Enough is enough. But when?

Abundance quietly taught me where to stop — from saris to savings

‘Enough’ is like an elastic band that never snaps. My husband looked impatiently at me, totally bored, as I paid for my 210th sari. 

“What are you going to do with so many saris? And who will use them after your time? There is no end to your buying.”

“Oh, but each of them is so different – the colour, the weave, the texture. I just love them all,” I said. 

Every time I open my cupboard to decide what to wear, the saris tumble out because of their sheer numbers, and I am quite confused about what I even own. At such moments I tell myself that never again will I buy another sari. I think of various philosophies and shastras that teach us frugality, but the effect of these teachings lasts till my eyes chance upon the next sari. And so I keep adding to my collection. 

Never drawing a line on what is enough is the bane of our existence. The boundaries seem to stretch endlessly as the area within keeps filling up.

Take money, for instance. Can we ever say we have enough? “I think I’ll have enough after I buy a house, a car, educate my children, make houses for them, buy jewellery, furnish my house and so on.” But even when all this is achieved, new needs crop up and boundaries are stretched yet again.

Even in the case of food, we eat more than we need the moment we see a lavish spread. Our stomach boundaries expand, and we no longer know when to stop and say “enough”. 

I was compelled to offload some saris once the wardrobe seemed filled to the brim. So I arrived at a solution. I decided to give away two saris for every sari I bought. This way, the new one would find a place. The beneficiaries were delighted with this scheme of mine.  Similarly, I decided to give away 10% of my earnings to charity. Initially, it was a bit painful, because I could always find uses for that money. But when I saw how much the recipients gained from what was superfluous to me, I felt at peace with myself. 

In the case of food, my ageing body did the trick, and ‘enough’ came automatically.

Sharing a little of what we have, and not endlessly striving for more than we need, should be our mantra for happiness. Enough should be enough —if we decide to make it so.