The More We Have, the More We Want| Daily Meditation-October 26, 2021
Today’s Quotation:
Our desires always increase with our possessions. The knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.
Samuel Johnson
Today’s Meditation:
It’s definitely not true that the more we have, the happier we are. Teachers and sages throughout the ages have told us this over and over again, but we seem to be slow to learn. The more things that we have in life, the more things sit around being unused for long periods of time. I know this very well–for many years I collected a lot of music, and what strikes me now as amazing is the number of songs and cd’s and records that sat around for so much time not being listened to.
Nowadays, marketers are pushing us to buy entire TV series on DVD, not to mention all of the movies that are available. But just how many hours are we willing to sit in front of the TV set, being passively entertained? We have a couple of DVD’s that we bought but still haven’t watched, and I often think that we should be watching them so that we’re get our money’s worth. Yet I find that the more people have, the more people want, and collections must be complete, even if we don’t do anything with that collection.
It is true that “the more we have, the more we want.” And the more we want, the more likely we are to feel dissatisfied. But if we can put ourselves in the right now, enjoying with everything we have whatever it is we’re doing now, then we’ll find that our lives will be much richer, as opposed to our homes holding more possessions. There is always good before us, as long as we recognize it and take advantage of it. It’s always our choice.
Questions to ponder:
1. What kinds of influences might make us want more things?
2. Why do we continue to accumulate things even after we realize that we have more things than we have time to use them?
3. How might we practice focusing on the present moment and enjoying whatever it is that we’re doing right now?
For further thought:
Measure wealth not by the things which you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money.
unattributed
Credit: Living Life Fully
