Weekly Challenge (Omwork) – Is what you have right now enough? Are you constantly striving for more (monetary rewards, accolades, promotions)?
A group of psychologist conducted a study back in the 80’s on people’s happiness. They were asked to wear a pager. Every time the pager went off, they were to record how happy they were at that moment on a scale of 1-10, and what was going on in their life to account for the feeling. What they found is that people usually recorded a 7. Sometimes it went up or down (promotion at work, marriage,sick friend or relative), but it was only momentary. They routinely lived at a 7.
But our minds are constantly chasing that perfect 10. “If I could just lose another 10 pounds then…If I could take my dream vacation, then…”. Instead of chasing something elusive, live your life as if you are already there, because you are! Practice contentment (samtosha). Contentment does not mean complacency, it means that we savor the present moment!
