The
bookstore in Point Reyes frequently hosts multi-week explorations of books that broadly fit into the realm of spirituality – slowing down, paying
attention, living life more authentically – and though I don’t attend the
workshops, I often buy a copy of the recommended book and read it on my
own. This weekend’s exploration was “A
life of being, having, and doing enough” by Wayne Muller. What a little gem, received at just the right
time. What is enough? Why isn’t what we have right here, right now
“enough”? Why do we suffer from the
feeling that we are never doing enough, contributing enough? Muller’s short and engaging book, filled with
eye-opening metaphors and parables, is just what I needed at this moment.
As it
happens, a friend who now lives in Bangkok is visiting the Bay Area, and as we
chatted about plans I had considered for this fall, she espoused the virtue of
doing nothing. I immediately protested
that I wasn’t doing these things just to keep busy but that I genuinely enjoyed
them and was enriched by them. But
something she said stuck: "How would you know
what the alternative would be like? You have never tried it!"
Just so.
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