Everybody wants to be happy. Not one sane person would have the desire to be unhappy. However in reality we see many people that aren’t happy; it is said that about a quarter of the people will experience being depressed, which is severe form of being unhappy.
Happiness means that we are satisfied and satisfied means that our desires are in checked and in balance. Therefore our desires play a big part in being happy. If we have a strong desire for something, but that something is out of reach for us, then this will influence how we feel in a negative way.
If we want a certain partner, a house or certain job and we aren’t able to get this, then we miss something and thus aren’t satisfied. Most of us will try to get that thing that we feel we need. And thus we change our house, partner, job etc..
There is nothing wrong perse with this, but meditation looks at ourselves first. If I have certain desires and I don’t feel happy because I cannot get the things I really want, then we can try to change the things around us, or we can try to change ourselves. Satisfaction means that our desires are checked, so instead of trying to achieve what we feel we need, and then going to the next desire, we can also adjust the strength of our desires. This would also make us more happy, because we don’t feel we really miss something. Therefore meditation and acceptance are related to each other.