Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about that tendency to feel dissatisfied in our lives. So the possibility of deep contentment is with us wherever we go. The thing though, that tends to get in the way is that the mind is always wanting the present moment to be different than how it is. Always we seemed to be wanting to be someplace else, doing something different or wanting something about the present moment to change.

We want something we don't have yet, perhaps. For instance, maybe you find yourself at work and you're wishing you could just go home and then later you're at home, but you're looking forward to the weekend. Then on the weekend, you go to an event and you're thinking, ah, I wish I wasn't here. I'd rather be doing something else. Then you maybe start thinking of a holiday you're going to have in six months.

Oh yes. That's it. When I get on that holiday. But then there you are on the holiday, laying on the beach and you're thinking to yourself, I don't like the way my body is. I want it to be better.

So you can see, there's always this tension in the mind with this thought pattern. There is a basic underlying sense of I'm here, but I don't want this. I don't want this moment. I want something else. Now, the reason that our mind does this is because of evolution.

We are wired to constantly crave because in the caveman days, our ancestors lives were very, very difficult, very dangerous. So to survive, the mind would constantly say, you need more and you need better. You need better weapons, better shelter, more water, more food, more clothing. Any edge that we could get to survive was imperative. So we've inherited this mind that tends to keep doing the same thing, even though these days, for most of us, somewhat our needs really are met.

At least our basic survival needs. Now, even though it's very normal for the mind to do this, it simply isn't helpful because it means we never feel satisfied no matter what we ever do, get, have, or achieve. So what can we do about this? Well, I like to be a bit playful with this mind pattern. Anytime I feel dissatisfied, I catch myself, I kind of label, mentally note to myself, ah, here's that WTD pattern again, wishing things were different. So I just mentally note that and then bring my attention back to the present moment and to appreciating one thing about the present moment that's already good.

So for instance, you know, maybe it's the fact that there's already enough food, that we're warm enough, that there's people around that care about us. So you take a moment to think about something you already have that's good. And really let that feeling of gratitude and satisfaction sink into your body and mind. So again, when you're feeling dissatisfied, and if this resonates with you, to mentally note it, okay. Here's WTD again, wishing things were different.

Mind does this all the time. So you mentally note it and then bring your focus back to appreciating and feeling really satisfied and filled up by what's already here. Every time you do this, you train the mind to let go of that inner conflict, that feeling of dissatisfaction and cultivate a deeper and deeper sense of contentment, wholeness, and fullness within ourselves that we can carry with us wherever we go. So have a little bit of fun with this practice. I wish you well with it.

And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. Let's settle in now for today's meditation.