“You need to learn to be satisfied.”  This is something my father used to say.  And it was not said in a pedantic or authoritarian way.  To him, it was a fact.  It was just logical in his way of thinking.  If you learned to be satisfied with what you have and not always want things to be different, then you would be happy.  It was all under your control.  It was just that simple.

When I was young, I didn’t think about any deeper meaning to this phrase.  But as I grew older, I began to see the wisdom of those words.  Learning to be satisfied was a decision, a choice.  It wasn’t a lesson in logic or a rule of conduct.  Rather, it could even be a way to finding internal peace.

Now, let me be clear.  My father was not a philosopher.  He was an honest, hard-working, straight-talking man who would sit and listen to me philosophize, and smile.  He gave me respect and let me talk about philosophy, but was not interested in doing it himself.

So, I feel that he had a wisdom inherent in his being.  It was something he was not even aware of.  It was that close to him.  He exuded this feeling of satisfaction.  It was a huge blessing to have him as my father.

But, let me get back to internal peace.  I think that satisfaction in the form of gratitude creates a peaceful spirit.  To think of all we have as being gifts to us, brings deep contentment, if we allow it.  That’s it, in a nutshell.  Learning to be satisfied is a significant concept.  Or maybe I have thought about it too much.

All I really know for sure, is that I remember his words and the actions that went with them.  He was a good man, content with what life had offered to him.  He believed in God and in blessings.  He wanted me to feel satisfied like him because it was a good way to live.  And that is something that brings me great satisfaction.