Be Content, Not Satisfied

Success is not permanent. The achievement, you are feeling happy about will not mean a thing to you tomorrow. You must have taken some journeys when you were young. You must have felt good when a milestone passed as you looked out of the window, and a moment later you were looking forward to next. But were you still excited about the journey you had just taken when you reached the destination?

In fact we are excited for the destinations we want to reach but have not reached as yet. Success is the journey you take towards these un-reached destinations. We feel happy when we reach, but the joy is short lived. Next day, we need something else to feel excited about.

A mother when asked by her child that why they are not as prosperous as their neighbor, advises that she should be satisfied with what she had. The child snapped back that she is very satisfied with the grades she got in her exams. The mother was at loss of words because the grades were not flattering by any means. And if she is satisfied with them, she will never do anything to improve them.

Unfortunately too many people have learned it too well to be satisfied with what they have. They will hate the job that they are doing, but will not do anything to change it, as they have learned to be satisfied. They will struggle hard to make their ends meet, and deny every material pleasure to themselves and their family. But they will not do anything to improve their incomes because they are satisfied with whatever they have got. They will curse God for not answering their prayers, but they won’t do anything to raise themselves spiritually. They will live in darkness of ignorance but do nothing to gain knowledge. After all they are supposed to be satisfied with what they have. Too many people spend a life of mediocrity and under-achievement because they carry with them a superficial air of so called satisfaction.

Dissatisfaction is the one of the greatest motivation for achievement. You have not done enough today if you are still happy with what you did yesterday. This is why the most successful people in this world never say that they have it made. They do not accept to have arrived. They take a never ending journey towards new destinations and higher achievements. In return they create abundance that all of us are supposed to create with our action.

While in college we had a very old gentleman as one of our visiting professor. This retired top government official had a plush bungalow, and he owned four cars (still an extravaganza in India). He had no reason to work. But he would go from college to college in public transport. We thought he is greedy and a miser. We were surprised when we discovered him giving liberal charity. He told us that he feels excited to teach youngsters, and he prefers to be among people so he uses public transport. He was a voracious reader, good listener and full of excitement and enthusiasm for new things. He was dissatisfaction personified. He gave more, so he received more. And the more he received, more he gave. But he never got it made.
This does not mean that one must turn greedy and run only after material things in life. Greed is an obsession with wanting more than the honest efforts that you are willing to put. Greed will make you restless. You will loose peace of mind. In other words you will not be content. What is the feeling of content? You will be content if you are in peace with your self. When you know that you are doing what is required to be done. You are content when you are taking the journey in faith towards more fulfillments.

When you are dissatisfied, you look forward. You will look for new milestones to achieve. They could be financial, career, relationships or spiritual. You come to one milestone, rest, celebrate and then again pack your luggage for yet another exciting journey. And you feel content as you grow towards your potential and move towards fulfilling bigger purpose of your life.

It is the ‘dissatisfied’ people who rule the world. Gandhi was not satisfied with autonomy in British Rule, but he wanted complete independence for India. Mother Teresa was not satisfied helping a few hundreds or thousands of poor destitute and sick, but she wanted to take care of more and more. Buddha was not satisfied with being a king. He searched for supreme knowledge and he still was not satisfied when he got it, because he wanted to spread it around the world. Jesus was not satisfied getting on the cross just one time for our sins. He rose again and continues living in order to save more of us. God is not satisfied with this universe. It is still expanding as the God is still creating. If he is not satisfied how can we be…..?