For the past several months we have been working with the question “How will I know when I have enough?” And each of us has added whatever is most important to her to the end of that question. For example, someone might ask herself “How will I know when I have worked enough for today?” Or “How will I know when I am spending enough time with the people in my life who are the most important to me?” If you have not been traveling this path with us until now, today is an excellent time to begin! Any of us at any time can make the decision to begin traveling the “enough consciousness” path, deepening our awareness of the sense of enough by noticing our own Signs of Enough, those thoughts and feelings that say “OK, that’s enough!”
This month we are going to look at this from a slightly different angle. Here are the steps:
- On a piece of paper list all the things you can think of that you have too much of. Do not screen anything out; just write down everything that comes to your mind. Many of us find we have 20-30-40 things on our list by the time we are done.
- Now, look at the list. Circle the three things that seem to stand out, that seem to be the most important, that are bothering you the most or would make the most difference if you paid attention to them.
- The next part can be hard, so just stay with it until you are clear about your answer. For each of these three categories you circled, how do you know you have too much?
a. When you think about each of them, one at a time, how do you feel?
b. What would change if you had less of each of these things?
- Now choose one of the categories that you circled and looked carefully at your answers to “what would change?” Is it worth making the effort for getting to a place where you have less of that category?
- If you decide it is worth it, then write down at least one maybe two small steps you will take in the next two weeks toward having less of that category.
Congratulations! You are on your way to having a simpler, more satisfying life!