I am enough. Just as I am.
What a radical thought.
Who I am is enough – to be loved, to be cherished, to make an impact, to have mattered.
I don’t need to change myself in any way for this to be true. I am enough, just as I am, to move in the world, to take up space and be heard.
I don’t need to be fixed. I have been broken and mended many times. And more to come! I make mistakes. I can feel like an outsider and out of step. That’s cool. And I’m still enough.
You are enough.
You have what you need to love, and serve, and live your life fully. You really do. You aren’t missing any piece. You don’t need something else, something extra to begin. Who you are is enough. Your genius, laughter, kookiness and you-ness. As well as your wavering, and hesitancy and wounded-ness. It’s all good.
Know that the pursuit of perfection in any form is a con – a trap. Perfection can never be found. Wanting it, wishing for it, expecting it only distracts us from what is important.
Coz here’s the thing. We are all we’ve got. Our frailties, flaws and finalities make us who we are. There is no future moment that we will arrive at and think ‘ok, now I have everything I need to begin’. There is only the one ongoing eternal moment which is now, for us to begin our work of loving our self and our world with fierce reverence.
Now is there work to do? Of course! There is always evolving, growing, learning, and risking to do. But do it within a context of acceptance and joy. Do it knowing you are enough, rather than coming from some deficit position of not being good enough or deserving enough.
One way we know truly that we are enough is when we help others. We find reservoirs of patience, skill, kindness and capacity when we are asked to respond to the world.
The ending of a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, expresses this beautifully.
After a day of feeling poor:
“I awoke from my sleep at the sudden opening of my door, and you came and asked for alms. In despair I broke the lid of my chest open, and was startled into finding my own wealth.”
If you really got that you are enough at the deepest level, what would you begin?
