What are we waiting for? What are we looking for?
To search is to fulfill an unmet need. But during that search we can't feel empty, or the journey is sacrificed for the goal. How do we progress while not setting happiness on the other side of our goals, while not grasping at that which we are waiting for?
As humans, we need progress, we need change and challenge to feel satisfaction. But, we also need to be happy with the challenges that we are presented with. We must be satisfied with our current state of affairs.
Two mantras address this
"I am satisfied with the challenges I have in my life"
This kind of thought should be followed by thinking about the ways in which you have the opportunity to change, whether it be strengthening current relationships, becoming more centered, focusing on your health, whatever it is, we always have opportunities to improve.
"I am happy with what I have now, and open to the possibilites that the future holds"
The focus of this mantra is to have gratitude for what is in your life, rather than focus on that which isn't in your life. We can always be open to the possibilities in the future, and we should never give up on that, what is more important than those possibilites is what your are doing in this moment to manifest those possibilities. Are you treating people well? Are you enjoying your life? Are you putting heartfelt effort into that which you love, whether is be an activity, a person, a place, or a community?
Generally mantras are useful in eliminating what is called "poverty mind", which is related to the hungry ghost realm in buddhist cosmology. It is the sense that what we have is not enough, that we are waiting for something more, always wanting more than what is here now. It effectively puts happiness over the next hill and always leaves you wanting what you don't have. We do have enough. We always have enough. These mantras and the thoughts surrounding them remind us of this truth.
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