“No matter what happens to you, there is some kind of positive value to be found in it—even if it’s just setting a boundary, learning a lesson, or discovering a new interest”, Chris said. “If you view it as a learning opportunity, you can embrace it and draw something positive from the experience.”

He continued: “You should also look inward and appreciate what you already have, rather than constantly focusing on what you lack. That is how you find your center and your contentment. I see this with my daughter, too. The world is full of glitter and things she wants—it’s an insatiable appetite! And, frankly, it’s the same for us adults: a house, an apartment, a car... in our society, there will always be more to acquire than what we currently have. But when you look at what you do have—family, health, a place to sleep—you realise that that desire might just consume you if you follow it. True greatness and contentment come from saying, ‘I have enough.’ And I often probe myself: Why do I do something? Is it about joy, contentment, or greed? Am I doing it for my ego, for others, or to make a sale?

Or am I doing it because I enjoy it?

Take painting, for example: Do I paint something to sell it, or because I like it? I have the luxury of not having to make a living from it; there is no pressure on me to earn my keep through it. The same question applies to sports, or wearing particular clothes: Why am I doing this? For whom?”

Intrigued, I asked him how he would delineate doing things for one’s own joy from selfishness. He smiled. “Selfishness begins the moment I start taking things away from others. And that brings us right back to ‘more’ – to greed. It comes full circle!”

When thinking about Chris’ belief, I realised: Indeed – the circle of doing something because you want to achieve something from someone else, be it being looked at with awe, leaving a certain impression, etc., can be read as selfishness: You want the other to give something to you, rather than acting out of authentic joy in the pursuit of more. In fact, more than you are, I pondered. You try to be more than you are when you act like that.

How does this belief in appreciating what you already have connect to viewing things as a learning opportunity, as a positive experience? Again, I think we can go full circle: This mindset brings you back to realising what you have rather than what you lack – a learning opportunity, rather than a human lacking a skill or perspective.

Chris’ smallest stems from a spontaneous vision I had during our conversation: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. When he mentioned his daughter, this children’s book came to my mind. The little caterpillar consists of many circles, and eats, and eats – until its tummy hurts! Eventually, though, it becomes a butterfly. Those two stages of the story can be both read as navigating the fine line between greed and learning, taking in things from the outside - just enough, or too many? – that ultimately transform the little caterpillar into a big, beautiful butterfly, a stage that can also be read from two perspectives: As the selfishness of showing off, or as authentic, colourful self-expression. The caterpillar and the butterfly, in fact, just are and do – but with our human brains, we can make up a two-sided story bringing us full-circle back to ourselves.

The smallest traces this ambiguity and becoming in its physical shape: A two-sided butterfly emerges from a hungry caterpillar bedded in a big buffet. Will it only eat what it needs to become a butterfly?