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What if good enough was, well, good enough? Every time you turn around these days - and certainly all over the TV - it's "Ultimate" this and "Extreme" that. On Food Network alone (guilty as charged of spending too much time there) we have Tyler's Ultimate, Ultimate Home Cook, Bobby Flay's Smackdown, and of course, Iron Chef - most of them competitions with the bizarre end result of choosing THE BEST. As if that were even possible!
You find so much of this thinking even in the realm of spiritual life, only there we are mostly pitted in competition with ourselves. "Be your best self now!" "Live the life of your dreams!" "The Universe is endlessly abundant and you can manifest everything you desire!" Hmmmm. Maybe. Sort of. Possibly. Or, to quote one of my teachers, "Interesting if true."
This overarching narrative, well intentioned as it may sometimes be, still points to the fallacy of more is better, or even simply that there is always a better that we must aspire to.
Now I'm not making a plea for complacency here, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't ever strive to be anything or any place other than how or where we are. I can't even imagine what my life would be like if I had never done any therapy, or spent time at meditation retreats, or studied and received so much wonderful and truly transformative spiritual healing.
But it does seem to me that all of this striving for the best, the ultimate, the most miraculously perfect and abundant (often meaning materially luxurious) life is misguided at best and, at its worst, detrimental to living a truly satisfied and satisfying life.
This Is It
Why is it that we always think there should be something more? That in order to live a good, spiritual, passionate and worthwhile life we should be doing more yoga, doing more meditation, doing more processing of our relationship, doing more something?? It is the great paradox of spiritual wisdom that we are already always where we are trying to get to, if only we can be truly present in the moment.
We get there much the way the old joke tells us how to get to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice! And that can be done in any moment, with anything we are doing or not doing, by bringing our awareness and attention to the very thing that is in front of us, or to our breath if we're simply being still. This is the purpose of formal spiritual practice, after all -- to take our insights off of the cushion or yoga mat and into our lives.
There is so much available to us today in terms of spiritual practice, study, and community, as well as cultural events, travel, movies, hobbies, you name it. Of course, attending movies, plays, classes and workshops are all great things to do. They inspire us and inform us beyond where our own imagination might take us. And like many of you, I consider myself a lifelong learner who refills herself regularly with spiritual retreats and studies.
One Perfect Moment...
And yet, some of my most awake and precious moments have also been the most plain and mundane. Taking a shower in the morning and feeling the renewing power of soap and shampoo and a good spray with plenty of pressure and hot water. Watching my cats groom themselves or simply watching them sleep. Driving in the car and hearing a song I haven't heard in years that has me suddenly smiling and singing and pounding on the steering wheel like a fool. The singular satisfaction that comes from an emptied kitchen sink or a pile of clean clothes to put away.
And what is it that makes these moments so precious and alive? My ability to truly be in them and feel myself engage with whatever is in front of me. The gift of having a relatively quiet mind with which to seize this opportunity to feel the joy of nothing special happening. Gratitude that I am here to experience this moment at all, that I can revel in simply being no one special doing nothing much.
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