Have you "Found Yourself"?

It has been years since I have planted my butt in front of the TV to watch more than the occasional half hour show.   And that happened maybe once every couple of weeks.  Excluding bedtime...Conan is always on when I'm in bed.  But being in bed all day, I have been turning it on more often. I have to say that I like it better when it's off. I can totally see why people remove all the TVs from their homes.

I am continually confounded at our modern culture.  Daily, I see or hear evidence of people who are dissatisfied with their lives, trying to find themselves, and usually at the great cost of someone else. (I'm speaking of people on TV or movies, not people I actually know) I just heard an explanation of a character in a movie: "She is the woman with everything.  A good marriage, a nice house, but she's looking for more.  She's trying to find herself."  This is stated with admiration and even encouragement in the narrator's voice.  I realized I was shaking my head. We are surrounded on every side by seekers.  Seeking more.  Seeking less.  Seeking someone.  Seeking someone else. What is it that we are so dissatisfied with?  Why are we so empty?  I do not have the answer, though I have an inclination to it's root.  

I want to acknowledge that there is a difference between growing and ever seeking.  Of course there are good things we can seek after, and I feel I am surrounded by friends and family who are doing just that.  But our culture is so engrained with the getting, we forget how to give.  I know that personal growth and "finding oneself" will not come from getting the things we think will make us happy.  Personal growth comes from great trial, and the lessons that follow. You will never find yourself if you don't find others.  We (me included) need to completely move our focus from looking for more to looking at how much we have and how we can use it to benefit someone else, if even for a moment. We all have so much to offer.  Each of us excels at something.  Let's be growers and not seekers. No Twilight puns intended.