How Sufficiency Looks in My Life Today 2/1/11:

Today I am sitting at my desk, watching the gorgeous snow fall and fall while I have this pressure in my back and this nagging voice in my mind telling me I don’t have enough time to get it all done. As I go through my day, I have a choice: listen to that voice and try to shove it all into the time I think I have, feel my breath get shallower, my jaw tighter, my sense of well being and joy at doing any of these tasks evaporate into the tyranny of scarcity. Or, take a break, breathe deep – actually take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the snow, take a moment to recognize that even though my child did not go to school, there was plenty of help around so I could still be sitting here reflecting on the presence of sufficiency in my life. It’s a simple moment of appreciation for all I have, all of the beauty around me, for my breath and my capacity to wake up in a moment and to choose to listen to a different voice, one that remembers that I am ok right now exactly how I am no matter how much or how little I achieve today. It’s not all that sexy, like ditching everything and moving to Vermont or living off of the kindness of strangers, but it’s real for today. It’s my practice, my compass, my anchor in the storm of voices and of tasks and of opportunities and of bills. I am grateful for its simplicity and for my ability to remember that I can shift the world as I shift myself.