Poverty is the result of bad adjustment between the soul and its desires.... In the days of great poverty, I did not mind the sensation of hunger.... But ... to be deprived of tooth paste, to brush the teeth without it, was a dreadful thing, a daily discomfort.
-Alice Foote MacDougall
In the grand scheme of things, food is a much more important thing to have in one’s life than toothpaste, don’t you think? And yet, the author allowed herself to experience more discomfort over the lack of toothpaste than the lack of food.
What do you feel is missing from your life? How much sadness or discomfort do you experience from those things not being there? How much energy do you expend wishing that those things were in your life?
Attachment to that which we do not have is a strong basis for suffering. Yet it is so unnecessary. How important are those things that you feel are missing from your life? Would your time be better spent releasing your attachment to those things or continuing to want them?
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