Reclaiming the Territory of Enough

Originally shared June 26, 2023 on Patreon.

Don’t read the book reviews. Just take it out from the library and start reading.

Give yourself the gift of having your own experience with it, without the taint of somebody else’s criticism clouding your view.

You aren’t obligated to even finish it. If you don’t like it, give it a few more chapters. If you still don’t like it, put it down.

But if you find yourself turning page after page, full of reflections and feeling and hope, let yourself enjoy the depth of your wonder.

I am currently reading The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist. Before I took this book out from the library, I did read a few reader reviews. They were all pretty lukewarm about it, and for a moment I thought maybe I’d just pass, but I also realized that the more significant part of my resistance was about my own anxiety and deeply held beliefs around the subject. Giving it a try represented my willingness to get uncomfortable with something I have felt stuck on for a long, long time. Maybe it wouldn’t be for me, but at least I would find out.

Money. A taboo subject. When it is brought up, it’s usually in a commiserating way; deep sighs of worry about not having enough money; frustrations about rising costs of living and food costs; despairing opinions about the real-time crimes governments and organizations of humans are committing for money. Summary: money is evil.

As an artist (sub in entrepreneur, small business owner) I have heard over and over and over again that “it’s hard” to make “a living” at what I am doing. What I do is seen as a pipe dream, something that one tries for a while until they give up and get “a real job.” I’ve been asked what my “fall-back plan” is. Organizations and players in my own industry often undervalue what I do with sub-standard rates of pay and a “you should just be so grateful for these crumbs I’m throwing your way” kind of attitude. Summary: money is hard to come by.

All I’m trying to say here is: consciously or not, these stories of lack and fear on repeat do make a home in a person’s psyche, and are incredibly difficult to rewrite. We all know by now that we are story beings, but to distinguish the myths from the truths is no easy task for those of us stuck on the first steps of the journey.

I’m not going to get fully into it, because this is not a book review, and the book is so much more than this little thought bubble post, but this book is helping me rewrite my story about money. Lynne Twist’s soul and spirit approach is the kind of approach I have been seeking. One of the first key ideas presented in this book that has made me reexamine my relationship with money is: sufficiency is abundance.

Maybe to some people this seems so obvious, but I was like, WHOA. Hold on. What the hell. Why does this idea that makes complete sense feel brand new to me?

Sufficiency is abundance.

Here I have been thinking about abundance as being in the future. Something I have to strive for. Something that comes when everything else is aligned and ready. Something I don’t already have. I have given so much of my attention to the things I feel I lack, or the things I think will make life easier or fuller once obtained – forever reaching, chasing, reaching – instead of giving recognition and respect to the abundance I have right here, right now. In my material resources, in my relationships, in my experiences, in myself.

ANYWAY.

I’ve only regurgitated one small sliver of all that this book really is, so I’ll stop here and leave you with a few scribbled down notes I’ve made in my reading:

The experience we crave of being fulfilled in life cannot be found in the chase for fulfillment or the chase for more of anything.

Better comes from deepening our experience of what’s already there.

Growth: a recognition and appreciation for what we already have.

Reclaim this territory of sufficiency.

Reclaim this territory of enough.

Much love,

🩷

Viss