All things judged against external cues have this weakness; their ability to satisfy depends upon circumstances over which you have little if any control. Think of the high school beauty queen among Victoria's Secret models; the playground bully among Navy Seals; the town mayor on the floor of the senate. In all these, the external standards of comparison have changed and, in doing so, have have transformed the superior into the inferior. "But you can control these, by changing your surroundings." Yes, but then you are imprisoned in a cell of your own design.
Think of the aging actress, trying desperately to hang on to beauty and fame, "trying with food, and drink, and magic spells, to dam life's natural flow and not to die," as Euripides said. Think of the virile, young soldier who is in an accident and becomes a quadriplegic. Think of the proud husband whose wife decides to leave. In all of these, external circumstances have changed, and what once brought joy brings sadness and a sense of loss.
Things judged against internal cues do not have this weakness. Therefore their ability to satisfy is within your control. Am I doing my best? Am I working hard? Am I being as wise as I can? Am I living as well as I can? These things can and do bring dissatisfaction and unhappiness, but it is within your power to change that in an instant by an act of will.
A word of caution; judge these things only in the present moment. Don't waste time lamenting past or fearing future failures. The past is gone, and the future is not yet here. You have only this moment. Rejoice when you use it well.
We live only in the present, in this fleet-footed moment. The rest is lost and behind us, or ahead of us and may never be found.
-Marcus Aurelius
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