I didn’t know if I could pay my rent this month. In the crosshairs of the stress, I caught myself fantasizing about all the restaurants I’d try once I had money. When I finally did get paid, all my food daydreams of coffee, pizza, and Thai food slipped away. Don’t get me wrong–I still love those things. But I thought I’d hit the restaurants with my full paycheck as soon as I could.

Instead, I could afford to eat out, but I wasn’t. I was content with what I had. In the evenings, I’d squeeze lemon into tap water and sip it as I read. That activity alone was more than enough adventure for me. Don’t buy more–want less.

Want less by meditating. Close your eyes and pay attention to your breathing. When you get distracted, refocus on your breathing. That’s it. You don’t need far-flung trips to Vietnam and Iceland; meditation cranks life’s contrast knob to eleven. Of course, travel if you get the chance. But paying attention to your breath in meditation leads you to paying attention to your surroundings in daily life. Travel makes the ordinary new; meditation and mindfulness freshens the familiar.

A glass of water in the evening light becomes profoundly gratifying, a chance to jack into the gentle hum of the world. Meditation continually guides us distracted children back to the world of wonder in front of our eyes. The world will always want more of your money. At the end of the day, being content with what you have is a revolutionary act.