There is nothing more satisfying than creating something.  I take that back.  There is nothing more satisfying than seeing something that you like, and knowing that you can make it yourself.  That is the ultimate form of independence.  It does not matter if what you like and what you want is small, large, tangible, or abstract.  If you see a bracelet that you like, making it is so much more satisfying than just going into the store to buy it just to have it.  Because what is the point of just having something?  The distance between the thought of desire and the acquisition of the desired object is too short.  It’s too easy and therefore, completely unmemorable and utterly useless.  On the other hand, you see a bracelet that you like- the same one as in the previous scenario.  You go out and carefully contemplate the materials you will need to replicate the bracelet.  You decide, do you use the same materials as those used to make the one that you saw, or do you alter the design?  Maybe you try something different and find out there’s a reason why that particular material is used to make that particular design.  Maybe you try something different and find out your design is much more unique and fitting to you.  Already the investment is beyond the money it took to purchase the materials. Then you go through the act of making it.  Regardless of whether or not you are using a design that has already been done, the fact that it comes from your own hands and effort makes this artifact something more than something that can be purchased.  You are more reluctant to part with it thoughtlessly: you are more proud and deliberate when bestowing it upon somebody- you don’t just give it away, you “bestow” it. 

And this is just a bracelet that I’m talking about.  Think about building a life for yourself.  Not just living a life of day to day floating.  Not just taking everything as it comes because, “it’s not as if you have a choice anyway.”  I mean, seeing something that you want and knowing that when you achieve it, each day was a deliberate act of gathering materials to make it happen.  You can do whatever you want and it is justified because you created that life for yourself.  Even if the model is just like everybody else’s, with a family and a middle class life, if you are active in the creation of this life, then you cannot feel anything but pride.  It’s no wonder some can be prouder of their small back-yard workshop based business than others are about an inherited corporation.  The difference is that one is someone’s baby- brain child, and the other is like an adopted pet.  There is not a feeling of satisfied acceptance that your idea is going to be huge, and amazing, and the tiny state that it is in is but a developing stage on the way to becoming huge and amazing.  Only from the act of creation can you recognize something for the beauty that it represents.

Today I made a bracelet. Look. 

It’s simple, plain, and I probably would not pay $1.00 for it on the street.  But I made it, and that’s why it’s different than the one on the street that I could have passed thinking it worth less than $1.00. 

Maybe that's why people like to believe in creation stories.  Because if there was deliberation, thought, and care (by someone, anyone) that was put into the existence of everything we find beautiful, we feel justified in finding it beautiful.  How devastating to ever have to realize that everything you tried to find beauty in, truly has no beauty or purpose and that it was all in your mind?  But then again, does it matter if it was all in your own mind? Most everything is.  That's why objectively, the small business owner is less successful than the corporation inheritor.  Yet the fact remains, the satisfaction and joy comes from the act of creation, and not the act of perpetuating something you do not believe in.  I don't know, but today's happiness is finding joy in creation, no matter how small.