Satisfaction

One big truth that I know is that satisfaction, contentment, comes from within. From working your way through the minefields of desire, frustration, disappointment (and it's first cousin, expectation) and arriving at a place where you are open to seeing the truth of things. To seeing the way that the stories we tell ourselves overlay the truth, change it and sometimes obscure it.

It struck me today that I'm in a comparatively contented place at present. I've mentally let go of a bunch of things that were upsetting and disappointing to me, and turned the bright lamp of analysis onto a bunch of my expectations. Pulled them apart with tweezers under the harsh incandescent glare, only to find they were filled with straw, faulty tick-tock parts and broken springs. It's a work in progress, but even dismantling some of this stuff is a good feeling. It feels like an achievement.

I've been really happy with the results of things I've been working towards. The bookshop at the conference was a success, especially in the feedback we received from customers, in the goodwill it creates towards our centre, and in the way that it might have made helpful texts available to people. I've been enjoying taking photographs, participating in an exhibition, and working towards putting on an exhibition at my Buddhist centre's open day in October. Contributing. Creating.