Satisfaction

It's such a good feeling to be satisfied. To know that you are full up (with well-being, not necessarily food), not missing a thing and quite content, is very pleasant, and really, quite a peaceful feeling.

To be satisfied is quite a trick, in part because through the powerful influence of advertising we're supposed to keep buying, to keep wanting, to always be needing the latest thing. Products have built-in obsolescence; clothing, for instance, since the inception of moveable type and the advent of printed news has become 'fashion' with 'seasons' which have an increasingly short shelf-life. There is a general mindset in our society to be always striving for more: bigger house, better car, clearer skin, promotion, and so on. Perhaps that mindset is part of our genetic code, but now that we're not striving for survival, we're striving for excess (often mistaken to be success)

To be satisfied is to be free. When you are not under the influence of the little gremlin called Need, you are also out of the shadows of Avarice and Gluttony, and clear of that too-frequent companion called Discontent. To be in a position where your state of being, and your decisions and actions are solely your own...that is freedom -- and I'm sure it results in simplicity as well.

Another facet of satisfaction is to be satisfied with yourself. Women in particular have difficulty accepting good things about themselves. We seem to have a mental list at the ready of things that we would change in a heartbeat. Do you want thinner thighs, a straighter nose, to be a better dancer, fewer freckles, whiter skin? I would like to be taller with less eyebrow. When I dwell too much on those brows I spend too much time looking at myself in the mirror - the one that magnifies my face to the size of a pumpkin so I can really see those brows - and I start to believe that my face is really that big and I begin to feel self-conscious in public. "Look, there goes the girl with a face the size of a pumpkin! And look at her eyebrows! Wow!" Isn't that silly? I know it is, and yet I have done it to myself. Dwelling on one 'flaw' leads to the discovery of other 'flaws', and how can you be content with that perception rattling around in your brain? I was in the nation's largest drug store last night, and came across a product called a 'whitener'. It was not for teeth, but for the skin. I believe it may be used by people who want to obscure acne scars or that sort of thing, but the information on the product box addressed itself to Asian women and others of darker skin tones who want to look more white. I was outraged, and then appalled at the price of such an outrageous product, but my sister was nearly in a state of tears at the thought of young girls or women who are so unhappy with themselves, they will attempt to erase who they are to become some false ideal. Sad indeed.