Enough is Enough--A Paragraph a Day

To know when you have enough is to be rich.    -Lao-tzu

I've been reading a bit about wealth and materialism and happiness recently, and I think that most of the many words that I read could be summed up in these ten words from Lao-Tzu.  Really, enough is enough, and most of us are convinced somehow that we never really do have enough, and that we always need more.  That's not true, though--outside of food to eat, shelter from the elements, and clothing, none of us truly need all that much.  Most of us who are privileged enough to be accessing the Internet with a computer or phone already have much more than enough, yet we continue to convince ourselves that we need more somehow, some way.  If I want to be truly rich, though, I don't need to have more money or more material possessions; rather, I simply need to be satisfied with what's already in my life.  I have enough clothes, I have enough food, I have more than sufficient shelter.  I have more books than I need, more computers than I need, more furniture than I need--this list is pretty long.  So when all is said and done, I'm extremely wealthy, aren't I?  I know that I'm much wealthier than probably 90% of the people who have ever lived on this planet, so why don't I consider myself wealthy?  Perhaps because my society tells me in many ways that if I truly want to consider myself wealthy, I need to have more possessions, and more expensive possessions.  I don't buy that, though, so society be damned--I'm very wealthy, and I'm very appreciative of the wealth that I possess.  Enough is enough, and I definitely have more than enough.