I don’t know that many people who seem satisfied. The energy around me often feels like this constant striving, this endless seeking for something that exists just around the corner, over the horizon, in a place that isn’t here and now. There’s a restlessness. The new year brings it out, as we ruminate over all that we do not have, all that we are not yet, and commit that THIS this will be the year when we do better, we GET better.
It’s such a restless energy, this never being satisfied. It’s exhausting because it can't stay in one place, or ever appreciate the moment. It has an appraising eye, searching for something better.
This year, I’d like to be more satisfied. To feel more replete with what I already have. I’ve noticed how often I buy more food, even though there’s some already in the fridge. Or I need a new book, even though there’s a stack to read next to my bed. Or I’ve got to sign up for some course, some class, some experience because THIS is going to be the one where I really figure it all out.
This dissatisfaction causes us to be so covetous, so wasteful, so anxious.
I’m not sure if I’m going to pick a word of the year this year- mainly because I’ve come to realize that everything which happens within a year is far too expansive to be contained by one word. I do believe strongly in the power of words, and what they can teach us when we commit to devoted study of them. And so I invite satisfaction into my collection of words for 2023. Can I be more satisfied, not by doing more or being more or buying more but simply with what I have, today?