What is enough?
Enough? Plenty? Need a bigger bowl? Or maybe a smaller one?
We often “unthinkingly” think we need/want/ deserve more. We expect a coffee drink to nearly reach the brim of the cup. We become comfortable with a level of debt that’s just below our debt limit.
We are smart enough, though, to know that if we don’t want to risk spilling the hot coffee or be caught with not enough credit to handle an unexpected crisis, we can just get a smaller bowl. It’s simple.
(And if we want to do more of something, the path is just as obvious!)
If we have our bank automatically siphon off $10 a week to savings, we’ll discover that our checking account balance doesn’t change very much.
And if we put a smaller scoop in the candy dish, we’ll take less every time!
Often, the real problem is not what we have, it’s how big our bowl is. That’s why they suggest that if you want to eat less, use smaller plates! We all know that we choose the size of the bowl as well as what goes in it. So depending on whether we want to spend less money or lose some weight, we can remember that it isn’t just the wish or resolution to do it that will really make it happen. We can also choose to eat that elephant in smaller bites.
(Or is it that frog we were supposed to eat?)
I really do get that for me…
- scheduling less into my day,
- using a smaller scoop, and
- putting that money in the savings account before I even see it…
means that at this time of life I choose a smaller bowl and to experience the idea that “less is indeed more.”
So, how big a bowl are YOU choosing for your life these days?