Why do we overlook what we already have?

A million dollar question- why do we overlook what we already have?  There are many quotes floating on fb that as us to be in gratitude and be thankful with what we have. But for most of us it is not that way even if we appreciate this thought.

If we were to consider all pursuits in our life- all pursuits are to find happiness. For us happiness lies in security of physical self, pleasure and virtue for mind for various reasons! Would one say that fictionally a business man who is filthy rich is happiest? No!  Despite everything being at his beck and call he is not the happiest person. The reason is that once one has achieved the outer success as defined by social order, the benchmark becomes part of the memory. When it becomes part of our achieved memory we then do not get the kind of joy from it as we want to or when we did not have that object. Everything that has been attained by one materialistically becomes part of memory and therefore not new!  And therefore not joyful!

And if we were to consider love for another to be something that gives us joy – yes surely as long as he or she stay the way you want them too, the love too otherwise becomes a resignation a comfort of knowing that person, a way to live as we know no other way! Love for other and wanting to be loved in return is the greatest source of grief as when once we become part of that person then the memory of experiences takes the newness away!

So back to the blog question- why do we overlook what we already have?  

Be mindful that when an object gives you joy we think that it is the object that is giving us the joy- the real reason is that joy is part of you, that object that you wanted lowers your agitations and the mind becomes peaceful for a while and we think that the object did it. The object simply shows to you that you have a nature of being joyful for if you did not have that in you- you would not experience it anyway. And then when that attainment becomes part of your memory – it no longer gives you the kind of kick – the mental agitations increase and we want something else.

The how to be what we already are? Philosophers have written books on the fact that we already are that .Joy is our true nature as when and if we know how to be joyful without external objects we will enjoy freedom that is beyond any measure of what freedom may mean!  When we recognize that joy in us then there is no memory stale and then every moment is your own joy – you celebrating your own self, without memory of past moment- Not easy , but if this is a thought then there must also be an experience somewhere!