"Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress."~Mahatma
Gandhi
We all know people who are never happy with anything they have. The type that has never lived within their own moment or truly lived gratefully for their lot. In today's thought about discontentment, I am not referring to such people.
Each week I ask you to look not only at something, but
along side of it or even through it so that you can perceive the greater thing behind the thing.
Discontentment comes in many forms and it also comes in a rhythm that is unique to each of us. Here are two key points of
awareness:
The emotional drag of a pile of dirty dishes or laundry appears smaller than the
weighty emotional drag of the discontent over a relationship or job.
The relative weight of the drag is in direct proportion to the satisfaction
of it's removal.
In other words, landing that huge promotion or being fired at work will requires more emotional gravity than cleaning the
kitchen. Or so most people assume.
Here's the catch: Emotional drag is cumulative! But so is satisfaction!
When we are not diligent in small things, (because we see them as having less
gravity) we are actually denying their satisfaction. We tell ourself we will be "fine" without celebrating that little thing so that we can give ourselves a break from the requirements of diligence.We can only suppress it for a while before it impacts bigger things.
The flip side is that we miss out on celebrating those weighty aspects
of our deepest self.
We settle in our work rather than follow our biggest curiosities and
passions.
We settle in our relationships rather do the hard internal work required for true intimacy.
We ultimately tell ourselves we don't deserve or will never get the satisfaction of our best self and we make self-pity our companion. (discontentment becomes depression)
Then we wonder why big things never happen to us.
Discontentment then is the portal through which we all find our truest self. It is the beckoning of our Maker or it is the stoop we die upon.
Discontentment means either:
that the portion of the Universe under our jurisdiction is in disorder and requires our diligence.
or that we have grown beyond the old means by which we measure satisfaction. (we need new ideas with new satisfactions)
Thus the key to satisfaction is:
begin diligently attending with excellence to all the areas of our life that we have devalued or ignored. (This will bring a
proportional and cumulative amount of satisfaction)
As we experience more satisfaction, we then become AWARE of new categories to explore, and thus larger jurisdiction and proportional satisfaction are
possible. (Boredom is the opposite of happiness)
Perhaps you are disappointed that the key to a satisfying life is to clean out your garage (metaphorical and literal). Perhaps you wanted
a BIG CHANGE.
Maybe you really need a BIG
THING.
If so, then look around you. Find the very first thing that is out of order and restore it in faith that it will lead to your BIG CHANGE.
Then do likewise to then next thing. You might discover that
BIG thing is now germinating in the rhythm within your grasp. After all, if we can't handle the small things, how can we handle the BIG THINGS? (John 3:12)
I'm so appreciative of your positive comments and feedback. I'd love to hear from you if these messages encourage you or help you in any way. Take a few minutes to send me a
message.
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"I help people who want to understand spirituality to make sense of their religious experience, so they can clearly see God in the world." ~Keven Winder, PhD
For coaching, questions or comments: keven@kevenwinder.com
