Contentment by James Allen

(Updated May 2022)

James Allen (1864-1912) was a British philosophical writer known for books of inspiration and poetry. His views, while never formalized as part of a school of thought, reflect a stream of writings built around "self development" themes.

His most famous work was "As a Man Thinketh" in 1902. It is a short overview on the approach to successful thinking and life conduct. His follow up books built on the basic themes outlined.

I was reviewing "Above Life's Turmoil" (1910) this week and share a portion of his writing below, in italics, related to the idea of contentment (Chapter 18).

Given the time period of his writing, he refers to a "man" in all his writings but, of course, application applies to both sexes.

I hope you find benefit is this brief share.

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To be contented does not mean to forego effort; it means to?free effort from anxiety; it does not mean to be satisfied with sin and ignorance and folly, but to rest happily in duty done, work accomplished.

There are three things with which a man should be content:

1. With whatever happens.

2. With his friendships and possessions.

3. With his pure thoughts.

Contented with whatever happens, he will escape grief; with his friends and possessions, he will avoid anxiety and wretchedness; and with his pure thoughts, he will never go back to suffer and grovel in impurities.

There are three things with which a man should not be content:

1. With his opinions.

2. With his character.

3. With his spiritual condition.

Not content with his opinions, he will continually increase in intelligence; not content with his character, he will ceaselessly grow in strength and virtue; and not content with his spiritual condition, he will, everyday, enter into a larger wisdom and fuller blessedness. In a word, a man should be contented, but not indifferent to his development as a responsible and spiritual being.

The truly contented man works energetically and faithfully, and accepts all results with an untroubled spirit, trusting, at first, that all is well, but afterwards, with the growth of enlightenment, knowing that results exactly correspond with efforts. Whatsoever material possessions come to him, come not by greed and anxiety and strife, but by right thought, wise action, and pure exertion.

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Additional resources

Summary?on?As a Man Thinketh?from Wikipedia:?https://bit.ly/295u5sx

The book is in the public domain, as are all of Allen's books, so it can be downloaded for free onto a phone,?tablet or computer in e-book or audiobook form, along with some other books by Allen, through LibriVox.org:?https://bit.ly/29cxz01

I recommend it as a great, free resource in general, not just for Allen books.

Also online is the James Allen Free Library

Related posts:

Your job may change, but your personal talents and potential strengths can continue to be revealed and leveraged: https://bit.ly/1VKEMUN

About me (updated May 2022)

I have been a career sales professional in B2B sales with the emphasis on advertising, marketing and media. This has included managing my own territories, selling jointly with others and managing sales teams.

My media sales career started in Seattle with the Puget Sound Business Journal, but a significant portion of my professional time was in California, split between Los Angeles and Orange County, before I returned to Seattle.

You can reach me via InMail on LinkedIn or [email protected]

714-876-7062, cell

Also

I am owner and community manager for the LinkedIn group?Seattle Sales, Marketing and Advertising Professionals, which has 4700+ members, and am one of the first million members of LinkedIn (2004).

Additionally, I am a volunteer and served as a board member (2013-2019) for the?Friends of the Seattle Public Library. When I lived in Orange County I was a volunteer for the Friends of the City of Orange Library.