In my business, I often give short talks to various networking groups. One of my talks is about how chronic stress makes us hold persistently onto the belief of There’s Not Enough. We could believe this about anything in life, but some of the most common triggers are time, money and wellbeing.
In preparation for my next talk, the group leaders asked if we could change the title of the talk to: You, Your Business & There’s Enough.
I love this request.
Having a foundational trust in the belief that there IS enough is a powerful launch pad for everything: for self leadership, personal magnetism and pleasure in life.
The only reason to invest any energy in There’s Not Enough is to better understand it’s pattern and to build our awareness of just how frequently we fall into its trap.
Only then can we begin to put in place the practices and techniques that help to diminish the fear it creates. Because this fear shapes how we show up, the choices we make, how powerfully we create our businesses, relationships and our every day.
Don’t get me wrong. I have struggled as much as anyone with There’s Not Enough. I personally know just how pervasive this belief can be.
I grew up in a home where There’s Not Enough Money was the constant refrain. Not because we were destitute, or one pay check away from losing our home. No. It was because my father grew up in poverty. He lived the experience and felt its pinch. My mother was raised by parents who lived through WWII and as a result, saved everything — including used tin foil — because it might just come in handy one day.
This belief was part of their cultural programming. So, I grew up hearing There’s Not Enough, seeing it in action and learning to live with it as my refrain — whether or not I had enough money, time or wellbeing.
This fear contracted me and it contracted my experience of life.
Here’s the thing: anytime my income, schedule spaciousness or health were even slightly stretched, my fear of There’s Not Enough took me out of the game.
Instead of maintaining my ability to get creative and use all my resources to resolve a blip, I would fall into the pothole of my fear. And stay there. Stuck and disempowered. Or feeling like I had to work so hard that I cost myself my energy and my wellbeing.
It’s a vicious cycle. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
There is a way out. The key is getting to the deepest of deep roots, making the unconscious conscious, and working with your fear through an embodied practice of self leadership that supports you and your abundance.