February 2009 - WANT: Last post - I did what I wanted this month.

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispostions, and not upon our circumstances.
Martha Washington

Well, there you go. One month of blogging on the theme WANT. In fact, I made sure to pick the shortest month of the year to increase my chances of success a tad bit. Yes, I even checked to see if it was a leap year, so as to make absolutely sure that no one slipped in that extra 24 hours which only benefit women searching for husbands, calendar makers and hourly employees. Instead of writing 30 posts or an exhausting 31, a mere 28 postings were produced. Now, I of course "wanted" to do this project, but being naturally lazy, I wasn't going to be an over-achiever and inundated everyone with 31 pieces of useless trivia and minutia! No, no, not me! A piddling 28 would do just fine. And I am sure no one even missed the other three.

The month started out normal for this introverted, analytical, computer geek. That's right, I made a list of all the topics I would write about throughout February. But once again, my lazy nature reared its sleepy eyed head and limited the list to only 26. What would I do for those last 2 days? I really wanted to complete all 28. Then it came to me, I could do a summary last post. Perfect, I had 27 now. What was I to do? I needed, I wanted, 28 on the list so that each day would be on auto-pilot. See the title, be the title, write the title's post. Alas, it was not to be. One of this past month's posts was done without planning, without forethought, without a Google search.

Can you tell which one it was?

No, it wasn't this last one. Pay attention, I just told you that already!

Enough of that, back to the post. This month was truly an experience. It gave me a fresh look at what I want, how I view the world and relationships and of course what I want next.

If we stop wanting altogether, we would never achieve anything.

True. But what the Buddha says is that when our desires, our craving, our constant discontent with what we have and our continual longing for more and more does cause us suffering,then we should stop doing it. He asks us to make a difference between what we need and what we want and to strive for our needs and modify our wants. He tells us that our needs can be fulfilled but that our wants are endless - a bottomless pit. There are needs that are essential, fundamental and can be obtained and this we should work towards. Desires beyond this should be gradually lessened. After all, what is the purpose of life? To get or be content and happy.

I keep coming back to the post on "to have more, want less". There exists a conflict with that statement. Why isn't it "to have more, want more"? The conflict is easily resolved by the rationalization of "by always wanting more, you will never be satisfied with what you have". Hmmm, then why isn't the phrase "to get more, want what you have"? This would take care of the issue of lack of motivation. If you "want less", then wouldn't you be satisfied with less then you have and therefore never strive. Here is where this want themed month came into play.

In February, I did what I wanted to do.
In February, I was content with what I was doing.
In February, I did less than any other month.
In February, I did not want to do more.
In February, I was happy.

This may be one of those moments when my brain bends around a corner just a bit differently than everyone else's brain, but in February:

I did exactly what I wanted.
I wanted less than in any other month.
I feel I got more than any other time.
Therefore by wanting less, I got so much more.

Perhaps, it is a simple life to be satisfied with what you have and enjoy the moment. It doesn't means that you don't strive.

Do strive.
Do dream.
Set goals.
Challenge yourself.
Have desires.
Have passion.

Remember to be in the moment.
Revel in what you have.
You have so much!

This is what I gained by writing this month. That's a ton!

Thank you NaBloPoMo.

P.S. Have you really noticed how often we use WANT and its other forms?

Here is a list of all my posts for February's WANT theme.

1. My favorite month of the year!
   
2. To get more, want less
   
3. Want versus need
   
4. Want versus should
   
5. Do you really know what you want?
   
6. Do you really know what others want?
   
7. The perspective of want
   
8. The guilt of want
   
9. The judgement of want
   
10. An adult's view on want
    
11. A child's view on want
    
12. The definition of want.
    
13. Must we resolve conflicting wants?
    
14. The phrases of want
    
15. Desire, need, passion and want
    
16. The relative nature of want
    
17. TED - Talks Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow
    
18. Want and Now
    
19. Does want change history?
    
20. Be careful what you wish for, you may not get exactly what you wanted.
    
21. Do the people of the world have the same wants?
    
22. How should others react when you ask for what you want?
    
23. Obama's addres to Congress
    
24. Why haven't I asked for anything I want?
    
25. Want what you have
    
26. Asking for What you want
    
27. How can we have what we want?