Contentment & Happiness are choices!!!

The realisation is that although life is a gift, and not a right, we choose Contentment and Happiness by our actions.

To be content doesn’t mean you don’t desire more,?it means you’re thankful for what you have and patient for what’s to come.-Tony Gaskins

Practical Steps to Contentment. The question is how to get there. How to go from being unhappy with yourself to being content? The path is learning a few crucial skills:

Build self-trust.?The only way to fix a lack of trust is in small steps. If you the unreliable friend wants to rebuild trust with you, the right way is not for him to say, “Now, trust me with your life” — instead, it’s to start building trust in small steps. Do little things, and see if the trust is held up. Over time, you open yourself up more and more.

?Once we notice the ideals, we need to stop comparing ourselves to them. Let go of the ideal. The only way to let go of the ideal is to see the pain that it’s causing in yourself and realise you want to end that pain, and letting go of an ideal that’s hurting you is self-compassion. Watch the pain. Be compassionate with yourself and stop causing pain in yourself with this process of comparing yourself with ideals.?

A lot of people search for ways to find happiness, but I’ve found the idea of contentment to be more important than happiness.

Why contentment over happiness? A couple of important reasons:

Happiness can go up or down each day (or moment), but contentment is something more stable.

We tend to seek to increase happiness by adding things (food, excitement, a warm bath, time with a loved one) but contentment is a skill that allows you to subtract things and still be content.

Contentment can actually be a good place to start as you make changes (changes and contentment might seem paradoxical to some)

Contentment: How to Find This Unmistakable Freedom

Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.?—Socrates

Finding Contentment. Although there is no one-size-fits-all program to fully-attain contentment, you can still learn how to be content by being intentional. Here are some tips you can apply today to find more contentment in?your?life:

Practice gratitude.?It is impossible to develop contentment without gratitude—they are inseparable. And a grateful person is one who has learned to focus on the good things in their life, not the things they lack. The simple discipline of beginning the exercise will undoubtedly shift your focus back to the many good things you already have.

Take control of your attitude.?A person who lacks contentment in their life will often engage in “when and then thinking” – “when I get _______, then I will be happy.” Instead, take control of your attitude. Remember, your happiness is not reliant on the acquisition of any possession.?Your happiness is based solely on your choice to be happy —this may be one of the most important?life lessons?you can ever learn.

Break the buying habit.?For many of us, it has been ingrained into our lives that the proper way to diffuse discontent is to purchase the outward item that is seemingly causing the discontentment. Almost no energy is spent determining the true root of the discontent. Are you dissatisfied with your wardrobe? Go buy new clothes. Not content with your vehicle? Go buy a new one. We have gotten into the habit of satisfying our discontent by simply spending more money.

We must break that habit. Material possessions will never fully satisfy the desires of your heart (that’s why discontent always returns). The next time you recognise discontentment surfacing in your life, refuse to give in to that bad habit. Instead, commit to better understanding yourself and why the lack of that item is causing discontent. Only after you intentionally break this thinking will true contentment begin to surface.

Stop comparing yourself to others.?Comparing your life with someone else’s will always lead to discontentment. There will always be people who “appear” to be better off than you and seemingly living the perfect life. But be advised, we always compare the worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions we make about others. Their life is never as perfect as your mind makes it out to be. You are unique. You are special. Your life is different. And it’s always better that way. Prioritise learning?how to stop comparing yourself to others.

Help others.?When you begin helping others and sharing your talents, time and money, you will find yourself learning to be content. The practice will give you a finer appreciation for what you own, who you are, and what you have to offer.

Be content with what you have, but never with what you are.?Never stop learning, growing, or discovering. Take pride in your personhood and the progress that you have made, but never become so content that you cannot find room for improvement. Contentment is not the same as complacency. As soon as you stop growing, you start dying.

What is the definition of contentment? Contentment is finding joy in what we already have in our lives, feeling or showing satisfaction with our possessions, status, or situation. It’s being happy without trying to find fulfillment in acquiring more material possessions.

Contentment allows us to stop comparing ourselves to others and it allows us to break the cycle of wanting more. It lets us be grateful and happy for all that we have.

What is the difference between contentment and complacency? The difference can seem minor but there’s actually a world of difference. Contentment is to be happy with what you have and find satisfaction in your present circumstances. Complacency is being unsatisfied with how your life is in the moment but still being unwilling to make changes to improve your situation.

Is contentment a choice? Absolutely, although it’s not as easy as it sounds. Learning how to be content comes from a combination of intentional mindset shifts, habit changes, and being aware of our thoughts and actions.. . The mental state known as “contentment” depends much more on our character, not the size of possessions we have. The unhappy man could be heard saying that if he was as wealthy as a friend He would be content. You can give him the amount of money the man has set his sights to, and he’ll meet a wealthier man to admire and be just as unhappy as ever. The likelihood of being unhappy despite wealth and success stems due to the endless nature of our desires and the tendency to seek out something more than our current situation.

Below is a collection of quotes and sayings about contentment that may help you towards understanding.

I moaned because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.

Someone else is happy with less than what you have

Want to find the perfect person for you? Be contented.

Be thankful that you are on your feet. There are people who can’t even walk down the street.– RVM

Always appreciate what you have. There is always someone out there who wishes that had what you have.

God give me nothing I wanted. He gave me everything I needed.

If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.– Leo Tolstoy

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.– Lao Tzu

Life is not hard, it’s us making it hard, because we want more than what we deserve.

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.– Socrates

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

Wishing things were different is a great way to torture yourself.

People are never happy with what they have. They want what they had. Or what others have.

Life is better if you are satisfied and happy with what you do and what you have.– Dr T.P.Chia

If you can’t be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.

Stop looking for reasons to be unhappy. Focus on the things you do have, and the reasons you should be happy.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.– Gautama Buddha

A contented man is never poor. A humble man is never arrogant.– Dr T.P.Chia:

Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy

Someone else is happy with less than what you have.

People are always looking for more and forget about what they already have.

The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.– Oscar Wilde

Instead of focusing on what’s missing, learn to appreciate what’s there.

Happy are those who take life day by day, complain very little and are thankful for the little things in life.

A man may be happy anywhere that knows how to be contented.– Wellins Calcott

There are two ways to get enough. One is to to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.– G.K. Chesterton

A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.– Albert Einstein

When we cannot find contentment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.– Fran?ois de La Rochefoucauld

Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence.– Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Sometimes the greenest grass is right beneath your feet

I complained to God about having a husky voice, Then I remembered about the deaf one. Be contented.

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.– Joseph Addison

A Sunday well-spent brings a week of content.

Is contentment a choice? Absolutely, although it’s not as easy as it sounds. Learning how to be content comes from a combination of intentional mindset shifts, habit changes, and being aware of our thoughts and actions.