The Luxury of Enough

I have yammered for years about The Luxury of Enough. The opposite of enough is planetary degradation and freedom bereft of meaning. I learned in therapy (also for years) that want and need are different. We want new jeans and the latest handbag. We need very little. Food, shelter, clean water, love. Nature requires needs be met to simply survive. I can live without dark chocolate. I cannot live without water. I can live without music, but I want it enough to elevate it to a need in my soul. Enough means survival at its core: spiritual calm, brain function, and body ease at its most pure. One article recently tried to explain to us dumb humans that buying an eco-friendly $150 shirt is not the same as self-abnegation. Stephanie Mills writes about The Luxury of Enough in "Epicurean Simplicity." Anita Roddick understood the global need for clean water and education and enabled poor cultures to establish businesses by buying locally on a global scale. I am learning. I am learning faster than I learned for 50 years that my actions have consequences, that what I want has an impact on my loved ones, my village and my world. I hope I am improving as I strive to embrace The Luxury of Enough.