Strategies on lasting happiness & gratefulness W/ what you already have

[SleepyMonkey]

Why is it human nature to be so unsatisfied with the things you have already obtained & once your desires have been fulfilled why seek more? It seems like a never ending maze. Asking for advice, strategic planning, book recommendations, & techniques on feeling completely satisfied with the things you already have obtained in hopes to eliminate desires of more. Thank you for your help! 

[Forestluv]

To me, this seems to be conflating relative happiness and absolute happiness. Phrases like “lasting happiness” and “complete satisfaction with what you have” points toward unconditional happiness, yet when perceived through a relative filter seeking desire and suffering arises.

One way to look at relative happiness is that it arises when seeking energy is relieved. Yet this is a temporary relative happiness. There was something I didn’t have that I was seeking, then I got it and now I’m happy. For example, imagine I have been seeking to get a new car. I save my money for years and buy a new car. Part of the happiness I feel is because the seeking energy is gone. There is relief. The same goes for seeking knowledge, sex, a home, a travel destination etc. When one attains the object sought, the seeking vanishes and there is a sense of happiness. This form of happiness is conditional - if I don’t get the thing I am seeking, I am not happy. The seeking of relative happiness is always for a thing that is not Here and Now. 

Now imagine that what you seek is whatever is Here and Now. That is the ultimate seeking. The seeking relief comes from “finding” Here and Now. This is unconditional happiness - the happiness is free of any conditions. 

In a relative context, there is no permanent happiness because it is relative to not happy. For one to hold relative happiness they must also hold relative unhappiness for contrast.