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The haves and the haves-not

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This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks.

__________

"Half of happiness is learning to love everything you don't have." - Niklas Göke
__________

This quote stood out to me because I could not understand it but I wanted to understand it even more. Why would I love something I do not have? I do not have a laptop, why would I love that? Yes, I love laptops. Yes, I love technology. But I do not love the fact that I do not have a laptop. I feel like I could accomplish more with a laptop. My goal is to create a small office space in the corner of my room. Is this quote about ambition? Probably not. What if something is bad for me and I do not have it, should I still love it? Should I love alcohol? I love when a quote makes us ask questions. I love when a quote makes us think. This quote is simple yet profound even though I am yet to understand it fully. Makes me reimagine the saying that life is about the haves and the haves-not. Except, we are talking about happiness. In a sense, life is happiness. The pursuit of happiness.

I was impatient and I asked my friend Gemini to help me understand this quote. I now understand the quote if I rephrase it. Half of happiness is learning to appreciate what I do not have. We should appreciate what we have and what we do not have at the same time. What we do not have are blessings in disguise. The quote is about contentment. If we are not content then chances are we will spend most of our lives chasing after what we do not have while not fully appreciating what we have. Like I know this and I gravitate towards this but I feel like the society and the world we live in is consumed by ambition and achievement. It has you asking, am I enough? Am I doing enough? We are constantly comparing and judging and wanting and wanting to show off. That is not a good place to be at all.

Humility. Contentment. A focus on God. A focus on what truly matters. Being aligned with a higher purpose. Peace of mind. These are the things that come to my mind. These are things that settle my mind. These are things that bring peace to my mind. Ambition and achievement are good but only if backed by good intentions and when we are not giving up on what truly matters. What is the cost of our progress? Who has to suffer for our gain? Is it worth it now and in the end? Do we know what we are fighting for and who we are fighting for? Why be fighters when we can be lovers? If we are not careful the system will have us fighting ourselves and hating ourselves and returning to the system to fix ourselves. More profits means creating the problems and creating the solutions for the problems we create.
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