Contentment is an attitude that starts out small, but like any other attitude, when it is nurtured, it grows. As we promote the idea of contentment within ourselves, we also experience the fruit of contentment. With practice, our lives fill up with a sense of contentment. 

        Consider Contentment

Marketers know how to prey on the minds of discontented people and bombard the populace from every direction tempting us with the latest and greatest of anything and everything from cars to vacations, from fashion to foods, from cults to philosophies. They promote a promise, but the promise is hollow. 

“There is a powerful delegation in us that lobbies every moment for contentment,” says Rabia, a central figure in the Sufi tradition. 

Her words echo the apostle Paul’s words in a letter from prison when he wrote that he had learned how to be content in whatever state he was in. With much or little, he learned how to be at ease. 

Learning to be content begins with being aware of our thoughts. When our ideas linger on manipulating people or circumstances to our advantage, it is a sure sign we are discontent with our circumstances.

Another sure sign of discontentment is when we are ungrateful, when we mumble or complain. Whining only deepens our dissatisfaction. 

But when we begin to believe that we are created to be content, that there is a powerful  pull inside us toward being satisfied no matter the circumstances, then we can train our brain, change our mind and in turn, change our perspective.

 Becoming aware of those thoughts that lead us down the path of discontentment, displeasure and dissatisfaction is the first step. The second step is to begin to notice what you can be grateful for in the moment.  

Gratitude nurtures contentment and contentment nurtures gratitude. The ability to be at ease, unworried or untroubled, also builds our resilience to being tossed about and led astray by ideas that only produce hollow happiness. 

Why bother nurturing contentment? Being intentional about nurturing contentment aligns our thinking once again to truth. Although I know the power to change anybody’s mind about anything is beyond me, I do have the power to change my own mind.