Is there room in the world today for "good enough?" Let's change the narrative that more is better, faster is better, and start looking at how "good enough" can bring us peace and freedom.

The abundance of less and cultivating satisfaction in the simplicity of life.

Warm Wednesday greetings, Calm Spirit Wellbeing Community 💜

This is my first newsletter coming through Substack and I’m so excited to hear what you think! Please do reply and share your thoughts and feedback. 🤗

Sitting this morning with a beautiful cuppa Jamaican coffee, reading the book The Abundance of Less by Andy Couturier, listening to the chirping of birds outside of my window and the gentle whirring of the fan offering a calm breeze on the warm Caribbean early morning, I am contemplating the concept of satisfaction in our world today. 

In my many conversations with people visiting Jamaica over the years from some far off place the Jamaicans call “farrin,” I am struck by how many share (knowingly or unknowingly?) some level of dissatisfaction with their current life.

A client from the US that I spoke to and shared a bodywork session with this week has been coming to Jamaica several times a year since 2008 providing mentoring and support to doctors here on the island. I was intrigued by her story and even more so by the underlying current of stress that was palpable to me in her vibration. When she spoke of her work here, she said “I feel my blood pressure going up right now!”

I felt called to give her extra time in her massage session in response to what her body needed and as a thank you for the work she is doing here in Jamaica to make a difference. After the session, I started to share this with her and before I could finish, she took out some Jamaican money and said not to worry, she was planning to give me a tip. 

I was a bit taken aback that her interpretation of my intention to give her more time in the session seemed to be that I was trying to garner a tip. It was fascinating to me that she interrupted my explanation without taking the time to really listen and just assumed that I wanted a tip.

Did she think I wouldn’t be satisfied without a tip? I’ll never know…

She didn’t slow down and take the time to allow me to share why I had decided to give her the extra time before she just assumed I wanted a tip. 

I couldn’t help but wonder after speaking with her and giving her a massage “Is she satisfied with her life? What does it feel like in the body to be satisfied with life?”  As I worked on her very tight muscles during the massage, her body told me a story of tension, a desire to control, and a lack of trust in herself and in the world giving way to difficulty letting go.  

I have felt the same in so many bodies that I have had the honor to work on as a bodyworker like the young lady I gave a massage to a few weeks ago that shared with me her current desire to reorganize her life because of a chronic health issue that just won’t seem to go away (and she’s barely 30 years old). 

Both of these women appeared to me to be dissatisfied with their current lives on some level and they came from different countries, different generations, and different professional backgrounds. 

Yet they shared a similar vibration of dissatisfaction.

What does it mean to be satisfied with life, especially in a world where we are pushed to achieve, to acquire the next best thing, to do better than the person next to us, to the person/people before us? 

What does it mean to be satisfied with life in a world where faster is better and so many people don’t take the time to deeply listen to each other? 

Is there a place in the new world that is emerging for “good enough?” 

I am recovering from a lifetime of seeking perfection (an obviously impossible feat) that stems from childhood trauma and a need to try and control my outer world to feel safe and not upset those around me. The idea of “good enough” has been something I have been actively practicing for the past few years as a way to balance this desire to strive for perfection and it has brought more peace and freedom to my life. 

Perpetuating the narrative that we always need to be striving and achieving creates a deep and ever-present vibration of dissatisfaction with our current circumstances and I believe that this is what keeps the capitalist system running at the expense of true satisfaction/contentment with life. 

“If you don’t have a whole lot of unsatisfied people, the economy stops dead, doesn’t it? And then the entire society is in trouble.” (from The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan by Andy Couturier). 

If the world had more people that were satisfied with their life, wouldn’t the economy indeed crumble? People would find joy in the simple things instead of with the latest gadget or newest car and that would create a noticeable shift in our world.

Please understand that I am in no way saying that people living in war torn countries and experiencing the intense trauma of that should be satisfied with life. I am also not at all saying that we should be in any way satisfied with injustice, hate, discrimination, and any other evils that arise on this planet. These are all critically important issues that need our attention, unity, and compassion and this post is not about these dire situations.

What I AM saying is that we can each benefit from being satisfied with less material stuff. We can each benefit from being satisfied with life through the lens of simplicity: deeply enjoying time with family, friends, authentic connections, gratitude for clean drinking water, gratitude for what we have and where we are in THIS MOMENT, the present moment.

What if good enough is just right for cultivating satisfaction?

What would life feel like if we practiced feeling satisfied with where we are now with only hope and positivity for our future?

I’d love to hear from you so please share your thoughts, insights, questions, and ideas about this newsletter.

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Wishing you all a peaceful and satisfying week,

Deanna 🙏💜

Calm Spirit Wellbeing

www.calmspiritwellbeing.com

@calmspiritwellbeing on IG and FB