We experiment constantly, testing the very limits of self-indulgence (intoxication, overeating, hoarding, workaholism, compulsive traveling) and self-denial (abstinence, fasting, homelessness, agoraphobia) trying to "get some satisfaction". But all of these are transient, fundamentally unsatisfying, and not what we're about.
Can you recall ever feeling truly, wonderfully satisfied, for any length of time? If you can, it's very useful to recall the direct experience of this event in as much detail as possible. Though powerful, it was probably an otherwise simple event: being on the sea shore; stepping outdoors into a cool, crisp starlit night; as a child, sitting under a rose-apple tree, quietly watching your father working in the fields.
The sublime quality of consciousness at such times is a natural part of ourselves that we barely know. Yet this aspect of consciousness is peaceful - hungers for nothing. This is the quality of consciousness & life that we stabilize during mindfulness practices. This, and only this quality of consciousness, while doing anything or nothing at all, brings peace, satisfaction, joy.
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