You are Everything...
April 15, 2020
This might not sit well with some of you, but there’s a phrase that I believe will fizzle out as the world shifts its focus and awareness. It’s a phrase that has been flung around for the last few years: “You are enough”. It’s a phrase that has been used to tell mothers, women, men, children, millennials, gen x, gen y... anyone and everyone really who felt like they were not doing/being/performing/creating enough in the hustle... that they are doing just great.
While the sentiment is well-intentioned, my observation, however, is that “you’re enough” is not what mothers juggling on this silly stage have needed to hear. It is certainly not what I wanted to hear as I crept away from my children’s bedrooms after another day of back-to-back balancing acts at Cirque Du Life, to sit down and try and do some of the other work that called me. And one day as my daughter slapped marmalade onto a cracker… liberally… with glee… I said: “I think that’s enough”. My own idea of what’s enough. A wave of disappointment and shame washed over her face. And the room suddenly felt small. And it reminded me of those times in life when dessert is being dished up and you’ve heard “that’s enough” coming from your mouth or someone else’s. It’s an amount defined by pre-existing beliefs. It’s rooted in conditioning that there isn’t enough. It’s a constriction. Abundance becomes questionable. Your own worthiness becomes questionable. You’re good enough. You’re fast enough. You’re clever enough. What exactly is… enough.
The dictionary defines it as:
As much or as many as required.
Required by who?
I’m sorry, but I cannot raise my children to believe they are simply “enough”. And I cannot tell myself or my clients (as the beautiful, evolving, vital birthing beings that they are) that we are simply “enough”. As we shift into a new era of birth, business and life we need a generation of beings who can shake off other’s value definitions. Beings who can clearly see that they are the cake. I’m not talking about sitting on the couch and stroking our egos and musing whether we are lemon meringue or triple choc fudge. I’m talking about recognising that we are EVERYTHING. And that every being we encounter is too.
A year ago I was asked to do a talk on mental health and meditation for a group of Grade 6 students. Some sat in interest, others slumped in their chairs, some with hoodies pulled down over their heads in the hopes they wouldn’t be seen. And this feeling of insignificance washed over me. And it was clear that the children who felt the least seen in their own worlds were the ones most frustrated with this talk… and they wanted me to know that. And I knew I couldn’t really change any of their worlds in 15 minutes, but I could give them one thought. And it was this…
Every single one of you is here on this Earth for a reason.
We don’t tell people that. We don’t encourage people to find that reason… especially when it doesn’t fit into our own pre-existing notions of what it means to be a success in this world. Being “enough” is not self-actualisation.
NOTE: This is NOT a call for you to do everything. This is a call to awaken to the fact that you ARE everything.
You are a brilliant bundle of energy, cells, earth, wind, air, fire, water, mind, body and spirit and wisdom that is here to contribute something to life on this planet. Start looking at yourself in that way, instead of according to the bit-piece, mechanistic model that has you seeing yourself as fat, thin, fertile, infertile, pear-shaped, oval, black, white… I could go on…
If you’ve ever watched a video of the zinc explosion that occurs at the moment of conception (youtube it!) and then consider that everything that goes into the growth of that being is, at the root of it, elemental, you will understand that we really are made of stardust. Stardust with a soul.
When you consider this, you start to see others differently. You start to see that we are all connected. We have to be. You start to consider all your interactions, with people and the earth, differently… as energy exchanges rather than material exchanges. But the biggest revelation you will have is that everything you do is significant. And there’s responsibility and honour in that. And it needs to be nourished… with whatever metaphorical marmalade is needed. Never at anyone else’s expense.
If you may find yourself understanding why I keep telling people that: “Daydreaming should be a school subject!” You start to tune in to your inner voice rather than that of others who believe they know how to write your story. And that is the voice that will tell you exactly what you need to be and do, and what feels right and wrong for you, in this moment, whether you’re 4 or 40.