You Are an Ungrateful Brat

Daily Meditation — 4/2/2022

You have a gratitude problem.

Society has an attention deficit, never being able to live in the now and always needing to have the senses masturbated by a non-stop deluge of pleasures.

Music must be on!
Can’t sleep without a TV playing!
Coffee must be flavored!
Plain Oreos aren’t enough! I need a selection of 15 options!

And so on!

But this spills over into gratitude.

You are always worrying about “More!” and “What’s next?!”

Instead of realizing your current iteration of phone is a marvel of engineering, you need need need the next, newest, essentially the same one.

Why?

For the status? Among who? Your peers?

Playing “Keeping up with the Joneses” is not only a waste of your very finite resources but a waste of your dignity.

When you feel the gravity of Society’s Carnival tugging at you — a newer phone, a shinier car, nicer clothes, or even more diverse foods — catch yourself!

Stop, step back and ask yourself “What do I have in the now to be grateful for?”

Instead of chasing the next orgasm that is something in the future like a newer model or tastier morsel, stop and look around. Seek contentment in what you have in the now.

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”