fied were apt to try a little harder to acquire the necessities and comforts of life. Perhaps this trait of dissatisfaction would inspire them to hunt a little better, to stash away more food, or to find a way to keep a bit warmer -- practices that would have increased the likelihood of a longer life. With this longer life, came more opportunities for passing on their "dissatisfaction gene" for generations to come - and here we are.
of dissatisfaction might be a helpful and positive signal that you are meant to improve your life. With this perspective, you can be happy, even amidst your dissatisfactions. With a positive frame of mind, you can also work more effectively to alleviate the sources of your dissatisfactions, whether those sources are outer circumstances, or your own inner habits.
In fact, many seekers begin their spiritual Just think, the root of your present feelings of search because they have experienced some dissatisfaction may stem from the genetic DNA dissatisfaction with their lives, and want to feel patterns of your "great, great, great, great, etc." more satisfied, complete, positive, whole, and happy. Therefore, rather than grandpa, who wasn't content interpreting a sense of with having mere berries to eat, dissatisfaction as a sign of and was thus inspired by his unavoidable unhappiness, you dissatisfaction to take a course can choose to view it in a on Hunting Buffalos 101 , or to positive light - perhaps as a sign figure out how to irrigate the that you are growing and being fields, or to plant a greater prodded to create an outer world variety of food sources. that better reflects and nourishes With this "hereditary your evolving soul. dissatisfaction" theory in Why is Happiness So Elusive? mind, I'd like to suggest that even if you do feel dissatisfaction with certain elements in your Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? life, this does not mean that you have to consider There's a support group for that. It's called yourself to be "unhappy". EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar. This is important to contemplate, because - Drew Carey our experience of happiness is generally There is so much suffering in this world; many dependent on how we interpret things. Basically, if we think we're unhappy, we are people don't seem to be as happy as they'd like to unhappy, and if we think we're happy, we're be. Those who don't have enough are struggling just to survive, while those who have all the happy. comforts of life may find themselves becoming If you experience certain dissatisfactions and self-absorbed, spoiled, or worried about losing interpret them to mean that you must be what they have. Many people are living frantic unhappy, then you are unhappy. An alternative lives, with little time available for simpler approach would be to assume that your feelings
02 YSR
OCTOBER 2007