How Do You Experience “Enough”?

Dr. Kimberly Hindman is a Naturopathic Physician and Licensed Acupuncturist and really loves her work. In a recent interview, I asked her what she experiences now that she’s doing what she loves. Her answer intrigued me:

There is enough. From a very practical perspective, there are enough patients for all of us. There are enough people. There is enough time. I have enough resources.

This is what I try to help people realize in their own lives: there is enough time. Maybe they need to organize their time, but there is enough. When you let go of that frazzled, ‘there isn’t enough’ feeling, oftentimes people find that they work more efficiently.

When there is enough, people tend to breathe. I see it with patients and I do it myself as well. I breathe differently. I actually inhale fully all the way in and let my lungs really fill up because there is enough air. I can take all the air I need for myself because there really is enough for me and for everyone else. And then I can let it go. I don’t have to hold onto it, thinking ‘Well I don’t know… If there’s not enough, maybe I’m not going to get more. I’ll hold onto this.’

Breathing has a huge impact on us physically. It changes the signals in our nervous system. It changes our hormone balance and actually puts us into a more restful, neurological state. This helps people think more clearly, because they’re able to listen better and communicate better, to pay more attention. They remember things better. It helps people to prioritize better. When they are in that place they can really check in with themselves and ask ‘Do I really need to do this? No. It’s filler. It’s extra stuff. But that? That I do need to do and it is important to me.’

How do you remember there is enough?

I check in with myself every so often and ask ‘Am I breathing?’ You can easily shift that state just by changing the way you’re breathing. Oftentimes I’ll find that if the thought pops into my head, ‘Oh I need to check,’ it’s because I’ve forgotten. Even if I’m sitting in front of a computer, I ask ‘Are you breathing?’

I set timers so I can take a 5 minute break. The work will not explode if I take two minutes, just close my eyes or walk around the office and just breathe. And I usually come back to whatever it is with a much clearer mind, a fresher perspective and be able to keep going.

I spend time thinking about the things that are the blessings in my life.

I take time for myself. Sometimes it is a very short amount of time. But it’s the intention. I’m going to take this 5 minutes. I would love an hour and a half, but I’m not going to get it, so I’m going to take this 5 minutes and this is for me. And I’m just going to go outside… I’m going to do something that’s just for me. It may just be just sitting quietly and just reminding myself of all the really good things that are in my life right now. That may be all I can do right now for today. And that’s just fine.

I simplify my life. And, as a result, I actually do have more time and energy because I’m not frittering it away on things that really aren’t important to me. Some of that comes down to knowing what my individual priorities are. What are the things that are important to me? Where do I want to spend my time and my focus?

Then my ‘to do’ list is smaller and the things on it are really important to me, so I get all those things done. And so Okay, maybe there are a few things that would be sort of nice to do that I’ll do tomorrow. But for the most part, the big things got done. It’s the end of the day and I feel like I have accomplished things. And I’ve accomplished things that are important, that mean something to me.