Seeking More; Wanting Less

I think we are caught in an interesting tension--the tension of seeking more, on the one hand, and of accepting what we have, on the other.

Those who seek more can be achievers, can be highly motivated; it is what brings us away from stagnation, from a status-quo in which growth is stunted. And yet it can also force us to live in a future-orientation, forgetting what we have, even dismissing it; at its worse it can be craving, attachment to an outcome.

Yet the flip side of this is acceptance. Seen positively, it allows us to breathe deeply of our life, to accept what G-d has given to us, to not squander what we have in favor of what we want. Seen negatively--it is lethargy, it is an utter lack of ambition, and it is the end of growth.

How do we walk the line between accepting and achieving? Perhaps there is no line, but in my own life it simply represents two poles of being. I have not been satisifed with much in my life, of late; does that mean that I should actively seek more, strive to become more, and attain more? Or does it require a reframing of my situation, and my outlook on my situation so that I accept what has been given to me?

It is the struggle of being versus becoming. Life is that tension between the two, it seems, so that we neither fall into stagnation nor are ruined by cravings.