Is Discontentment Stealing Your Happiness?

Is Discontentment Stealing Your Happiness?

Image by Ivana Tomášková from Pixabay

The theme we are focusing on at the Brahma Kumaris this month is contentment.  There are lots of valid points being raised to inspire the cultivation of contentment, yet I wonder if I also need to address or should I say, fill the hole of discontentment in the soul before that. I need to do some deeper work, instead of just putting on band aids to hold in those emotions with a superfluous idea of contentment.

Contentment is something that needs to be finely tuned, it does not appear simply like that.  I need to honour the beauty in my life, to see the fortune and blessings that my life is filled with.  I count my blessings with a greater sense and appreciation of all my attainments. I am grateful for the many things that come effortlessly to me.  This attitude of gratitude, enables the river of happiness to run constantly through and throughout my life.

All that can be easier said than done.  Maya, the illusion, comes up with a great number of things to make us feel half empty … constantly.  We might have saved up for that one special thing we believed we needed to complete us and make us totally content, and before we know it, that vicious cycle of desire begins again.  Then what follows is another illusion and another … that we chase after as we attempt to fill that inner void.

Discontented people look for lots and lots of temporary gain, just in order to feel happy and content.  So, they fill their lives with things to do, places to go, and people to meet because at least for a few moments they feel some satisfaction of being. How much of our discontentment comes from an inner sense of disconnection?

Image by Varun Kulkarni from Pixabay

And because I am dissatisfied with myself, inside, I am looking outside, for things to validate my feelings and my life.  Then my belief is … if things outside are not great, then how can I expect to be feeling great?  So I now have reasons to not be feeling great!  And that seems better, because the problem is not in me, here, it’s out there!  What is REALLY stopping me from being happy and content?

Discontentment makes us restless and peaceless from inside.  Nothing and no one are ever enough.  I am constantly on a mission (negative) and in “critical mode”.  Nothing out there is perfect for me, because I myself am not feeling perfect inside.  The problem with trying to make myself content inside, by using the support of things from outside, simply does not work because the inside is permanent and outside is fleeting. The two energies do not synergise, it is like trying to mix oil and water.

Actually, contented people are contented with everything because, the deepest form of happiness is contentment.  In meditation we simply accept things for the way they are.  Not to fix them or experience anything different.  Just to accept.  It is a humbling experience, because in this sense we are powerless.  Or better said, we consciously choose to ‘channel’ our power, and not waste it with the energy of resistance.  That does not mean that we do not strive to make ourselves and things out there better wherever we can.  I believe this is an excellent way to foster inner contentment.

First my job is to accept what I cannot control, what I cannot fix.  So, it cools and calms me down.  I relax into it, because I have stopped fighting the – “it” – in whatever form that “it” may appear in my life.  I am rebuilding myself from the inside out.  And once I am strong from the inside, then things begin to shift outside.  My placid energy of inner stability begins to bring stability and calm to my surroundings.

Image by Jörg Peter from Pixabay

When we start seeking happiness on the outside, we are discontent. As we stop looking (out there), we become content.  All our ‘contents’ are really within the soul, we are made of virtues, powers, and beautiful qualities… there is nothing more to look for outside.  Remind yourself of how beautiful, special, powerful and ……. (you fill in the blanks with more of your specialities).  The outer world is simply a reflection of my inner world and so if I am not in touch with my inner world, then I cannot get to grips with my outer world.  If I do not see any beauty in me, I will not make that connection to see the beauty outside of me.  How can I, I have no reference.  Thus, it is through the inner lens that we experience the outer physical beauty.

When I get the inner environment of my inner world balanced, then this will naturally affect what is drawn into my life, at the outer level.  My inner world gets reflected in my environment around me too.

It’s Time … to remind ourselves of the gift of contentment, and that gift is hidden within.

 

© ‘It’s Time…’  by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London, UK 

 

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Sianetha

So so true… advice to be out into practice. Thank you for sharing all this wisdom. Blessings for Christmas and the new year

Bri

A wonderful summary and Deep understanding of the Theme of contentment: it all begins within!

Bronwyn j potter

Have a wonderful Christmas and a blissful new year bronn