Everything I Need

There are many moments and days when I let myself slide into that tepid bathtub of thoughts about what I don't have. When I let my mind linger on what I've lost. When I imagine that there is a hole inside my heart as wide and deep as Forever.

Then are there are moments - like this morning - when I realize that I have everything I need.

My latest epiphany arrived in an email from a client. She was commenting on a draft I had sent her the previous day. In just three sentences, she managed to pinpoint something about the copy that had been bothering me, but that I, being too close to it, couldn't see.

She wrote: "I am unable to articulate this very well but I will do my best to describe via examples. I know it’s difficult not to use (specific phrase omitted) here and there to complete sentences but if we could, I’d like to limit them as much as possible. Rather than telling our customers how great we are, I’d like to give them evidence, specific examples, and “clues” so that they come to that conclusion on their own."

Her feedback was so completely right on that I had to sit back in my chair for a moment.

I thought: I am surrounded by teachers. Wise, wonderful teachers. And as soon as I had that thought, a hundred other examples jumped into my head, of people - clients + friends + random strangers - who have very recently said this or that and it JUST SO HAPPENED to be precisely what I needed to hear at that exact moment.

I get so wrapped up in the details of my life sometimes that I lose perspective. Then someone says the right words, and presto: clarity.

I lack nothing. I just forget that sometimes.

** Photo above: The sky above a certain bench on a trail in the Marin Headlands, where you can sit and gaze out at the wide, vast, marvelous ocean. Not as wide and deep as Forever, but just large enough.

Comments

[Dr. Biggles]

I have all I need too. Plus have been darned lucky enough to surround myself with exceptionally intelligent people throughout the years. Yay me!

Biggles

[Anita]

I need so badly to have this idea -- recognizing the bounty I have at my disposal -- reinforced that it keeps getting put in front of me. Thanks for being the most-recent bearer. :)

On Tuesday, Laura at Urban Hennery wrote a post about wanting what you have; hers was a response to Earth Day mania -- a different impulse, but the same reminders for me.

I printed out this part and taped it to my screen:
We need to understand that sometimes it’s about not having the thing at all. That it’s about choosing a simpler way of life not because it’s moral or just, but because it is an opportunity to move beyond the 'things we want”' to the things that make us truly happy.

Post here: http://urbanhennery.com/2008/04/22/earth-day-2008/

[Jennifer Jeffrey]

Yay you, Biggles! You have the gift of finding the joy in every day... (you're one of those teachers...)

Anita - great link! That was a wonderful article, and such a good reminder. Thinking that thought: "I have all I need" makes me feel so content. It's kind of magical.

[Laura]

Anita, thanks for the kind words.

Jennifer, your post really resonated with me - often they do. Thanks for writing.