The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

What is enough?

It's a deeply personal question, so I will give you a couple minutes to consider your answer.

As Maria Shriver ponders in this week's edition of the Sunday Paper, "When do you know you've had enough? When do you finally feel that you are enough? When is enough, enough?"

All are good questions worth consideration. Our responses will depend on our perceptions and experiences. The word we use to follow "enough" may tend to define who we are and our core system of beliefs.

When my kids were arguing over some mindless matter, like who got to ride shotgun on the way to school, how many times did I tell them, "Enough already"? How many pep talks have I given friends (or they to me) who feel they don't meet some crazy expectation society has set, they don't feel they are enough? P.S. You know who you are and you are more than enough. Trust me. Love you. Mean it.

Maybe enough is built into our genetic code, a predisposition of tolerance and acceptance. Maybe it's learned behavior, a result - or lack of - nurturing.

Perhaps enough is a condition of satisfaction. Personally, I set goals and, once achieved, establish a new bar. Yet, I also know when enough is enough, a lesson in knowing what is and isn't essential.

Still, I know individuals who cannot gauge when enough is enough. I wonder if they feel dissatisfaction with themselves, so they are always on an elusive hunt for that warm fuzzy feeling, while an aching emptiness echoes within. That makes me sad.

In "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," English poet William Blake wrote, "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

His idea of the term is double-edged. If you're fed up with the state of something, you know when a situation has reached the more-than-enough stage. Conversely, if you're heart and life is enriched and overflowing with blessings, fulfillment and a sense of peace abound, you feel you have enough.

Think of enough this way: is the glass half empty or half full?

No matter what challenges we face, each of us holds the key to being satisfied with our live's path.

You are. And that should be enough.