More, More, More, is Less, Less, Less!

Have you noticed that cars and trucks are getting bigger? Have you noticed that houses are getting bigger too, oftentimes leaving very little land for a yard? Have you noticed there are so many choices about what to watch on your TV or computer that at times it feels like you can’t find anything that calls to you? Have you noticed more and more fast-food restaurants are popping up, all with menus that tout bigger is better?

To me, this represents our addiction to ‘more’ – “If I only had more of this and less than that, I would finally be happy.” But there is a huge downside to following the addiction for more. For example, personal trucks, which are getting bigger and higher all the time with their fronts looking very similar to 18 wheelers, have a blind spot in front of them anywhere from 12 to 20 feet. And because of this, they are responsible for over 500 deaths last year, mainly children, because the driver can’t see what is directly in front of them. And that doesn’t even address the fact that they are gas guzzlers at a time when the Earth desperately needs us to be responsible for our carbon emissions.

In our lives, we also have way too many food choices.  Many ads and stories on daily news programs show us how to make delectable desserts, appetizers, and fancy drinks. All you have to do is go out into the public to see where this is taking us.  We have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.

Have you noticed how easy it is now to sit within your four walls, lost in screen time as you eat and drink in a way that doesn’t enhance your vitality and your joy? And we wonder why there’s an increase in diabetes, colon cancer, depression, and heart disease!

Most of the seeking for more comes from a voice we all have inside of us. If you’re honest with yourself, there is a running commentary in the back of your mind that points out you are not enough. You need to be more of this and less of that. Maybe you feel you need to be skinnier, smarter, more personable, more popular, more educated, more athletic, and on and on and on. This voice also says you need more – the latest phone, a dazzling kitchen, designer-name clothes. Almost everybody is influenced by this voice while they secretly try to hide what it’s saying from other people and themselves.

Seeking for more only brings temporary satisfaction and then very quickly the addiction to more takes over again, unsettling your mind and closing your heart. It’s like we’re all running as fast as we can on a treadmill that takes us absolutely nowhere. The illusion that more will bring you the peace that you long for keeps you caught in the dream of your mind while it robs you of the joy of being vitally alive.

What would happen if you knew that everything you long for is already here? What would happen if you knew that this moment is enough? What would happen if you knew in this moment you are enough exactly as you are?

One of the keys to coming back to the deep satisfaction of enough is the art of learning how to relax into life. Yes, it does take time to trust the flow of your life. But all the challenges I have had in my life have brought me to the truth that whatever life is offering me is trustable and this moment is enough, and, in this moment, I am enough!

Of course, your mind is going to want to try to get to the enoughness we are talking about here. It may say, “Oh I don’t have enough of that enoughness in my life! How do I get more?” But, as we have explored, that is not the way out of the addiction to more.

Instead, just notice for today how much your mind wants things to be different than what they are and notice how this tightens you, cutting you off from being present for the magic and mystery of this moment of your life. When you catch yourself, allow some long, slow out-breaths and really feel your way into this moment, feel it, smell it, hear it, and remember you are being given the gift of life and you don’t know if that is for a few more minutes or a hundred years.

For precious moments, unhook from the endless becoming in your mind and discover that the peace that you long for has always been here, right now. And then say, “I am enough, and this moment is enough.”

If this speaks to you and you would like to explore how to value your own uniqueness, enroll in my new interactive online course beginning February 1st, Falling in Love with You. If you want to know more, watch my Masterclass overview.