The Secret Sauce…(Post #3)

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In today’s fast-paced, super-sized world, don’t we all just want to hit the easy button…you know, land that deal of a lifetime with virtually no effort, lose 10 pounds while you sleep, and create the perfect home life in 3 simple steps. Yet, we all know the old adage that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The truth is, there is no easy button. Doing the right things well takes effort and intentionality. It always has. There are natural, universal laws at play – we reap what we sow. The farmer cannot reap a harvest of soy beans if she planted a crop of peas.

And so it begs the question: if we reap discontentment, what are we sowing. Or, to frame it another way, if we want to harvest a fully-satisfied, joy-filled life of contentment (otherwise known as The Enough Life), what should we be sowing?

There, my friends, is the secret sauce: contentment. How can we be intentional about planting seeds of contentment, satisfaction, and joy in our lives? What can we do to focus our minds on our gratitude for what we have rather than ruminating on what we lack?

One suggestion to start with – start a gratitude or blessing journal and write down everything you are thankful for, every blessing and joy in your life. Spend at least 1 minute at the start and end of your day in your journal.

Enough gratitude…that just may be the secret sauce!

What is Enough? (Post #1)

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How do you define enough? I mean how do YOU define enough? Have you had enough? How would you know? What I do know is that too little is not enough and too much is more than enough.

Dictionary.com defines “enough” as: “adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire”

You see I believe there is a continuum with too little on one end and too much on the other, and enough right in the middle: too little – enough – too much.

I have spent most of my life striving and straining for the next “thing”, only to run right past the point of enough to the point of exhaustion. We strive and strain and worry in order to find enough, but we end up with more than enough – we end up with excess. We pass right by enough and don’t even notice it. We think that when we get more we will feel satisfied. Yet, when we get to too much we still aren’t satisfied. How can this be? Since too much is past enough, then wouldn’t that be more than the amount needed to satisfy…like super-satisfy? Yet, it isn’t satisfying at all. Do we shoot right past fully satisfied to unsatisfied? It sure seems like it.

Perhaps the continuum ought to be: unsatisfied – enough – unsatisfied. Could it be that the only place of full, true satisfaction isn’t more and more, it’s just enough?

Are you ready to stop the striving and embrace this Enough Life?