I’m Satisfied With A Little, But That Little Needs To Fill My Soul

To be happy, sometimes we need very little. However, these little bits are not the crumbs that others leave to nurture an interested love. This little bit should fill our soul, it should give us dignity as people, and that is why we will never settle for the broken pieces that others give us as if they were royal palaces.

We know that, currently, the approaches between positive psychology and spirituality are at their peak, where they emphasize the need to learn to value the little things, or how to be happy with little, only with what is necessary. Ideas such as  “happiness is realizing that nothing is very important” can, without a doubt, confuse us a little.

Everything has nuances and, in this type of subject, the nuances are great. First of all, we must clearly know that  it is not a good idea to settle for less than we deserve. Sometimes convincing ourselves that “the minimum is enough” can leave us stranded in lonely gardens. There are those who say to themselves that the land is good, and that sooner or later the seeds will germinate and spectacular flowers will come out of them.

However, little by little our life turns into a reception room of dreams that will never arrive, of goals that will never be fulfilled, of flowers that will never germinate. Settling for little is not living on crumbs, and happiness will never be “convinced that nothing is very important”. In fact, it’s just the opposite: we must know clearly WHAT is important.

We propose that you reflect on this.

Meanings and Life Purposes

Mental health professionals often complain that current models that aim to treat depression do not always deliver the expected result. Programs fail, and often the focus where combining pharmacological treatment with psychotherapy offers an improvement that in many cases is temporary.

Dr. Eric Maisel, psychotherapist and author of a long list of books on depression and emotions, says that some aspects need to be reformulated. There are many psychiatrists who, nowadays, continue to concentrate, almost exclusively, on the analysis of the patient’s symptomatic condition, without using resources or time to find the true root of the problem.

Antidepressants are prescribed as if you were being offered pills to cure the pain of life. It takes something more, more focus and less labels where everyone is treated the same.

According to Maisel, what we currently suffer, to a greater or lesser degree, is a deep and devastating existential anguish. We forget about our purposes in life, to the point where we don’t value our emotions, thoughts or decisions. Our routine is like a fog-filled scene where nothing has real meaning.

We can say, almost without fear of making mistakes, that we have become used to living with much less than we deserve. Because it’s not about being happy with little, it’s about knowing what our priorities are, what our vital purposes are, what our values ​​are and, only then, learn to tune in to this inner music. No noise around you, no artifice.

The little, if it’s good, weighs less

Let’s imagine, for a moment, a person trying to cross a river with a backpack on their back.  The sun is intense, merciless and sometimes blind. She doesn’t really know where she wants to go, she just intuits that she must cross this river, anyway… even though the backpack she’s carrying is very heavy and she can barely move forward. She must do something.

Our protagonist is forced to stop and make decisions. The person takes the backpack off his back and opens it: in it there are stones, many stones, some bigger and some smaller. The most voluminous are the most beautiful and spectacular: they represent your values, your needs, your virtues, the things you love most and that identify you.

The minors, in turn, refer to the needs of others, the concerns that others have about him, the criticisms, the falsehoods, the obligations to fulfill to satisfy others, to be as they want him to be. A decisive decision has to be made, and our protagonist does it: he chooses to remove all the smaller and uncomfortable stones from his backpack.

When he does this, when he takes them out one by one, he realizes something amazing: that there are thousands and all of them tripled the weight of his biggest stones, his favorites. When he finishes and puts the backpack back on his back, he is surprised by how light he feels. When you start walking again, the path seems much clearer. He feels strong, realizes he has the courage and even more desire to cross this river.

The stones he now carries on his back are very few, they are large, no doubt, but their beauty is such that they do nothing but inspire him daily with their shapes and colors. Little by little, and thanks to his wonderful influence, he remembers his path and his destiny. You will not hesitate to comply with it.

We must also start doing this. Let’s leave our weights behind and stick with just the little that is meaningful, enriching.