"Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?"

"Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?" Bob Marley

I was just scrolling down my Facebook page when I saw the above quote. Even though, I have no idea who Bob Marley is (or was) I decided to start my second entry of this blog with the respective quote because of how intriguing it is. Simple yet exceptionally deep. But is it just me or it really is?

 

Occupied with plenty of things external to us, we fail to save some time for ourselves. We've become materialistic. Not necessarily because we give excessive importance to materialism but because we have acquainted the sense of satisfaction and happiness with material things and maybe- just maybe- this is why we rarely find fully satisfied people around us. We associate contentment and pleasure with the number of possessions. This leads us not only to misinterpret the lives of others but also to largely misunderstand them.

 

I know I am dealing with a lot of different aspects here: materialism, satisfaction, interpretations. But look closely and you'll see the relation. Are we really satisfied with our lives or we just pretend that we are? I believe its the latter. But u know what? Its not our fault because we unknowingly have developed this habit of classifying our state of satisfaction by comparing it with others. For instance, satisfaction and joy comes from knowing that you have the most expensive car in town or that your grades are better than 90% of the class. Instead of being a matter of internal solace or fulfilling of pre-set expectations, satisfaction is now a product of discontentment of others. Sounds unpleasant, right? Sadly enough, it is the bitter truth.

 

Conversely, we judge others on this basis too. For example, an affluent individual is expected to be the epitome of satisfaction. He has everything, why then would he not be satisfied? Instead of helping out and supporting such individuals, we overlook them and leave them on their own to overcome their lack of contentment- alone.

 

Our lives would be much better if satisfaction came in the purest of its means: gratification of a desire or fulfilment of a need. Open your eyes to look within. Be true to yourself and see if you really are satisfied. Are you truly content? Is your contentment a result of your personal and spiritual accomplishments or things (even people) external to you? Close your eyes and think for your own self. Feel your soul. Feel every breath closely. For a minute, keep aside all your thoughts and feel the real essence of life.

Do u sense it?

No.

You will.

When?

When you're thankful for what you have and not what others have. When you enjoy for the sake of  yourself and not for the sake of showing others. When you appreciate others with purest of intentions. When you're happy because of your accomplishments and for others on theirs. Then you will find yourself smiling back to the young ones, to the elderly, to the blossoming flower, to the sky full of twinkling stars. Its then that you'll be most truly satisfied.