Remember the Shortcut in the Game, Candy Land? It’s Like That.

Ever since encountering the Enough Work four years ago, one thing has elluded me.  I have struggled to find a clear and concise sentence or metaphor to express the profundity of what it is. Perhaps it is not necessary to do so, and I am too close to the work for it to become clear to me, but I feel I'm getting closer.  

  

As a child, one of my favorite board games was Candy Land.  On the board was a twisty path made up of colored squares, and the goal of the game was to be the first to reach the end of the path.  When it was your turn, you chose a card from the deck.  Each card had either one or more colored squares or the picture of a destination along the path, such as Gingerbread House. You advanced your game piece according to the card you drew. There was one exception, however.  If you landed on a square adjacent to a shortcut, you could instantly move through that shortcut, advancing you to a place much further on the board than your card originally took you to. The Enough Message feels like that - a stroke of luck, a path opens, you whiz forward unexpectedly.   

If you have played Candy Land, you know that shortcuts come rarely, and once you've had one, you go back to playing the game square by square, hoping for the next shortcut to appear, over which you have no control.  This is where the metaphor ceases to explain the Enough Message. The understanding it brings is not temporary. It is a new lens – a much expanded awareness of what you are and what life really is, beyond the messages of scarcity and lack you've been taught.  Because Enough is an expanded lens, it can be applied to gain a new perspective of every aspect of life:  relationships, money, career, health, spirituality.  It is like holding a permanent short cut card to use wherever and whenever you choose.

When we realize we have always been enough and have always lived in a loving universe whose design and intention is to provide us with enough, we are instantly advanced forward.  We have pierced  the bubble of scarcity, unworthiness, separation,loneliness and lack. We don’t need to play that old, tired game anymore, competing with one another to win, slogging through life square by precarious square, hoping for the right cards to find our way through, always fearing that even if we play by the rules our whole life, we could end up losing anyway. 

     

Here's how the Enough Message works as a shortcut to transformation. Direct your attention deeply within.  Ask these questions and seek the answers from as deep a place within you as you can:  

Do you feel you are enough? 

Do you feel you have enough? 

Do you believe there is enough in the world for everyone? 

How would you be different if you knew you were enough? 

How would the world be different if everyone knew they are enough?

You always have been enough for what you came here to do, and you always will be. Nothing could change that.  It is natural law. Every cell in your body, every molecule in the universe operates by the Law of Enough.  How could you exist in this world and not be of it?   

Can you be attentive to that? 

What if I told you there is enough for everyone?  Enough food.  Enough care.  Enough shelter.  Enough happiness.  Enough meaning.  Enough love.  More than enough, actually. It is only by choice that enough in all its forms is being held back, wasted, destroyed and hoarded by humans.

Can you be attentive to that? 

What if I told you that the human species is the only species of 8.7 million species on Earth to operate by the Law of Never Enough, and does so with such conviction and skill that it is on a suicidal path to destroy all life on Earth? What if I told you that humans have only been trying out the game of “Never Enough” for 5,000 years, and that many peaceful and technologically sophisticated cultures live and have lived in alignment with the natural law of Enough?  

  

And what if I told you that because we are all connected, our best hope to reverse this insanity is to wake up to our own individual enoughness and to feel deeply inside how our enoughness connects us to our true nature and to one another and to all life, so much that we not only will want to but know that we can stop all manmade suffering on Earth once and for all?   

Can you be attentive to all that? 

I know you can, but will you? 

Because if you do, you've received what I am trying to pass onto you. And it isn't something trivial.  When I say “the Enough Message” I am not talking about some feel-good mantra or fleeting self-help gimmick.  I am talking about profound personal and planetary transformation that's accessible to everyone. I am talking about a tool that invites you to be attentive to it, to dive deeper with it.  This is not a game. I am talking about saving the world for future generations – for your children and mine, and for all precious life on Earth. 

My purpose is not to sell books or to convince anyone to buy anything I might be putting out there in the world.  I already have more than enough of everything I need and want. The choice, the power and the responsibility to make this shift is yours. But know that you are enough for it. Right here. Right now. 

   

I also know now that I am enough to tell you this, and to mean it with every fiber of my being:   

It is time to treat personal transformation as the most serious and urgent work we could ever do for the planet and for future generations.

Commit to be attentive to your intuitions and big questions as they arise to be considered by you. Make time for the important and real conversations we need right now, not for the useless banter that keeps us stuck.  

Enough is my card to share with you. You can bet much more is coming from all directions and from many voices all over the planet.  Take what is shared with you and go deeper.  When each of us advances in understanding, we all do. It is time to know that.  Really know that. You are enough to draw the shortcut card. We all are. 

Laurie McCammon is author of Enough!  How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word and the new Enough! A Companion Guidebook which she coauthored with seven women's circle experts and a wellness expert. The Enough! book outlines the evidence that we are living in a world where the Law of Enough is the deeper truth.  The Enough! Guidebook contains 100+ hands-on activities for individuals and groups to go deeper with all aspects of the Enoughh Message.  You can learn more at www.lauriemccammon.com

           

What Do the Root Cause of Gun Violence and its Solution Have in Common? One Word: ENOUGH

Banner design a collaboration of Laurie McCammon, Ann Smith and her grandson Sacha

It’s on everyone’s lips these days: Why do such horrible mass shootings keep happening? What can we do about it?  

We assume that fixing the world has to be overwhelmingly complex, otherwise we would have fixed it by now.  Too much damage has been done.  We don’t have enough time, money, will, or genius to change the mega trends destroying our world. Humans aren’t capable of changing or rallying together fast enough.  But what if these are only true because we insist on focusing on symptoms rather than on root cause?  

Through three years of research for my book, Enough!  I discovered that humanity’s skewed orientation toward the word “enough” was responsible at a hidden root cause level for most of what we do not want, including scarcity itself.  Here’s what I learned:

                 1.       Even when we use the word “enough” we are more likely to actually
                experience feelings of deficit associated with “never enough.”  

Enough is such a commonly used word that it has an effect on every aspect our lives, whether our self-concept (Am I enough?), relationships (Does he love me enough?), career (There are never enough jobs.), money (How do I get enough, have enough or keep enough?), business, education, politics, and so on.  Our current global culture reinforces the idea that there is not enough and we are not enough – ever.  If we were perceiving “enough” evenly, the word would just as likely generate feelings and actions associated with satisfaction and abundance as fear and lack.  What we tend to see culturally, however, is that scarcity mentality has become an overarching lens of lack through which we interpret the entire world, including ourselves.   We perceive a world in which we are under constant threat of either not having enough or of losing what little we do have.  If we chase to its root each social ill whether terrorism, gun violence, economic insecurity, addiction, climate change, disease, corruption or debt, I believe we find an underlying core belief that we are not enough and do not have enough  - and never will.

2.        Never Enough physiologically distorts our ability to perceive accurately, selecting for the least sophisticated behaviors available to us.  

Never Enough has a cascade effect on our emotions and behaviors: anger that breeds violence; fear and stress that disempower us; deep insecurity and paranoia that lead to greed, aggression, revenge and tribalism.  It is not a far leap to see how any of these paths could lead to gun violence. 

Brain science tells us that when we feel we are under imminent threat, we tend to revert to the most primitive, "reptilian"parts of the brain, the brain stem and cerebellum which are responsible for quick, and usually polarized decision-making and actions known as “fight or flight.”   We become susceptible to leaders who offer simplistic answers and either-or arguments to further polarize people and issues.  When in scarcity mode, we are less likely to access the more sophisticated reasoning capabilities of the neocortex.  We are fooled into thinking that fast and decisive action are better at ensuring our safety than careful consideration, negotiation, fact-finding, collaboration and listening.   

But the neocortex is what distinguishes us as human.  It is responsible for language, abstract thought, imagination, and consciousness.  We should be highly suspicious of any cultural norm  which causes us to be less than we truly are – less curious, less conscious, less imaginative, less in control of our destinies.  Anything that halts consciousness cannot be part of a viable future.  

3.       Enough is the cure to eliminating every social ill.

What surprised me most while researching for the book was that the shift from Never Enough to Enough is already abundantly evidenced in our world,  in the sharing economy, green solutions, technological advances, new sciences, and in spiritual and storytelling wisdom traditions from all over the world.  You start to notice how a belief in Enough leads to better outcomes: innovation, healing, connection, peace, understanding, compassion, creativity, engagement, genius, resilience and yes, even joy.  Whereas the idea of Never Enough causes us to feel fearful, we become more open, trusting, alive and daring when we believe we are enough.  We ask more questions and seek to understand complexity and nuance. We grow in compassion and wisdom.  We feel compelled to speak up for truth and justice. We occupy our more of our brains and hearts, and by doing so, become bigger and more powerful than we have ever been.

4.        Humanity is the last to know the universe is telling an “Enough” Story.

What does the nature of Earth and the universe have to tell us about Enough and Never Enough?  No creature, no living being or system has ever prevailed by adopting a Never Enough strategy.  Every ecosystem we know of is instead an intimately interdependent delivery system of Enough for all, forever.  I take this to mean that humans, as part of nature, are actually Enough creatures by design. Our DNA contains instructions for how to co-create an Enough world.  We’ve simply forgotten.  We’ve spent too many generations locked in the reptilian brain, too used to the norms, rules and structures that have kept us tightly focused on scarcity, devoid of heart and connection. In such a culture, the anguish which would allow a human being to commit mass murder indicates alienation from one’s own divine enoughness.  

The symbol of the anti-gun movement is the hashtag  #ENOUGH.  Let’s make sure we consciously shift the rage, blame and indignation inherent in the old version of  “Enough is enough!” into the more empowering  “We are enough!” and “We have enough!” of today.  Enough attracts and creates enough while a “war against” always engages us in more war.    I vote for a world in which we and future generations know we are enough, where we feel seen and know we are precious and essential, where we no longer need to hurt others in order to assuage our own deep hurt.  

How about you? Do you see the connections between enough as a root cause and a solution? Share your stories on my Facebook or Twitter. 

To learn more about Laurie McCammon's upcoming book (April, 2016), Enough! How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word, go to www.LaurieMcCammon.com

How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word ( in 5 simple steps)

We've internalized a "Never enough" culture:
Never good enough

Never smart enough

Never attractive enough

Never successful enough

Never rich enough

Never powerful enough

Never safe enough

Notice the fear, shame, hurt and longing contained within these seven common beliefs. Now multiply that by thousands and think about what that does to your spirit on a nearly constant basis.

We're constantly told there isn't enough to go around:

Never enough jobs

Never enough food

Never enough security

Never enough natural resources

Never enough oil

Now imagine what kinds of actions "seem" justified when it "appears" that our need for enough is either under threat or not being met. Imagine the violence, the jealously, the separation, resentment, anger and fear. Imagine the war, exploitation, hoarding and mistrust generated by a single belief of not having enough. Think about the ways we have been lured into horrible deals and trade-offs because of these beliefs - bank bailouts, GMO's, pesticides, fracking, strip mining, wars, dirty energy.

But if we apply a broader, truer lens to reality, we see that "never enough" is not inevitable in nature at all. It is a story we believe and therefore perpetuate on the planet with our choices. But it doesn't have to be this way at all. Enough has always been in our reach. In fact, it is written into our DNA and is present in the patterns and systems that have sustained the entire universe for billions of years. Enough ways of thinking and doing are organically being reclaimed as humanity's consciousness expands past learned ideas and habits that have kept us from seeing the whole or balanced picture and aligning with it. Enough is showing up as permaculture, the sharing economy, unity consciousness, new science and new technology, indigenous wisdom and feminine empowerment. As we embrace these truer versions of who we are and what the world is, old power structures based on Never Enough myths naturally lose their power to contain or control us. The expansion of consciousness cannot be stopped. The hard truths and abuses behind the never Enough facade can no longer be hidden from view. Our hearts are remembering we are and have always been enough to generate Enough. Enough is not a feel good fantasy or hopeful vision. We are not hopeless optimists, but we, who are reclaiming the Enough truth, are humanity's best hope. Enough is the most practical path to human survival and resiliency.

What is naturally emerging is an Enough future where we realize our inherent enoughness and joyfully participate in ensuring enough for ourselves, enough for our community and enough for Earth.

We step into our collective adulthood as co-creators of Enough for all.

The greatest thing? Shifting your life and the world at the same time is simple. It is the very same instruction for everyone on earth: shifting the way you orient yourself toward one single word: Enough.

Here is the Enough Shift in Five Easy Steps:

1. Each time you encounter the word "enough," ask yourself if you are assuming Enough is the truth or "never enough" is the truth. Notice: are you feeling sufficiency or scarcity?

2. Bring consciousness to the effect this one word (enough) has on what you have chosen to do or not do, to believe or not believe in this present context. Has a belief in scarcity made certain responses more likely, routine or habitual?

3. Ask yourself, "What if Enough is the actual truth and scarcity is a myth?"

4. Ask yourself, "What would I do or choose if I believed there was and I was Enough?"

5. Take action aligned with a belief in Enough and see how different your life and the world becomes, one decision at a time. 
 

When you truly embrace the Enough shift within you, here are examples of the types of results you can expect:

You will start to notice the word Enough more, giving you more opportunities to challenge scarcity myths in everyday life.  

You will notice how the belief in lack feels like fear in your body and holds you back from making decisions that are actually in your best interest.

You will experience more freedom and spontaneity as you move out of "fight or flight" mentality and into a more reasoned, mature and expansive lens.

You will feel more optimistic, happy and lighter. By the law of attraction, the amount of time you spend believing in Enough rather than Never Enough will determine your ability to generate enough for you and your family.

You will find codependent patterns and other disempowering relationship patterns less attractive. As a result of not playing old, stuck scripts, you will experience more peace and alignment with your purpose and passion. You will model healthy relating for others.

Your inner critic will become less powerful. As a result, you become more resilient to criticism and pessimism from others.

Knowledge is power. From an Enough perspective, you start to notice patterns that are in place that are designed to disempower people. You become much more aware of the scarcity myths all around you and will have more strength and awareness to avoid them.

You will feel less anxiety, fear and worry, freeing up energy and aliveness for what you do want.

You will feel more tender and compassionate towards Earth and all living creatures, and the illusion of separation and loneliness will fade. Your ability to feel oneness will accelerate.

You will trust yourself more and therefore will project more self-confidence in the world. You will take more risks and speak out more. You will be taken more seriously by others.

You will not fear vulnerability because you will naturally trust your own resilience and your own ability to magnetize enough.

It will be easier to identify and connect with others who are moving into Enough Consciousness, and together you will naturally build new Enough structures, organizations and communities.

You will become a systems thinker, noticing how science, spirituality, indigenous wisdom and new technologies contain the same core messages for what is true and where we are heading as a more conscious and mature species. Seeing these patterns, you can move with confidence into alignment with the most abundant throughline of evolution.

Try it out! Then share your stories on my Facebook or Twitter. 
To learn more about Laurie McCammon's upcoming book (April, 2016), Enough! How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word, go to www.LaurieMcCammon.com

Who Will Lead the Next Revolution? 5 Reasons I Believe It Will Be the Introverts

Me recharging in Boynton Canyon, Sedona

I’m a bit over half way through Susan Cain’s best-selling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won't Stop Talking.  Besides being an introvert myself, my primary interest in reading it was to learn more about the connection between introverts and the acceleration of consciousness. I had already suspected a strong connection, one which essentially reverses the cultural bias from the bold to the humble and from an ethic of “the survival of the fittest” to one of “Together we rise!”

 

Here is what I've learned so far:

1.       Introverts are less reward-motivated than extroverts, focused more on inner motivations and satisfactions.  Therefore, we can expect that an extroverted-leaning culture would be a more consumerist culture, seeking external rewards and using up more of Earth’s resources as they seek those external rewards.  (And this is what we see in the USA.) This suggests that it is likely that introverts hold the key to how to cultivate an inner sense of satisfaction or “enoughness,” leading to buying and using less of Earth’s resources.  Practices such as mindfulness and Thai Chi  are examples of how to cultivate a sense of satiety and peace with oneself and the world.

2.       Introverts often feel overstimulated by our fast-paced, information-rich, plugged in society and need more solitude and quiet in order to integrate and recharge themselves.  This may seem like a liability, but actually it is a strength in disguise.  Introverts tend to process external stimuli in more detail than extroverts.  This level of detail adds to the "overload" they experience as compared to extroverts. Processing so much data may take longer but produces different and often deeper insights. But in a time when most of our crises are not sudden or simple (climate disruption for example) we need more introverts willing to delve deep into the complexities and details. 

3.       Introverts inherently make more connections between data. Whenever a problem is complex, requires deep listening, concentrated focus, blending of data, collective action and attention to subtle clues, (and most of our biggest problems today are)  it is shown that introverts are better qualified for the job. Extroverts hold the advantage when fast decision-making and bold action are required.  Brain science confirms that extroverts rely more heavily on activity of the amygdala (the reptilian brain) from which quick and bold decisions are made (fight or flight) than do introverts.  Introverts register more brain activity in the neocortex where associations between data are noted and considered.    

4.       In the Enough book I describe the limitless abundance humanity is discovering as we explore the subtle within us and all around us. Whether it is technology, new sciences or the practice of mindfulness, the innovative frontier is focused on the territory well beyond what can be sensed with our five senses, areas such as vibration, the zero point field and the collective consciousness.  In this, introverts have the advantage because they are naturally wired to notice and prefer to dwell in the subtle. As a result, finding the hidden abundance in the subtle will presumably come rather naturally for them.  

5.       Introversion and extroversion are partially culturally learned. Cultural norms, economic rewards and social cues are keyed to what a culture values most.    In Asia, introversion and humility is highly valued and therefore rewarded, while in Europe and the United States, the opposite is true.  Susan Cain describes how the culture of the extrovert on Wall Street created a very dangerous snowball effect, selecting for extroverts while eliminating more cautious introverts again and again, gradually increasing bold and risky action until the crash of 2008.  Warren Buffet, a consummate introvert, saw this coming and profited from the 2008 crash.  

It seems to me that the bold-bias Susan has observed among the cultural, educational and economic elite enclaves of the west is representative of what I call The “Never Enough” Story, a story which has been on the rise for thousands of years and may have reached its height.  Bold and loud, busy, excess-oriented and reward-seeking could certainly describe this trajectory. And so could stressful, cutthroat, unequal, greedy, exploitive, disconnected, lonely, narcissistic, extractive and short-sighted. Fortunately, a rebalancing between introvert and extrovert, inner and outer, me and we is happening under names such as the sharing economy, community currency, new economics, permaculture, divine feminine spirituality, resilience hubs, transition towns, Occupy and the commons movement. Many of these are led by people we would traditionally consider quiet. But their willingness to be seen and heard and to gather in increasing numbers to push for change is a sign of a huge sea change.   

I see this as a planetary pivot from the extremes of excess and bold back towards the center - the middle way of moderation and discernment.  All of this is to say if you are an introvert, this is a time to be proud of it and to step forward out of your comfort zone to share your gifts more boldly.  Quiet is powerful.   And if you are an extrovert, perhaps this is a time to slow down, listen more, attune to your inner world and to learn what it is you have not been seeing or feeling with as much discernment and clarity as you would like.

Several of the people I love and admire most in this world are extroverts, and I believe part of why they are so attractive to me is that they have qualities I'd like to learn to develop more within myself. Perhaps at first, I was satisfied to have them "complete me" but as time has gone on, I've realized a more empowered view is that they are teachers for how I might empower myself to be more balanced and whole unto myself. As an introvert, this means to trust myself more, to take more risks and to speak out when I have strong convictions or possibly useful ideas no one else has spoken yet.

I believe we are heading to a time of more wholeness, interconnection and fuller consciousness. What this requires of all of us, whether introvert, extrovert or somewhere in between, is a willingness to step out of our patterns and comfort zones to incorporate some of the opposite within us. When we become more whole, we are realizing untapped enoughness within and all around us. We are rebalancing ourselves and the world. And this can and should be enough to change the world. 

How about you?  

Are you an introvert?  Do you feel an inner calling at this time to step forward in a bolder way?       

Are you an extrovert?  Are you experiencing a growing need for solitude and rest? 

Tell me your Enough Story!   www.LaurieMcCammon.com                 

               

Laurie is the author of the upcoming book (April, 2016 - Conari Press) Enough!  How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word

Enough for Ourselves, Enough for Our Communities and Enough for the World

Just a few days ago, I was working on designing a website to introduce my upcoming book, Enough: Beyond the Myth of Lack. I was searching for a concise way to describe what it is I do - my mission, and my book's mission.

Suddenly, it was clear to me: My mission is to help people to remember they are enough so that we can work together to create a New Story in which there is

enough for ourselves, 

enough for our communities 

and enough for the planet.  

Just after getting that clarity about my mission, I stumbled across a viral video on YouTube entitled, "How Wolves Change Rivers." Obviously, you don't get over 14 million views by presenting a pleasant nature documentary on the lives of wolves.  The video must have been saying something more profound.  I was interested.  I watched the video and it took my breath away.  The wolves were demonstrating how nature creates enough.  It also demonstrates how our inability to sense the subtle ways nature does this almost had disastrous results.  

Humans play an unfortunate role in the story of the wolves presented in the video below.  Thinking we knew what was best, we removed wolves from Yellowstone National Park. Happily, the wolves were later reintroduced and the story has a happy (if not surprise) ending.  I believe that the Enough dynamic is all around us, in all the interwoven relationships in the cosmos and in our inner heart-knowing which is also rooted in relationship and in the subtle. We are getting better at seeing, better at sensing the subtle, better at trusting the quiet voice within that simply knows what is needed and what is right.

I was deeply touched by the story of the wolves, and I think it is because it tells a fundamental truth: we all are connected. We all are precious and irreplaceable, often in ways that are difficult to sense.   All species were meant to have enough, but also to give enough back to the systems that sustain them - pay it back and pay it forward.  Somehow many humans have lost this very basic principle which is essential to all naturally-occurring ecosystems:

To have enough, we must give enough.

Laurie McCammon is a planetary change agent, blogger, facilitator and author of Enough!How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word, published  by Conari Press, out  April 1, 2016.  You can contact Laurie with comments at lauriemccammon@gmail.com, Like LaurieMcCammon on Facebook or follow her on Twitter at @EnoughMessage