{1:28 minutes to read} In Aesop’s story “The Dog and the Bone,” a dog carrying a bone over a bridge looks down into the water and sees its own reflection. Taking it for another dog The Dog and The Bone by Jennifer Safiancarrying a better bone, the dog opens its mouth to bark at the “other” and in doing so drops its own bone into the river.

The moral of this story is that the one ‘Who all coveteth, oft he loseth all.’

I was talking to someone the other day who told me about a time when he was dissatisfied with much of his life. He believed that most people around him had:

  • Better jobs;
  • Better marriages;
  • Better interactions with their adult children.

He was ready to put at risk many of the good things in his life in hope of getting more than he already had.

He became aggressive and demanding, expecting that everyone would comply to fill his needs. In so doing, his personal and work relationships started falling apart, leaving him in a worse place than he was previously:

  • He lost his job;
  • He went through a divorce;
  • His children were very angry at him for creating so much pain all around.

It took him a long time to put his life back together.

If you are in a place of dissatisfaction with your life, and believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, focus on all the positive things you have and build upward from there. You will come through feeling much better about yourself.

And those on the other side of the fence will wonder how your grass stays so green.

Jennifer Safian

jennifer safian. divorce and family mediator
divorce and family mediation
upper east side of manhattan (nyc)
new york, ny
(917) 881 5206
jpsafian@gmail.com
Jennifer Safian