What is essential for satisfying life?

What makes our lives feel right? How do we achieve peace within ourselves? What is essential for satisfying life? It means different for different people. for some it could be less stress, or success, or positive relationship, personal growth, seeking more meaning in life, making a difference in the world, etc. Here are the lessons I have learned from my own life as well as from people around me. 

'He who dies the most toys wins' is a statement I don't believe in. Granted it would be great to be rich, after all who would not enjoy a fabulous new car, house on the beach, or unlimited shopping card? However, they don't keep us happy for long. Things that we think we want often fade in value once acquired. Perhaps that's because we sometimes seek what we think we should, rather than what is personally meaningful to each of us.

 Bigger is not always better and all the glitter is not always gold, I have learned, and doing what you love is priceless. If an achievement, possession, or toy brings us joy-that is terrific. But I don't think it will. Those things really are a bit hollow and if we settle for those, the cost to us will be too high. Sometimes the outer things we seek are just poor substitutes for an inner state we crave. If what we want is love, self-respect, or validation (and who doesn't), we won't find them by acquiring toys. But when we do experience the inner peace that comes from being the kind of person we aspire to be, we will find joy around every corner in all the toys, experiences, beauty, and relationships that come our way.

Toys would be taken away from us but no one can take our passion away from us. Passion, if we don't use it often, it might fade but it would never wear out. I don't know about you but there were time when I felt a little (a lot) tired, worn out, as though life is passing me by, as if everyone around me have been given the manual for life except me. And I know I am not alone. At various stages of life we all hit plateaus and then the choice is ours: coast downhill or climb to a new peak. The choice involves expansion or contraction, feeling alive or shriveling up inside. If we make the effort and muster the courage to move forward in some dimension of life, we feel renewed. 

Energy and passion climb, and we feel fully engaged.  But if we pass on all things new, then we will be stuck in a rut of the known, smack in the middle of our comfort zone. And status quo never yields the high returns of personal growth. Just for a moment, let us think of the last time that we have tried something new  learned a computer skill, visited a foreign country, went to a party alone, or just tried a new food. Even if it didn't turn out as we expected, chances are we got  a lift from taking the risk.  If it turned out to be something we enjoyed, then  it would have bumped up our zest for life. What we need to know is that once we pass the familiar, past our fear is where we would find life true expansion. 

A meaningful life is born in the soul, grown in the mind, and lived from the heart.  A sense of purpose, making a difference, leaving a legacy these are things that can evade us if we follow along with today's busy-is-better crowd. One day blurs into another and though dancing as fast as we can, we often feel no sense of accomplishment. We are busy, but what are we busy about? Are we keeping commitments to our selves? Growing the gifts that we have been given? Being of service to others? If not, we are probably wondering, is this all there is??  

That's what I was wondering during a particularly hectic time of my life when I was rushing from one place to another, from one engagement to another. I learned that outer success does not equal meaning. And meaning does not just plop into our lap; it is created every day with one thought and one act at a time. Each day provides a myriad of ways to live more purposefully, but we're often too busy doing to see the opportunities. Staying on purpose requires listening, I learned not to the cacophony of our 24/7 world but to the wisdom in our hearts. Adding the practice of meditation to my day got me off the fast train to nowhere and back on track. Writing projects long put on hold suddenly found their way into my day. Making a difference every day, for someone in some way has become a habit. Saying no to time wasters is easier when you say yes to inner success. Silence, focus, conscious choices. I have learned that these are the things that add meaning to life.