‘Try to find at least one beautiful thing to marvel at every day.
Very few people realize how terribly destructive it is to always be dissatisfied with everything and everyone and to introduce a climate of disharmony wherever they go.

It is important to analyse the causes of any deep-seated sense of dissatisfaction, which are often the result of poor reasoning or just bad habits. On an intellectual level, a prolonged attitude of discontent, whether conscious or unconscious, is always corrosive. The face of a discontented person will be sombre and lacklustre, their eyes will have no light in them, and their voice will be harsh… and all this will make them very unattractive to others.

Dissatisfaction is acceptable only if it is aimed at oneself. You must not be satisfied with yourself even if you achieve considerable spiritual progress. Why not? Because self-satisfaction can turn into vanity and smugness and put a stop to all progress, and then your striving for perfection would come to an end. Whereas a feeling of dissatisfaction with yourself will be a stimulus to work and improve.

Initiates are not satisfied with themselves but they are very satisfied with the works of God and full of admiration for His servants. In this way they counteract the dissatisfaction caused by their own imperfections.

To sum up, let me say that there is a current of life and a current of death, and that the first step towards death is discontent. Yes, for if you are not careful, discontent turns to sorrow and sorrow turns to pain. Pain begins on the psychic plane, but it ends on the physical plane and, one day, it becomes illness, and illness leads to death.

Contentment, on the contrary, puts you squarely on the road to life. One who is contented is filled with gratitude to Heaven and lives in a state of peace; peace gives them strength; strength brings them fulfilment and they begin to taste the delights of eternal Life. One who aspires to perfection, who asks the spirits of nature to help them in their work, must be grateful for all that they have and give something positive to others.

From now on, learn to be contented, particularly with all the things that you have always scorned or neglected. Try to find at least one beautiful thing to marvel at every day and enshrine it in your heart and mind. If you thank the Lord every day, if you are pleased with whatever He gives you, the magic secret that will enable you to transform your life will be yours, and the luminous spirits of nature will gather round you to help you.’

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov,
Izvor Book 225, Harmony and Health
Chapter 9, Cultivate an attitude of contentment
Complete Works, Volume 6, Harmony