The way we store energy is through our desires, values, passions, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and ultimately our greatest capacity is through what we love. … I have come to realise that people do not bring the same level of energy with them.*
Erwin McManus

Satisfaction = What you have ÷ what you want**
Arthur Brooks

Arthur Brooks holds that
if our satisfaction depends on
money
power
pleasure
and honour
then we’re in trouble.

Perhaps take a moment to reflect on his formula for satisfaction:
I certainly feel its wisdom.
How true has this been in your own experience?

Anna Katharina Schaffner,
In reflecting on more than two thousand years of self improvement,
Notices a change:

In the self-improvement literature of the past, the emphasis was placed on the virtues. Yet reflections on goodness have all but disappeared from modern self-help. Our focus tends to be on personality rather than character and our effectiveness in achieving successful careers.^

You may have spotted the transition in this sentence,
How self improvement has become self-help,
How focus on the inward is replaced by a greater concentration
on the outward.
Brooks reflects on the negative impact for us, how

Self objectification lowers self-worth and life satisfaction.**

Erwin McManus offers us plenty of starting places
for noticing just how much we already have.
Even grabbing two minutes to ponder these today
will begin to make a difference:

May the Angel of Encouragement confirm you
In worth and self-respect,
That you may live with the dignity
That presides in your soul.^^

*Erwin McManus’ The Way of the Warrior;
**Arthur Brooks’ From Strength to Strength;
^Anna Katharina Schaffner’s The Art of Self Improvement;
^^John O’Donohue’s Benedictus: A Blessing of Angels.