was at the lowest stage. After almost a year of exhaustion and overwhelm I was depleted of Qi. Frankly, I didn’t need a quiz to tell me that. It just opened my eyes to the concept that it’s time for a short break.

Cue: The omni-present internal struggle that If I take A break – I am being lazy

Ugh, not again! Do I continually have to struggle with this ‘being’ verses ‘doing’? And the answer is – yeah, I guess so. So, I made a choice. The choice is, I am going to take a short break from the blog. One week. I will be back after the New Year. With more spiritual wisdom to share and more stories to tell. But until then, I am going to do as little as possible – and only what I feel like doing. It is a struggle. My self-esteem suffers. But, I’m ready to just ‘be’ for awhile, despite the discomfort that comes from it. And then I’ll report back how I did.

May you be blessed with a happy and healthy holiday season. No matter what holiday you celebrate, may it be healthy and enriching. Until we meet again, may you be blessed along your spiritual journey!

More blogs about being enough:

http://rabbicosnowsky.com/how-to-be-a-human-being/

http://rabbicosnowsky.com/how-to-be-zen-through-the-struggle-with-being-vs-doing/