Hello Friend!
Have you allowed yourself to take a break recently?
If not, you're not alone.
If you HAVE but you felt plagued with guilt, shame, fear, anxiety or depression when you did - again you're not alone.
There's a reason for this.
Getting out of this 'not enough' mentality is going to require us to fully re-imagine our relationship to ourselves, our relationship with consumption and productions and our view of what is and isn't valuable.
Let's dive into what's REALLY under the whole 'I'm not enough/don't have enough' mentality so we can find some peace.
Our Culture Has Things Totally Backwards:
Our culture has intimately tied self worth/human value in with our capacity to produce/consume.
Which has led a lot of us to have a really uncomfortable relationship with rest.
It’s also led to us creating societal systems in which some who will never be able to ‘produce’ what is considered ‘valuable’ by society can’t ever make ends meet, let alone take adequate rest so as to nourish their bodies, minds and spirits. They can’t get their needs met and take adequate rest at the same time.
We’re told by the self love gurus and the capitalist culture both that we should be ‘charging what we’re worth’, That we should be hustling and constantly producing/contributing something. That we should be able to be good CONSUMERS (whatever the definition of ‘good’ is from the vantage point of the person talking). That if we’re not generating enough income to support ourselves, we need to be improving our market value.
But what if we were to take a step back and question this entire premise?
What if we were to say ‘human life is valuable because it exists? It has worth for its presence.'
From that place, what PRAGMATICALLY needs to be done (created and consumed) in order to best SUPPORT that LIFE? The life that has value? The production and the consumption being the means to the end, not the end in and of itself?
What if we no longer looked at our capacity to produce and consume as a mark of value, but rather looked at production and consumption as means to supporting what has value - life? Human life. Animal life. Plant life. Earth life.
If we all decided that we were fundamentally worthy, good enough, valuable, that HUMANITY and life at large was good enough, worthy and valuable, where then would we NEED to produce and consume so that life could continue to grow, evolve and expand? What could we let go of?
THESE are the beginnings of the TRUE awakening humanity needs to have if we want to survive ourselves.
You see, right now we live in a world where we see the SYSTEMS of production and consumption as the 'things' that have value, and we are measuring our CAPACITY to perform in these systems, our capacity to prop the system up and power the system so that IT can keep going as what makes US good or bad. Worthy or unworthy. Valuable or not valuable.
This is totally and utterly BACKWARDS in every way.
In Real Reality, We Want To EXPRESS:
This is why we never feel like we are enough, are doing enough or even that we have enough. This is why we can't decide in what is a 'good' system or a 'bad' system. What we 'should' and 'shouldn't' be doing.
In REAL reality, the thing we ALL want is to be able to live in a way where we can EXPRESS our genetic potential.
We are life and we want to live.
In order to live, in order to express this potential, we must get our NEEDS met. We must meet our basic physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs so that we have the BUILDING BLOCKS for growth and expansion.
This is what leads to PLEASURE - when we are meeting our needs/discovering our needs/having our needs met in ways that work WITH the structure of the greater reality - so that we can then go out and LIVE. Experience. Express. Create. Fall down. Learn things.
THIS is what is at the ROOT of everything we 'want.'
When we have PAIN, this simply means that we AREN'T getting our needs met on some level/are being antagonized and thus our EXPRESSION and GROWTH is being compromised.
Remember this is complex - because we learned early on in our childhoods that approval = getting our needs met, many of us as adults still don't know what our actual NEEDS are. We only know getting approved of, being loved, and having someone OUTSIDE of ourselves then understanding us and meeting our needs for us. Most of us feel isolated, alone, afraid of rejection, like if we face struggles or set backs we are DOOMED - because we weren't given the tools to actually IDENTIFY our own needs, or how to MEET those needs so we can LIVE.
We aren't seeing that what we want is to LIVE.
Thus we are thinking that what we want is approval. What we want is to be productive. What we want is to consume. We think the means to happiness/peace/joy - the pleasure we seek - are THROUGH being loved or having something/providing something - when we aren't seeing the actual ROOT of pain and pleasure.
What we want is to EXPRESS.
We think approval = getting to express. Because we think approval = getting needs met which DOES = getting to express. We are being told that approval IS the thing that makes us happy/feel safe - when the reality is this is ONLY true if being approved of leads to a NEED getting met on some level that ALLOWS us to express and grow.
We think we need to produce/consume more because the system says if you do these things, you will have things, and if you have things you will be happy. We are being told that the very act of being productive, or the act of consuming something is the THING that makes us happy - when this is ONLY true if it actually MEETS A NEED and therefore allows us to GROW and EXPRESS.
We aren't understanding that what we want is to express our potential.
The approval, the production, the consumption - these are only means to ends.
If we don't see what the actual END is - we get lost in a sea of confusion.
Right now we are living asking ourselves 'am I good enough?' 'Am I productive enough?' 'Am I VALUABLE to the SYSTEMS of production and consumption?'
These are backwards questions.
The REAL truth is - LIFE is the thing that has VALUE. LIFE. You. The earth. The plants. The animals. Life getting to express IS what feels GOOD. Life NOT getting to express feels BAD. THIS is the root of ALL pain and pleasure. Growth and expansion vs. destruction and combustion.
Again, what works in REAL life, are the systems that SUPPORT life. The systems that FEEL GOOD are the systems that work to give us what we need so we can express our genetic potential. The systems that are destructive are the ones that go against what is required for us to get our needs met, so that we can express and grow.
THIS IS WHAT REALITY IS.
We keep thinking that when we have pain in trying to work within the system, that WE are what is broken.
We keep thinking that when we get rejected we are going to die.
We keep thinking that if we can't be 'valuable' to the system, we must change OURSELVES in order to 'measure up.'
This is why we get so stuck in the enough/not enough paradigm loop.
Because our systems aren't based in reality.
Our systems are saying the SYSTEM is what has value, and we - life - are what must POWER the system.
Reality is saying LIFE is what has value and the SYSTEMS should be designed around supporting and powering LIFE in it's expression.
We aren't ever going to get out of our loops of not enough thinking, of over consumption, of environmental destruction, of anxiety, depression, exploitation and all of these systems that DON'T work for humanity, until we come to terms with putting our value systems in order.
We have to stop valuing the SYSTEM.
The system is what should be working for US.
Not us for IT.
What This Means Practically Speaking:
The way of of this mess, is to start to ask ourselves 'what do I NEED in order to EXPRESS?'
THIS is the root of true adulthood. True spirituality. True social justice. A true shift towards a system that will ACTUALLY work for life as a whole.
When we can understand that the methods of production and consumption should be AVENUES for getting needs met - we will start to have clarity on what is and isn't enough.
Production for the sake of production doesn't get needs met - and thus it can't bring us true joy.
Consumption for consumptions sake doesn't get needs met - and thus it can't bring true joy.
Acceptance for acceptance sake doesn't get needs met necessarily - thus it doesn't bring true joy.
We have to understand what we actually NEED in order to express and grow - and in that expression and growth we have pleasure.
THAT is the way.
In your personal life, if you were to untie your value and your production for just a moment, if you were to assume your fundamental worth as a BASE reality, what NEEDS to be produced by you in order to support your life? What needs to be consumed? What’s pragmatic and important - on all levels - mental, emotional, spiritual, creative, physical and so on? What could you stop doing and only lose societal approval, but not actual function?
What does it take to actually sustain you? That’s a snapshot of what is required to actually support what’s of value here - you and your life.
What if we took this concept and applied it universally? What kind of system would we be building from that?
If we valued LIFE - and saw production and consumption as a means to supporting that valuable thing - rather than valuing production and consumption as some thing in and of itself?
Perhaps we could find some systems that really work from this new vantage point.
This is the beginning of actual maturity - to be able to truly have self knowledge of actual needs.
What do we actually NEED?
What is REQUIRED for the physical to be sustained and maintained? The mental? The emotional? The creative? What do we need as a humanity to have a basic level of functioning? What do we need as individuals that are unique and complex? In true adulthood, ‘enough’ isn’t a concept. It isn’t an ideal. It’s practical. It’s results based.
This idea that our value and our production/consumption have anything to do with one another - it’s a completely false premise.
This is why we are all so confused and over working and under working and having no idea what ‘enough’ is.
Because enough has been made into an opinion rather than seen as a reality.
Enough Isn't An Opinion And It's Not Arbitrary:
If we don’t consume enough food, no matter how much we think it’s enough, the body doesn’t function optimally. Eventually we see degradation. We believed it was enough, it wasn’t and it caused problems.
If we eat too much, same deal. Excess isn’t helpful. It’s taxing and draining just like not enough. But again, it’s not an opinion.
More complex are our mental/emotional/creative needs. But they are in effect the same basic principle. What’s required for these parts of self to grow without having so much they can’t process?
THIS - if we look at THIS - where we have pain, where that pain is showing us needs, looking to where we’re not getting those needs met, how we may be over-indulging, how we may be trying to meet a need with something that doesn’t actually FILL that need (eating food when you need sleep kind of deal) - then we will start to have a picture of what’s required to sustain our lives.
THEN we can start to figure out how to get those needs met in the REALITY that exists.
As adults we take ownership for our bodies, minds and spirits.
We take responsibility for getting to know ourselves so we can understand our needs - our enough - not based on societal fantasy, but based on true awareness of degradation and growth.
So your starting point is actual self knowledge. Learning to really SEE what you want and what you need when you want approval, when you want to produce, when you want to consume. What's the actual NEED? What are you looking for? What is or isn't being provided? What parts of you aren't getting what they need to grow?
This work isn't easy. This is the work of re-connecting with our bodies. With our pain and pleasure sensations. With what does and doesn't FEEL good. This is the work of looking at RESULTS and OUTCOMES of actions - when we do 'X', and we expect 'Y' to happen, does it? And does 'Y' happening lead to something that EXPANDS us or HARMS us?
This is the work of letting go of consensus reality UNLESS that consensus reality PROVES itself to be actually USEFUL in the way of supporting LIFE. All of life. Life as a whole. Not some lives at the expense of other lives. Not life that feels exciting right now but leads to destruction later. We have to start to sort through true pain and pleasure. True outcome vs. expected outcome. Theory over reality.
Growing up.
We learn about our own needs. This is huge work. We learn how to meet those needs in ways that are harmonious with reality. Also huge work. We learn how to LEARN. How to interact with cause and effect, pain and pleasure - so as to learn what is truly constructive and what is destructive. Which means challenging our assumed PERCEPTIONS of what is and isn't good, right, productive, destructive, wrong and bad. We have to look at OUTCOMES not theories.
THEN we can start to consider how we may change systems and structures on a societal level, understanding more and more about the commonalities in human need, and how we can use technology and intelligence to meet those needs in more and more efficient ways - so we can go about doing what actually has value - LIVING.
The Roots Of Not Enough Are Not Understanding Our Needs, Not Understanding Our Desire To Express:
Because THAT’S what’s really under the concept of ‘enough.’
What is enough so I can LIVE - grow, learn, express, expand, express my genetic potential.
That’s what enough is.
Whatever is required so we can express.
It has nothing to do with value. Value is inherent. Enough is too. Figuring out what enough is isn’t a value based discussion. It’s a pragmatic, practical, what’s supportive of growth discussion.
This is what adulthood is. Learning to identify our own needs, learning how to meet those needs in the most harmonious way, and then going about the business of being alive.
This is what true SPIRITUALITY is. So many of us want to be ‘mature’ in our spiritual lives - we want the Kundalini rising, the spiritual powers, the healing to take place, to be a healer or a light worker - but we don’t have the FOUNDATIONS of self knowledge in place to be TRULY integral in any of these areas. We are still stuck in the illusion of not knowing what enough is, because we don’t understand our needs or how to meet them. We confuse our pain for a ‘lack’ of something inherent in us, rather than seeing it as the messenger of unmet needs that it is. Then we project that onto others. We’re not seeing our pain clearly, we’re not seeing other’s pain clearly, and we are simply the blind leading the blind.
When life doesn’t get it’s needs met, it experiences pain and it adapts however it can. Life is always fighting for itself - THAT Is the ROOT of all of our behaviors. And when we don’t know what life needs? We have pain. We suffer.
Because LIFE is the thing of value.
Production and consumption are means to supporting the end of living. Nothing more, nothing less.
Enough is just what allows life to live. It’s as simple as that. THIS self knowledge are the seeds of true spirituality, which will give you the knowledge and clarity required to become a TRUE light worker on this planet - because you will then be able to see the NEEDS of others, what is truly valuable, and how we can create new systems that support life.
Enough is not a concept.
It’s not a fantasy.
It’s not an opinion.
Without this clarity, we can do all the spiritual or mental work we want, and we will still feel unsafe and insecure.
Enough is the answer.
Enough is spirituality.
Enough is adulthood.
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