Smokey Sang It Best

Smokey Robinson, that is. One of his songs has been cruising (not, not that one) through my mind during this end-of-August, not quite end-of-summer.

Outside, there’s abundance just about everywhere…

And when we’re fully enjoying the abundance, we might look something like this, particularly if we’re female and happen to find ourselves in a field of lavender.

But a close neighbor to abundance is often the quality of too-much-ness.

Or here’s the dreary basement version of gotta-cut-back….

Abundance brings a fullness of mind, sometimes a giddy sense of goodwill. Too-much-ness, on the other hand, causes a kind of shrinking of the spirit with an amping up of anxiety . And it almost always happens indoors.

Knowing myself pretty well through the years, I am fully aware of my vulnerability to the ill effects of too-much-ness. I can see my mother sitting in her sweet rocker by the wood stove, hands clasped in her lap probably over The New Yorker, listening to my long list of items, whatever they were, and saying, “I’m in favor of reducing stress!” She was right, of course.

Having just accepted a new daily responsibility with the beginning of the school year, I’m keenly aware right now of the need to cultivate and appreciate abundance, while at the same time being on guard for the undesirable consequences of too-much-ness. Even though I’ll be in a classroom with a narrow bank of windows and not a field of lavender, I want to be more the person in that picture than the woman with her hands on her head (even though she does have beautiful eyes and a stylish haircut). Where I’ll be, abundance will come from the rich variety of individuals who move in and out each day and from the depth of the reading we will do together. Too-much-ness might bubble up within me sometimes, especially if my own expectations get out of whack with reality, and I don’t accept the need to cut back on other fronts (so long as those don’t include my family, my dog, my running or my book work). I might hear that unwelcome creature gurgling, but then I shall quell it.

It’s funny, isn’t it? Living wisely means reaching way up, down deep AND understanding our limits, all in the same day.

Now let’s get back, fortunately, to Smokey and his song, “What’s Too Much,” which was on that great 1987 album, One Heartbeat. It’s about love, naturally, but I aver that it can be about a whole lot more than that, too. Not sure why there’s no question mark; but who cares? If you’ve got a few moments for some smoothness, here you go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy00B4XRqI4&list=RDDy00B4XRqI4&start_radio=1&t=5