I can hear Mick Jagger going ' I can't get no satisfaction' ringing in my head. Was he right? Did the Rolling Stones somehow managed to summise our insatiable human nature? Don't we often wish for things we could have or wish we could be rid of things we no longer find useful or we got bored with? Some days, we wake up and feel that we rather be somewhere else or doing something other than what we must or what responsibilities dictate that we must do. Even when we are having a great time, we wish it would never end or wish someone else was with us or perhaps not with us.
The list goes on and on. Different day. Different scenario. Different relationships. Same old feeling. Same old wish for something bigger, better, quicker etc...How did we become like this? Has perhaps affluence or civilisation molded us to keep wanting more and more because all our basic needs to live is no longer an issue? How can we learn to be grateful for what we have and be content with outcomes in our lives from choices we have made or not made? Do we want to continue searching for the panacea that will free us from our , perhaps self-inflicted misery?
There was a report on the news recently about a police officer who in carrying out his duties, he was shot and completely lost his sight. All he had greeting him every morning when he wakes up is just darkness. Watching him tell his story and listening to him speak about how he refused to let his blindness cripple him for the rest of his life, I am filled with such shame. I am ashamed that I even waste my energy and time recounting and revisiting the injustices and trivialities of my life. Does it not just then put all the mundane, small irritants, daily stress we feel into perspective? What right have we to complain about our lives when a person such as this policeman, though he has lost his sight, chose to get on with his best that he can and not wallow in misery? I felt suitably chastised and rightly so.
Perhaps, we just need to stop doing and wanting things. We need to take the time to stop and think about what is really important to us. Savour the good moments. Truly acknowledge and accept personal responsibilities for choices we made or didn't have the courage to make. Stop ourselves from using phrases such as 'I had to do this because........ and therefore I did not have a choice...' It is too easy to attribute outcomes, consequences or situations of our lives to something else or someone else. Even in situations of life and death, we have the power to make a choice. It is whether the choices are right or wrong. It is whether we are willing to accept full responsibilities for our lives.
Perhaps, from time to time, we need to remember how and why we are where we are. It may mean revisiting reasons why we stay in our jobs or pursue certain ambitions. Are we still happy with those reasons? Have our motivations perhaps changed? Or are the trade-offs and sacrifices we have made still acceptable to us? In the same why, we perhaps need to remind ourselves of all the good things in our relationships with our families, spouses and friends or take courage to confront, address issues or even walk away.
As human, we cling and attach to what we are familiar with. Regardless how miserable we feel or angry or unhappy, we stay with what we know. We lock ourselves into a familiar modus operandi. Perhaps, we make excuses for ourselves that holds us back from embracing what we have - 'I have no time for this' or 'I can't do that' or 'This is simply just not me' or 'It's too far...too expensive' etc..etc.. The list of can't or won't is perhaps as long if not longer that the list of things we are not happy with or not satisfied with....
There is only one certainty in life.. and that is, one day we will all perish. We can chose to worry, fret, pout or be unhappy while our clock ticks on or we can learn to accept that life is not quite perfect but be grateful for who we are, what we have and find compassion for those who are none the wiser.
Satisfaction may not be insight..but at least we stop searching for it and start living. Maybe?
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