True Gratification

It seems to me that people want what they want, but many unwilling to look at why they do not haveit. It’s not a criticism of individuals, but more a statement of our culture. As North American values spread, more and more of us are living not only with an insatiable need for instant gratification, but also with a lack of awareness about what is truly satisfying. Then over time, or perhaps after some sort of crisis, some of us realize and acknowledge that, at the end of the proverbial day, that there aren’t very many things that really matter; most of it is pretty meaningless.

From my current perspective, it seems obvious that intentions which are polluted with old patterns of belief lead to behaviours that don’t bring about the desired outcome.  Some behaviours are easy to change. Sometimes we do things a certain way because it worked once, or because our parents did it that way, but there is no real attachment to it. In this sort of situation it is quite easy to evaluate a particular approach as unsuccessful and to try something else. The situation gets interesting when you develop this analytical skill, evaluate something as ineffective, intend to change it and then continue to do the same old thing. The level of self reflection required to address whatever is underlying a pattern of behaviour, a sort of shadow of myself, can be intense. Sometimes pushing myself to do something new or something old in a new way helps me to understand myself, thus making it easier to do next time, but other times it doesn’t get easier…but I digress.

It is not a bad thing to want creature comforts, but I need to be truly satisfied. The material things don’t bring true satisfaction with oneself, and the cultural push toward instant gratification just makes it all worse. It is short-sighted, but true satisfaction is not always easy to find, so perhaps in its absence we think it’s worth a try to fill the gap with stuff.

Unfortunately, I cannot draw a map for how I found it because I am still looking. For now I know that it is important that my friends and family know who I am, that I continue to clear myself for clearer action, that I stay open to change and that I feed the love in my life by participating actively in my relationships. In my last breath, I think these are the accomplishments against which I will measure my success, but I am still looking for something else. I think there’s more to it