And "Thich Nhat Hanh," said it very right,
"Whatever the tasks, do them slowly
with ease,
in mindfulness,
so not do any tasks with the goal
of getting them over with.
Resolve to each job in a relaxed way,
with all your attention."
There is no doubt in the fact that the majority of the people today are living a life of discontentment. They are rushing through their lives, trying to get tasks done, trying to finish the tasks as much as they can in a day, getting in a hurry to achieve things, in a hurry to achieve even dreams at one go without wanting to face any failures meanwhile, just speeding along in their cars to the next destination, rushing into what they are to do there, finishing it off, and then again speeding off to their very next destination, and going like this, back to back, just rushing into things and finishing tasks just for the sake of it.
Today, the majority of the people are losing content with a life which is the very basic of human existence, essential for the quality survival on Earth. People compare themselves with other people, with the people who are superior or more successful than them, people who have better love life, better careers than them, people who are more rich, who have better homes, bungalows, cars, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets, accessories, assets, or things, or anything more than them.
They compare the richness and amount of happiness in their life with riches and happiness in other people's life. And if somehow the other person is more happy, rich, or successful than them, they indulge in the feelings of inferiority, jealousy, hatred, greed, feelings of lacking behind, anger, sadness, fear, annoyance, rage, and disgust against them or even against their selves. It further leads to feelings of negativity, anxiety, or depression among them. In a pursuit to be better and more successful than others, they forget already blessings in life.
They lose the stability of their mind and soul and are not able to focus on any single thing perfectly. They declutter their life even more than as compared to what it was before. They run to fulfill their dreams but not in a proper way. They just rush into things without any clarity of thought and action. They just want to be better than others in every way say money, wealth, house, bungalows, cars, careers that they ultimately lose their value of life, their very essence of being, their purpose, meaning on Earth, their duties, actual responsibilities, way of moving ahead, and reaching their destiny.
In an unwanted desire to have what the other person has, they lose a lot, yes, even their mere reason of existence. They get lost, confused, unaware of the fact with what's happening in their life, try to dominate others, bring others down, back-bitch others, do and say things that hurt others, and their sentiments.
In and all, in an urge to be better than others and live a life that others live, they lose their "real" self, like who they are. They lose their self. They forget the meaning of life. They forget that life is all about being happy no matter what comes the way. They forget that failures are a part of life and they have to face them constantly. They forget that if someone seems happier and settled than them, it can be the 100th chapter of the life of another person and chapter 1 for them. They forget that everyone is born with their destiny. Other people's success, happiness, career, love life, goals, responsibilities, thinking, has nothing to do with them.
They are born with their destiny in life and a path on which they have to move ahead step by step, without fearing failures, without getting into a panic. They just have to move ahead with a firm determination to get what they want. No doubt, they'll face a lot of difficulties and judgment eyes meanwhile, but they still have to go, they just have to get-go. Rest, no doubt, they'll get it all with efforts and prayers.
However, no matter how much we talk on contentment and value today, but the fact is, majority of the people today are living a life that's quite peaceless, full of insecurities, inferiorities, and discontent with life. It's not that people are not aware of what contentment is and the importance it holds in one's life. It's just that in spite of knowing it all, people do not follow it or say they are not able to follow it in their life.
The reasons can be many. Some people may do it intentionally, some may do it out of ignorance, while some are not aware of how to live following content in life. If you are one of those people looking for ways to find content with life, here is the guide to help you with your journey.
Ways to Feel More Content
1. Practice Gratitude
If you want to develop the feelings of contentment within you, then there is no better way other than practicing gratitude. Get up each day with being thankful for what you have, for the good things in your life, for the strength you have for all what you are going through, for your faith that one day you'll get it all and it will be all worth it, for the courage you have to get out of the bed and deal with each day gracefully even if in spite of your efforts you are not getting much in hand, for believing that you have much more than many other people in the world.
Be thankful for the roof over your head, food to eat, clothes to wear. Be thankful for the little things in life. Be thankful for the eyes, nose, ears, hands. Take out a dairy and write out all your already blessings in life, be thankful even for the littlest of things or people in your life that make it all worth it. Just be thankful always!
A grateful person is the one who learns to focus on the good things in life and not on the things they lack or do not have. And once, you learn the art of gratefulness, then contentment is no far from you. The feelings of contentment and gratitude go together and are inseparable. So, the simple discipline of beginning the exercise of gratitude, will no doubt, make you realize your blessings in life, and indulge in you the feeling of contentment and peacefulness.
2. Take Control of Your Attitude
You are not responsible for the problems in your life but you are surely responsible for your attitude towards them. Problems are a part of everyone's life, there is not a single person on Earth who do not have any problem in life. Hence, that's not an issue. The thing that matters is how you react to the circumstances in your life, how you take control of your attitude when something bad, unfortunate, or unexpected happens in your life. It's how you break free of your "when I'll be a happy attitude."
Remember, your happiness is not dependent on any possession, any person, or any circumstance in your life. You can always be happy. You never have to regret the past or worry about the future. Just learn to be happy at the moment. Control your negative thoughts, your attitude towards things, your perspective, the way you look to things. And as the proverb says, "Life is 20% what happens to you, and 80% how you react to it, so go with it. Reach to a state of positive attitude and react to things nicely!
3. Spend Less, Save More
Do you feel like you get happy when you spend money on material possessions like say shoes, clothes, handbags, branded watches, or say buying yourself some other expensive gifts? If yes, then you are going wrong. If your content with life is related to buying material possessions, then your search for contentment is surely going in the wrong direction. You must realize that buying material possessions may give you temporary happiness but it will surely not last long. So, why to spend on things you don't need?
In spite of spending money on unnecessary things, you must try to save money. It may put you to surprise but saving money is directly correlated to content with your life as compared to spending money on buying unnecessary things. When you save, you do not save money, you save your wealth. Anybody can take your money from you but no one can take your wealth. Hence, when you save, a sense of contentment runs deep down your soul that says you are financially stable and ready to fight with any difficult situation in life.
4. Help Others
You may believe it or not but helping others not only gives you a direction on life but it also gives you back in the ways you cannot even imagine. When you compliment others, offer kind words and actions, be present to them, you, ultimately, build up your emotional bank account. Sharing your talents, time, and money with others, give you direction to find content with life. The genuine practice of helping others will make you realize who you are, appreciation for what you own, and what you have to offer. It's that the more you put out in the world for others, the more you receive in return.
5. Be Content With What You Have, Never With What You Are
Yes, you must be content with what you have, but that does not mean you have to stop growing and stop improving yourself. Being content with life means not rushing into things and working hard as well as smart to step by step reach your destination. It does not mean you have to stop. It means you have to admire your already blessings in life as well as working to get what you want more. Remember again, you never have to stop growing and improving. You never have to be so content that you are unable to find room for improvement. As soon as you stop growing, you start dying!
6. Pause for a While
When in life you feel stuck and lost when you find a no ray of hope around even if you are trying a lot, then you must pause for a while because at that moment, that is what you need, to stop, to breathe, and to just be yourself. You need your personal space to relax and find ways for personal growth, growth of your mind, body, and soul. Also, you need your space to focus on the brighter side of the situation and think of ways to deal with it. No doubt, in very little time, you'll see yourself improving, learning, and growing in life!
7. Focus on Positivism More
This is a fact that we, as humans, have more knack for focusing on the negative side of the situation. When anything bad happens in our life, we imagine every worst possible outcome in our mind and become as hell of over thinkers as we can. We make it a huge deal about the things going wrong in our lives and if something good happens, it doesn't impact us much.
To reverse this negativity bias, we must focus on the positive side of the experiences in our life. We need to give the positive things in our life more attention. We have to feel it to become a part of us. However, that does mean, you completely need to suppress the negative things that happen in your life, but it's just that you need to focus on the positive more.
8. Learn to Enjoy Little Things That Doesn't Cost You Money
Taking a walk in nature. Having meaningful conversations with the person you love or some of your good friends. A trip to the beach. Writing down your thoughts. Reading a good book. Seeing birds flying in the sky, butterflies sitting on beautiful flowers. Such things are all free and don't cost you anything and even can offer you more joy than other expensive endeavors.
9. Live in the Moment
To practice content with life, you must learn the art of living in the moment. In search of big happiness, you must not overlook the small joys in life. Don’t postpone happiness by waiting for a day to be happy. Be happy today, no matter how life is for you right now. Live in the moment. You are wrong if you think that you have to be sad right now to be happy in some future days. No, things don’t work like this.
Instead of thinking to be happy in some future place, think of ways to be happy right now and savor the small pleasures of daily life. Rather than dwelling on the past mistakes and worrying about the future, just focus on the positives life has in store for you at the moment. Just let it be as it is. Embrace things, change. No doubt, this practice will show you the true path of life along with helping you with the feelings of contentment. Just, go ahead!
To sum it up,
I remember a famous quote by Joyce Meyer,
"There's no happier
person than a
truly thankful,
content person."
When you learn the art of being content, you learn the art of being happy no matter what comes your way. And when you be happy, you start counting your blessings. And again, when you start counting your blessings and be grateful for what you have, you see your whole life turn around!
So to start on a successful journey, learn to be content with your life in the first place. And then gradually look for ways to be better, work towards them, and then fully enjoy the improvements within your journey till you reach your destination.
However, no matter how high you reach in life, you still have to follow content, not to rush things, and be down to Earth. For a meditative, peaceful, happy life, content is not just something you have to follow when you have less. Content is something you have to continue when you have much more, to when you have even much more than that, and to till it continues!
Always be content, be happy with life!
This is all I wanted to share about contentment.
Your turn!
What do you think about contentment? How do you find contentment in your life? Do you think that the above-mentioned ways to find contentment are fair enough? Let's discuss this. Leave a comment below!