Satisfaction
A baby is never satisfied with the amount of milk her mother gives him. A child is never satisfied with the amount of candies we give him. A teenager hates his lifestyle. A youngster remains discontented although his needs are fulfilled. A grown man objects his living standards. Old man are exasperated at the life of their children.
It all revolves around happiness. Happiness? What is it? Something that is procured only when we pass the arduous stage of satisfying ourselves .
“Human beings are selfish, fickle, liars, greedy and have lust for power” Niccolo Machiavelli
Greed for power is one thing and when we achieve power we want more whilst we are satisfied. Why a wealthy man is unhappy? He has everything but he cannot walk down the street of the poor, dancing and enjoying like them. When he has everything he ever wished for, he wants something that is exactly opposite to what he has always wished for. Or else he wants more. We — human beings, never get enough.
We are conditioned by the society and culture that makes us believe that happiness is found only through consumption. Our worldly success determines happiness. Is that really true? We spend multitudinous hours, grinding ourselves in order to achieve our goal but what is the purpose of all those exhausting hours, days, months and years when we are not happy with what we achieve. It drives us insane creating chaos in our minds.
It is not our fault that we are never satisfied but it is in the human nature. We want more knowledge, more wealth, more respect and hence more and more in everything. That desire for more makes us feel low and hence we are victimized by many mental diseases.
A very common trend these days is suicide. I had a friend who killed herself just because she found it hard to figure out the things. She often complained about the insects in her brain that forced her to look for what she had not. Multiple factors are responsible for suicide of myriads of people. But the common cause of suicide is chaos. Hours spent in misery change into months spent in misery and eventually this sense of being useless necessitate people to end their precious but apparently futile lives.
One thing that we humans can do is to look around and realize what we are born for? Is it only our own satisfaction? What is the purpose of life? Everything has a meaning and a purpose. We find answer to this question often in the religion we serve. Many people are satisfied when they find their purpose in serving the divine.
Others wander here and there throughout their life searching for a reason, a purpose, a role. The chaos in our minds eventually reaches a highest point, that is the edge. Yes — it is called “giving up”. Giving up — not killing ourselves — but giving up on life, that is your likes, dislikes, aims, goals. We then start living a dead life. We go where life takes us because we do not have any interests left. It is like a lost ship who wanders here and there without knowing its destination.
The youth is strongly affected by this “giving up virus”. The brain works its best when we are young but instead of utilizing it we close it.
Now this is the point where there is a need for guidance. A complete and true guidance. Who will be the guide? The teachers? Parents? Friends? No. Any other person can never understand what we are and what we want. It is our own self who can guide us. But for that we have to create it. We have to build ourselves into a guide. That takes place in many forms. Trolling others and interfering in others life is not a thing to build ourselves. Social conditioning has fallen prey to socially update people who care all about everything but themselves. Instead, trolling ourself, knowing who we are, what we lack, what we want can guide us. If that is hard, then we should go slow. Read books, study others, gain knowledge. That will help. Bestir - not in wasting yourself but utilizing yourself.
Research shows that people who focus on themselves reach their interests earlier than those who focus on how others are better than them. By interest, I mean the point where we know ourselves, the point that gives us the calmness and peace that we wanted so badly. That will put a full stop to our insatiable desire for more.
Knowing ourselves or satisfying ourselves is not a selfish act. Ponder over how a country runs. It is made of people. Yes — people are us, we need to correct ourselves then we can correct the nation. Our correction is our happiness —our happiness lies within us. We just need to find it!
