Being Enough

When we are stripped away of the things that we hold closest to ourselves, when we begin to let go of the identities we construct around ourselves in our ego’s search for selfhood, then through each loss, if we can remain true and present to the pain it brings forth, accepting all as it comes without falling to the temptation of constructing an identity around what comes but moving through it, allowing it to move through us, to pass, then something miraculous happens: we begin to know ourselves as we truly are, before and beyond identity, achievement, affirmation, recognition; as enough. I cannot tell you how wonderful this is – to rest, finally, after all the clinging, denial, resistance, struggle, pain, hope, and desire; to rest finally in one’s own enough-ness. Detox works in a similar way. As we strip away the food and other substances that offer us momentary comforts that we have come to rely on in our daily or weekly lives; the carbohydrates, the fats, the alcohol, the cigarettes, the sugar, or the caffeine that just give us that little lift, prop, relaxation, or moment to ourselves that we crave in our busy lives, and come to experience ourselves as we are without those things, a process is set in motion, and that process can be painful. As the body gives up its hold on the remnants of these substances, we experience their effects – headaches, nausea, anger, uncertainty, despair. We call these detox symptoms. Like the pain of loss, they pass. And as they pass we come to know ourselves as people in process, able to let go of the moment and welcome the next and the next, stepping out of old skins and growing into our next wonderful, mysterious incarnation. This is life at its best: fluid, evolving, open, inviting, not stagnant or stuck in the past. And so I invite you, dear reader, to join us on an adventure through life that has at its heart the letting go and the welcoming required to know yourself as you truly are: enough. And in the enough-ness of yourself, I guarantee that you will find everything you need.