Designing A Deeply Satisfying Life

By Saleem Rana 

What is a deeply satisfying human life?

It is one where you get to be yourself.  At first blush, it may seem that you are yourself, all day long, everyday, but when you look at yourself, you'll see that you are merely pretending to be yourself while working really hard at trying to measure up to the roles others have assigned you.

This lack of authentic being is the reason for a lack of a satisfying life.

Inauthentic living expresses itself in doing work that is not fulfilling, engaging in frustrating relationships, and feeling compelled to do things that are obviously not in your best interests.

 Since almost everybody appears to be in this predicament inauthentic self-identification is considered normal.  Yet since you are not truly integrated in the equation of your life, your chance of experiencing deep fulfillment is almost slim to none.

If you want to design a life worth living, you have to take the time to know yourself better and to be fine with it.  You have to move beyond self-condemnation for not measuring up to some imagined ideal of  mind, body, and spirit.  You have to release yourself for not matching up with a particular social image.  Instead, start loving and accepting yourself just the way you are.

Thus, a deeply satisfying human life has to begin with self-love, and this, in turn, comes from self-knowledge and self-acceptance.  If there is insufficient self-love, you cannot love life.  If there is insufficient self-love, emotional healing will constantly escape you.
 

All spiritual teachings point to the value of love as our highest and best expression of ourselves.  Yet unless it starts with you, it cannot spread to others.  You cannot give others what you do not have.  And the most important thing you can give is love. 

Thus, the secret to all relationships begins with you, your own self-love, your relationship with yourself.

You are never going to be more perfect than you are.  You may acquire a better shape, accomplish more, make more friends and have more of a social influence, and you may even learn more, but who you are is intrinsically perfect, a perfect expression of you.  In fact, no one else is as perfectly you.  There is no competition.  You win at the game of being you.

Understanding, then, that a deeply satisfying human life starts with you, how do you go about designing the best life for you?

Here are some questions, you could ask to deepen your self-inquiry:

How do I share the things that I know with others? 

What kind of person am I when I am with other people?

What kind of person am I when I am alone?

In what ways do I really enjoy relating to other people?

In what ways do I really enjoy relating to myself?

What am I truly capable of in the realm of human excellence?

These questions will get you off to a good start in coming to know, love, and accept yourself. 

The answer to the question, "Who am I?" need not be a mystery beyond your reach.

Fulfillment of the promise of your inner nature is possible.  It is why you are here.  It is your birthright.  Your answers will emerge from the inner dimensions of your being.

Meditation on how to love life, how to enjoy a deeply satisfying and fulfilling life will reveal that everything starts with you, the real you, not the conditioned you who expresses only recycled thoughts.