For all of us, we want something out of life. Some of us want to achieve certain goals, have a certain amount of security and money, have certain qualities in relationships, get certain jobs, or have a position in society, and so forth. What, then, is the end goal of all this? Each person must answer this question for themselves; for myself, the end goal is satisfaction. Satisfaction, in my opinion, is happiness in a longer time frame. Happiness, which I define as contentment and bliss in the present moment, is different from pleasure, which I take to mean something temporary and based on outer influence, such as technologies, drugs, or other people. Happiness comes from within, and pleasure comes from outside. Satisfaction, then, is simply happiness on a larger scale because we cannot be blissful all the time. There will be times in life when we struggle and when we suffer. They cannot be avoided; however, even in those times, a sense of satisfaction can be retained. Hence, the rest of this essay will cover my views on satisfaction by way of elimination. By pointing out how to not be satisfied, I hope we can reach satisfaction.

In my opinion, all dissatisfaction is a result of two things: lack of understanding and lack of action.

Lack of Understanding

What do I mean by lack of understanding? By lack of understanding, I mean in what we are doing and reaching out towards. If we reflect on our reasons for not being satisfied, you will see that they are very irrational. Many people might think that they will be satisfied after they get a certain job, certain amount of money, or safety or security or whatever else, but they fail to notice that there was something else before. And once they got that thing, they just moved on to the next thing. Once we do get that thing, it won’t be long till we have put something else on the pedestal and are still not satisfied. Another thing to notice is that many of the people we envy, if you really get to know them and they are honest, will tell you they too are often not satisfied. Whatever we think will give us satisfaction does not really give us satisfaction. This is because we are seeking it outside of ourselves.

To better understand this, it is important to think about what gives a person worth. To think that extrinsic things will give us value is irrational because they, as mentioned earlier, are always changing and never satisfying. They are often the result of marketing and companies who want you to be dissatisfied with yourself and hence purchase their ‘essential’ products. Another reason is because they are so arbitrary and not completely in our hands. Of course, we can make great changes in our lives, but for a person who lives in an area where people do not swim and has no access to pools, becoming an Olympic-caliber swimmer would be highly unlikely. Similarly, a person born into a rich family will find it easier to fund their business themselves and may find success more easily. Does this mean a person struggling to start a business is of less value? Definitely not. Because both individuals had nothing to do with the luck of birth that impacts all of our lives.

There will always be someone more ‘lucky’ or ‘blessed’ or born with a ‘silver spoon’. That is the fact of life. We can work to change it, we can improve equality among people, but we should also learn to be satisfied and grateful for what we do have.

Lack of Action

The second reason for a lack of satisfaction is simply lack of action. Once we know what we are doing, where we are going, and what we should be doing, taking action that ignores this understanding will lead to dissatisfaction. Satisfaction does not come from thinking alone; it comes from aligning our actions with what we know to be true and valuable.