Laurie McCammon - Enough!: How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word

This edition first published in 2016 by

Conari Press, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2016 by Laurie McCammon

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57324-683-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McCammon, Laurie, author.

Title: Enough! : how to liberate yourself and remake the world with just one word / Laurie McCammon, MSAEd.

Description: Newburyport, MA : Conari Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015047184 | ISBN 9781573246835 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Conduct of life. | Values. | Simplicity. | Spirituality. | BISAC: SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Self-Esteem. | SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Happiness. | SELF-HELP / Motivational & Inspirational.

Classification: LCC BJ1589 .M3296 2016 | DDC 158.1--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047184

Cover design by Jim Warner

Cover photograph image source / image source

Interior by Howie Severson

Typeset in Goudy Old Style

Printed in Canada

MAR

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To all who agreed to be here at this
auspicious time for the reawakening
of the heart of humanity.

PART ONE
Where the Enough Message Came From

PART TWO
Using the Enough Message to Benefit Ourselves and the World

PART THREE
Invocation of the New Story

enough

i'nf/

synonyms:

sufficient

plenty

a sufficient amount

an adequate amount

as much as necessary

I am enough.

I have enough.

We are enough.

We have enough.

Enough!

Is scarcity inevitable?

Could humanity be the last to know that scarcity is a myth?

The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is.

Marcel Proust

I was in my late twenties when I first heard the anecdote of the boiling frog. The story goes like this: If you boil a pot of water, then put a frog in, he will jump right out, saving himself. But if you put a frog in a pot of cool water and slowly turn up the heat, he will not sense the changes that are happening and will remain in the pot to boil to death. While actual frogs have been proven to not act in this manner (saving themselves no matter whether the heat is turned up slowly or quickly), what I've come to understand is that we, the people on Earth at this time, are the frogs in this story. The heat, in the form of economic inequity, security concerns, environmental disruption, and various other factors has been turned up slowly and steadily over decades.

I certainly could begin this book by recounting the disturbing conditions present today, but I'd like to ask your permission to skip that step, feeling we have already been traumatized enough by all the tales of suffering and destruction. The preponderance of evidence pointing to a crisis is clear, as is the growing consensus that approaching the problem from the level of symptoms, or even of behaviors, will not be nearly enough. What we are told may be enough is a transformation of consciousness, a global paradigm shift. But how can we possibly get there, and together? Are we as a humanity smart enough, creative enough, flexible enough, collaborative enough, spiritually and emotionally mature enough to make such a leap?

Yes, yes we are. It is already happening. By the time you finish this book, you too will see that it is already happening in you and all around you.

I will admit that it is an exceedingly difficult time to be alive. I don't think that the gap between what we feel is right inside and what is reflected in the world at large has ever been greater. But if we think about it, this points to a key opportunity. The reason for the widening gap is not just that conditions on Earth are in steady decline, but also that human consciousness has been evolving and expanding beyond where it has ever been before. What we have at present isn't an unstoppable slide into a death spiral, it is a pulling apart of two realms: the existing world, and the universe we carry inside of us as unrealized potential and unexpressed wisdom. Which will we believe in? Which will we stand up for? Which will we invest in? As long as the old world was a convincing enough story (or close enough to convincing), it had the power to command our loyalty and attention and make us doubt the inner story. As long as we trusted the outer world to have our own best interests in mind, there was no need to turn to the universe within. All of this has changed.

Certainly, many of us are too busy, tired, overwhelmed, or disempowered to pay close attention to the widening gap between the inner and outer realities, but I believe it is a shared human experience to sense a global dissonance and to register an internal discomfort about it. Feeling the dissonance can put into motion a self-preservation response that comes out sideways as anger, violence, impatience, frustration, hopelessness, fierceness, grieving, hoarding, addiction, escapism, or depression. It is easy to place the blame for these uncomfortable emotions on our individual circumstances or to see them as expressions of personal weakness or flaws. It is easy to feel we are alone in wrestling with such demons. But please don't believe it for a second. If this Enough work has taught me anything, it is that something much bigger and more universal is going on, something we are here to understand together.

I imagine that you feel an inner calling, however faint or strong, to do something about the less than ideal outer world. You sense that the story being played out by mainstream culture is not aligned with who you really are. It is damaging Earth. It is keeping people in a state of separation, lack, and fear. It is heartbreakingly unnecessary. Perhaps you are awaiting a hero or mass movement to do something about the flawed mainstream story. Perhaps you are waiting to meet more people who think like you do. Perhaps you are awaiting a sign to more deeply trust what you already know. If so, I promise you that you will find comfort and resolve within this book. The awareness growing in you is real. Partners are waiting. New leadership is emerging. Inspired practical solutions are rising to the top. You are not alone. You are one who sees.

We who see understand things that the mainstream story does not talk about. We know that we can affect reality by changing our thoughts. We realize that not only are we powerful manifestors of our reality, but that something collective is occurring in which our contributions are interconnected with others', causing a kind of acceleration and expansion. The existing worldview with all its core assumptions and rules has stretched all it can to try to contain our growing consciousness. We seem to know that, like the frogs in real life, nature has imbued us with the means to thrive amid this or any crisis. Sensing the danger is only the first step. Crisis awakens something unexpected and deeply powerful within us, a hidden and untapped potential. This is the part of the story we do not talk about in public. But it is and always has been the true lead story. This is the Enough Story it is my purpose to tell. It isn't a new story. It is the most ancient of all stories. It is as old as the universe itself, and it keeps repeating itself again and again. Perhaps if I begin with a very old story, you will see what I mean.