Season of Discontentment

Each of us, probably, goes through a season of discontentment. A season when we tend to acquire that irrational craving for something new and something better. It could be a craving for a change in career, a change in lifestyle, a change in relationship, a change in friends, or simply a change in attitude. A season when simple things become complicated and the complicated becomes more extra-complicated. Complexities that perplex our once simple life. Complexities that burden us with more difficulties. Complexities that made us difficult to thrive, difficult to believe, difficult to be satisfied. Should we allow this craving complexity to take a higher form and eventually direct us somewhere or face it and mortify its intensity.

Photo by Story & Shots: Little Miss Yurie meditating on the oval track.

Remember, our primitive time as children? All we needed were few basic material things -- food, clothes and toys --- to make us happy; and a kiss and a hug from our mom and dad-- to make us safe. When we could not have new toys, we simply used our imagination to conjure up make-believe scenarios using recycled gadgets and playthings. What we had then, seemed like a treasure to our childlike dimension. The teenage days of our life were not that complicated either. There were no VCDs or DVDs to watch till dawn, no CDs to quiver with, no cell phones nor e-mails to send messages, no cyber cafes to hang out with our friends, no internets to connect us to the rest of the world. But we enjoyed a lot more with a lot less, right? (Probably, because back then we didn’t know what we were missing yet!)

But, hey, look at people, nowadays. See how the jet age and cyber-technologies and modern lifestyle have transformed them. Some of them have turned into idealistic and transforming individuals who are brave enough to stand up and ready to be ridiculed for their convictions. Others are plainly contented to what they see or hear and numb enough to question the traditional philosophies imposed by the world they happen to live in. Some of them may keep on searching, and moving, and changing for an unfound reason. Some of them may just go on…hoping there is something better to see at the end of the tunnel.

The message here is this: those who refused to go out from their hard-core shells and learn to explore new things in the world and stand up for their convictions will remain in their own shell forever, but those who update their knowledge and skills; those who read, research and learn; those who perform mental gymnastics constantly; those who crave for change and create a difference in the lives of others will thrive in the playing field of life. We have to acquire a high-speed mindset, a fast-track sense of doing things. We have to develop a taste for higher convictions and consequential living to reach higher grounds.

Now, we can’t exactly speak for all people, whether the season of discontentment that passes through our life, is a bane or a boon. If we are discontented because we always want to explore what is there to explore, to harness what is there to harness, to learn what is there to learn, then good! Keep on with our discontentment. But if we are discontented because we have this notion that life itself is a plain discontentment, then we have to change our direction. You see, this vicious cycle of dissatisfaction goes on and on and on. We will never be contented with what we have or what we have accomplished, not because we are insatiable beings. Rather, discontentment resides in us because we know we have not fully shared what we ought to share to the world. So, treasure that moment of discontentment when it comes to you. There’s so much to learn from that unfulfilled mission, unconsummated vision, or unfinished journey of existence.

As Joan Atwater beautifully said in her book called The Simple Life:

Our lives are overburdened, and living often seems to us a terrible complicated affair. The problems of the world are so incredibly complex and we see that there are no simple answers. The complexity always leaves us with a feeling of helplessness and powerlessness. And still, amazingly enough, we go on, day by day, always half subconsciously yearning for something simpler, something more meaningful.

So how we look for our lives and living becomes tremendously important. It’s up to us to bring this authenticity, this simplicity, this directness, and this unburdened clarity into our looking. If such a thing as living life fully interests you, then it’s up to you to learn about it and live it.