In our current world of fast everything what does it take to have a satisfied mind? What even is a satisfied mind? It’s quite an old concept, one of being a peace with ourselves and our endeavours. Not settling for low standards or removing ourselves from striving but a simple acceptance that in the time and space we exist and act that, despite the outcome, this is the best that we could do.

So this blog is inspired by two things. The first is Jack Jones/Irwin Thomas’s performance of a song by the same name. When I found it I was really struggling with some big changes in my life and how to reframe things so I could use things that seemed negative into a driving force for the creative things I want to do.

The concept of a satisfied mind took my breath away. It was something I’d lost while trying to raise a family and care for aging parents. I felt at times on a survival treadmill, Sisyphean in nature. No matter how much effort I put in I seemed to have more still to do. There was little time to pause, no time to appreciate successful efforts, just on to the next thing.

That’s the way things are you might say, it’s the way of our contemporary lifestyle. More, more, more. Faster, faster, faster. But does it need to be? A lot of satisfaction can be gained from removing things, slowing down, saying no to the options, which steal our time for joyful, productive and creative pursuits.

This leads me to the second inspiration for this blog. The original song was written in the 1950s by Joe Hayes and Jack Rhodes with Hayes explaining it was a philosophy mainly of his mother but also of his step father. A concept of having enough for now, enough to be at peace with ourselves and not compare ourselves with others.

So now I’m working on a new goal. I’m working on finding out what brings about that peace. It’s different for each of us. My main one is to decide what this could be here, now, with the material and non material resources at my disposal. Hopefully then “when it comes my time, I’ll leave this old world with a satisfied mind”