Appreciate what I have but not limited by it

I had occasions to learn from my wife last night. It came as a result of a conversation in which I told her about a friend of mine struggling with the ambivalence of wishing more in her career while being thankful for (sometimes feeling limited by) what she had.

Ambivalence in Avatar term is the feeling of a struggle between on the one hand vs on the other hand. For example, on the one hand I feel I should achieve more by now but on the other hand I am luckier than a lot of other people.

My off-the-cuff remark to my wife was that my advice to my friend was one paraphrasing the Zen view: "Be in the moment and be happy with what you have."

My wife rightly gave me a better version, which is: "Appreciate what you have....use it to get to what you really want."

It has a feel of every moment in life is a tool to move forward.

I like that.