Mindfulness and Asceticism

If one of the goals in this life is to enjoy the time we have experiencing it, it behooves us to learn to appreciate what we have rather than to constantly pursue what we think will give us the sense of well-being or joy we crave or think we ought to have. This is necessary but not sufficient. For human beings are animals and we require material, social and intellectual goods and not just the ability to be present in the moment. We require external resources, and the ability to perform and grow given talents to feel truly tranquil in the long term. Humans are not merely consumers but we need to observe the types of things we digest physically and psychologically. Humans are not merely work horses but are beings that have an innate desire to be creative and interactive with the world around them. Though asceticism is only tangentially related to the latter, it is a key factor in considering our habits regarding the former. Asceticism and meditation/mindfulness go hand in hand not only conceptually but empirically.
Years ago, I attended a chocolate tasting and mindfulness “workshop.” It was an event held at a quaint shop selling knick-knacks and bath fragrances. It was a brief half hour that involved discussing mindfulness, what it entails and the research involving its benefits, and then practicing it for several minutes of silent reflection. Then chocolate, what the twelve year old in me came there for. I did notice a deeper appreciation of what I ate. Which of course is a good in itself. But also from a health, well-being and finance standpoint there are the secondary and tertiary goods of feeling the need to consume less because one appreciates more out of less and consuming less and less expensive things and being able to save money or work less hours (assuming one is in the role millions are in where their labor is not one of creativity or love but a doldrums of drudgery).
A large part of disappointment is setting expectations upon life rather than experiencing it “as it all happens.” Of course one of the great things about being a human being is the capacity to make causal connections and utilize the knowledge of causal connections to create tools and commodities to either alleviate suffering, reduce burdensome work or increase pleasure. But there is a distinction between the expectations of causality and the expectations of a personal narration. If I somehow set it up in my mind that a ball will fall off a table, something I likely wouldn’t do since the occurrence is so mundane, and it instead floats to the ceiling, I will undoubtedly be perplexed. After my initial bewilderment and surprise I would speculate the possible reasons why my conviction that the ball would behave as I assumed would be so incorrect. Is the ball made of a material that allows it to defy the earth’s gravitational pull? Or is it being pulled by some force above my ceiling? These are questions I would ask and then perhaps pursue in a more dogged manner – but I would never question myself as I explored these inquiries and make speculations hopefully with the evidence provide.
However, if I make an expectation that a job I’ve wanted will fulfill me, if I either don’t get hired for the position or I do but it turns out to be not what I expected either in what it is or how it makes me feel, I very likely will be disappointed and possibly severely disheartened. The thing I hoped would give me satisfaction proved to be in vain. What does this say about me? Or about the world I live in? As humans, we should pay heed to separate our innate tendency to assign certainty to causal interactions with our tendency to create narratives of “if I get X, then Y” Y usually being happiness, fulfillment, or something adjacent to the two. We instead should observe what will likely give us our desired results and strive for tranquility, enjoyment and well-being without expecting or requiring that which we do to satiate us psychically. This is a hard line to walk at times, and it is why many venture into either hedonism or fatalism. Either I might as well do what will reliably give me pleasure now than pursue a more stable calm and happiness in my future or pursing goals is inherently a futile endeavor so I strive for nothing which often then accumulates into a passive form of hedonism.
Mindfulness is an invaluable tool for greater appreciation of what lays before us. But to reiterate, humans are not spirits or pure minds drifting in the void; we are animals, material creatures with our own incredibly malleable natures. And as such we need to pursue that which promotes our well-being as beings that require both resources exterior to ourselves and activity that promotes our own mental and physical health and is potentially a good for others. Asceticism, the trait of being “mindful” of what one consumes, is in some sense the materialist equivalent to mindfulness. Instead of trying to experience all that there possibly is to experience and assigning personal worth to all these things and experiences, one is selective and restrictive, partaking only in that which is fitting to one’s nature to digest, participate in or in some other way enjoy.