What if the secret to flourishing wasn’t about doing more—but about realizing you already are enough?
In this inspiring episode of the Flourishing Edge Podcast, host Ashish Kothari is joined by Jennifer Cohen, Founder and Director of Seven Stones Leadership Group, to explore how shifting from scarcity to sustainable abundance can transform your leadership, your relationships, and your life.
Together, they uncover the seven timeless laws that help us move beyond fear, scarcity, and separation—toward joy, connection, and sufficiency.
💡 In This Episode: Key Takeaways
- 🌎 The root of scarcity: Why our modern systems of economics and culture condition us to feel “not enough.”
- 💫 The 7 Laws of Enough:
- Stories Matter – Recognize that the context you live in shapes your reality.
- I Am Enough – Shift from striving to sufficiency.
- I Belong – Remember your inherent connection to everything.
- No One Is Exempt – Accept both life’s joys and sorrows as part of being human.
- Resting Is Required – True peace begins when we stop resisting what is.
- Joy Is Available – Learn to access the inner joy that isn’t dependent on outcomes.
- Love Is the Answer – The universal truth that heals and unites us all.
- 🌱 The origin of the Seven Stones philosophy: How Jennifer’s own healing from trauma and systems thinking shaped her life’s work.
- 💬 From scarcity to sufficiency: How to live and lead from the truth that there is enough for all, for all time.
- 🔁 Daily practices for flourishing: Create intentional connections, reflect on “What is happening now?” and “How is that enough?”, and anchor your day in gratitude.
- ❤️ Love as leadership: Why authentic care and connection are the most powerful forces in business and beyond.
🧘 Featured Guest
Jennifer Cohen
Founder & Director, Seven Stones Leadership Group
Co-author of The Seven Laws of Enough
Jennifer helps individuals, teams, and organizations redefine success through sufficiency, sustainable abundance, and conscious leadership.
🔗 Connect with Jennifer Cohen
🧭 Connect with the Host
Ashish Kothari
Founder of Happiness Squad
Host of Flourishing Edge Podcast
Helping leaders unlock breakthrough performance through science-based practices of flourishing.
🪞 Quote-Worthy Insight
“Enough isn’t an amount — it’s a place to come from. It’s a stand.”
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Happiness Squad Website: https://happinesssquad.com/
Ashish Kothari: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishkothari1/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@MyHappinessSquad
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/happiness-squad
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myhappinesssquad/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myhappinesssquad
Transcript
Ashish Kothari:
Welcome to The Flourishing Edge, the podcast where we share weekly tips on making flourishing your competitive edge. I’m Ashish Kothari, your host, and each week we dive deep with flourishing experts, changemakers, and executives to share best practices that help unlock higher performance through science-based interventions.
Let’s step together into the edge of what’s possible and live, work, and lead with more joy, health, love, and meaning.
Jen, it is so amazing to have you with us on the Happiness Squad podcast. Thank you, my friend, for making the time and being here.
Jennifer Cohen:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m honored to be a member of the Happiness Squad. May it be so.
Ashish Kothari:
As we were chatting earlier, I was struck by how aligned we are around the root of the polycrisis we’re experiencing in the world today. I’d love to start with your journey—your origin story—and how it shaped the work you do as a teacher of teachers.
Jennifer Cohen:
Thank you. My origin story is deeply connected to trauma—specifically childhood trauma. At 22, I found myself on my knees, overwhelmed by memories and emotions I didn’t yet understand, but I knew I was in trouble.
I was incredibly fortunate to meet someone with a similar trauma history who suggested I see a bodyworker. At the time, I didn’t even know what that meant. That first session was intense—almost too much—but it opened a path. I realized I was going to spend my life piecing myself back together, remembering, returning, and coming home.
At the same time, I developed a deep interest in systems and social change—understanding humans as creatures of context. We are not just individuals. We are shaped by land, culture, religion, economics, narratives—layers upon layers that literally shape our nervous systems, bodies, and consciousness.
My personal healing journey, combined with my fascination with systems and their impact on individuals, became the foundation of everything I do.
Ashish Kothari:
That resonates deeply. So few people go beyond surface identity—name, role, gender, location—to ask the deeper question: Who am I, really? Ancient traditions have always asked this, yet we rarely make space for it today.
Jennifer Cohen:
Exactly. In Western culture especially, “I” becomes everything. But when we truly study systems, we see that what we call “me” is actually very small. The shaping forces are vast.
And if you really follow the inquiry—if you go through the wormhole of “me”—you eventually discover there is no fixed, knowable self. There’s no solid thing there. So then the question becomes: What am I?
On the relative plane, I exist. But not in the way I think I do. That misunderstanding is the root of fear, scarcity, and separation.
Ashish Kothari:
And when we operate from fear and scarcity, we limit not only our own potential but the flourishing of others. That brings us to your work on abundance and the Seven Laws of Enough.
Jennifer Cohen:
Yes. About twenty years ago, I joined a group studying the work of Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money. She identified three toxic myths at the heart of our economic system: scarcity, separation, and lack.
Our economic model is built on manufactured scarcity. Abundance is devalued; scarcity drives “worth.” We’ve even manufactured scarcity around essentials like food.
Through Buckminster Fuller’s concept of “exquisite sufficiency,” we began asking a radical question: What if there truly is enough for all—for all time?
That inquiry became rigorous. For over a decade, we met weekly and spoke daily with a partner, asking ourselves:
How much fear, scarcity, and separation am I carrying today?
What would it look like to live from sufficiency instead?
That exploration led to sufficiency summits, global dialogue, and eventually to the creation of The Seven Laws of Enough.
The Seven Laws of Enough
Jennifer Cohen:
Before I share them, I want to clarify something. When people hear “enough,” they often think we’re asking them to settle. We’re not.
So we coined the term sustainable abundance—because abundance without sustainability becomes greed, and sustainability without abundance feels like sacrifice.
Sustainable abundance is reciprocal, ethical, just, and life-sustaining.
Here are the Seven Laws:
1. Stories Matter (Original: The Context Is Decisive)
We live inside invisible systems. Until we see the water we’re swimming in, we don’t have real choice.
2. I Am Enough
Enough is not an amount. It’s a place to stand. I am enough. I do enough. I have enough.
3. I Belong
Belonging is not granted by systems—it is a fundamental truth of life. Everything that exists belongs.
4. No One Is Exempt (Not Even Me)
We are not exempt from suffering, change, or impermanence. Life includes 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows.
5. Rest Is Required (Original: It’s Already All Right)
Rest allows us to live life on life’s terms. Even when things are painful, at a deeper level, this moment is already all right.
6. Joy Is Available
Joy is not excitement or pleasure. It is an inner state, independent of circumstances.
7. Love Is the Answer
Not love as emotion, but love as an abiding commitment to life. Whatever the question—love is the answer.
Ashish Kothari:
These laws are profoundly needed right now. In a world hardwired for fear and control, they invite us inward—to master our inner world so we can reshape the outer one.
Before we close, what practices would you recommend for people who want to live these laws?
Jennifer Cohen:
Three simple ones:
Daily Connection – Speak every day with another human being to consciously create your day. Ask: Who am I today? Where am I coming from?
Simple Meditation – Ask: What is happening right now? And then: How is this enough?
Gratitude Practice – Gratitude puts us into the state of receiving and sufficiency.
If someone did just these for 30 days, something in their experience of life would shift.
Ashish Kothari:
Jen, this has been a truly beautiful conversation. Thank you for your wisdom, your rigor, and your humanity. In a world driven by scarcity, your work is a powerful invitation back to love and enoughness.
Jennifer Cohen:
Thank you, Ashish. I’m deeply grateful for the work you’re doing as well.
Ashish Kothari:
Thank you for joining me on The Flourishing Edge. If today’s conversation inspired you, share it with someone ready to flourish. Subscribe, leave a review, and stay connected. Until next time, keep learning, practicing, and growing into your fullest potential.
