Being Happy With What We Have
Dear friends,
The image at the top of the page struck me deeply. Sometimes an image captures something so well no words are needed. (But then, words is my job here, right? So here we go... :-) )
It is remarkable that our attitude makes our reality. Yogananda said, "Conditions are neutral. It is our reactions to conditions that give them their meaning." (Now I know how the mind works. Please do not go to the most extreme thing you can imagine and immediately reject this idea. Let’s start with more normal and realistic things.)
I have always been struck by the following little story: Suppose a generally happy fellow of modest means receives a million dollars. He is of course thrilled, but only has it for a few months before losing it somehow. He winds up exactly where he started, but will very likely be either very upset or depressed. He was just fine and happy before the windfall, and is now exactly where he was when he was happy. All that changed were his expectations and his desire to compare the present with the past.
Your circumstances are what they are. What bedevils us is the thought that it is not fair; that God is somehow making a mistake; that things would be better "if," that we deserve something more, that it’s not happening to someone else who doesn't even desrve what they do have, and on and on.
In the image above, the woman with the one flower in a bare field is absolutely delighted to have discovered it. The woman surrounded by flowers is crushed that there are none right next to her anymore. Or depressed in that she enjoyed so many she is jaded and now for her the bloom is off the rose (sorry, couldn't pass that one up).
Yogananda also said that contentment is the supreme virtue. This does not in the slightest take us off the hook for being dynamic. It means that we are blessed when centered in the Self and from that center can move to do what is truly best, rather than just chasing our own desires and tails in a game that almost never ends. We convince ourselves that just a little more of whatever we desire will finally leave us content.
May we be happy with what we have, and from that deep core of peace and stillness follow Spirit's whispers courageously into the future.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West