The Grass is Always Greener

While I was at my gym working out today, I noticed one of the resident sheep was reaching it's head through the wire fence to eat grass from the other side. I wished that I had a camera with me. It was a hilarious scene. A sheep, in a giant field full of grass, desperately yearning for what is just outside it's reach.

The grass inside the fence looked, to me, exactly the same as the grass outside the fence. THe sheep seemed determined to get the grass that it couldn't easily reach. What is that about?

The old addage is so true. The grass is always greener (on the other side of the fence). When we can't have something, it seems to become more appealing to us. We become easily dissatisfied with what we have, and yearn for what we don't have.

THe antidote, I believe, is to focus on enjoying and appreciating what we do have. It also doesn't hurt to think about what we might find out if we did actually end up with the thing on the other side of the fence that we yearn for. Within a short time, it would become the thing we 'have' and we would automatically start yearning for something else.

To be satisfied with what we have, and not automatically believe that something different is better, we can achieve a clearer perspective on life. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve, or to attain higher levels of success. It only becomes a problem when this yearning is accompanied by an unconsciousness that masks a deeper problem. Chronic dissatisfaction is different from a sincere desire to enhance and improve one's life circumstances. Chronic dissatisfaction pervades all of our situations and renders our life experiences hollow.

APpreciation, on the other hand, can create a satisfying and fulfilled life. We can appreciate fully what we have, while working to improve or enhance it. That, to me, is one of the keys to a happy life.