Lots and Not Much

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that a Swiss physician indicated that he thought that the people who focused on healing the mind made a mistake when they tended to see people who might be categorized as chickens as needing help while those who might be seen as pigeons didn’t. The same might be said about having lots and not much. We tend to see having lots of a good thing as always good while we see having not much of it as bad.

This is true especially about money. I have lived almost all of my adult life from paycheck to paycheck. The few times I haven’t weren’t always fun. I found myself watching my pile of wealth with extended periods of worry about it diminishing. In fact, I didn’t like the person I had become with it.

The other thing that seeing lots as always good is that it obscures the relationship between the two. They usually find their source in each other. If I find myself in abundance of something, it is generally because I noticed that I didn’t have much and began working toward accumulation. Likewise (and perhaps less intuitive), not much can develop because of an abundance of things. If I don’t have much time, for instance, it’s because I have an abundance of things to do—usually for people I love or customers I have agreed to help.

Really, lots and not much bleed into one another. One is not bad and the other good. Lots and not much are usually just two halves of the same coin. This is a good vantage point for a craftsperson. It keeps me on a balance, working steadily with lots and not much.