The American Dream is cancerous. The premise that we can or should have an ever growing economy lifting us all by market forces every higher in our levels of satisfaction through the acquisition of new and better services and products is pathological. The message we continually hear for the ubiquitous marketing forces is that you cannot be satisfied until you possess their particular product. The constant iterations of this message pound a media driven rhythm into our souls that we do not have what it takes to be happy or satisfied, all the while images of purportedly happy and satisfied consumers dance just out of our reach on the screen before us. The effect of these marketing messages as well as most political promises are to leave us wanting. We are made to feel that happiness and satisfaction are near at hand, but require us to spend just that extra bit of money or vote for the political party that will assist us the most in achieving "the Dream".
The American Dream is a nightmare, because we never make it. We can't. The economy would slow, if Americans ever became satisfied with what they had. The American media is fully invested in the constant reminder that what we have is not enough.
In order for you to be happy: to be satisfied in your life; you must develop your sense of satisfaction despite all you hear in the media. You have to go against the grain of immense cultural pressure. A book that will help support you in this is:
What
You Have: Discovering Magic and Grandeur of Everyday Existence
Timothy Miller,Read by Kale
Browne / Audio / HarperCollins Publishers, Incorporated / October 1993
In the book Miller suggests that we be guided by three principles:
Attention
Compassion, and
Gratitude.
When we are mindful of what going on around us, develop compassion for those beings we interrelate with and take the time to be thankful for what we have, we will find that right now - right here we have enough. Here and now we are blessed with a fullness and richness of life that is fully capable of supporting our happiness and our satisfaction.
I am not suggesting that we should accept the social and political landscape. Indeed there is much work ahead for everyone, if we expect the world to sustain us. I am suggesting that turning our focus from "What We Wish We Had" to "What We Have" allows us to back our of the manic insanity of our world and reconnect with the beauty and abundance that surrounds us already.