Greed Eats Brains

From the mouth of a sweet German grandmother, this admittedly grotesque and sensationalist title phrase has proven to be an interesting bit of food for thought over the last few days. I had a very enlightening conversation with a new friend of mine over the weekend on the value of contentedness in the 21^st century. He told me the story of his friend’s grandmother who, at an annual family gathering, would send all the young people out with twenty euro or so to spend on gambling, but would always warn them that “greed eats brains”. (Note: My friend assures me this phrase has a more dramatic effect when said in its native German, and when I asked him to demonstrate I only know that it sounds even more terrifying haha). Sort of a strange story (really, whose grandmother gives them money to spend on gambling?) , but a striking one. Greed can become an all-consuming vice that spills over into facets of one’s life that they didn’t even consider. “Greed eats brains” to me accurately captures the feeling I sometimes have when I walk into a store and after 10 minutes feel like I need to buy, buy, buy. What is even more amazing to me is that literally the moment I exit the store, this brain “fever” suddenly dissipates and is gone, as quickly as it started. It can be so easy to be distracted by things that we don’t need. Now that I live on my own, I have been more conscious of the role material items play in my life and have taken great efforts to not get swept up in “stuff”.

Moving on from the topic of greed, our conversation took a more general turn as we discussed the importance of contentedness. My friend said that he was lucky to have been “born happy”, to be someone who’s natural state is one of contentedness with life.  This doesn’t mean being apathetic to one’s place or position, rather a perspective that allows one to focus on the things that really matter and let go of the things that don’t. It was encouraging for me to hear, as sometimes I get too caught up thinking about where I want to go, who I miss, who I want to be with, who I don’t want to be with, etc, and I forget to be happy where I am. I’m sure this happens to everyone, but this conversation had impeccable timing because in the past two weeks or so I’ve really been settling into my life in Okinawa and am trying to own it and make it mine.

The things I’m writing about maybe sound obvious or show my youth and lack of experience, but all of the sudden this week so many things clicked for me about the importance of living in a way that is simple and happy. Part of being 22 is feeling stress and anxiety about the future as there are so many question marks and places of uncertainty in the months and years ahead. However, it was so refreshing to hear this grounding wisdom from someone not so much older than me. Good to know I am surrounded by such level-headed people.