Good Enough

A monk asked Abba Poemen, “How should I pray?” “The way you already can,” the elder said. “Do not struggle to rise beyond your strength. God asks only what you are able.”

So often, though, we live under the rule of the Not Enough Mind. This mind doesn’t know what it needs, only that the answer must be more. Double your productivity. Sign up for another class. Add an extra topping to your salad. Learn more, do more, be more.

When this mind comes to spiritual practice, there’s trouble: “I don’t meditate enough.” “I’m not calm enough.” “I’m not patient enough.” But compared to what? Our expectations are like our shadows: the more we chase them, the further ahead they run.

The Thai ajaans instead speak of “good enough” practice. At first it sounds like settling, but it isn’t. It’s a reminder that growth always begins in the middle: the middle of grief, of paperwork, of anger or longing.

Conditions are never perfect. But are they good enough to grow wisdom or love? Ajaan Chah would say, “Do you have time to breathe? Then you have time to practice.” The breath isn’t always smooth or blissful. Sometimes it’s shallow, restless, tight. Yet even a ragged breath can soften under awareness. Even an imperfect inhale connects you to life.

If you can do this with the breath, you can do it with everything. You may not have hours of focus, but you can read your kid a story for five minutes. You won’t resolve your whole relationship tonight, but you can thank yourself and your partner for staying present through discomfort. You can’t save the world, but you can give a friend your full attention.

Be careful about craving results. Sometimes we practice sincerely, then lose our temper or fall asleep in meditation. “Unacceptable!” we say. But unacceptable to whom? If it happened, you’d better accept it.

This is why we practice: meditation, generosity, kindness — all of it. Not to be perfect, but to get it in our bones that this is it, this is life, this is what must already be enough.

Giovanni Gerolamo, "Santi Antonio Abate e Paolo Eremita" (1525)