How Much Is Enough?: In Depth

Meditations on Enough

5 meditations on what “enough” means, from food to rest to diversity.


“Enough food” is each person having daily access to an average of 2,353 calories of culturally appropriate, locally available, affordable, unrefined, and delectable nourishment. The good news is that we already grow enough food to feed 10 billion people. The challenges are that the food is not fairly distributed, a lot of it is thrown away, and the process of growing it industrially is trashing the planet. Contrary to conventional mythology, smallholder farms and regenerative agriculture can feed the world. By paying attention to racial equity, Indigenous food sovereignty, waste reduction, and agroecosystem health, we can uproot hunger and seed justice on a planetary scale. —Leah Penniman, Black Kreyol farmer and food justice activist 

The word “enough” doesn’t fit within our Rest Is Resistance framework. There are no limits. Our ability to tap into our imagination via rest will change the world. I believe rest is a spiritual, political, and justice practice that will allow us to begin unraveling from capitalism and White supremacy. These systems have socialized us from birth to believe our worth is tied to how much we produce. Rest becomes a disruption to grind culture and offers space for radical care and healing. Each person and each community gets to define what is enough rest for themselves. We will rest. —Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry

How many dead Black bodies is enough? How many people in cages is enough? How many mourning mothers is enough? We had enough decades ago. Enough of violent policing. Enough of occupied communities and bloated law enforcement budgets. Enough of the lie that there aren’t enough resources to end the occupations and violence. Has America had enough of our cries, our protests, our resistance? We’re ready for the other side of enough.  Enough for never another parent to bury their child. Enough food, enough water, enough land, enough air.  Enough to invest in people instead of prisons, housing instead of wars, education instead of incarceration. Enough for us all to thrive. —Cat Brooks, Anti Police-Terror Project

When considering the question, “What is Enough Diversity?” we are compelled to ask another question: “What is Enough Diversity for Whom?” Drawing from our worldview at Courageous Conversation, there is never enough diversity. Be it racial, gender, generational, sexual orientation and/or perspective … each diversity form brings richness to our collective humanity. Additionally, we recognize that systems and individuals vary in their response to how much diversity is “enough.” Historically, as neighborhoods recovered from redlining and became more diverse, White flight occurred. In the contemporary workplace, conversations about diversity have caused fatigue and stress for BIPOC who are taxed with defending their identities time and time again. Enough is enough. —Glenn E. Singleton, CEO and founder, Courageous Conversation, and Andrea Haynes Johnson, executive director, Courageous Conversation Global Foundation 

Work is often measured in terms of effort—the more work we do, the more productive we feel. However, this is an illusory equation. Research suggests that we can only produce four hours of deep, creative work per day. The rest of the day should be filled with low-intensity tasks. Mathematician, engineer, and philosopher Henri Poincaré, who published about 30 books and 500 papers in his lifetime, seemed to have intuitively discovered that ceiling: “Four hours of creative work a day is about the limit for a mathematician,” he said. Good work requires mental energy. When our stores are empty, we should say: This is enough. —Anne-Laure Le Cunff, founder of Ness Labs 

I Am Enough. We Are Enough.

This is why I struggle for a Just Transition toward a society that is fully able to live up to the potential of what it is to be human.
Read the story by Samir Doshi here.

Andrea Haynes Johnson is the executive director of Courageous Conversation Global Foundation.
Glenn E. Singleton is the CEO and founder of Courageous Conversation Global Foundation.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff is the founder of Ness Labs.
Cat Brooks is the co-founder the Anti Police-Terror Project.
Tricia Hersey is an Atlanta-based multidisciplinary artist, writer, theologian, and community organizer. She is the founder of The Nap Ministry, and author of the book Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, publishing in October 2022.
Leah Penniman
Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, author, mother, and food justice activist who has been tending the soil and organizing for an anti-racist food system for 25 years. She currently serves as the founding co-executive director and farm director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a Black- and Brown-led project that works toward food and land justice. Her books are Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018), and Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (2023). Learn more about Penniman’s work at soulfirefarm.org.