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It’s said that human desire has no limits. We’ll always want more, more, and more, and we’ll always want something better than what we have now. Of course, it’s natural for all of us to want growth and improvement and to make our lives a little better. A healthy dose of ambition is how people progress, and it’s also the seed of success.
In our hurried desire for more, however, we might fail to appreciate what life has to offer. There are so many nice things going on all around us that, if we concentrate too much on the things we lack and the things we want to have, we might just stress ourselves out and never notice the beauty around us.
Here’s a very valuable lesson from Orison Swett Marden that we have to learn as it can make our lives a little bit better.
Enjoying what others own
“I would rather appreciate the things I cannot have than to have things I cannot appreciate.”
— Elbert Hubbard
In chapter 3 of Orison Swett Marden’s book, Self-Improvement, he talked about a story in Oliver Goldsmith’s The Citizen of the World.
A mandarin dressed in a blaze of diamonds was walking in a crowd when suddenly a man came up to him to thank him profusely. The mandarin was confused of course, because he never gave the man anything. The man explained that just seeing the beautiful jewels was more than enough, because that is also all the use the mandarin can make of them as well. The man also pointed out that he was not burdened with watching over and guarding the jewels, and that is something he doesn’t want to do.
Think about that for a bit. The man was thankful not because he got something new but because he got to appreciate something someone else has.
Some of us want our own mansion, our own castle, our own private island, but for those of us who do, have we asked ourselves why? We can work all our lives and neglect our friends, family, and our health and wellness (and sell kidneys or organs) for them, but for what? To look at them? To show off that we can afford them?
The sacrifice might not be worth it.
Fortunately, we can actually appreciate things that we DON’T own. We can appreciate and enjoy the beauty of what others have created.
Think about it. When you travel, you don’t need to own historic monuments, landmarks, lush forests, mountain paths, and scenic landscapes to enjoy their beauty. You don’t need to own the entire shopping mall to have fun hanging out there. You don’t need to own the entire carnival or theme park to enjoy the rides. Sure, you might need to pay a little to enter, but you do not need to pay millions or billions to buy the entire thing, and you don’t need to spend millions in cash to maintain them.
There are so many nice things around us, and thankfully we don’t need to buy and own all of them to enjoy them. We can learn to appreciate the things around us and marvel at the beauty of what other people made and own to be happy… all at the low, low cost of free.
We can always dream big and create great things, but we must remember that we don’t need to stress ourselves out with the need to own and control everything.
“The secret of happiness is in a cheerful, contented mind. ‘He is poor who is dissatisfied; he is rich who is contented with what he has,’ and can enjoy what others own.”
— Orison Swett Marden