
When you want something out of scarcity, you put in a lot of effort to get it. You uselessly consume vital energy. And the result will not satisfy you, because you are set on lack. It’s like you can’t wait to go on vacation, because you have a messy house. But you will still return to your messy house, and the hotel room you are staying in will be messy, because that is what you are used to.
But if you have a nice and tidy house, what will you do? You’ll enjoy your vacation, you’ll keep your hotel room clean and tidy, because that’s how you’re used to, and you’ll love coming home. This is the concept of “being content with what you have”.
If you are happy with what you have, why would you want more?
Keeping the house analogy, it’s like this: if you have a nice house, where you like to stay, do you never leave home? No, on the contrary. You charge yourself with good energy from home and go out into the world: at work, for a walk, meet friends, go shopping or go on vacation. Then you happily return home, filled with goodies, which you naturally integrate into your beautiful home.
Imagine that that beautiful house is you, it is your interior, which you furnish and decorate as your education, wisdom and genetic heritage allow. You can’t run away from “home”. No matter how far you go physically, you always take yourself with you. Maybe it seems to you that by leaving, you can abandon yourself somewhere, and by returning, you will be cleaner and more orderly on the inside, but it is an illusion. Maybe you hope that someone, something, somewhere far away is “cleaning” you, but it’s not like that.
Only you can clean, furnish and air yourself. If you do this by thinking of yourself as “defective” and in need of “fixing”, you will make a very big, and sometimes useless, effort to fix yourself. If you are satisfied with yourself, with your life, with joy and peace you will continuously improve yourself, adding more and more qualities to those you already have.
Having an autoimmune disease doesn’t mean you’re defective
I remember that for a long time I felt inferior because I am small, sick and need to rest more than “normal” people. I once found myself envious of a woman carrying a sack of potatoes. I couldn’t do that, I can barely open a jar lid. It took me a while to realize that I don’t need to carry sacks of potatoes. Why would I want that? I am an intelligent woman, I work with my mind, not my muscles. So I’d better be happy with what I have, intelligence, the ability to learn quickly and the pleasure of reading, and develop these qualities further. Why should I be unhappy that I don’t have something, thus hurting myself, instead of appreciating what I have, and being happy?
The greatest quality we can have is adaptability. Let’s adapt our mind and body to the existing reality. We can’t change the world and make it the way we want it to be. It would be a waste of energy to try. But we can adapt, so that we can be a part of this world. This does not mean giving up on ourselves. But understand that if we are flies, we cannot be butterflies. Let’s accept our condition, understand it, and starting from there let’s start developing. With content and gratitude.
Be content with what you have and there will be no need to fight for anything
When you are in peace, you act. When you are attacked, you react. When you react, you do so from the energy of the attacker, an aggressive, fighting energy. You will never have an advantage by reacting, because you don’t make the rules, the other person does. That constant dissatisfaction is like an attack, you will always react. You will always be in the energy of dissatisfaction. No matter what you do, what you think, who or what you interact with, you will be dissatisfied.
If you want more out of contentment, the effort will be minimal and things will flow naturally, because that’s how it’s supposed to be. Be content with what you have, and you will have nothing to fight for. Struggle comes from reaction, and reaction consumes energy. It’s like when you want to row against the current. The action of gratitude is like a smooth flow of the water. Things come and settle in their normal course without struggle.