Watering the Seeds of Enoughness
This time of year can be a lovely time to connect with each other and to celebrate what we have. It can also be a very challenging and stressful time of year! It’s so easy to be swept away by the momentum of busyness, feeling like there’s not enough time, not enough money, not enough energy, not enough…..
Have you heard that phrase ‘where attention goes, energy flows’ ? Because our brains are wired to notice the negative more than the positive it can mean that our attention is usually on what we feel we are lacking, or what we don’t believe we have enough of, or how we’re falling short. These thoughts and fears actually grow by the attention we are giving them.
Attention is an incredibly valuable human commodity, perhaps the most powerful we have.
However, it really is possible to consciously shift from the mindset of scarcity and ‘not-enoughness’ and turn our attention to the time, money, capacity, resources, etc. that we DO have, to see and appreciate what is right beneath our nose. In doing so, magically, what we have, is nourished and actually expands….it appreciates.
We probably all know that experience of choosing to appreciate a friend or child’s special qualities, and in doing so they seem to blossom before our eyes.
The seeds that grow are the seeds we water with our attention.
Walking in nature, and ancient practices like mindfulness and deep rest meditation can help us to savour and value what we already have by inviting us to slow down and become present to the moment. They can provide us with a doorway back home to ourselves, to the felt sense of enoughness and slowly we can begin to trust in that. We can begin to choose ease and chuck perfection!
And to finish, here is an excerpt written by David Whyte on the value of rest…
“Rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be… To rest is not self-indulgent, to rest is to prepare to give the best of ourselves, and perhaps, most importantly, arrive at a place where we are able to understand what we have already been given.”
Which seeds will you water?