| A grounding principle, or primary tenet, or essential gateway of Somatic Finance is sufficiency. You have read about it from me many times. Sufficiency is not really a thing, a tangible result, or an achievement. It is a way of being in our constantly moving fluid life. I promise you will learn more from me about sufficiency in the future. Embodied sufficiency is the direct experience of freedom. Freedom from all that we think we need and want in a culture of consumption. The coronavirus has abruptly channeled our need to look closer at our consumption choices; sufficiency is a kind and gentle path to making choices more aligned with the values that matter most to us, individually and collectively. Recent statements by Li Edelkoort, trend forecaster, published in the following article offer clear insight about the ripples of the global epidemic. I encourage you to read the entire piece. Coronavirus offers “a blank page for a new beginning” says Li Edelkoort |
“The coronavirus epidemic will lead to “a global recession of a magnitude that has not been experienced before” but will eventually allow humanity to reset its values, according to trend forecaster Li Edelkoort. Edelkoort told Dezeen [in an interview by Marcus Fairs] that the virus was causing a “quarantine of consumption” and would have a profound cultural and economic impact. People would have to get used to living with fewer possessions and traveling less, she said, as the virus disrupts global supply chains and transportation networks.” |
| Consumption is the action answering the question: what is enough. What is enough is a common question in financial planning. For example, how much do I need to save in order to retire at age 65? It is not a bad question. It is, however, partial. “How much” leads to a question of, enough. Yet, we never know enough because it is a concept of a future experience that can never be experienced in the present. Which is where the practice of sufficiency comes to life. The coronavirus is a wake-up call – nature’s way of saying quite clearly, what is enough? Sufficiency leads us to behaviors that caress our inside, take care of humanity and take care of the planet. As far as fashion goes for example, we welcome our worn jeans and repair the tears rather than replace with the newest trend. We, as the interview with Marcus Fairs gorgeously explores, slow down. Nature disrupts us and forces us to slow down enough to (eventually) enjoy our human existence as we recognize our ignorance through decades of ignored consumption. Traveling, dining out, spending, collecting, give way to more walking, cooking, sharing, creating. If the production chain is broken, in several places, the end product is severely compromised. China cannot continue to manufacture the parts used to create more stuff. Stuff that we have continued to consume without regard to our earth. Unlimited travel, for business and pleasure, requires essential discernment of purpose. (Though I contribute to an earth-friendly fund to combat carbon emissions, I am guilty of traveling when I want and where I want.) The beautiful news, the glorious opening, our light at the end of a dark tunnel, is … we return to what deeply matters and brings our life the most meaning, joy, and peace. Being in seclusion might bring up fears of being disconnected from others. Another beautiful place to explore the experience of sufficiency. Our wholeness, the feeling of being complete includes connection to everyone and everything. Nothing is left out. I am not saying that someone who is sequestered won’t feel alone. I am saying that when we truly engage our own practice of sufficiency, connection remains. Grab the hand of sufficiency as we enter this path together. Slowing down we gain access to our body’s felt experience of being here now and knowing by heart the pristine peace of having enough. We recognize the immediacy of this truth in the moment and the next and the next. We recognize our connection with others being deeply connected to the truth of our own human existence. Sufficiency is easily accessed through a slow soft pace, which is the invitation of one-minute water sits. This month, let’s practice sufficiency. Be still in the mist of movement, sound, sight, touch, and taste. Watch the lively display of life in myriad forms. Release all concepts of what is not here, and recognize all that is here, right now. Sufficient – elegant, pristine, whole. Being sufficient, Gayle |