Having Enough

We were talking about billionaires and a friend once asked me, “what is poor?” To which a quote from Seneca came to mind:

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” – Seneca

I love this story of  story of Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22 and Kurt Vonnegut at a billionaire’s party on some remote island where Kurt says to Joseph, “how do you feel, knowing that no matter how many Catch 22 books you sell, you will never have more money than our host?”

Joseph replies,

“I have something that he will never have. I have enough.” – Joseph Heller

There is a certain freedom that comes from not caring about material possessions or fame or glory.

“Beware of over concern for money, or position, or glory. Someday you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are.” – Kipling

Socrates also said,

“The secret of happiness, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less”. – Socrates

This is not to say that one shouldn’t work hard or struggle – for many people, the meaning of life comes from some form of meaningful struggle.

Struggle for the right reasons. The meaningful things. Don’t struggle for things that are not meaningful and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Pair this with How to Put Life on Easy Mode – where life is easy. You have space to breath, and time to appreciate the small things.

Life is good when you have enough, when life is easy and but when the right thing comes along, you can engage in some meaningful struggle.