I'm Satisfied, Lord, I'm Satisfied: The Radical Power of Satisfaction in a Hungry World
I’ve been thinking about satisfaction lately—not the fleeting kind that comes from checking a box or indulging a craving, but the kind that lives in the marrow of a quiet moment, the kind that leaves nothing out and needs nothing more.
Two voices ring out in me when I feel into this mystery.
The first is my beloved friend and teacher, the late Gerry Jud. If you knew him, you can hear this line in his voice—eyes twinkling, face radiant:
“I’m satisfied, Lord, I’m satisfied.”
He would declare it like a benediction, like a transmission, and it was.
Gerry’s satisfaction wasn’t a passive resignation. It was the fierce joy of a man who had tasted both sorrow and ecstasy and found himself, somehow, already whole.
The second voice comes from a lineage deeper than words. Marc Gafni, interpreting the wisdom of the Hasidic and Kabbalistic masters, once shared a radiant teaching:
“A master can be satisfied with the eating of a single olive.”
One olive. One breath. One heartbeat.
In that moment, nothing is missing. In that moment, Reality reveals Herself as enough.
These two teachings dance inside me like old friends.
And together, they open the door to a way of being I call perpetual satisfaction—a deep, embodied yes to life as it is, without collapse, contraction, or clinging.
What Is Perpetual Satisfaction?
Perpetual satisfaction is not a goal.
It’s not the reward for doing your shadow work, eating clean, or meditating for sixty minutes every morning (though all of that may help clear the channel).
It’s not a bypass, either. It doesn’t mean turning away from pain, injustice, or longing.
Instead, it’s the ground of being—what remains when the noise quiets and the body settles into its natural aliveness.
It’s the felt-sense of already-ness.
Already loved.
Already chosen.
Already here.
This kind of satisfaction emerges when we stop measuring our worth by productivity, perfection, or spiritual attainment.
When we stop trying to be someone other than the singular, shimmering expression of Essence we already are.
The Somatic Path to Satisfaction
In Core Energetics and other somatic energy modalities I work with, we often encounter a body braced against life. The shoulders tense, the pelvis clenched, the heart armored.
Why?
Because somewhere along the way, we learned that “not enough” is the way to survive.
But what happens when we stop chasing and start feeling?
Satisfaction is a biological state.
It lives in the breath.
In the release after a good cry.
In the vibration of your cells when you’re fully in your body and the moment meets you like a lover.
Try this right now:
Pause. Breathe.
Feel the weight of your body where it rests.
Notice the sounds around you, the subtle movements of your belly.
Can you sense the sufficiency of this moment?
Not because everything is perfect, but because you are here.
Why Satisfaction Matters Now
In a world addicted to more—more data, more money, more followers, more healing—satisfaction is a radical act.
It says:
I don’t need to be fixed.
I’m not behind.
I can meet life from wholeness, not from a deficit.
Perpetual satisfaction doesn’t mean you won’t grow or evolve. It just means you won’t be outsourcing your joy to the next transformation.
It means you live, love, serve, and create from fullness, not for it.
Can You Be Satisfied with a Single Olive?
This isn’t a metaphor.
This is a question you can live into.
Can you let a single olive be enough?
Can you let the breath you’re taking now be enough?
Can you say—like Gerry Jud, from the altar of your lived experience—
“I’m satisfied, Lord, I’m satisfied.”
Let this be your practice today.
Not as a concept, but as a posture of the soul.
Satisfaction is not the end of the path.
It’s the beginning.
May this be a blessing.
May you be fully met by this moment.
And may you find, again and again, that you already are—
satisfied.
