Enough is Enough
Last year in the summer our garden was absolutely bursting, an abundance of fruit, vegetables and herbs. Autumn came, then winter without much rain at all and spring with barely a drop. We live in the bush and depend on rainwater to fill our dam for it is from the dam we water the garden. The dam hasn’t been replenished, it was depleted and there was no rain on the horizon when planting for summer came around. This got me thinking about abundance versus enough.
We are encouraged in our consumer society to consume, to purchase and then just as readily discard many products or services. Purchased food from sterile supermarkets doesn’t give rise to contemplation about our connection to the earth and our complete dependence on her for our sustenance, grounding and guidance. When you are trying to grow your own food – clean organic food – or if you like to look after your own food security as you are really unsure about the quality, ethics and impact on the universe of commercially produced vegetables and fruit whether you have sufficient water or not becomes a huge issue.
Planting this spring was done in the spirit of enough, just enough for my partner and I to survive and we are lucky also enough to pickle, bottle and preserve. Water is such a precious commodity yet unless we are deeply connected to our food production this fact can easily slip away. After all doesn’t water just flow from the tap?
Enough is enough! This whole idea earthed and took root – roots sprouting everywhere as I began to explored where else in my life I could be content (santosha) with enough not abundance but sufficient. The shift was incredible as not producing so much food was easier in so many ways, and not once did I feel like I was going without or fretting about wasting or desperately trying to give away loads of produce. You know those zucchinis that no one wants as they have plenty of their own.
Having just enough seemed like the perfect balance to me – enough vegetables and fruit, enough time to enjoy more deeply the experience of communing with nature, watching the seeds grow and the plants flourish. Of course, we don’t have much water at all left in the dam and we are literally doing rain dances and praying for rain as long term this would not be a situation any of us would want to be in and puts the practice of saving water in the forefront of your mind.
It also made me think of the principles of the Gunas – rajas, satwa and tamas. Of balance of not too much activity and not too little. This spilled over into my summer living and I am now surfing autumn feeling energised, inspired instead of somewhat depleted and frazzled from an endless summer of hot and doing. Frugal, slow and enough could well be the mantra for gardening and living for this year as I feel empowered by making time for myself to lie under the shade cloth and watch the frogs nestle in the foliage and skinks skitter scatter around the garden.Making time to go on a retreat in Bali knowing that my beloved garden is well prepared with juicy organic soil and will be enough, enough, enough!
Enough has me reflecting on how amazing our world is, how incredibly we are to live on planet earth and more determined than ever to make earth friendly decisions about products I do purchase. When you understand that there is no ‘me’ rather just a ‘we’ and the ‘we’ includes all sentient beings – humanity as well as animals, insects, fish, plants and trees, life becomes a dance, a song, an unraveling of ourselves and a re-envisioning of the environment of earth as one energetic ecosystem that you want to protect, love, nurture with all your heart and soul .
Enough is sattva. Sattva is one of the three gunas (virtues or attributes) in Hindu and Samkhya philosophy. The word means “light,” “goodness” and “purity” in Sanskrit. In Ayurveda and spiritual yoga practice, practitioners seek to invite and maintain balance of the self, mind and body through the three gunas.
Enough is sattva.
Enough is balance.
Enough is heartfelt love of all.
Embrace enough for it truly is the new abundance.
