Why is it that whatever someone else has – clothes, jewelry, house, car, life – seems better than ours?  Watching my grandkids has reminded me that this discontent is not a learned trait, but rather inborn. When I put part of a jelly sandwich in front of Evan, Molly immediately grabbed it and started eating. When I gave Evan another one, he didn’t want it. He wanted the one that Molly had although they were, of course, exactly the same. Ditto the toys. Evan won’t want to play with a particular toy until Molly has it. Then he wants to have it too.

It’s not exactly selfishness,  but a feeling that  somehow we’re lacking. What we have or who we are does not measure up to what someone else has or who she is. We feel cheated. I’m usually content with who I am, where I am, and what I have, but I often feel “less than” in how I look. How about you?

This “less than” attitude is something to guard against, so why don’t we, just for today, pretend to be content with who we are, what we have, and how we look? Then let’s pretend that pretending makes it so. Maybe we can pretend our way into contentment.