We Can Never Get Enough
…. of What We Don’t Need
There is a principle I keep returning to in my clinical work, and it is this: when we get what we actually need, we are satisfied. When we pursue what we don’t need, no amount of it is ever enough.
This is easiest to see in nutrition. A meal built on real protein, healthy fat, and whole food provides a long, slow source of energy. A meal of refined carbohydrates gives a brief surge followed by a crash - and leaves you reaching for more before the plate is cleared. The body is not confused. It knows what it needs. The problem is we have learned to offer our body substitutes
The same principle operates in every other area of life.
No amount of supplements will replace real nutrition.
No material wealth will resolve a genuine sense of low self-worth.
And no amount of technology will fill our need to connect with other people face to face.
After my husband passed, I noticed something in myself. I kept returning to a particular kind of entertainment - stories about two people of different worlds who overcome every obstacle to find each other. I watched a great many of them. They helped, for a moment. Yet, no amount of cinema filled the actual hole in my heart. Only real relationships do that.
I eventually came to grips with what I was actually seeking. Connection. Presence. Someone who knows Me and stays anyway. Those things cannot be streamed.
There is also no replacement for time in nature. Whether it is your hands in soil, bare feet on grass, or simply sitting outside in the evening air - contact with the natural world has measurable effects on the body’s frequency and nervous system regulation. This practice even has a name now: grounding. The research behind it is solid.
At The Garden of Grace and Gratitude, the environment itself is part of the therapy. Eighty trees. Desert air. The pool of faith and hope filled with natural water. The Colorado River five miles to the west. These are not decorations. They are conditions under which the nervous system begins to settle and the body begins to remember what it is capable of.
The question worth asking yourself is this: “What am I reaching for that is not acturally satisfying me? What genuine need is underneath it?
That is usually where the real work begins.
To schedule a complimentary consultation: ruth@gracegardenhealing.com