I figured out a problem with the More blog of 12/23/06. Not a mistake, really, just a difference in interpretation. This has been bothering me, under all the roiling gelatin that’s passed for my grey matter, before and since the holidays. See, a friend commented, very succinctly and correctly, “I believe in moderation…'More' can easily become too much.”
That’s the dark side of More, isn’t it? When you want something and just want it and want it, and it starts to overshadow everything else there is. Soon everything in your life is flavored by the taste of the thing you don’t have. Everything good in there pales before the shadow of what’s absent.
Man, it’s so easy, and natural, and human to want too much. And dangerous, for all the reasons outlined above. Problem is, one usually doesn’t see what one has until it’s gone, can’t see what’s good until he’s lost it. Which just leads to more wanting, this time for the thing that you had when you started. I get it. I get it.
The antidote for greed is gratitude. I’ve been trying a little experiment lately. I start each day with gratitude, saying “thank you” for the day. “Thank you” for my teeth as I brush them (that they’re all mine and in great shape, and will be until the day I kick—no small feat coming from my family, with dentally challenged parents. Thanks, Sue Keller.). “Thank you” that I can hit twenty pushups before my day starts, and that I freakin’ want to. “Thank you” that I know how to do what I do all day, and enjoy it, and that I still want to learn how to do so much more. Motivational speakers (ugh!) call it an “attitude of gratitude,” (only because they’re so fond of alliteration and these things make for such nice book titles). But this is real. This is something. Because when you do it enough, it really does set the tone for the day. It makes that overcast sky on your way into the building something beautiful, and that blindingly sunshiny day, something spectacular. It makes the laughter of your children at play the most beautiful sound in the world.
And another funny thing happens when you start to feel grateful. More sometimes starts coming. And the More that comes, even if it’s just a shadow of the More you originally wanted, that starts to be Enough. And you’re grateful, all over again.
Was this blog cryptic enough for you? Good. Now I'm going to go outside and enjoy a piece of global warming.
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5 comments:
Great blog, Marcus.
I'm a firm believer that that key to happiness in life is extraordinarily simple. Way I reckon, gratitude is half of the equation, and the other half is having no or low expectations.
Expectations are the devil. Get rid of them--expect the worst--and then you can't help but be thankful when something (or someone) good comes your way. That gratitude will really make the poorest and unluckiest person a happier one.
Still--I stand by your original response to Don's comment. Your first post was not about wanting material goods, but about setting goals for personal growth & achievements. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that--unless one EXPECTS things will go well. Again, it's about the expectations thing. People who feel ENTITLED to MORE are doomed.
In my (increasingly not-so-humble) opinion!
;)
Not sure I can get behind you on that. I'm of a mind to be disappointed, as the lesser of two evils.I believe expectation and creation are two sides of the same coin.
But, as always, you are my hero.
How dare you undermine my pontificating on your own blog!
:p
More Blogging, please
Well said, my friend.
Painfully honest :)
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