Less desire, more gratitude.
Desire is a normal part of our lives as humans. It’s not all bad, but it can be when we use it to place conditions on our state of emotions in the present moment. It becomes a crux when we think, “I won’t be happy until this happens,” or “Nothing else matters until I get this thing.” Then as soon as we get something we want, we immediately ask, “What’s NEXT?” Because when we’re focused on achieving or acquiring something new, we don’t have to think about what’s actually bothering us.
When I worked a desk job, I was miserable in my day-to-day life for the most part. To get by, I indulged in all sorts of desire to escape from reality—namely excessive online shopping, binge eating, and over-consuming movies, TV shows, video games, social media, and cannabis. Oh, and I spent waaay too much time planning trips.
I had to have SOMETHING to look forward to, because I sure wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the work day, or going to work the next day, and the next day. And so I always had a vacation planned in the future. I sure wasn’t happy every day, but at least there was assurance that an eventual vacation would be an enjoyable escape. It meant some days away from the office and that was good enough for me.
But when I returned from those vacations, I found myself feeling pretty much the same as before I left. I still didn’t want to be at work. I wanted to be somewhere, ANYWHERE else, so of course I would immediately start planning the next trip. (What’s next?!)
The cycle continued on and on until the purposeless job was removed from my life. Now, travel is no longer a means of escaping from my life, but rather a way to add to it. I really like my life day-in and day-out. For that, I am grateful.
Gratitude is free and it’s available to us at any time. We can choose to take moments to pause, breathe, be content, and feel grateful for what we have right now.
We can ask ourselves, where are our desires trying to lead us?
Are they holding us back in some way?
What if we didn’t plan the next thing?
Is there any way we can relax our desires, just a little bit?
