Origins of Not Being Enough

Are you a perfectionist in some area of your life? Your parenting, your relationships, your art, where no matter how hard you try, no matter how much progress you make, it doesn’t feel enough?

Welcome to “The Art of Enough”, a podcast and art series that can help you understand the causes of feeling not enough and provide some guidance on how psychology, neuroscience and creative process can help you transcend this and other problematic emotions.
In this episode we hear how my compulsive drive to be more, to be better (what I call being a compulsive mountain climber or overachiever) started in childhood, primarily when my father had a series of bipolar episodes and had to leave the house. Therapist Bob Szita explains how it is almost universal that a child blames themselves when a parent leaves the home. Meditator and playwright Jean Claude Itallie explains how these types of controlling "demons" are instilled in childhood and live in our subconscious as adults. Psychologist and Author Dr. John Arden details the neuroscience behind being addicted to any behavior --- which includes always climbing the highest mountains --- and how my father's bipolar disease most likely affected my art aesthetic. Finally I describe a creative process of looking for daily "Small Surprises" as a way of curbing my need to always do more and enhance my ability to live life at a slower and more satisfying pace.