the grass is greener

 

i believe we have developed an insatiable appetite that is quickly becoming a social epidemic.

not an appetite for food...but for a lifestyle, and a very distorted one at that.

i want to preface this by saying that i run the risk of sounding dogmatic about this particular subject which  i feel so intensely about, but i find it is necessary to share my observations, and will do my best to keep it based in fact.

unless you live in a yurt on a hill in the sticks or some remote cabin in the woods (which i have seriously considered), if you are like the majority of the us, you are bombarded daily by messages from the (*) media.  *(due to my previous statement, i opted out of interjecting "life sucking" there.) these messages have an objective. that objective is to sell products. period.

people are paid ridiculous amounts of money to figure out clever ways to get into your mind, tap into your desires and associate those desires with whatever it is that they are attempting to get you to buy. voila...a lifestyle is born. when enough people buy into this lifestyle, it becomes the social norm, even if it's totally ass-backwards.

one day, when i have (fill in the blank), then i will be truly satisfied.

just slightly out of reach...just around the corner. we've become so accustomed to a constant state of yearning that it seems we've forgotten how to be happy in our present situation.


i believe it's that sense of yearning that we've become addicted to. when we actually get the things we are conditioned to desire, are we actually satisfied, or are we quickly looking for the next best thing, the next good looking girl or guy? ...and so on...

i believe this problem is two fold. first, i think the line between what we truly desire and what we have been conditioned to desire has become blurred and very difficult to distinguish. secondly, without gratitude, the things that we do have are meaningless. i think our money focused society of mass consumerism has led to the creation and exacerbation of these social diseases.

i think it is critical that we take our power back and really do some soul searching to determine whether or not the things we are chasing after are truly our own desires, or those that have been enforced subconsciously upon us. this can be a challenging process, but one that i believe is absolutely essential if we wish to ever be truly fulfilled.

secondly, i think it's imperative that we start practicing gratitude for the gifts we already have whether it be health, family, friends, what ever it is that makes life worth living. if we can't find fulfillment in the here and now, and acknowledge and practice gratitude for the gifts in front of us, no relationship, house, car, job, or new toy is ever going to change that. there will always be something bigger and better, always someone more beautiful right around the corner.


there is so much in our lives to be grateful for that we are probably not even aware of. let's take the time to discover how rich we already are, today.

only then can we truly make room for more fulfillment in our lives.

peace, love and perseverance.

ms. m