Simply Enough - The Culture of Scarcity

This past week there has been a lot of time to think as, yet again, bronchitis has been my nemesis. Being prone on the couch or in the bed with nothing to do and no real focus allows plenty of time for contemplation and since they took off my 11 am "In The Heat of The Night" reruns that gave me even more time to contemplate whatever took my fancy.

It began simply a week or so ago with an OWN Network show "Super Soul Sunday." In all honesty, Oprah tends to make me crazy sometimes."Super Soul Sunday," however, is my guilty pleasure. Every week Oprah talks to a person who has insight into the human condition. Some of the people are a little out there but she has had everyone from Deepak Chopra to two of the Sandy Hook Elementary parents. Even if you do't agree with all of the views shared there is always something on the show that makes a person stop and go, "Hmmmm......"

Dr. Brene Brown was on the episode and she was talking about her book, "Daring Greatly". Dr. Brown is a researcher who studies shame and how it impacts our lives. She was so heartfelt about her research and what she has found that I bought the book for my Kindle. It was like someone flipped a switch once I began reading. I won't go into the impacts of shame on society, especially for women, even though her work is amazing. What I wanted to share came out of my morning today.

"Daring Greatly" talks about living in a culture of scarcity. Even though we have abundance surrounding us, what we have is never enough. Our homes are never decorated well enough, we are never pretty enough or smart enough  or we never make enough money. The list is endless.

This morning I finished cleaning out a closet in anticipation of a shopping trip. Recently, I lost weight so many of my clothes no longer fit and everything needed sorted for donation. While sorting the thought came into my head that there were still a lot of clothes in front of me even after discarding over 50% of the contents of the closet. Some of the clothes that fit are obviously only intended for gardening or work around the yard. Others are work clothes and yet others are somewhere on the spectrum in between.

Here I was- all geared up to go spend money at the outlet stores (even when I splurge I am still cheap) and I still have a closet full of clothes; not to mention a couple drawers of items as well. A light bulb went off. There is enough here for me. Simply enough.

If, later, I recognize that my wardrobe needs a specific item then I can purchase that specific item. Not only are there enough items the items in the wardrobe but the ones that are there are fairly high quality as well. It was like a weight came off of my shoulders. While standing in front of the closet with this sudden realization I was grateful for what I have and the awareness of how the culture of scarcity pulls us in to the need for the newest and brightest of everything was very real.