“I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware I sit content.
One world is aware, and by the far the largest to me, and that is myself,
And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness, I can wait.” - Walt Whitman
If you look beneath the surface of last weeks’ I Am Enough message (or most any of my posts), I hope that you’ll consistently find the theme of transformation. As I explore ancient wisdom and the idea of creating new measures of success, I’m aiming to evoke (or perhaps to provoke) personal transformation at the deep level that has the power to change our world.
Knowing that I am (and you are) enough is just such a fundamental shift. It requires that we find the place within that knows this Truth, embrace it deeply, and nurture this knowing like we nurture our children, our precious relationships, and our gardens. That is the essence of self-love.
When our foundation is self-love, self-acceptance, knowing that we are enough, we make choices grounded in love and cooperation, not fear and competition.
We need more choices made from that place inside as our contributions to being the change that has the potential to shift mass consciousness. Only when we fully embrace that we are enough can we accept that those who make different choices, come from different cultures, etc. are enough as well. Knowing that you are enough builds the courage to embrace differences across the street, in our families, our communities, and in cultures around the world.
When we know that we are enough, we don’t need to prove our worth by spending more to have more stuff. When we know we are enough we can give and serve and do work in the world that contributes to building one another up rather than tearing down those with whom we differ. When we know that we are enough, we experience the reality of Oneness, that we are each a tiny, yet integral, part of the entire Universe.
Knowing deeply within that I’m enough is a measure of success that is not of the world. It’s an inside job and only I, and each of us individually, have the power to claim this mark for ourselves.
Coming to deeply know that I am enough requires stamina and courage and the will to cast out beliefs, stories, habits, systems, and people in life who bring me down. It requires practice and puts me squarely in the driver’s seat of my personal power, the power to choose my thoughts, my words, and my actions as reflections of me and for me.
Experiment for the Week: Strengthen your ‘enough’ muscle by noticing thoughts or feelings that don’t support this knowing. Then, use your will to choose differently.