Once upon a time there was a young man who was deeply unhappy. He had many good things in his life, but he wasn't satisfied. Feeling desperate he heard about a teacher who was supposed to be good with hopeless cases, so he made the journey to see her.

“I am miserable,” he said. “I’m too restless to sit still and meditate, and I’m too selfish to practice compassion and service. I go after whatever I want but when I get it, I’m not happy, and I’m always looking out for the next thing. I don’t have a clue where to turn. But I’ve heard you deal with hopeless cases, so maybe you can help me. You are my last resort.”

“I’m glad you came,” she said. “I might be able to help, but you have to agree to do what I ask.”

“Why don’t you tell me?” he said, “and I’ll decide if it will work for me.”

“Oh no,” she said, “The deal is that you agree to do what I say and then I tell you what you to do. There is no other way.”

He hemmed and hawed, back and forth, and finally said, “OK I’ll do it, but not forever.”

So she said, “Do it for a year and let me know.”

“A year!”

She said nothing.

“OK,” he said, “Give it to me.”

“I’ll give you the practice I do myself. Whenever anything appears in my mind or appears in the world, I say ‘Thank you very much, I have no complaints whatsoever.'”

“That’s all? That’s it? That’ll never work for me!”

“You agreed. For a year. Off you go now. Thank you very much, I have no complaints whatsoever.”

So he left, and she mostly forgot about him.

A year passed, and he arrived again in her room.

“It’s just as I suspected, I knew this would never work for me. I’m just as unhappy and selfish as I ever was.”

Immediately she said, “Thank you very much, I have no complaints whatsoever.”

With her words, he felt an eruption in his chest and began to laugh. In that moment he understood what she meant and laughed and laughed and laughed all the way home. “Thank you very much,” he told people, “I have no complaints whatsoever.”